Landon E. Beyer

Field Experience, Ideology, and the Development of Critical Reflectivity:

A paradox currently exists for many programs of teacher preparation because of two apparently oppositional tendencies. First, within programs which prepare future teachers, there is an increasing amount of attention being given to field work of various types, as appropriate training for those about to enter the profession of teaching; second, there has been a growing commitment to provide more than a vocational training experience for prospective teachers, so that students in teacher preparation programs may be encouraged to examine educational issues, ideas, and practices from a critical, foundational perspective (Beyer & Zeichner, 1982). We will explore in this paper: a) how these tendencies conflict; b) the educational and ideological parameters of such conflicts and why these are important ; and c) how the tendencies which form the basis for this paradox may be realigned so that a critically oriented, reflective approach to teacher preparation may be enhanced.

The moral contours of teacher education

In this article, I describe the nature of and necessity for moral reasoning in everyday life and in programs in teacher education, consider ways teacher educators can consider moral issues with their students, and provide examples of how some educators have incorporated such issues in actual and proposed programs. Exchanges over school issues with moral connotations often focus on controversies such as censorship of books, appropriateness of sex education, or the legitimacy of creationism versus evolutionism. The Christian Coalition, other fundamentalist organizations, and groups with different perspectives have provoked controversies like these. Some recent efforts of the New Right have sought to regain what they perceive as lost intellectual ground, with cultural and ethical repercussions (Bennett, 1989; Cheney, 1988; Wynne, 1987; Wynne & Ryan, 1993). This ground was lost, so the argument goes, because of changes in the canon in higher education; progressive alternatives to more mainstream educational programs in public schools, especially during the 1960s; movements that promoted greater diversity and inclusiveness within the curriculum as well as among students; and a focus on issues of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation in public school and college classrooms. Those with alternative intellectual and political commitments (Asante, 1991,1992; Delpit, 1995; Gates, 1992; hooks; 1994; Kozol, 1991) have, in turn, challenged the perspective and agenda of the New Right. Such debates demonstrate that education is an ethically and politically contested domain, that the articulation of different points of view on basic moral questions is a central element of the educative process (Beyer & Liston, 1996). At the same time, these debates may be misleading, for they tend to be characterized by particularly heated, even inflammatory exchanges, accompanied by shrill, sometimes personalized accusations and counter-accusations that divide people into sides that talk past, rather than to or with, each other. Debates that grab headlines in the local and national media like those between proponents of creationism and evolutionism may hide the fact that value-laden perspectives underlie a good deal of the commonplace in education, and indeed help shape daily school practice. Moral Issues and Moral Reasoning Moral discourse operates on questions or dilemmas resolved neither by reference to empirical realities nor by logical or linguistic analyses, though the latter may clarify the relevant issues involved in moral disagreements. Moral questions arise whenever we ponder what is the right thing to do, or when we are puzzled about competing claims to action and the values on which those claims rest. Moral deliberation is central to daily lives as well as to decisions about social justice; for instance, in issues ranging from how I treat others on a day-to-day basis, to what my obligations are to members of my community, to what public policies will most help the least advantaged members of society. We may disagree about what makes for a good, responsible, or fulfilling life, as well as about the actions most likely contributing to the realization of that life. Discussion of alternative conceptions of the good life may not be commonplace outside some university classrooms and religious institutions, but issues concerning the politics of affirmative action and the legitimacy of capital punishment frequently contain implicit conceptions of what a good or worthwhile life is. Similarly, concrete classroom questions like those concerning which curriculum content should be selected, what student socialization patterns should be reinforced, what pedagogical practices should be emphasized, and when, how, and by whom evaluative activities should be incorporated, must be understood in relation to ideas about what constitutes a good or rewarding life (Beyer & Apple, in press; Macdonald, 1975). …

The Value of Critical Perspectives in Teacher Education

Among the thorniest of issues that teacher educators deal with is the relationship between theory and practice. Moreover, there are a number of theoretical traditions on which we can draw to create new programs in teacher education or critique ongoing programs. This article discusses the range of theories that are available and their characteristics and orientations. Though critical theory has not been widely used in teacher education, it is valuable in helping us see the connections between commonsense practices in schools and institutions and ideologies in the wider society. Critical theory promises both critique and new directions, as it focuses on issues related to social justice, equality, and democratic values. An example of what a teacher education program that is based in critical theory might look like is included.

Schooling, Moral Commitment, and the Preparation of Teachers.

Teaching has been conceived of as a decontextualized, apolitical, amoral enterprise in both historical and contemporary contexts of teacher education. For example, normal schools fostered a conception of competence in which moral deliberation was less than central by promoting vocationalism and an instrumental rationality that denigrated educational theory and critical reflection. Recent attempts to rekindle a science of education promote a similar kind of technical competence that ignores the importance of moral imagination. This conception of professionalism is in keeping with a focus on self-interest and individualism in American society that makes it hard to envision a common good. A new vision of profession alism is proposed that recognizes the centrality of moral commitment and moral discourse in teaching, and its application in teacher education programs at Knox College is described. Illustrations of how this view of professionalism must be connected to experiences in which preservice students confront the injustices in current social realities are emphasized.

Beyond Elitism and Technicism: Teacher Education as Practical Philosophy.

Teacher education, according to Beyer, has too seldom been conceived as either contributing to the maintenance of the liberal arts (elitist) tradition or to the de velopment of technical knowledge. If re- conceived as practical philosophy, teacher education could further the humanistic and democratic impulses of liberal education and reshape the cul ture of the contemporary university. Further, by viewing teacher education programs as instances of practical philosophy committed to reflection, con versation, and action, teacher educators can assist the movement of the modern university away from its allegiances to elitism and tachnicism and toward an education that truly prepares teachers for participation in classroom life.

Educational Reform: The Political Roots of National Risk

The quality of public schooling in the United States is again in the forefront of American political discourse. Various state and federal officials, news analysts, other media people, and politicians, as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators, are now debating the direction and tenor of public education. This resurgence of interest does not arise from a simple cause, but from a set of interlocking concerns and perceived inadequacies regarding schools that have catapulted them into national prominence. The continuing decline in standardized test scores, the need to retrain high school graduates upon entering the world of work, the growing alarm about Americas failure to compete successfully with the Japanese and others for technological innovations, a concern about the position of the United States in world affairs generally, seem to lie near the center of contemporary concerns about the American educational system. Other kinds of alarms are also being sounded by those of us working in higher education: the alleged deterioration in writing, computing, and other skills on the part of the incoming freshmen, the need for increased remedial education programs, a smaller percentage of students who represent academic excellence, and so on. Overlying all of these particular educational and social concerns is a dissatisfaction with unpleasant economic realities: increased unand underemployment, spiraling budget deficits, and (until recently at least) higher rates of inflation. At least some commentators on these social problems have suggested that they reflect a decline in the quality of education in the United States.

Reconceptualizing Teacher Preparation: Institutions and Ideologies

Beyer analyzes an attempt to put into practice a critically-oriented program of teacher preparation emphasizing the na ture of educational studies as a liberal field of inquiry. The article documents the institutional and ideological con straints on this process and raises ques tions about the ways in which a college culture affects curricular reforms. Fi nally, Beyer provides evidence of the ways in which educational debates are affected by tacit, hegemonic tendencies.

Ideology, Social Efficiency, and Curriculum Inquiry: An Essay Response to Franklin's “The Social Efficiency Movement Reconsidered”

Within the field of curriculum, the last ten to fifteen years witnessed a proliferation of conceptual, methodological, and historical inquiries into curriculum matters which have contributed substantially to our understanding of the institutional context of schooling. Rather than seeing schools and curriculum as autonomous, isolated organizations and events, abstracted from other concerns and involvements, these inquiries have focused on the interrelations of schooling and the prevailing social order. By locating schools within this broader context, they become one of a number of important social institutions which are tied to and serve political, cultural, and economic interests. In this way we have begun to explore the myriad of ways in which the curriculum forms an important part of the societal fabric into which educational institutions are woven. With the advent of a critically oriented tradition in curriculum, we have been urged to consider educational activities as thoroughly and fundamentally involving questions of ideology, of political influence, and of ethical propriety. Theoretically oriented analyses have been undertaken which trace the possible conceptual boundaries and linkages for this approach to curriculum (see, for example, Young 1971; Pinar 1975; Bernstein 1977; Young and Whitty 1977; Apple 1979; and Bcyer 1981). Providing such a framework is crucial if we are to fully grasp and respond to the social significance of both our own work and that of teachers, administrators, and others. Furthermore, various empirical and historical studies have