Exploring the Complex Concept of Quality in Teacher Education

Abstract

What is quality in teacher education, why is it so elusive, and what are the major challenges? We begin with issues that illustrate the sheer complexity of the concept of quality when considered in the context of initial teacher education. Three fundamental challenges to achieving quality in teacher education are examined: the problem of the apprenticeship of observation, the problem of enactment and the problem of complexity. We then identify three additional challenges: dissonance and drift, resistance as a barrier to quality, and cultural barriers to achieving quality. The argument continues with a focus on quality as it may be perceived by the four major players: teacher candidate, mentor teacher, faculty supervisor and teacher educator. Each plays a significant and significantly different role in a program of teacher education. The four different roles lead to at least four different interpretations of the meaning of quality in initial teacher education. We continue our argument by presenting the voices of a number of individuals who have spoken directly to the issue of quality or excellence in programs of teacher education. Finally, we explore perspectives that could help to achieve greater quality in programs of teacher education: listening to those learning to teach, searching for quality learning, fostering metacognition and learning from experience, promoting knowledge integration, and connecting epistemology to the challenge of quality.