ArticleResearchers in many fields and in many parts of the world are now interested in studying the ways teachers are recruited, prepared and certified. They work from different, sometimes competing, perspectives regarding the goals of research and the purposes of education. This is the second of a two-part article intended to offer teacher educators a cohesive overview of the sprawling and uneven field of research on teacher preparation by identifying, analyzing, and critiquing its major programs. It is based on our massive review of research on teacher education and certification (Cochran-Smith et al., in press). Part 1, which appeared in the previous issue of Journal of Teacher Education (JTE), provided information about how the review was conducted, described the theoretical/analytic framework we developed to guide the review, and analyzed the research on teacher preparation accountability, effectiveness and policies-the first of three broadly construed programs of research we identified. This second part of the article discusses the second and third programs of research: research on teacher preparation for the knowledge society and research on teacher preparation for diversity and equity. Guided by our "Research on Teacher Preparation as Historically Situated Social Practice" theoretical/analytic framework, we identified the multiple subcategories or clusters of studies comprising each of these programs of research and examined the social practices in which researchers engaged within a selected cluster for each program. This article also suggests new directions for research on teacher education based on lacunae in the literature and on our analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing field.
Research Program B: Teacher Preparation for the Knowledge SocietyIt is generally agreed that knowledge societies demand workers who can think critically, pose and solve problems, and work collaboratively-abilities not readily developed in classrooms where teaching entails transmitting factual information to learners. According to reformers, preparing students for future knowledge work requires new ways of teaching that are grounded in constructivist views of learning. The studies in Research Program B focus on preparing teacher candidates to teach in ways that are consistent with new understandings of how people learn, a trend we discussed in more detail in Part 1 of this two-part article. We identified six clusters of studies within this program of research: preparing teachers to teach subject matter, particularly science (Cluster B-1); the influence of coursework on learning to teach (Cluster B-2); the influence of fieldwork on learning to teach (Cluster B-3); teacher education program content, structures, and pedagogies (Cluster B-4); teacher educators as learners (Cluster B-5); and learning to teach 558268J TEXXX10.1177/0022487114558268Journal of Teacher EducationCochran-Smith et al.
AbstractThis is the second of a two-part article intended to offer teacher educators a cohesive overview of the sprawling a...