Critical Reflections On Teacher Education In South Africa

This is a reflection on the education of teachers, written by teacher educators who discuss features of their work and the challenges facing teacher education in the 1990s. The book invites the reader to attempt similar analyses of personal practice and development in their own teaching.; The book deals with the personal development of both new and experienced teacher educators, illustrating how strongly teacher educators are influenced by their visions and by the challenge to prove themselves in the university setting. In addition, the book examines the ways in which teacher educators have acted to promote their own professional development and study their own practices, including writing as a tool for reflection, a life-history approach to self-study, as well as a study of educative relationships with others, and the analysis of a personal return to the classroom. Finally, it takes a broader look at the professional development of teacher educators and offers a challenge to all teacher educators to consider the tension between rigour and relevance.

This collection centres the diverse narrative experiences of six early-career US teachers who identify as critically reflective practitioners. The contributors cogently demonstrate how teachers with critically reflective mindsets take active steps to ensure that they are cognizant of how their intersecting social identities impact how they arrive at making different types of decisions (big and small), interact with students from varied backgrounds, and negotiate competing demands and expectations in and out of their classrooms. The contributors have carefully thought about how learning and teaching are complex processes that involve significant ethical, moral, and social responsibilities. While they do not offer easy answers to the complex challenges that teachers negotiate on a daily basis, their willingness to share their concerns, experiences, and lesson learned offer timely perspectives about the possibilities and promise of using critical reflection as a means to challenge and close persistent academic, equity, and opportunity gaps that disproportionately and persistently impact students from underserved populations. The editors offer strategies for developing and supporting critically reflective teachers with a focus on transforming PK-12 and teacher education through an equity-centric lens. They contend that aspiring and earlier-career teachers greatly benefit from employing critical reflection in their daily lives to not only survive but to also thrive in an increasingly complex sociopolitical climate. Additional resources and guiding questions are included with specific foci on teacher educators and other major decision-makers in PK-12 education who are directly involved with the education, professional development, and socialization of early-career teachers.

"This book offers insightful reflections on academic development practices. The contributors engage the reader painstakingly in the dynamics of professional learning and effective teaching. This volume facilitates the examination of the need for reflection that leads to professional maturity. All educational institutions seek teachers who continuously search for effective strategies in improving student success. The contributors uncover a variety of approaches as they evince proven suggestions. The chapters are refreshing and edifying. This book is essential for all teachers, lecturers and trainers who want to improve their teaching practice immensely". Professor Vuyisile T. Msila Researcher at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa.

Critical Reflections on Teacher Education argues that educational philosophy can improve the quality of teacher education programs in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The book documents the ways in which the market model of education propagated by governments and outside agencies hastens the decline of philosophy of education and turns teachers into technicians in hierarchical school systems. A grounding in educational philosophy, however, enables future teachers to make informed and qualified judgements defining their professional lives. In a clear and accessible style, Howard Woodhouse uses a combination of reasoned argument and narrative to show that educational philosophy, together with Indigenous knowledge systems, forms the basis of a climate change education capable of educating future teachers and their students about the central issue of our time.

This book explores the current landscape of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in primary schools in South Africa. Considering recent policy directives and initiatives, it highlights the dilemmas of ITE for the primary school and gives a thorough account of innovations and initiatives to improve ITE. The book presents what works best for quality preparation of teachers in the Global South, where many children rely on their teachers and school life to break the cycle of poverty. Chapters draw on evidence from workplace learning, pre-service study, and primary school teacher education policy to highlight examples of promising change in teacher education in South Africa, addressing the clichés of "theory versus practice" head-on. This book successfully brings out the challenging aspects of teacher education for childhood learning which has otherwise been regarded as the softer option for a career in education. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of teacher education, African education, educational policy, international education, and comparative education.

This book explores the current landscape of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in primary schools in South Africa. Considering recent policy directives and initiatives, it highlights the dilemmas of ITE for the primary school and gives a thorough account of innovations and initiatives to improve ITE. The book presents what works best for quality preparation of teachers in the Global South, where many children rely on their teachers and school life to break the cycle of poverty. Chapters draw on evidence from workplace learning, pre-service study, and primary school teacher education policy to highlight examples of promising change in teacher education in South Africa, addressing the clichés of "theory versus practice" head-on. This book successfully brings out the challenging aspects of teacher education for childhood learning which has otherwise been regarded as the softer option for a career in education. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of teacher education, African education, educational policy, international education, and comparative education.

This volume presents distinctive, innovative models of teacher education from Australia, discusses their successful elements and considers possibilities for successful teacher education in the twenty-first century. Each model is couched within the international teacher education concerns of the theory practice nexus, school-university partnerships, reflective practice, and the role of technology. The contributing authors, drawn from different contexts and locations around Australia, each offers research-based perspectives on successful teacher education. Responses to teacher education challenges in rural and regional contexts, metropolitan areas, among low socio-economic populations and Indigenous communities are considered. Ways in which technology, and in particular mobile technology, can be used to support learning across these diverse contexts are illustrated, as is the role of reflective practice to encourage critical reflection for improving teacher learning. Collectively, the authors present a range of directions that can guide the future of teacher education both nationally and internationally, demonstrating that context, partnerships, reflection and technology are critical elements in the provision of successful teacher education.