Transforming Teacher Education: Reconfiguring the Academic Work

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Description

Teacher education has a central role in the improvement of educational systems around the world but what do the teacher educators in universities and colleges actually do Day-to-day, how do they support the learning and development of the thousands of new teachers we need every year And why does this matter Drawing on recent research by the authors, situated in the growing international literature, Transforming Teacher Education puts these questions in cultural and historical context and offers a practical answer in the form of an original agenda for the transformation of current conditions in teacher education with future designs for practice. Viv Ellis and Jane McNicholl argue that the academic work of teacher education needs to be reconfigured in order to stimulate the renewal of the profession of teaching and to develop new modes of educational research that will have impact on practice as well as building the discipline of Education within the universities. They offer suggestions for future designs for teacher education, drawing not only on the latest research in teacher learning and development but from across the social sciences.

Reviews

This book is an insightful and highly readable analysis of the work of teacher educators in England, but its value extends far beyond that setting. Combining original studies of teacher educators with trenchant critique of education policy trends in England and elsewhere, this book is a must-read for those who reject the defend or reform dichotomy and instead want genuine transformation of teacher education. * Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools, Lynch School of Education, Boston College, USA *
This excellent book is a very timely and insightful analysis of some of the consequences both intended and unintended arising out of a time of unprecedented change in the teacher education sector. * Samantha Twiselton, Director of Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University, UK *
In this thoughtful volume, Viv Ellis and Jane McNicholl offer a deliberate plan for the transformation of initial teacher education. Transforming Teacher Education represents a vision that neither defends nor reforms, but uncompromisingly takes bold steps towards collaboration and collective creativity, a vision for remaking initial teacher education such that another future for our work is possiblenot just in England but elsewhere in the world too. * A. Lin Goodwin, Vice Dean and Evenden Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, USA *
The politics of teacher education have been destabilised in most countries, often resulting in derisory discussion of both teachers and teacher educators. This book provides a helpful framework to think pro-actively about teacher education as a field, and offers a seriously challenging agenda for transforming that field of practice. It considers the much neglected daily work of teacher educators and their positioning in higher education institutions, and comes up with an important agenda in which public universities and the profession might better work together to develop and change the practices of teacher education. Such a provocative agenda offers the potential for researchers and practitioners in many countries to build both scholarship and practice in ways that invite multilateral international networks to develop. * Marie Brennan, Professor of Education, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia *
Written by authors with a deep understanding of developments in teacher education, Transforming Teacher Education is a timely and important book that captures the complexity of the work of teacher educators. Based on their extensive research and offering a transformative agenda, it is an important source for practitioners, managers and policymakers who are dedicated to transform teacher education and improve the work and academic status of all those who work within the field. * Anja Swennen, Researcher and Teacher Educator, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands *
This is an important bookThe authors offer a rich, complex and detailed approach to an alternative transforming perspective, drawing upon a wide range of theory and research which they link to practical outcomes. They have put forward versions of this analysis at conferences in different countries notably the USA and the UK where the neoliberal alternative to "transformation" has been prominent but now the publication of the book can provide teachers and scholars with a substantial basis that will enable them to review and build on these constructive ideas in their own work. * Brian Street, Professor Emeritus of Language and Education, Kings College London, UK *

Author Bio

Viv Ellis is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. Jane McNicholl is Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Oxford, UK.