Abstract
Teacher education in the United States, and undoubtedly in other countries as well, is more profoundly affected by shifts and developments in the wider intellectual and social world than by any changes, no matter what their magnitude, in educational theory and teaching techniques. Current practices in the preparation of teachers, therefore, cannot be understood without references to such external influences as, to cite only a few, the teacher shortage of the fifties and early sixties, the post-sputnik anxiety about how well our schools were doing, the efflorescence in the behavioural sciences, the so-called explosion of knowledge in all fields, and the concentration of educationally disadvantaged children in the central cities. Once it is assumed that teacher preparation reflects changes in the broader world, any attempt to outline recent trends and developments inevitably becomes arbitrary and partial. However, the factors enumerated and discussed below are, at least, germane to the problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
John H. Fischer, ‘The Prospect of Teacher Education’,The Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. XVI, No. 4, December 1965, p. 381–98; or theTeachers' College Bulletin, p. 1–9 (Annual Report Issue, 1963–64).
Judson Shaplin, ‘Practice in Teaching”, in: Elmer R. Smith (ed.),Teacher Education: A Reappraisal, p. 103. New York, Harper & Row, 1962.
Ralph Tyler, ‘Applications of the Behavioural Sciences’, in: Elmer R. Smith (ed.), op. cit.. p. 43.
Ronald Campbell, W. W. Charters, William Cragg, ‘Improving Administrative Theory in Practice: Three Essential Rules’, in: Ronald Campbell and James Lipham (eds.),Administrative Theory as a Guide to Action, p. 180. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1960.
James Conant,The education of American Teachers, p. 40. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1963.
Additional information
Dr. Schaefer has been Dean of the Teachers' College at Columbia University in New York since 1963. This article consists of extracts from a paper presented by the author before an expert committee which met at Unesco to consider problems of general primary and secondary education.
About this article
Cite this article
Schaefer, R.J. Teacher education in the United States of America. Prospects in Education 1, 37–42 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02354315
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02354315