Student cohorts: Communities of critique or dysfunctional families?

The study was designed to trouble the commonsense notion in the field that cohorts, groups of students who move through an educational program together, provide the optimal structure for preparing future teachers. Using collaborative inductive methods, this study by two university researchers of their teaching within a preservice education program explored the following questions: What is the relationship between the positive aspects of being a community and students' ability and willingness to become critical practitioners? What happens to relationships between students and between students and faculty when there are ruptures or critical incidents within the community? How is the role of faculty members teaching cohorts different from the role of faculty members teaching classes organized in more traditional ways? The study raises questions about various factors that affect community within the cohort and about differences between students' and faculty's perceptions of critical ruptures within the classroom.