Date of Submission

8-26-2024

Document Type

DiP

Degree

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

Keywords

preservice teachers, fieldwork placement process, cultural change, transformative leadership, distributed leadership, subversive resistance

Abstract

This dissertation-in-practice presents a planned cultural shift in the teacher education fieldwork placement process at a Quebec university. The author, with a commitment to social justice-oriented transformative leadership, outlines significant logistical and cultural challenges in addressing placement considerations of equity-deserving preservice teachers. These challenges are particularly pronounced due to the bureaucratic and inter-organizational nature of the placement network. To address this problem of practice, distributed and subversive-resistant change leadership approaches are employed, guided by a change management framework combining processual and social justice-oriented models. Through the change plan, there is a fostering of a cultural shift away from placements solely bureaucratizing human capital development towards a more holistic and long-term development of teacher capability and belonging. The selected solution addresses reform of policy, process, programs, and partnerships. This multilateral approach establishes structured, intentional, and iterative support for equity-deserving preservice teachers, ensuring their unique identities and needs are recognized and addressed throughout the placement process. The communication plan focuses on engaging all parties through transparent, inclusive dialogue and leveraging technology to facilitate ongoing feedback and collaboration. The monitoring and evaluation plan employs both quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess the incremental impact of the implemented changes on the placement process and organizational culture, with periodic reviews to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with social justice objectives. This work contributes to the discourse on social justice in higher education by providing a comprehensive framework and actionable insights for effecting equity-oriented cultural change within an otherwise-bureaucratic and vocationalist environment.

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