IP 89-5 Teacher preparation: Structural and conceptual alternatives.
Abstract
This paper focuses on different ways of conceiving and carrying out teacher preparation. The distinction between structural and conceptual alternatives provides a way to highlight some of the "big ideas" that Americans have had about how teachers should be prepared for their work. At the same time, it reflects the immature state of the field in which different forms of teacher preparation are only loosely tied to explicit traditions of thought and conceptual orientations lack well developed traditions of practice. The paper begins with a brief discussion of historic traditions that have shaped ideas about teacher preparation and concludes with a review of research-in-progress designed to generate information about different approaches and alternatives.