Oriented by complexity thinking and informed by a selection of “game-changing” research findings in the educational literature, we describe a set of innovations to a teacher education program. These innovations include broad awareness of theories of learning, specialization across levels, integration of pre-service and in-service offerings, a developmental curriculum, and deep partnerships with schools.
Across the sort of teacher education initiatives we have described, a central goal is to dislodge public education from its rut of common sense – that is, unquestioned structures, uninterrogated practices, unnoticed simplifications. What might happen when differences in theoretical perspective are framed in terms of productive conversation rather than reductive argument? Our guess is that such shifts in emphasis will help to move the cultural project of education to a new place, away from an ethos of segregated action and separated interests into a space of mutual challenge, joint interest, collective production. Importantly, the principal site of this cultural project is teacher education.
