Discussions of quality dominate the field of teacher education. However,
definitions of quality can vary enormously and are often vague and
imprecise, relying on proxies for quality which make inaccurate
assumptions about what matters in the education of teachers. This book
explores different ways in which quality can be defined and understood
within teacher education, offering a way of categorizing and
understanding why some quality indicators miss the mark. The book
introduces the idea of a quality conundrum, with illustrative examples
from international ITE practice, to show how different conceptions of
quality in ITE can have good intentions but be potentially damaging to
its overall transformative potential. It also provides examples of where
practice has been able to move beyond restrictive definitions of quality
to enact a more transformative vision of teacher education. This
analysis ties the use of quality indicators to historical developments
in teacher education and political shifts in how it is viewed, the role
education is perceived to play in society, and considers where the power
lies in locating who decides what counts as quality in teacher education
(and also who and what gets excluded). Key topics covered include:
- the use of standards, accreditation and inspection frameworks;
- the range of input, process, output and perspectival indicators used
to judge quality in ITE;
- the different discourses of teacher quality which influence the
pedagogy and structure of teacher education programmes.
The author also gives particular attention to how to address different
approaches to quality when they start to reach conundrum proportions,
and how to redress teacher education towards what matters rather than
what counts.
