Manifestation of boundary spanning roles in the Resident Teacher Program Committee

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study:

This study utilized a case study approach. The purposive sample was comprised of 12 resident teacher committee members from a Midwestern university and school district. Data collection procedures included interviews, observations, and document analysis. The multi-level boundary spanning model was used to explain the committee members' roles in the program.

Findings and Conclusions:

Despite a moratorium of the state's Residency Teacher Program, the district and university continued the efforts to provide support to beginning teachers. This initiative presented an innovative way for the university and school to be more actively involved in school-university collaboration, in general, and beginning teachers' induction, in particular.

The initiative was viewed as a "safety net," which provided necessary support for beginning teachers during their first year in the classroom.

Although the committee roles were predetermined, participants considered the committee a team. The rationale for the team makeup was to ensure both external and internal support for first year teachers.

The multi-level model demonstrated its utility for educational settings by identifying distinguishing features of educational teams and examining the organizational, collective, and individual attributes of the team members in initiating boundary spanning activities.

All three levels of boundary spanning (task based, team level, and contextual) were present in the committees. The roles assigned to the committee members, as well as the roles participants defined by themselves, were manifested in their ambassadorial and task coordinated activities.