Core Practices and Pedagogies of Teacher Education

TLDR

Currently, teacher education is shifting from a focus on prescribing knowledge for teaching to emphasizing teaching practices that combine knowledge and action. The authors argue that centering K‑12 core teaching practices can transform teacher education toward actual teaching practice and that a framework for core practices could serve as the foundation for a research agenda engaging teachers and educators in systematic knowledge generation. To realize this vision, they propose reimagining both the curriculum and pedagogy of teacher education, presenting a framework that conceptualizes teacher preparation around core practices. They invite the field to collaborate in developing and aggregating knowledge about teaching and teacher‑education pedagogy to advance both individual and collective practice.

Abstract

Currently, the field of teacher education is undergoing a major shift—a turn away from a predominant focus on specifying the necessary knowledge for teaching toward specifying teaching practices that entail knowledge and doing. In this article, the authors suggest that current work on K-12 core teaching practices has the potential to shift teacher education toward the practice of teaching. However, the authors argue that to realize this vision we must reimagine not only the curriculum for learning to teach but also the pedagogy of teacher education. We present one example of what we mean by reimagined teacher education pedagogy by offering a framework through which to conceptualize the preparation of teachers organized around core practices. From our perspectives, this framework could be the backbone of a larger research and development agenda aimed at engaging teachers and teacher educators in systematic knowledge generation regarding ambitious teaching and teacher education pedagogy. We conclude with an invitation to the field to join with us in imagining approaches to generating and aggregating knowledge about teaching and the pedagogy of teacher education that will move not only our individual practice but also our collective practice forward.