Ways of Learning to Teach: A Philosophically Inspired Analysis of Teacher Education Programs

250 Pages·2012·3.067 MB·English

by  Shlomo Back (auth.), Shlomo Back (eds.)

Ways of Learning to Teach
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Ways of Learning to Teach

A Philosophically Inspired Analysis of Teacher
Education Programs

Shlomo Back
Kaye College of Education, Beer-Sheva, Israel

SENSE PUBLISHERS
ROTTERDAM/BOSTON/TAIPEI
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-94-6091-850-6 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-94-6091-851-3 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-94-6091-852-0 (e-book)

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Dedicated to Hagit, my wife and partner,
and to our children Yonatan and Aya
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Once our master Rabbi Hayyim of Zans [19th century] told a parable:
A man had been wandering about in the forest for several days, not
knowing which was the right way out. Suddenly he saw a man
approaching him. His heart was filled with joy. “Now I shall find out
which is the right way,” he thought to himself. When he neared one
another, he asked the man, “Brother, tell me which is the right way. I
have been wandering in this forest for several days.”
Said the other to him, “Brother, I do not know the way either. For I
too have been wandering about here for many, many days. But this I
can tell you: do not take the way I have been taking, for that will
bring you astray. And now let us look for a new way out together.”
Our master added: “So it is with us. One thing I can tell you: the way
we have been following this far we ought following no farther, for
that way leads us astray. But now let us look for a new way.”
S.Y. Agnon. (1948). Days of Awe. NY: Schoken Books. p. 22)
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Preface .................................................................................................................... xiii
Chapter 1: The End of the Journey: Revealing the Present Condition of
Teacher Education ................................................................................... 1
A Multifaceted Struggle ....................................................................................... 1
The Postmodernist Challenge ............................................................................... 1
The Neo-Liberal Threat ....................................................................................... 4
The Professional Identity Crisis ........................................................................... 7
The Search for a Meta-Theory ........................................................................... 12
Chapter 2: Getting the Equipment:The Theoretical Framework ............................. 13
The Moral Dimension ........................................................................................ 14
The Psychological Dimension ............................................................................ 21
The Social Dimension ........................................................................................ 25
The Merging Effect ............................................................................................ 30
Chapter 3: Having Reason ....................................................................................... 33
Theoretical and Practical Reason ....................................................................... 34
Formal and Substantial Reason .......................................................................... 36
Formal Reasoning ............................................................................................... 37
Theoretical Formal Reasoning ........................................................................... 37
Practical formal reasoning and the utilitarian ethics .......................................... 40
Substantial Practical Rationality ........................................................................ 44
Educational implications .................................................................................... 47
Professional Teacher Education ......................................................................... 48
Chapter 4: Preparing Professionals: The Technician Phase .................................... 51
Teaching as a Profession .................................................................................... 52
The Professional Knowledge Base ..................................................................... 53
The Initial Phase: The Pre-Professional Period.................................................. 54
Phase I: The Plain Vanilla Model ...................................................................... 59
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