CITE is a partnership program between the Richmond School District (the location of our practicum placements), the Richmond Teachers’ Association, and the University of British Columbia. The underlying principle governing all that we do is ‘Learning Alongside Each Other.’
CITE has been part of the Richmond School District for over 20 years. Community of Inquiry for Teacher Education means that all members of the CITE team engage in exploring deep questions about education alongside each other. We see teaching as something that is crafted over the course of a career, perhaps a lifetime. Richmond teachers and district staff are committed to working with and supporting each new group of CITE students throughout their teacher education year.
CITE students become a part of the Richmond School District. There will be ample opportunities for teacher candidates, faculty and school advisors and administrators to participate in teacher inquiry on a variety of topics. Together we will ask important questions about what is possible in education. Communities will be built on campus, in classrooms and in various places in the Richmond School District. Our hope is that all teacher candidates in CITE will come to understand the importance of exploring questions in collaboration with teachers at various stages in their careers. Learning alongside each other, we will all deepen our understanding of what it means to be a teacher.
Each year, approximately 36 students enrol in the CITE program. The size of the cohort is one of its strengths in that it brings together a critical mass of teacher candidates, school advisors, and instructors around which the RSD, the RTA, and UBC can invest in, engage and support as a collective.
The RSD/RTA/UBC endeavours to cluster 4-6 teacher candidates in each of its practicum schools. During the school experience elements of the program, these clusters come together as a large group to debrief, learn from, and support each other.
