Reflection is a commonly used term in teacher education. Its meaning and use, however, varies from person to person and from program to program. Despite these variations, there is agreement that the goal of preparing reflective practitioners is a worthwhile endeavor in teacher education. The purpose of reflecting is to untangle a problem, or to…

This study describes global education as one of the current trends in teacher education in the United States. In this study, preservice and inservice teachers who attended six outstanding teacher education programs in global education were asked to reflect upon: (1) what they valued in their program's content and experiences; (2) their processes…

At the turn of the century, over 200,000 one-room schools existed in the United States. These simple, vernacular buildings represented the nation's commitment to education and were also the center of community life. The country school continues to be a powerful cultural symbol. This book consists of three parts. The first section describes country…

Based on interviews with teachers, department chairs, principals, and staff developers, observations of hundreds of lessons, and a perusal of the social studies research literature and the broader school change literature, dominant barriers to the promotion of thinking were identified. Six barriers emerged: instruction as knowledge transmission, a…

There continues to be a great deal of debate about the role that field experiences play in teacher development and about the relative contribution of various individual and institutional factors to the socialization process. Field experiences in teacher education entail a complex set of interactions among program features, settings, and people…

In order to compare the differences in cognitions of experienced and beginning teachers, the perceptions of six experienced teachers, six student teachers, and six probationer teachers (in their first year of teaching after college training) were studied at various times during the course of a school year, using a variety of methods (interview,…

The attraction and recruitment of qualified teachers as a responsibility of school leaders is discussed in this paper. Included are an examination of factors contributing to teacher shortage, identification of school-based reform targets that address the work and working conditions of teachers, and a discussion of the implications of such…

This study was conducted to learn how a new "experience" component in education foundations' core course work would be evaluated by teacher-trainees and their critic teachers, who were experienced classroom teachers. Project subjects were 186 men and women (84 senior students in a required Foundations of Education senior level core course, and 102…

This paper discusses the nature of teacher induction programs and of research on this topic in European, North American, and Australian countries. Research studies and induction program content and processes in the various countries are explored and compared. Among assertions and conclusions made from this study, which is meant to stimulate…

Judging by negative feedback regularly received from preservice program graduates, teacher educators have ignored their own experiences and the literature on learning. Some educational and general theory courses are not as effective as experientially-oriented classes, yet teacher educators still depend to a disproportionate degree on a lecture…

Jesse Stuart, poet, novelist, lecturer, teacher, principal, superintendent, educational reformer, and farmer, approached education as a calling or sacred quest. In his books he portrays the teacher as a devoted liberator and nurturer, a hero rescuing children and their families from decline, illiteracy, or economic instability. Stuart's…

Approaches to teacher education are examined to determine their relative emphasis on practice and theory, and are criticized for divorcing theory from practice. A new approach is needed that would enable student teachers to relate theory and practice from an analysis of their classroom experiences. Appendices demonstrate this approach. (PP)

A definition of the construct of teacher sense of efficacy is proposed, a model relating it to other variables is provided. Also presented is a review of literature not only on teacher sense of efficacy but on other constructs which afford indirect insight into the phenomenon of teacher sense of efficacy. (Author/AL)

Two myths concerning the value of preservice field-based experience are explored: (1) Practical school experience contributes to the development of better teachers; and (2) Teacher education's institutional structures are totally coercive and students passively conform to school bureaucracies' conservative norms. (JN)

A review of research on teacher decision making and planning outlines findings on teachers' judgments and classification of students, development of lesson plans, and decisions made while actively involved in instruction. Findings from a major study on student teaching are discussed as they apply to teacher decision making. Because the classroom…