CSET Speaker Series: Pondering Excellence in Teaching

Teacher Education programs across the nation describe their work as “practice-based.”  The phrase has become so ubiquitous that some worry it has lost its meaning.  So what do we mean when talk about practice-based teacher education?  Does a practice-based approach to professional preparation mean changing the structures and settings of programs?  Does it mean reimagining the curriculum of learning to teach?  Does it involve a transformation of teacher educators’ pedagogy?  Scholars and practitioners have conceptualized practice-based teacher education at each of these different levels, but rarely do they clearly differentiate between them.  As “practice-based” approaches to teacher education continue to take hold, it is imperative that we develop some conceptual clarity about the role of practice in learning to teach.  Without that clarity the turn to practice runs the risk of become a fad driven more by trend than by a deep understanding of how people learn to enact professional practice.