Policy and Politics in Teacher Education: International perspectives / Edition 1

by John Furlong, Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Marie Brennan

Overview

During the last 20 years, governments around the world have paid increasing attention to the recruitment, preparation, and retention of teachers. Teacher supply and teacher quality have become significant policy issues, taken up by policy-makers at the highest levels. This is because teachers are now seen by many governments as the ‘lynch-pin’ of educational, economic and social reform. This volume grew out of a recognition by the Editors of the growing significance of teacher education policy and a curiosity about international trends and differences. The book brings together nine papers from leading academics around the world: from the UK (England and Scotland), the USA, Australia, Singapore and Belgium, plus a joint paper comparing Namibia and the USA. Taken together, the papers reveal the complexities and contradictions of international trends. On the one hand, they demonstrate that there is indeed a common direction of travel along the lines encouraged by international bodies such as the OECD. At the same time however, the papers also reveal important differences among countries in terms of how they are addressing common aspirations as well as some apparent contradictions within the policies of individual nations.

This book was based on the special issue of Teachers and Teaching.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415483384
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/26/2009
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Furlong is Director at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK.

Marilyn Cochran-Smith is John E. Cawthorne Chair in Teacher Education and Director of Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Instruction at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College, USA.

Marie Brennan is based at the School of Education, University of South Australia, Australia.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction John Furlong, Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Marie Brennan 2. The new teacher education in the United States: directions forward Marilyn Cochran-Smith 3. Teacher professionalism in Flemish policy on teacher education: a critical analysis of the decree on teacher education (2006) in Flanders (Belgium) Maarten Simons and Geert Kelchtermans 4. Sites of contestation over teacher education in Australia Marie Brennan and Sue Willis 5. Partnership, Policy and Politics: initial teacher education in England under new Labour John Furlong, Olwen McNamara, Anne Campbell, John Howson and Sarah Lewis 6. Is small beautiful? policy making in teacher education in Scotland Ian Menter and Moira Hulme 7. Contradictions and tensions in the place of teachers in educational reform: reflections on teacher preparation in the USA and Namibia Ken Zeichner and Bekisizwe Ndimande 8. Instrumentalism and teacher education in the United States: an analysis of two national reports Penelope M. Earley 9. 101 damnations: the persistence of criticism and the absence of evidence about teacher education in Australia William Louden 10. Knowledge management, sustainable innovation and pre-service teacher education in Singapore David Hogan and S. Gopinathan 11. More or better? The political and policy dilemmas of teacher professional development in Nigeria David Johnson 12. Reconstructing Dominant Paradigms of Teacher Education: Possibilities for pedagogical transformation in Fiji Katarina Tuinamuana 13. European Perspectives of Teacher Education and Training John Sayer