Director of Field Experiences

Director Of Field Experiences

The Director of Field Experiences serves as the Department of Teacher Education (TE) representative in working with school districts to develop, coordinate and lead partnership initiatives that yield effective clinical experiences for teacher candidates. The Director is responsible for providing oversight for all aspects of field and clinical experiences for all programs in the Department (elementary, secondary, special education).

Responsibilities

The Director of Field Experiences will :

• Coordinate, secure, and monitor placements of all education students. This includes local placements within the Washington County School District, as well as state-wide placements for student teaching.
• Provide training, mentoring, and support to all practicum and student teaching supervisors regarding their roles and responsibilities. A specific emphasis of this training includes reliable use of assessment instruments to generate valid data used for state licensure recommendations and national accreditation.
• Provide training, mentoring, and support to K-12 teachers serving as mentor / cooperating teachers for UT education students.
• Communicate concerns about student field performance and / or supervisor or mentor teacher performance to Department administrators, and participate in development and monitoring of plans for remediation and support.
• Collaborate with Department administrators and accreditation director to collect and review field placement data.
• Establish and maintain regular communication with personnel in schools where students are assigned for field experiences and student teaching.
• Collaborate with advising staff in Teacher Education to anticipate and plan for placement needs across programs.
• Serve as a liaison between K-12 schools and Department faculty and staff, including communicating changes and updates across contexts.
• Coordinate and manage employment opportunities for students that happen concurrently with field placement (e.g. SEE program for elementary, internships for fall graduates).
• Maintain field placement handbook, ensuring that materials, forms, and instruments are current each semester.
• Facilitate and / or attend seminars, trainings, meetings, and special projects as needed or requested by Department Chair and / or Dean.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have :