Critical Issues in the Curriculum of Teacher Education Programs (original) (raw)
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In this article, the authors argue for making practice the core of teachers' professional preparation. They set the argument for teaching practice against the contemporary backdrop of a teacher education curriculum that is often centered not on the tasks and activities of teaching but on beliefs and knowledge, on orientations and commitments, and a policy environment preoccupied with recruitment and retention. The authors caution that the bias against detailed professional training that often pervades common views of teaching as idiosyncratic and independently creative impedes the improvement of teachers' preparation for the work of teaching. They offer examples of what might be involved in teaching practice and conclude with a discussion of challenges of and resources for the enterprise.
Awareness of Gender within Teacher Education Programs
1995
This study examined the extent to which gender issues are incorporated into teacher education programs. Two separate lines of research informed and supported the study. The first related to research on gender issues in the school curriculum and environment, in the disciplines of education and teacher education, and in educational reform movements. The second line of scholarship related to feminist theory and feminist analyses of schooling. Two survey instruments were given to administrators and faculty at 30 teacher preparation institutions across Michigan; one survey instrument was given to students participating in one preservice program. Descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency were computed, and qualitative data were analyzed using Glaser's constant comparative method. Findings indicate gender related instruction is lacking in teacher education programs. While faculty and students advocated instruction on gender issues, they were unaware and uninformed about how it related to the classes they taught. This study also found that the absence of such instruction was unrelated to factors such as program accreditation, age and sex of faculty, and presence of program policy--all of which were among obstacles suggested in earlier research. These findings point to the need for a renewed effort to improve gender related discussion and instruction within teacher education programs. Four appendices present: the program survey instrument, the faculty survey instrument, the student survey instrument, and components of literature study project.
“To make the tacit explicit”: Teacher education, emerging discourse, and conceptions of teaching
Teaching and Teacher Education, 1991
The influence of teacher education on teaching is a problematic area, both in practice and in research. Often, because much research adopts a "first-order" perspective which focuses on teachers' behaviors. influences of teacher education are seen as temporary, negligible, or dif-tIcult to determine. The study reported here grew out of a general concern to document, via a "second-order" perspective which examines their thinking and perceptions, how teachers modify or improve what they do through formal teacher education. It addresses three important areas which have received little attention in recent research: foreign language teaching, in-service graduate education, and the role of a shared, professional discourse in developing teachers' conceptions of teaching. The paper presents a summary of the findings of an l&month longitudinal study which examined how foreign language teachers' conceptions of their classroom practice developed as they took part in an in-service teacher education program. The paper discusses how the proeram's shared professional discourse contributes to increasing the complexity of the tcacherc thinking about their teaching and suggests that as they learn to articulate their de facto ways of thinking in the shared discourse, the teachers gain greater control over their classroom practice and are thus more able to shape it to their own ends.
Navigating the Contested Terrain of Teacher Education Policy and Practice
In the policy climate where various actors claim to have the solutions for the enduring challenges of teacher education, policy deliberations sideline certain voices. This introduction to the special issue explores policy contestations surrounding teacher education and highlights some of the perspectives overlooked by policy debates. It lays out new priorities for the teacher education community to ensure that the profession's collective voice would be heard by policy-makers and by the public at large.
Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2018
In the policy climate where various actors claim to have the solutions for the enduring challenges of teacher education, policy deliberations sideline certain voices. This introduction to the special issue explores policy contestations surrounding teacher education and highlights some of the perspectives overlooked by policy debates. It lays out new priorities for the teacher education community to ensure that the profession's collective voice would be heard by policy-makers and by the public at large.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2010
The importance of reflection in supporting the continued professional learning of preservice practitioners is well recognised. This study examines one aspect of the outcomes of preservice teachers' reflection: the development of their own self-image as a teacher. In making the transition from student to teacher, preservice teachers create their own professional identity. Their ability to articulate this identity is examined through a new construct, a ''teachers' voice''. A teachers' voice, develops when preservice teachers interpret and reinterpret their experiences through the processes of reflection. A teachers' voice is articulated as part of the persons' self-image. The construct, a teachers' voice, was investigated by examining changes in preservice teachers' contributions in an online discussion forum. Two complementary approaches of content analysis were applied. Both methods revealed changes in preservice teachers' levels of engagement and showed that in the first semester of preservice teacher education, the majority of preservice teachers moved towards a more professional stance in their contributions.
Teaching and Teacher Education
Teaching and Teacher Education
Investigation of conditions associated with teachers' in-depth discussions. Focus on teacher communities of inquiry in a professional development initiative. Using unique methodological approach: Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Single purpose was a necessary condition associated with in-depth discussion. Coach questions and connecting theory and practice were also associated conditions. a b s t r a c t This paper examines factors that contributed to critical conversations in teacher communities of inquiry (CI) as part of a statewide professional development initiative in the United States. Based on a three-year mixed method design, we use qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the influence of combinations of conditions on the depth of discussion. Results suggest that there were three conditions associated with the extent to which CI members engaged in discussions with substantive interaction and reflection: a clear purpose, coach questioning, and the connection of theory to practice. The findings contribute to the understanding of effective reform implementation in different contexts.