What is Program Responsiveness

Serving as the centerpiece of teacher preparation, professional dispositions require modeling, support, and integration across a program. This chapter outlines how one pilot was designed to promote the dispositional development of graduate teacher candidates seeking initial teacher certification. Applying immediacy and adult learning theory as a foundation, the authors break down how these concepts are integrated throughout the program, highlighting the many facets responsiveness plays in allowing learners the opportunity to enhance dispositional development in addition to program improvement. Included in this discussion are the roles of teacher educators as learner and mentor while supporting vulnerability in teacher candidates. Voices of participants in the cohorts are included along with program design, structure, and changes incurred over the first three years. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further research regarding this pivotal time period in teacher preparation.