Critiquing Teacher Preparation Research

Abstract

This is the second of a two-part article intended to offer teacher educators a cohesive overview of the sprawling and uneven field of research on teacher preparation by identifying, analyzing, and critiquing its major programs. The article discusses research on teacher preparation for the knowledge society and research on teacher preparation for diversity and equity, the second and third programs of research the authors identified through their massive review of research on initial teacher education, 2000-2012. Guided by their “Research on Teacher Preparation as Historically Situated Social Practice” theoretical/analytic framework, the authors describe the multiple clusters of studies comprising each of these programs of research and examine the social practices in which researchers engaged within one cluster selected from each. This article also suggests new directions for research on teacher education based on lacunae in the literature and on our analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing field.