Major "paradigm shifts"-replacing one "world view" with another regarding what constitutes appropriate knowledge do not happen over night. Centuries usually intervene in the process. Even minor shifts admitting alternative world views into the domain of legitimate knowledge producing theory and practice-require decades of controversy, especially, it seems to us, in the field of education. It has only been in the last 20 years or so that the educational research community has begun to accept the "scientific" credibility of the qualitative approaches to inquiry such as participant observation,...

In nine original chapters, this book provides a comprehensive historical perspective on teacher education in the United States. Using 29 case histories of geographically and institutionally diverse education programs, the authors reveal the origins of the attitudes and practices that are shaping teacher education in our country today.