Imagining a Renaissance in Teacher Education

At a time when teacher education is undisputedly under attack, this yearbook considers the possibility of a renaissance in teacher education, primarily from a teacher educator perspective. Presenting the challenges and the possibilities inherent in teacher education, the volume encompasses a wide swath of topics ranging from the need to discuss the psychic rewards of teaching and adding care to the vision of education to the revamping of particular courses and apprising student teachers of their legal rights before placing them in schools. Then, too, there is the discussion of the separation of the preparation of teacher candidates from the ongoing development of inservice teachers and the conversation about the potential shaping effects of curriculum theory on student-teachers' beliefs. As for particular renaissances, authors center on such vital topics as collaboration, arts-based learning, economic responsibility, social justice, narrative authority, voice, and agency. The volume concludes by urging readers to use what we know to question what we know and offers principles of teacher education practice that have been gleaned over time from an international meta-analysis. The book includes chapters written by internationally acclaimed teacher educators originating from such countries as Australia, Canada, Columbia, Ireland, Israel, and The Netherlands as well as a plethora of well-respected United States-based authors situated in teacher education programs dotted around the nation. In addition to teacher educators, the voices of teachers, children, and principals are threaded in. Unanticipated inclusions are chapters written by an educational humorist and legal experts.