Teacher Education in the English-Speaking World

Edited by:
Tom O'Donoghue, The University of Western Australia
Clive Whitehead

Published 2008

This edited book is a comparative study on teacher education across ten major Englishspeaking regions of the world (USA, English Canada, England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand). The focus on individual regions is reflective of a comparative approach with a long tradition going back to the turn of the twentieth century. This approach is still valid at the present time as it provides one of the best ways of initially structuring our understanding of teacher education at the macro level in order to facilitate communication of the situation crossnationally and prepare the way for higher levels of analyses. To this end, the book has twelve chapters: An introductory chapter details the focus of the book. This is followed by a chapter on each of the ten regions. Each of these chapters, written by an expert in the field:

focuses on general trends in teacher education rather than on any specific aspect of it;

focuses primarily on pre-service teacher education at the primary and post-primary levels, although some reference is also made to continuing professional development;

strikes a balance between past, present and future trends;

deals broadly with access to, the processes involved in, and the structure of, teacher education;

has a unique structure rather than one based upon a formulaic approach.

In the final chapter major themes are distilled from the case studies. It also outlines how the book furthers understanding of teacher education internationally, considers other groupings of regions ripe for consideration along similar lines, and indicates initiatives arising out of the case studies worthy of consideration for the improvement of teacher education cross-nationally.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. Teacher Education in the English-Speaking World: Adopting a Comparative Approach, Tom O'Donoghue and Clive Whitehead. The United States, Ken Zeichner. Canada, Peter P. Grimmett. England and Wales, Wendy Robinson. Scotland, Pamela Munn. Ireland, Judith Harford. Hong Kong, Anthony Sweeting. Singapore, Sylvia Chong and Saravanan Gopinathan. South Africa, Maureen Robinson and Pam Christie. New Zealand, Roger Openshaw and Teresa Ball. Australia, Tania Aspland. A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Education across Ten Countries, Tom O’Donoghue and Clive Whitehead. References.