Conclusion – reconnecting the dialectic

Abstract

This chapter synthesises those questions which contributors were tasked with addressing. In doing so, it poses an overarching question for teacher educators: if personal moral and political values are to underpin professional knowledge, how do we unsettle the post-hegemonic status of the neo-liberal ideological project and reconnect the dialectic? The four sub-section questions provide the framework for answering our overarching question. The author concludes that historical consciousness would enable trainee teachers to enter into a dialectic with neo-liberal values. Second, that such historical consciousness, arising from international understanding, would encourage teacher educators to become more politicised in both their pedagogy and research. Third, that critical pedagogies in teacher education will only come about if it is recognised that neo-liberalism obscures the vibrancy of the professional dialectic over time and, that, in fact, trainee teachers are already equipped with the moral and political values needed. Finally, the author concludes that teacher educators need to harness the affective dimension of teacher education which continues through time and in spite of political change, to motivate pre-service and in-service teachers to seek moral and political meaning in school-based experiences and through life history narratives, which have the potential to drive undergraduate and postgraduate research.