There are two central questions determining the pedagogy of teacher education: (1) What are the essential qualities of a good teacher, and (2) How can we help people to become good teachers? Our objective is not to present a definitive answer to these questions, but to discuss an umbrella model of levels of change that could serve as a framework for reflection and development. The model highlights relatively new areas of research, viz. teachers' professional identity and mission. Appropriate teacher education interventions at the different levels of change are discussed, as well as implications for new directions in teacher education.

Traditional approaches to teacher education are increasingly critiqued for their limited relationship to student teachers' needs and for their meager impact on practice. Many pleas are heard for a radical new and effective pedagogy of teacher education in which theory and practice are linked effectively. Although various attempts to restructure teacher education have been published, no coherent body of knowledge exists about central principles underlying teacher education programs that are responsive to the expectations, needs and practices of student teachers. By analyzing effective features of programs in Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands, this study contributes an initial framework of seven fundamental principles to guide the development of responsive teacher education programs that make a difference.

No abstract

The pressure towards more school-based teacher education programs, visible in many countries, creates a need to rethink the relationship between theory and practice. The traditional application-of-theory model appears to be rather ineffective and is currently being replaced by other, more reflective approaches. However, until now the variety of different notions and assumptions underlying these new approaches have not provided a sound basis for further development. Two related theoretical bases are presented for a new paradigm in teacher education. The first uses the concepts of episteme and phronesis to introduce a new way of framing relevant knowledge. The second is a more holistic way of describing the relationship between teacher cognition and teacher behavior, leading to a model of three levels in learning about teaching, the Gestalt level, the schema level and the theory level, which are illustrated by interview data. Building on these two theoretical, frameworks, a so-called “realistic approach” to teacher education is introduced. The teacher educator's role within this approach is analyzed as well as organizational consequences. First evaluative results are presented.