2020 Volume 87 Issue 2 Pages 214-226
This paper aims to reexamine the concept and actual situation of the Graduate Teachers College of Winnetka (GTCW, 1932-1954).
Winnetka public schools are well known for the “Winnetka Plan,” the leading case of school reform in the progressive education movement. Previous studies have shown that Winnetka public schools and two private schools organized the GTCW, where schoolteachers acted as teacher supervisors and trained graduate students (student-teachers) for progressive schools. The GTCW was recognized as the leading case of school-based teacher education, because it produced ideal teachers, called “teachers as learners” or “teachers as researchers.” However, recent research has suggested the possibility that the GTCW was established for reciprocal learning between supervising teachers and graduate students. Thus, its establishment process must be reexamined from the viewpoint of the professional development of supervising teachers as well as graduate students.
The findings of this study are as follows. The concept of the GTCW, in which supervising teachers (schoolteachers) trained graduate students in pursuit of their own further professional development, was presented by the superintendent of the Winnetka public schools and two principals of progressive private schools, North Shore Country Day School and Francis Wayland Parker School. They devised the GTCW as a new plan of in-service teacher education. The dean and supervising teachers realized the concept through the selection of entrants and design of teacher education programs. The supervising teachers selected entrants who had experience of academic study and/or a teaching career in relation to new education worldwide. They then prepared a problem-based teacher education program, in order to bring out entrantsʼ background experiences. In short, supervising teachers expected entrantsʼ heterogeneous backgrounds to bring about opportunities for reconstructing and enhancing their own professional thinking and skills. Their expectations were realized in the interaction between supervising teachers and graduate students. The supervising teachers reconsidered their curriculum design and discipline of practical research, the basis of their practices and professional decisions, in the process of educating graduate students.
As has been discussed, Winnetka schoolteachers organized an environment for the promotion of their own professional development by means of interactions between supervising teachers and graduate students. It was a higher level of in-service teacher education than the standard model in which teachers undergo job training organized by others, such as researchers or administrators. In conclusion, this study appraises the GTCW as the leading case in which schoolteachers realized a higher level of in-service teacher education.
