Deliberative decision-making in teacher education

This paper examines deliberative decision-making as a strategy for democratic teacher education with an eye toward the role of teacher educators as facilitators in the process. It analyzes how facilitators’ actions can support or undermine participants’ power to deliberate over meaningful decisions. The paper is a multi-case study drawing on data collected across three iterations of the Foxfire Course for Teachers, a professional development retreat. Through thick qualitative description, the paper shows how effective facilitators can support democratic learning by promoting reflection on the deliberative decision-making process and directing participants’ attention to problems instead of solving problems for participants.