Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

Book excerpt: A pedagogy of teacher education must go well beyond the simple delivery of information about teaching. This book describes and explores the complex nature of teaching and of learning about teaching, illustrating how important teacher educators' professional knowledge is and how that knowledge must influence teacher training practices. The book is divided into two sections. The first considers the crucial distinction between teaching student-teachers and teaching them about teaching, allowing practice to push beyond the technical-rational, or tips-and-tricks approach, to teaching about teaching in a way that brings in the appropriate attitudes, knowledge and skills of teaching itself. Section two highlights the dual nature of student teachers’ learning, arguing that they need to concentrate not only on learning what is being taught but also on the way in which that teaching is conducted.