Advocacy and Teacher Preparation Programs

Childhood Education Volume 84, No 2, P. 94 D-E

Advocate: to publicly support or suggest an idea, development or way of doing something. (Cambridge online dictionary; dictionary.cambridge.org)

The Association for Childhood Education International has a long and rich history serving as an advocate for children, families, education, and the profession. Position papers and resolutions on such myriad topics as play, standardized testing, and child soldiers (see the Advocacy section of the ACEI home page at www.acei.org/advocacy.htm) show the organization's resolve to continuously move efforts forward for children and education. The continued connections among ACEI, UNICEF, and UNESCO provide credence to the Association's commitment to international advocacy concerns, and not those limited to only the United States.

Standards for teacher education programs are underscoring the role of advocacy in the professional life of teacher candidates and beginning teachers. While the words "advocate" or "advocacy" do not appear in the current ACEI standards, the rubrics for the standards do call for actions related to advocacy (all of the following are target level indicators):

5a- "Candidates can adapt to evolving issues and conditions as time and situations change and make wise decisions according to time, place, and population."
5b- "Candidates conduct professional inquiry into their professional practice and share the results of their inquiry with other professionals."
5c- "Candidates know how to establish and maintain a positive, collaborative relationship with families to continuously promote the intellectual, social, emotional, and physical growth of their children."
5d- "Candidates collaborate with community organizations that have an influence on students' learning and well-being."

The National Middle School Association initial preparation rubrics call for candidates who:

"...serve as advocates for all young adolescents in the school and in the larger community. They engage in activities that help parents and community members understand the nature of young adolescents and thoughtfully engage in other school and community activities."
"...take a leadership role in the larger learning community, accept professional responsibilities that extend beyond the classroom and school (e.g., advisory committees, parent-teacher organizations), and advocate for helping all young adolescents become thoughtful, ethical, democratic citizens."
"...understand and advocate for the total school curriculum. They consistently articulate this curriculum and assessment design to various stakeholders."

The National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) initial standards include Standard 5: Becoming a Professional. This standard incorporates a strong component of advocacy, both in the emphasis on the use of ethical guidelines (advocacy is inherent in the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct) and when requiring early childhood candidates to be "informed advocates for sound educational practices and policies."

Note the different aspects of advocacy inherent in the standards above. Advocating for policy (be it law or regulation) is certainly one aspect, and is often how we initially think about advocacy. It is important that we give candidates information about this type of advocacy and opportunities to learn the appropriate manner of contacting legislators and other policymakers. There are many excellent online resources to this effect, including ACEI's own advocacy page (noted above) and others below:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa020199.htm
www.advocacyguru.com/what's_free!.htm
www.iowalum.com/advocate/legislator.html(focus is on state government; remind candidates to make appropriate changes)

Note also that advocacy expectations for candidates move beyond the venue of public policy. All of the standards embrace advocacy as related to families and how to help them understand their children's development and support that development. The level of interaction required for this type of advocacy goes beyond the typical 10-minute parent/teacher conference or monthly newsletter. To truly advocate with families on a child's behalf requires creating a relationship-developing trust, taking time to connect, and sharing not just general information about development but specific thoughts, ideas, and information about that particular child. Do our programs create such opportunities and experiences for candidates?

Another level of advocacy is one perhaps most well understood in the arena of special education-advocating for an individual child. Teachers may actually play two roles here: one as a school-based advocate for a child and the second as a coach to help parents learn how to effectively navigate the education (and other) system(s) to obtain the best possible services for their child. This level of advocacy may be one in which the candidate (and all teachers) feel most comfortable; it is an inherent professional behavior to work on behalf of the individual children. Do candidates have the opportunity to engage in (or at least observe) ongoing advocacy for a specific student? As inclusive practices become more prevalent, and children are served more often in the "natural setting," regular classroom teachers will need to continue to develop and implement this level of advocacy.

The standards also suggest we must prepare our candidates to advocate for the profession itself. Teacher candidates must learn to advocate for best practices in educational settings and for appropriate curriculum. In an era in which curriculum has become a relic of legislative and policy mandates, educators must be able to advocate with policymakers and others on behalf of sound educational practices and polices. Do we require candidates to not just plan lessons and projects, but also provide a sound rationale for the choices they have made? Can our candidates explain to parents and principals, with equal ease, the "whys" of their classroom practices? Can they describe the "why nots" as well-why they choose to not engage in certain practices or approaches?

Clearly, the ability to advocate in different capacities is an expected outcome for teachers even at the beginning of their career. Advocacy stretches all aspects of the professional's life: from child to family to practice to community and wider policy issues. For education to continue to be regarded as a profession, and for teachers to continue to garner respect from the public, we must help this next generation of teachers develop the skills to advocate for the children they serve, the best practices and approaches known, and for the profession itself.

—Joanna M. Grymes, Professional Standards/ Teacher Education Committee