Section archive - Trends in Teacher Education

This article discusses changes over the last 40 years in teacher education in the USA. These changes have resulted in two very different strategies for improving the preparation of teachers and in substantial inequities in the distribution of the teaching force.

The present article traces the key periods, players and events which have contributed to the shaping of the current landscape of teacher education in Scotland. The authors examine ebb and flow amongst General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), government, colleges of education and universities. The authors conclude that the rate of change in Scotland is often glacial, with two major factors contributing to that, the conservatism of the teacher unions and indirectly of the GTCS on which these unions have a majority. However, Scotland is now committed to a career-long process of professional learning with periodic review of individual teacher progress and is moving towards a profession which is qualified to postgraduate Master’s level. In all of this, the teacher education faculties in universities play a part, in partnership with schools and local authorities.

This paper examines the relationship between pre-service teacher education (ITE) for primary schooling and primary teaching in England between 1974 and 2014. It also explores the ‘fitness of purpose’ of the current system of preparing teachers for the classrooms of the twenty-first century. This historical analysis suggests that, despite 40 years of change in ITE, there are still a number of unresolved issues in ITE.

This paper provides a description of service learning implemented in a course entitled 'Working With Socioculturally Diverse Families' for teacher education candidates. Students participated in 30 hours of service learning in which they provided support and service to diverse mentor families and implemented family events at participating schools. Students reported learning about the dynamics of family diversity, how family resources and backgrounds influence children's school success, and how family involvement should be viewed as a continuum given the diverse priorities and resources of families.