Book Review: Navigating Teacher Education in Complex and Uncertain Times

IF 1.4 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Journal of Research in International Education Pub Date : 2020-12-01 DOI:10.1177/1475240920972832
T. Haywood
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Abstract

As I opened the pages of this book for the first time, I was tempted to reflect on how many works on teacher education published in 2019 might already be out of date. If it is true that the Covid-19 experience will be a watershed in our perception of schooling (a proposition that I am not entirely convinced by, although I’d like to be!), then we need a more profound rethinking of professional training than was envisaged by most authors writing even as recently as one year ago. It did not take many pages exploring this fascinating text, however, to dispel these thoughts. My preliminary distractions were quickly replaced by a kind of awe at what the author of this extremely personal narrative is trying to achieve. Professor Mercado’s purpose and methodology are evident from the first pages: indeed, they are revealed ahead of time in the Series Editor’s Foreword, where Peter Smagorinsky provides a background to her autoethnographic approach and to her career-long commitment as a literacy advocate working with bilingual, mainly Latinx, communities which comprise some of New York’s most vulnerable and underprivileged children. This is not a textbook – and it is certainly not a handbook with specific strategies for teacher education, although there are clear methodological implications in what Prof Mercado has to say. It is a deeply personal, passionate and self-analytical account of one professional life dedicated to helping children at risk by exploring strategies and training educators who can engage young people by activating their voluminous but often ignored community funds of knowledge. As such, this is a timeless and universal work, and while it is rooted in late 20th century and early 21st century educational contexts in a highly specific geographical location, Prof Mercado’s insights and reflections carry a message for teacher education and practising educators in many other venues, not least those in international schools that serve populations at the opposite end of the class system to those who were the focus of the author’s attention. Readers who are not familiar with autoethnography as a research tool may be surprised at the narrative style they encounter as Prof Mercado’s account shifts between different styles of writing. The book opens with an account of her early life and her family, describing relocation to New York from Puerto Rico in the last 1940’s and her perceptions as the family home moved across the city, exposing the young author to a range of school and social environments. These accounts are crucial 972832 JRI0010.1177/1475240920972832Journal of Research in International EducationBook Reviews book-review2020
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书评:在复杂和不确定的时代引导教师教育
当我第一次打开这本书的页面时,我忍不住想反思一下,2019年出版的许多关于教师教育的作品可能已经过时了。如果新冠肺炎的经历真的将成为我们对学校教育观念的分水岭(尽管我很想这样做,但我并不完全相信这一命题!),那么我们需要对专业培训进行比一年前大多数作者所设想的更深刻的反思。然而,探索这篇引人入胜的文章并没有花太多篇幅,就打消了这些想法。我最初的分心很快被一种敬畏所取代,这种敬畏是对这部极具个人色彩的叙事的作者试图实现的目标的敬畏。梅尔卡多教授的目的和方法从第一页就很明显:事实上,它们在系列编辑的前言中提前揭示了,彼得·斯马戈林斯基在前言中为她的民族志方法提供了背景,并为她作为一名扫盲倡导者的职业生涯提供了背景,这些社区包括纽约一些最脆弱和最贫困的儿童。这不是一本教科书,当然也不是一本有具体教师教育策略的手册,尽管梅尔卡多教授的话有明确的方法论含义。这是一本非常个人化、充满激情和自我分析的书,讲述了一个职业生涯,致力于通过探索策略和培训教育工作者来帮助处于风险中的儿童,这些教育工作者可以通过激活他们庞大但经常被忽视的社区知识基金来吸引年轻人。因此,这是一部永恒而普遍的作品,虽然它植根于20世纪末和21世纪初一个高度特定的地理位置的教育背景,但梅尔卡多教授的见解和思考为许多其他场所的教师教育和实践教育工作者传递了一个信息,尤其是那些在国际学校为处于阶级体系另一端的人群服务的学生,他们是作者关注的焦点。不熟悉民族志作为研究工具的读者可能会对梅尔卡多教授的叙述在不同写作风格之间转换时所遇到的叙事风格感到惊讶。这本书开篇讲述了她的早期生活和家庭,描述了20世纪40年代从波多黎各搬到纽约的情景,以及她对家庭在城市各处迁移的看法,让这位年轻的作者接触到了一系列的学校和社会环境。这些叙述至关重要972832 JRI0010.1177/147520920972832国际教育研究杂志书评2020
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来源期刊
Journal of Research in International Education
Journal of Research in International Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-
CiteScore
2.30
自引率
14.30%
发文量
11
期刊介绍: The Journal of Research in International Education is an international, peer-reviewed journal in international education for schools, examiners and higher education institutions throughout the world. The Journal of Research in International Education seeks to advance the understanding and significance of international education. It sets out to undertake a rigorous consideration of the educational implications of the fundamental relationship between human unity and human diversity that ''education for international understanding'' requires. The JRIE encourages an approach to research in international education that will close the gap between the well established emergent theory and diverse practice throughout the world. In this context, international education is concerned with the promotion of education for international understanding and human rights, and may include peace education, global education and intercultural education. Authors may address, for example, the curriculum, institutional concerns, the history of education, policy and pedagogy at all levels.
期刊最新文献
Interculturalism in student and teacher understandings of global citizenship education in three International Baccalaureate international schools Becoming a new type of teacher: The case of experienced British-trained educators transitioning to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme abroad Characteristics of Effective International School Teachers: A Systematic Review of the Literature Professional Learning in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Exploring associations between teacher perceptions of working conditions and immediate professional plans at a Chinese internationalised school
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