Journal of Primary Education

Abstract

In order to establish a basis for redesigning initial teacher preparation, the author examines two instances during his career when he was excited in his work as a teacher educator. He also analyzes external barriers to achieving excitement in teacher education, including not only state and national regulation of teacher education but also the low status of teacher education in the United States. Barriers are also created by three questionable beliefs which are widely accepted among teacher educators, namely, that subject matter and pedagogy are separable, that pedagogical knowledge is critically important in teacher education, and that specialized knowledge is the core of pedagogical knowledge. Eleven principles for redesigning teacher education are proposed as a way both of capturing the essential attributes of exciting teacher education and of addressing the external barriers and the three mistaken beliefs. Also considered are the reform ideas of John Goodlad and the attempt to encourage reform by posing the question of what teacher education is fruitful is yet to be determined; additional experience with reform efforts is needed.

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