Developing critically reflective teachers in 'wacky' times

This paper is about the possibility of reconceptualising and reorganising teacher education. It begins by alluding to the current obsession with testing and standardisation as a means of improving education. A central argument here is that the New Right (neo-liberal and neo-conservative) has manufactured a crisis in education which has had profound consequences for public schools and those who inhabit them, especially in disadvantaged communities. Against this backdrop, the paper considers: (i) the impact of narrowly conceived efforts of government to control teacher's work through teacher-proof curricula, test driven threats and punitive forms of accountability; (ii) the usefulness of the notion of the critical reflective teacher as an antidote to these draconian policies and practices; and (iii) the implications for teacher education programmes and ongoing teacher development. The paper sets out to tackle two key questions: (i) what kind of teachers do we need in these changing times? and (ii) how do we go about producing them