Care, thoughtfulness, and tact: a conceptual framework for university supervisors

Abstract

Abstract The pedagogical work of university supervisors has received little attention in teacher education literature. Based on this concern, this paper provides a conceptual framework for university supervisors, recasting their role as teacher pedagogues focused on responding to the particular contextual needs of student teachers as they learn to teach. Using care, thoughtfulness, and tact as a conceptual framework, the author argues for an interactive and responsive pedagogy of field‐based teacher education grounded in the university supervisor's concern for the development of the student teacher. Keywords: university supervisorpedagogy of teacher educationfield‐based teacher educationstudent teaching Acknowledgements I would like to thank Hilary Conklin and Mark Vagle for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript. I am also grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.