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Maria Assunção Flores. University of Minho, on ‘Integrating research, theory and practice in teacher education: new contexts, new challenges.
Teacher education has been subject to a long and sometimes controversial debate, most of the time associated with its curriculum, its rationale and key components, and with its impact on the professional learning of pre-service teachers. A systemic view is needed in order to fully understand teacher education rationale, curriculum and goals, encompassing, amongst others, the nature and goals of school curriculum itself, the conception of the teacher as a professional and its role in curriculum development, teachers’ professional status and issues of recruitment, selection and retention, the view of education or training that is advocated, the political, economic, social and cultural context in which it is embedded – clearly a complex and highly inter-related set of issues and ideas. In this talk I will look at three key components of the curriculum of teacher education that, although controversial, have been discussed internationally as key elements in fostering the quality of teacher education.
A redefinition of university and school roles with a growing emphasis on strong, coherent and supportive partnerships is clearly at the heart of challenging the binary of theory and practice through a research-based design. As such combining teaching and research and promoting teacher practice as a space of transformation rather that a process of adaptation or of application of theory may well represent a move forward towards a more consistent, coherent and solid practicum along with explicit connections with the other teacher education curriculum components.
Teacher education needs therefore to focus on what it means to be a teacher if it is to be seen as seriously seeking to make a difference through the lens of teachers as professionals with teacher education as a space of transformation.