Balancing Act: Implementing Professional Learning during a Teacher Residency with Implications for Program and P12 School Leaders

Professional learning (PL) is universally lauded as essential to enhancing teaching quality and retention for aspiring teachers, yet it is a difficult balancing act for program and P12 school leaders trying to administer the many intricate components of a teacher residency program while implementing meaningful PL for residents. Grounded in complexity theory, this mixed methods case study examines PL experiences among residents ( N = 36 ) across four cohorts within the Teacher Education Residency Consortium (TERC) program in the southwestern United States. Three themes related to balance emerged from the quantitative and qualitative findings: (a) an appropriate quantity of PL experiences, (b) an adequate measure of PL programmatic support, and (c) residents’ ability to hone time management skills to succeed in all their competing responsibilities during a yearlong residency. The implications are conceived as five coherent policy and practice conditions for residency implementers aiding the PL journey of aspiring teachers.