Expectations for the Cooperating Teacher Role

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Abstract
Grimmett and Ratzlaff focus on two data comparisons. First, a Canadian study in vestigating triad expectations for the role of the cooperating teacher is re ported and compared with an American study conducted in the 1970s using the same instrument. Second, the findings of these two studies are compared with a different American study conducted at or about the same time as the Canadian one. This cross-study comparison al lows for some understanding of what knowledge about the cooperating teach er role is bound by cultural context, by time, or appears to transcend both time and context. The comparisons drawn suggest a disparity in findings between studies conducted a decade apart. The greatest similarity of findings was found in the Canadian and American studies conducted in the 1980s, indicative of the time-boundness of knowledge or the ad vances made in knowledge since the 1970s. Reinforcing the latter interpreta tion are findings common to all three studies that appear to contribute to a nascent body of knowledge in this area.