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Bjork, C., Johnston, D. K., and Ross, H. (Eds.) (2007). Taking teaching seriously: How liberal arts colleges prepare teachers to meet today’s educational challenges in schools. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers Pp. 250 ISBN 978-1-59451-364-0
Reviewed by Kimberly A. Eversman
Arizona State UniversityJanuary 23, 2009
Taking Teaching Seriously is a collection of essays edited by Christopher Bjork, D. Kay Johnston, and Heidi Ross that examine the role liberal arts colleges play in teacher preparation. The book is broken into three parts, each examining a different aspect of the role liberal arts institutions play in current teacher education reform.
In the foreword to the book, Kenneth M. Zeichner writes, “more and more teachers are being prepared to teach in the United States outside of the higher education system that has been responsible for the bulk of pre-service teacher education in the U.S. for over 150 years” (p. ix). No Child Left Behind has raised the call “for a teacher education system that prepares teachers who are ‘good enough’ to follow a scripted curriculum aligned with standards and standardized tests” (Zeichner in Bjork, et al., 2007, p. ix). However, if we, as a society, believe that student learning should extend beyond the meeting of standards and the acquisition of high scores on standardized tests, the teacher who is simply “good enough” isn’t “good enough.” In Taking Teaching Seriously, the authors contend that liberal arts institutions are preparing educators to participate in our ever-changing education system by:
…educating teachers to be able to reflect upon and learn from their experience and to be able to exercise their judgment in the classroom to adapt their teaching to meet the diverse and ever changing needs of their students (p. x).The authors of Taking Teaching Seriously ask that the reader examine the fundamental purposes of education in a democracy and consider how liberal arts institutions prepare teachers who will encourage young learners to be critically thinking, active participants in a democratic society. They argue that liberal arts colleges have long been unappreciated for the role they play in preparing future teachers. By encouraging new conversations about teacher education programs at liberal arts institutions, the authors try to rectify this situation.
In part one, the authors discuss various views of effectiveness and professionalism in liberal arts undergraduate institutions. Authors contributing to this section include Christopher Bjork, D. Kay Johnston, Heidi Ross, and Irving Epstein. They raise several questions:
What types of professional knowledge should be emphasized during pre- professional preparation? Which factors support and impede an institution’s ability to cultivate effective teachers? What kind of an impact is the current political environment having on education departments and programs in liberal arts institutions? (p. 5).All three essays in part one address the current need for pre-service teachers who are able to look at the world beyond their immediate institutional contexts; are able to think critically; are flexible in their instructional practices; have experience in the field that, while grounded in theory, is also backed by practice; and have developed attitudes that drive them to improve the schools they are working in. Many of the authors claim that the national debate about education has managed to reduce education down to a narrow focus on testable standards. Johnston and Ross write,
…standards discourse obscures what in fact should be out primary conversation-the purposes of education. Separated from sustained debate about the ends of education, our public conversation about high standards has been narrow, instrumentally conceived, and isolated from the diverse needs and resources of communities. (p.7)This narrow view, they argue, is moving focus away from educating everyone to be members of a democratic community. The current standards movement, they argue, favors a neoliberal view of learners as future laborers for global capitalism. The authors suggest that conversations about the purpose of education and who should benefit from said education remain central to the debate about education reform.
Christopher Bjork addresses intellectual dispositions of those who chose to enter the field of teaching. In the current climate of teacher education reform, many have argued that the most important attribute of a new teacher is intelligence. This conjecture fuels the call to relax certification standards for new teachers and promotes the push for alternative certification programs such as Teach for America. Others take the opposite view, calling for teacher education to be confined to the graduate level. Bjork argues that effective teachers should be “both intellectually capable of handling the challenges of teaching and pedagogically prepared to translate their goals into effective classroom practice” (p.12).
Students who graduate from liberal arts teacher education programs are likely to fit the descriptions of effective instructors put forward by proponents of a range of reform proposals. With rigorous academic preparation and extensive classroom experience, they meet the qualifications endorsed by both the “professionalization” and “deregulation” proponents. (p. 28)The essays in part two examine the distinctive approaches of liberal arts institutions. This section commands the larger part of the book and is made up of essays by Alice Lesnick, Jody Cohen, Alison Cook-Sather, Lisa Smulyan, D. Kay Johnston, Vicki Kubler LaBoskey, Linda R. Kroll, and Heidi Ross. These authors shift their focus to the structures and basic foundations of liberal arts teacher education programs. They also examine the impact these programs have had on teachers who graduate from such institutions. They look at how liberal arts teacher training programs “influence their interactions with students, the principles that guide the teacher education programs they oversee, and the types of teachers they hope to produce” (p. 51). The authors contend that liberal arts institutions are educating future teachers to be flexible, critical thinking human beings who are dedicated to social justice. These teachers are risk takers who are prepared to challenge their future students also to be risk takers. In their chapter, Lesnick, Cohen, and Cook-Sather write:
Adherence to transmission based pedagogy, increasing standardization of curricula and assessments…stand as features of the current educational landscape that we strongly oppose, while culturally relevant pedagogy, differentiated instruction, and community-based research all stand as contemporary models informing our work. Ongoing negotiation of these uncomfortable and productive tensions provides us a nexus for the preparation of strong, thoughtful educators (p. 58).Finally, in part three, Christopher Roelke, Jennifer King Rice, Susan Riemer Sacks, and Charlotte Mendoza address recruiting and retention challenges facing schools around the country. The authors propose that liberal arts institutions are uniquely positioned to help overcome these challenges. In their chapter, Christopher Roellke and Jennifer King Rice (2007) write:
The key curricular challenge for teacher educators in liberal arts institutions, it seems, is to develop intellectually rigorous courses that integrate broader content and critical thinking skills with practical, hands-on pedagogical training…it would make sense for administrators working in urban schools to include liberal arts schools among the institutions they regularly rely on/turn to when searching for new teachers (p.171).Based on the studies presented in part three, a recurring theme is that teachers who come from liberal arts institutions exhibit certain dispositions that are highly valued in the field. These graduates are intelligent, dedicated, critical thinking individuals who are able to navigate in constantly changing and challenging environments.
[O]utstanding teachers do more than simply carry out their work according to the specifications of their superiors or evaluators. Rather, they make the process of closely observing, assessing, and improving their actions an integral part of their daily lives in classrooms (p. 218).My opinions about the thesis of Taking Teaching Seriously may be influenced by the fact that I completed a teacher education program at a small, private, Lutheran, liberal arts college in a small town in Iowa. My particular experience echoes the experiences shared by the teachers in this book. I, too, was encouraged to be a critical thinker and to question everything. I worked outside of the college community and was able to meld the theories I had studied with actual practice. I was encouraged to reflect on my practice and grow and develop as a future teacher.
Liberal arts institutions do indeed produce spectacular teacher candidates. However, public universities produce wonderful teachers as well. The problem with this study is that the authors only looked at a few liberal arts programs. The question remains whether these experiences truly are limited to liberal arts programs or are even more prominent there. The authors of this book are on the right track in encouraging more conversations about what education in a democratic society should look like. They provide the reader with much to consider. However, more liberal arts institutions need to be studied before any claims are made about their unique contributions to teacher education.
About the Reviewer
Kimberly A. Eversman is a PhD student in the Educational Leadership and Policy program at Arizona State University. She holds an MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also has six years of classroom experience. Her general areas of interest include democratic learning communities, critical pedagogy, and social justice education.Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.
Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman
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