Restructuring Teacher Education. Fastback 325.

Overview & Synopsis

This booklet focuses on reform of the professional portion of initial teacher preparation. Following an introduction entitled "Professional Education Under Attack," the booklet is organized into three sections. The first section evaluates the validity of four common criticisms of professional education of teachers, including those made by proponents of the academic reform model. These criticisms include claims that education courses are vapid, segmented, impractical, and directionless. The second section presents three reform proposals: the academic model; the research on teaching model, associated with the knowledge-base movement of the 1980s; and John Goodlad's collaborative model. The discussion of the models includes the extent to which these three proposals address the four common criticisms of professional study. The third section speculates about the kind of structural reform in teacher education that seems desirable and feasible in light of the characteristics and underlying assumptions of the three reform models. Whether a collaborative approach can bring together the forces that are currently divided is problematic, but, it is concluded, such a development may well be the best opportunity to retain and renew professional education for teachers. (Contains 46 references.) (LL)