Journal of Teacher Education

Popkewitz considers some of the cul tural assumptions and political implica tions of teacher education. He also describes the relationship of reform to social and economic transformation, the logic of individualism, and the formation of professional ideologies. Further, he shows how these various dimensions give coherence and direction to contem porary educational practice. The author argues that professional schooling edu cates the individual to take for granted certain social and cultural assumptions of schooling. In order to explore the biases of professional discourse and practice, two dimensions of comparative study are provided: (a) the relationship of consciousness to social conditions, or how social history bears upon school ing; (b) the critical examination of social and educational life, which includes a description of how the interaction of people and institutions alters the mean ing of guiding theories and practices.

Development of an inquiry orientation among teachers is a common goal of preservice and inservice programs. In this article the author describes a teacher education program designed to promote a reflective perspective toward teaching. Theoretical underpinnings are briefly noted; program steps are described; and program feedback re sults are summarized. Implications for teacher education programming are then drawn.

Formal teacher education in China is only about 85 years old. Indeed, prior to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, education was largely ig nored. In recent years, however, educa tion has been given a priority almost equal to that of modern industrializa tion. Teacher education has been sig nificantly impacted as a result of the broader education emphasis. Teacher education reforms evidenced in China include building respect for teachers, revising the curriculum content and the admission and exit standards of teacher education, providing inservice training for 8 million teachers, and establishing an extensive network of educational research societies. The authors describe the reforms and outline the challenges still confronting Chinese teacher educators.

In this article, the author first de scribes the historical development of teacher education in Japan. He then analyzes selected similarities and dif ferences between past and present Japanese and American teacher prep aration practices. Ferguson concludes by describing the efforts of the Japanese to use and modify Western pedagogical concepts.

In Malaysia, the entry salary for a teacher with a certificate from a teacher training college is significantly lower than that of a teacher who holds a bachelor's degree. This paper presents some differences between the certificate and degree qualifications and describes a program whereby experienced "certifi cate" teachers may pursue a degree program. The problems with a dualistic teacher education system are outlined and discussed by the author.

In this article, Tom develops a set of dimensions that reveal the different ways in which inquiry-oriented teacher education can be conceptualized. Three dimensions are proposed and dis cussed : (a) the arena ofthe problematic, (b) the model of inquiry by which a particular arena of the problematic is to be studied, and (c) the ontological status of educational phenomena. The relevance of each dimension to inquiry-oriented teacher educa tion is explored, and rationales for inquiry-oriented teacher education are located on the three dimensions.

Is teaching a profession? Does how society views teacher education really matter? Denemark's answer is an un equivocal "yes." It matters, suggests the author, because how people view a phenomenon often influences the real ity of that phenomenon. Hence, al though teaching still falls short of full professional status, Denemark urges that educators strive to correct false im pressions of critics and to ameliorate practices that militate against quality educational programming. Denemark concludes that professional status is im portant not because of what enhanced status for teacher educators means, but rather because of its import for the qual ity and character of teaching and learn ing in schools.

Does NCATE accreditation foster the transfer of teacher certification from one state to another? Raths and his col leagues argue that the answer is "no." Indeed, with but one exception, graduates of institutions in states with out reciprocity agreements would not be denied certification in other states solely on the basis that their preparing institu tion lacked NCATE accreditation. Fur thermore, as individual states add more specialized requirements, such as examinations, it appears that the likeli hood that NCATE accreditation will play an increased role in achieving certifica tion for prospective teachers is signific antly reduced.

How do education majors compare with noneducation students? Olsen com pares 107 recent education graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with 1420 noneducation graduates on eleven variables. Subjects in the study completed degrees during the Fall and Spring semesters of 1981, 1982, and 1983. Education graduates were found to be equal to, and in some cases better than, noneducation graduates on all variables. Olsen discusses the impor tance of the findings, and he describes reasons for the results.