Abstract
During the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in education policy and practice and in the larger economic and political contexts in the USA and elsewhere. Based on the widely shared view that education and the economy are inextricably linked, it is now assumed that teachers can – and should – teach all students as per world-class standards, serve as the linchpins in educational reforms of all kinds, and produce a well-qualified labor force to preserve the nation’s position in the global economy. In the face of these daunting – and arguable – expectations, the question of how teachers are recruited and prepared has become a hot topic in the educational discourse of many nations. In the USA, despite many critiques (e.g., Earley, 2005; Michelli, 2005; Sleeter, 2009), a “new teacher education” (Cochran-Smith, 2005) has emerged, which is regarded as a problem that can be solved by the “right” public policies, based on evidence rather than values or ideals, and judged by outcomes rather than processes, resources, or curricula.
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Notes
- 1.
The author wishes to acknowledge the very helpful comments of Kenneth Howe and Susan Lytle on earlier drafts of this chapter as well as feedback from Boston College Evidence Team members, Sarah Enterline, Ann Marie Gleeson, Larry Ludlow, Karen Shakman, and Dianna Terrell.
- 2.
We argue that four major critiques of teacher education for social justice can be identified in the current educational discourse: the ambiguity critique, the knowledge critique, the ideology critique, and the free speech critique. These are connected to differing professional and political agendas and play out in policy and practice in highly politicized ways.
- 3.
The Evidence Team includes Boston College faculty members and administrators, Marilyn Cochran-Smith (chair), Alan Kafka, Fran Loftus, Larry Ludlow, Patrick McQuillan, Joseph Pedulla, and Gerald Pine; TNE administrators, Jane Carter and Jeff Gilligan; and doctoral students Joan Barnatt, Robert Baroz, Lisa D’Souza, Sarah Enterline, Ann Marie Gleeson, Cindy Jong, Kara Mitchell, Emilie Mitescu, Aubrey Scheopner, Karen Shakman, Yves Fernandez Solomon, and Diana Terrell.
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Cochran-Smith, M. (2010). Toward a Theory of Teacher Education for Social Justice. In: Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M., Hopkins, D. (eds) Second International Handbook of Educational Change. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2660-6_27
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