Competing agendas and reform in teacher education

  • Ali Yıldırım
Keywords: Teacher education, restructuring, educational program

Abstract

Teacher education in Turkey has gone through many changes in the last 30 years as it has been the case in many developed countries. Most of the time, the rationale for these changes has been characterized as increasing the quality of teachers trained in preservice teacher education programs. However, the actions taken for this purpose often have been overturned by new decisions that have been contradictory with each other. This shows that reform efforts in teacher education have not had a consistent conceptual framework. This article discusses the competing agendas that give shape to different viewpoints and reform efforts in teacher education within the framework of teacher education paradigms. Among the competing agendas, subject area vs. pedagogy, theory vs. practice, unification vs. diversity, and testing vs. professionalization are given emphasis, and the influence of these agendas on teacher education reforms is analyzed from a critical point of view.

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How to Cite
Yıldırım, A. (2011). Competing agendas and reform in teacher education. International Journal of Curriculum and Instructional Studies (IJOCIS), 1(1), 1-17.