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Two Visions of Teaching and Teacher Education for the Twenty-First Century

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Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century

Part of the book series: New Frontiers of Educational Research ((NFER))

Abstract

This chapter examines current criticisms of the role of colleges and universities in teacher education in the U.S. and calls for the development of new more democratic models of pre-service teacher education where the responsibility for educating new teachers is shared more equally between colleges/universities, schools and communities. Examples of the creation of these more democratic spaces in teacher education programs where the expertise of academics, teachers and community members is accessed in support of teacher learning are presented. Both traditional “college-recommending” models of teacher education and newer “early-entry” or fast track models are seen as problematic. A new more democratic approach to teacher education is advocated, is grounded in elements of cultural-historical activity theory, and is seen as critical to the survival of a significant role for colleges and universities in pre-service teacher education in the U.S.

Revised, version of a keynote address presented at the First Global Summit on Teacher Education, Beijing Normal University, October, 2011.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One controversial program in the U.S., “Teach for America” explicitly encourages recruits to teach for a few years on their way to taking a high paying job in the corporate world. http://www.teachforamerica.org/why-teach-for-america/compensation-and-benefits/graduate-school-and-employer-partnerships. How long Teach for America recruits actually stay in teaching is disputed (Donaldson and Johnson 2011; Helig and Jez 2010).

  2. 2.

    In the U.S. context, this refers to African-American, Latino-American, Native American and Asian-American students.

  3. 3.

    The substantial influence on Education policy in the Obama government of non-profit “think-tanks” composed of advocates of privatization of K-12 schooling and teacher education and potential investors such as the Democrats for Education Reform (http://www.dfer.org/) and the New Schools Venture Fund (http://www.newschools.org/) needs further analysis. Individuals within these two organizations or those represented by them have much to gain financially from a market economy in education and teacher education.

  4. 4.

    This criticism is true internationally as well (e.g., Moreno 2007).

  5. 5.

    http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html.

  6. 6.

    One fundamental question underlying this debate is whether education and teacher education are primarily public goods for the benefit of particular individuals or public goods that benefit the common good of the nation (Tyack 2003).

  7. 7.

    http://www.texasteachers.org/our-company/. This particular program refers to itself as a leader in the teacher education “industry.”

  8. 8.

    Currently, the 49 teaching strategies in “Teaching Like a Champion” (Lemov 2010) are a popular example in the U.S. of teaching skills-based approach that has been adopted in some teacher education programs. This particular set of strategies is a major aspect of the “training” given to teachers in the Relay Graduate School of education which was formed in New York as an alternative to university programs to prepare teachers for several charter school networks.

  9. 9.

    The U.S. Secretary of Education has asserted that most college and university programs have done a mediocre job in preparing teachers based on his linking the inequities in public schooling for students largely with ineffective teachers (Duncan 2009). The previous Secretary of Education had argued that participation in a teacher education program should be optional Paige, (2002)

  10. 10.

    This includes the creation of virtual settings (Pointer-Mace 2009).

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  1. University of Washington-Seattle, Seattle, WA, USA

    Ken Zeichner

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  1. Center for Teacher Education Research, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    Xudong Zhu

  2. College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Kenneth Zeichner

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Zeichner, K. (2013). Two Visions of Teaching and Teacher Education for the Twenty-First Century. In: Zhu, X., Zeichner, K. (eds) Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36970-4_1

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