Residency Programs in the US

‘Hybrid’ or ‘Third’ Spaces of Teacher Education

Abstract

The study presents a new type of American teacher education, residency programs, which have gained ground after 2008, due to the substantial financial support provided by the federal government. First, it discusses the underlying reasons why such programs were initiated in the first place, and then implemented on a larger scale. Next, the distinctive features of residency programs are analysed, followed with research results regarding the programs’ efficiency. Last but not least, residency programs are presented as possible realizations of so-called ‘ third spaces’ or ‘hybrid spaces’ of teacher education, which have recently been advocated as a prerequisite for