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 Warren
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Memories, even nostalgia, can be good and useful things at anniversaries. For the School of Education in its 90th year, they offer reasons for celebrating a distinguished past by looking ahead. Uncertainties facing teacher education, the school's oldest and most visible public responsibility, suggest that it warrants special attention. The alarms to be sounded have to do with substantive work, not quick fixes. The school's anniversary provides an occasion for outlining some of these agenda items.
Arts and Sciences Possibilities. The preparation of new teachers begins with their studies in the liberal arts. This necessary reliance of teacher education on the disciplines has rarely been trouble-free, with questions about balance and emphasis sparking frequent debate. But the long standing conflicts may become less polarized, as new knowledge and technology-enhanced research stimulate fresh thinking about the content and organization of the liberal arts curriculum, and the modes of instruction and inquiry used to engage undergraduates. Conceptual work in the disciplines could advance innovations in teacher education, reconfiguring its dependent relation with the arts and sciences to one of collaboration and shared purpose.
The Content-Pedagogy Continuum. The most persistent criticism of teacher education faults its emphasis on instructional methods at the expense of content.
The blame to be shouldered has to do with teaching methods cast adrift from critical professional analysis and research findings. As recent investigations attest, dichotomous conceptions of content and methods mislead. All instructors model pedagogy, and all foster or impede students' intellectual engagement. Reconnecting the loose ends left frayed by the false dichotomy will require intense, strategic conceptual labor by teacher educators, arts and sciences colleagues and school-based partners. Although just beginning, this work is notably evident in efforts to re-think teacher education as a career-long process.
Assessment Dilemmas. Debate over student assessment has sharpened across higher education. Emphasis is falling on performance measures, which for educators, require blends of academic and professional attainment. Assessment dilemmas encourage faculty to test strategies for elevating program quality, while exposing them to responsibility for student learning. This localized accountability may prove beneficial in promoting innovation as a continuing dynamic in teacher education.
New business on teacher education's agenda joins issues left over from the past. Racial and cultural diversity, equity, inclusion and inadequate funding head the list of program and policy concerns urgently demanding effective responses. At the general level, we can answer the purpose question. We need teachers who advance student learning in elementary and secondary schools. But teachers who meet high performance expectations require preparation infused with compelling ideals, challenging curricula and tough-minded inquiry on the changing conditions of teaching and learning. The future of teacher education awaits our initiatives to direct it.
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