Relational Teacher Development

Julian Kitchen is an associate professor of education at Brock University in Hamilton, Canada. He was a classroom teacher for a decade before becoming a teacher educator at the University of Toronto, where he completed his Ph.D. in education. He has published widely in teacher education and teacher development.

Relational Teacher Development is a powerful account of the professional renewal of a classroom teacher. This narrative inquiry tells the story of the four-year collaborative relationship between Bob Fitzgerald, an experienced elementary school teacher facing a poor performance evaluation, and Julian Kitchen, an educational researcher who helped Bob earn a positive review. These stories reveal how their collaboration enabled Bob to renew his practice and re-ignite his passion for teaching by directing his own professional development. In puzzling over his positive impact as an accidental helper, Kitchen identifies and critically examines seven key characteristics of his relational stance towards Bob. Relational teacher development is presented as an approach to understanding teachers as curriculum makers and, more significantly, as a way of helping teachers harness their personal practical knowledge in order to renew classroom practice and improve student learning. This book will appeal to educators and policy makers who believe that respect, care and relationship are as critical to teacher development and renewal as they are to student learning.