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31 - Teacher Education: Past, Present, and Future

from Part VI - Context and Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2019

By
Peter Swanson
Edited by
John W. Schwieter  and
Alessandro Benati
John W. Schwieter
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Alessandro Benati
Affiliation:
American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
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Summary

The preparation of teachers has a rich history as a critical topic in political and social circles in the United States of America and is currently in policymakers’ crosshairs. With more than 200 years in development, teacher education in the US has changed dramatically, which can be documented by four historical periods: Colonial to 1789; 1789 to 1860; 1860 to 1910; and 1910 forward (LaBue, 1960). This chapter begins by presenting a historical perspective of the US teacher preparation system focusing on aspects such as who controlled teacher education and teacher credentialling as well as how the past seventy years have been impacted by four questions driving educational reform with an emphasis on the teaching of languages. After, the chapter highlights the teacher preparation system in Finland, extolled globally for outstanding student achievement. Subsequent to that, it turns to discuss the current landscape of the American teacher education system and juxtaposes it against its history over the past 200 plus years and the success of the Finnish system of preparing teachers.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning , pp. 751 - 774
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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