Administrative Internship Analysis

Dr. Chad Lochmiller is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the IU School of Education. In 2014, Dr. Lochmiller wrote an article “Walking the Line Between Employee and Intern: Conflict in an Administrative Internship. Recently, Dr. Hill-Jackson of Texas A&M conducted an interview with Dr. Lochmiller on his insights to the experiences highlighted in his 2014 article. Throughout the article and interview, Dr. Lochmiller provided some insightful reflections into the difficulties of participating in an administrative internship. During an internship, being uncomfortable and confused at times seems commonplace while having to navigate in/out of different roles, especially when the roles and responsibilities are

Throughout this process, Dennis felt uneasy, uncomfortable, and unclear about his roles and responsibilities as an administrator intern. “Internships should be embedded into the coursework and inclusive of structured learning experiences (as cited in Lochmiller, 2014, p.77). Dennis was uneasy from the beginning about the structure of his role. He was uneasy evaluating his teacher colleagues during their PLC meeting, uneasy about how to intervene during an office event, and unclear about his principal’s decision to present his work at the last minute. Dennis frustrations were centered around “a lack of clarity about his role” (Lochmiller, 2014,

Lochmiller expanded his descriptions of Dennis and his internship experience by providing some missing details during his interview with Dr. Hill-Jackson. Dr. Lochmiller started the interview with the challenges of failing to set high, and clear expectations. More importantly, internship programs with unclear expectations usually have less requirements and the internship may suffer (3 minute; 43 second–4 minute; 14 second). Also, Dr. Lochmiller highlighted the importance of using standards to drive the focus of the internship experience and allow the intern to assume leadership roles throughout the process (7 minute;4 second–8 minute;10 second). Dennis really struggled with being put in a position as a teacher, employee, and intern. These roles seem to conflate as Dennis was struggling to identify which situation required which role. Dr. Lochmiller expanding on how the conflict Dennis was experiencing seemed fueled by the constant flux he felt as an intern with minimal