In this collection, Canadian scholars articulate a response to their
collective concerns about the impact of global policy on teacher
education, provoking a far-reaching dialogue about teacher education in
and for our times.
The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed unprecedented
appraisal, analysis, and educational policy formulations related to
teaching (K-12) across the Western world. In turn, teacher education has
been greatly impacted, as governments around the world see the reform
and management of teacher education as a key component in restructuring
education toward greater economic competitiveness. The result has been
an unwarranted and undesirable level of standardization. It is vital to
the future of teacher education, and concomitantly public education,
that we imagine alternatives to the homogenization of the educational
experience that globalizing policies install. What is needed are
vocabularies that enable educators and teacher educators to discern and
articulate educational purposes beyond capital and which focus on the
kinds of educational experiences that can help prepare the young to lead
good and worthwhile lives.
Using lessons learned from the Canadian context, the authors identify
and investigate the importance of initial and continuing professional
education that fosters teachers' intellectual freedom and study;
advances an informed and critical appreciation of civic particularity
and historical circumstance; and cultivates ethical (i.e., pedagogical)
engagement with ideas and histories--teachers' own and their
students--as crucial themes of teacher education globally.
This book is published in English
