Robert V. Bullough

Pedagogical content knowledge circa 1907 and 1987: a study in the history of an idea

Abstract Since the 1980s in the US, teacher education has undergone consistent scrutiny and faces frequent attack by politicians and policy makers concerned with the quality of education. Responses to these attacks have varied, but most often they have centered on the need to professionalize teaching. Doubts about the value of teacher education have resulted in efforts to make a case for teaching as a unique intellectual enterprise involving special forms of knowledge and skill. The concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been central to this argument. The author explores PCK against the backdrop of efforts in the early part of the 20th century to professionalize teaching and considers problems with the concept that have limited its influence.

Mentoring and New Teacher Induction in the United States: A Review and Analysis of Current Practices

In this article, current practices were reviewed in mentoring and induction across three large states—New York, Texas, and California—and one small state, Utah. Patterns and trends are described in the United States, program results and evolving views of mentoring are discussed, gaps in the research literature are identified, and the future of mentoring is pondered.

The Happiness of Teaching (as Eudaimonia): Disciplinary Knowledge and the Threat of Performativity.

In this article the authors explore and critique education and teacher education as disciplines against the backdrop of teaching as a form of human flourishing connected to the virtue of eudaimonia, a kind of happiness. Their concern is with flourishing as a human being who teaches and in teaching expresses and moves toward fulfilling his or her essence or goodness. Questions are raised about how the quest for disciplinary status may negatively affect teacher well‐being by narrowing and flattening what it is teachers do when teaching, thus undermining the very reasons why teachers choose to teach.

Teaching with a Peer: A Follow-Up Study of the 1st Year of Teaching

Abstract The study examined the influence of learning to teach in pairs on eight 1st-year teachers. Each participated In an experimental program during student teaching, a peer-teaching model, where two student teachers worked with one mentor. Some worried that the peer-teaching model would not prepare them adequately for the realities of classroom teaching. The findings of this follow-up study revealed that, with one exception, student teaching in teams prepared these novices well for the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of teaching as beginning teachers. Abundant feedback increased instructional effectiveness, peer collaboration, sensitivity to children, and openness to ideas.

Building Professional Learning Communities Within a University—Public School Partnership

Building faculty or professional learning communities is an idea that has come of age. This article describes work being done within the Brigham Young University (BYU)–Public School Partnership to form and sustain such communities across higher and public education and in ways consistent with the four aims of the Agenda for Education in a Democracy embraced by the National Network for Educational Renewal. Noting that too little attention has been given to determining the purposes of learning communities, Partnership initiatives supporting the Agenda and designed to create learning communities are described and results briefly presented.

Recalling 40 Years of Teacher Education in the USA: A Personal Essay.

Taking the form of a personal essay, the author describes developments within teacher education in the USA over a 40-year period, since the founding of JET. Beginning with his work within teacher education as a graduate student and moving across time, he describes major movements in teacher education, discusses several of the most influential ideas within the field and, by drawing on publications of the period, notes the influence of certain political and education figures. In many respects, the tale is one of the politicialisation of education and teacher education, the rise of neoliberalism, and the loss of teacher educator control of programmes and programme content and, in some respects, the undermining of educational quality. Yet, it is also a story of remarkable moments of innovation and of the consistent dedication of educators to the cause of better education.

Teaming and Teaching in ECE: Neoliberal Reforms, Teacher Metaphors, and Identity in Head Start

Noting that surprisingly little researcher attention has been directed toward teaming in early childhood education (ECE), the author conducted parallel case studies of two Head Start teacher teams in a single center. Drawing on interviews, extensive observational notes taken over the course of a school year, and teacher-generated metaphors, the cases are explored in relationship to a range of issues associated with teaming. Situated in self-determination theory and the three-component model of commitment, the cases are used to draw conclusions useful for rethinking approaches to teaming in ECE.

Participatory action research and the quest for teacher educator community solidarity

Abstract Desiring to overcome sharp feelings of disconnection, a year-long participatory action research seminar involving both clinical and tenure-track teacher education faculty was formed. Working in teams with tenure-track faculty support, clinical faculty set research questions but they were reluctant to assume project leadership. In part, because of intensifying pressures associated with impending program accreditation, the projects languished. Nevertheless, the boundaries separating the two faculties and communities of practice softened, and friendships were formed and strengthened. Drawing on insights from positioning theory and Wengers research on communities of practice, the authors conclude that friendship may be a precondition for re-imagining the established relationships and understandings that currently fragment teacher education

The way of openness: Moral Sphere Theory, education, ethics, and classroom management

Noting the challenges of radical pluralism and uncertainty to ethics and education, the author describes, then explores Moral Sphere Theory (MST) developed by the philosopher Robert Kane and in relationship to insights drawn from American pragmatism. The argument is that MST offers fresh ways for thinking about education and the profound obligation of educators to support and sustain worthy forms of life.

Early Childhood Education Teachers: Life History, Life Course, and the Problem of Family—Work Balance

ABSTRACT In contrast to the wider education literature, rather little is known about the lives of early childhood education (ECE) teachers and the impact of those lives on their practice. Drawing on surveys completed by Head Start assistant and lead teachers, teacher lifelines, and interviews, and through the lens of life-course theory, the author portrays the life histories of four teachers. Teachers were selected whose lives represented some of the range of the challenges faced by ECE teachers as they struggle under current institutional, social, and economic conditions in the United States to achieve balance between family and work demands.