Citizenship Education, Global Education, and the Education of Social Studies Teachers.

Overview & Synopsis

A major transformation in teacher education must occur if social studies education is to become soundly-based civic education that meets the needs of special interests, such as global education, without becoming dominated by those needs, and if teachers are to transcend the textbook so that goal statements are actually reflected in classroom practice. One step in this transformation would be to change the student teaching experience. Research shows that, rather than fulfilling its goal of having preservice teachers apply the model teaching practices they have learned in the classroom, the student teaching experience now serves to socialize prospective teachers into conservative school patterns. If, as Dewey (1916; 1933) noted, people think and learn when faced with problems real to themselves, then it would seem that prospective teachers could learn more if exposed to professional teacher education courses after they have had teaching experiences. This procedure would allow courses to capitalize on the needs teachers perceive as growing out of their own teaching experiences. The coursework that would follow this teaching experience would include a major emphasis on educational philosophy. The gap left in undergraduate education by the transfer of professional education courses to the graduate or inservice level could well be filled by a return to traditional liberal arts education. (LP)