A revolution is happening in education, with leaders and teachers now asked to focus on learning, to develop collaborative teams to impact on students, to use and raise professional standards, and to identify and esteem expertise in our profession. With new demands relating to technological advances, changing demographics, internationalism, and the inclusion of ‘twenty-first-century skills,’ there is pressure on schools to deliver greater and deeper success with more students. The Turning Point aims to present the factors needed to affect real change for school systems, in classrooms, and in the teaching profession by: Arguing for the establishment of teaching as a true 'profession' alongside areas such as medicine or law. Identifying the expertise fundamental to the meeting demands of schools. Elaborating on evaluative thinking and clinical practice as the basis of this new profession. Outlining core levers of change to show how teachers can have profound impacts on educational, medical, and social dimensions of students. This book is essential reading for teachers, school leaders, education policymakers, teacher candidates, and teacher educators. Those working in affiliated professions, such as adolescent psychologists and health workers, will also find aspects of the book relevant to their work.

A revolution is happening in education, with leaders and teachers now asked to focus on learning, to develop collaborative teams to impact on students, to use and raise professional standards, and to identify and esteem expertise in our profession. With new demands relating to technological advances, changing demographics, internationalism, and the inclusion of ‘twenty-first-century skills,’ there is pressure on schools to deliver greater and deeper success with more students. The Turning Point aims to present the factors needed to affect real change for school systems, in classrooms, and in the teaching profession by: Arguing for the establishment of teaching as a true 'profession' alongside areas such as medicine or law. Identifying the expertise fundamental to the meeting demands of schools. Elaborating on evaluative thinking and clinical practice as the basis of this new profession. Outlining core levers of change to show how teachers can have profound impacts on educational, medical, and social dimensions of students. This book is essential reading for teachers, school leaders, education policymakers, teacher candidates, and teacher educators. Those working in affiliated professions, such as adolescent psychologists and health workers, will also find aspects of the book relevant to their work.

Since teacher education looked to become a formal field of study in the 1800s, it has historically contended with competing forces in the effort to solidify its professional identity. Currently, that contention is juxtaposed with those external forces that look to promote fast-track teacher training, with its ultimate goal to dismantle traditional teacher education programs, and those internal forces, whereby teacher education within itself continues to struggle with its own identity, power, and influence. To that end, this book, A Turning Point in Teacher Education: A Time for Resistance, Reflection, and Change, suggests we have reached a climax point, a turning point in teacher education, meaning we must work to resist and denounce those external forces that are laboring to undermine the professionalization of what it means to be a teacher. Simultaneously, we must also deeply reflect and be clear about those internal forces at work when it comes to solidifying the place, power, and necessity of traditional teacher education programs, ultimately announcing the furthering of what should be.

Understanding Teacher Identity: The Complexities of Forming an Identity as Professional Teacher introduces the reader to a collection of research-based works by authors that represent current research concerning the complexities of teacher identity and the role of teacher preparation programs in shaping the identity of teachers. Important to teacher preparation, as a profession, is a realization that the psychological, philosophical, theoretical, and pedagogical underpinnings of teacher identity have critical importance in shaping who the teacher is, and will continue to become in his/her practice. Teacher identity is an instrumental factor in teachers’ and the students’ success. Chapter One opens the book with a focus on the development of teacher identity, providing an introduction to the book and an understanding of the growing importance of identity in becoming a teacher. Chapters Two–Nine present field-based research that examines the complexities of teacher identity in teacher preparation and the importance of teacher identity in the teaching and learning experiences of the classroom. Finally, Chapter Ten presents an epilogue focusing on teacher identity and the importance, as teacher educators and practitioners, of making sense of who we are and how identity plays a critical role in the preparation and practice of teachers.

Thirty-five visionary educators were asked: What was your schooling like? When did you realize that there is a need for an alternative approach? What have you done since to help realize that vision? What are you doing now? Turning Points is an anthology of their responses, a peek into the lives and journeys of these pioneering individuals who have-and are-transforming what it means to be a teacher, a student , and a life-long learner. -- taken from front jacket flap.

We've all been told to "follow our dreams", but what happens when those dreams aren't working out? Part personal memoir, part self-help, Follow Your Detour will inspire you to embrace the unexpected, let go of your pain and fears, and find the courage to create your own path.

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