Educating Preservice Teachers for Family, School, and Community Engagement

Source: Teaching Education, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2013, pages 123-133

This paper reviews existing literature on the outcomes of efforts to prepare educators who are capable of successfully engaging a broad range of families and communities.
The current review examines efforts in higher education to address family engagement and the impact of various pedagogical approaches on preservice teachers. 

The findings reveal a narrow sample of empirically based research.
However, these studies offer insights regarding pedagogical approaches that increase teachers’ confidence and self-awareness, improve educators’ knowledge of diverse families, and enhance teachers’ ability to use knowledge about families and communities to improve instruction.

The article concludes with recommendations for research in the field based on identified knowledge gaps.