Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education

• Published in: Teachers College record (1970) 2020-04, Vol.122 (4), p.1-28
• Main Authors: Hansen, David T., Laverty, Megan Jane, Varrato, Rory
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Children; College Faculty; College professors; Conferences; Conferences (Gatherings); Educational Philosophy; Educational Practices; Ethics; Instruction; Philosophy; Racial Factors; Schools of Education; Social Influences; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Education; Teacher Educators; Teacher Improvement; Teacher Role; Teachers; Teaching (Occupation); Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 0161-4681; 1467-9620
• DOI: 10.1177/016146812012200401

Background/Context This article introduces the special issue on reimagining research and practice at the crossroads of philosophy, teaching, and teacher education. The authors provide an overview of previous research at this “crossroads” and describe how the special issue collaborators have sought to chart fresh ground in light of current practical and policy challenges that teachers and teacher educators face. Purpose/Focus of Study The project that gave rise to the special issue emerged from a self-study, conducted by the first two authors, of the Program in Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. They have been rethinking the place of philosophy in teaching and teacher education, while also re-examining the place of teaching and teacher education in philosophy. They see opportunities for creative work at the “crossroads” of these fields of practice and inquiry, while also appreciating the numerous pressures in our era on educators to adopt an unnecessarily narrow, economics-driven agenda. To pursue this interest, they organized a conference whose participants are the authors of what follows in this issue. Setting/participants The organizers invited six graduates of their program, who focus on teaching and teacher education, to participate in an intensive, two-day conference that would address prospects for re-envisioning generative work at the “crossroads.” They asked each graduate (now a tenure-track or tenured professor) to invite a colleague rooted in other disciplinary configurations—but also invested in teaching and teacher education—to collaborate with them. The conference featured six presentations by these teams of colleagues, who are, in turn, the co-authors of the six core articles included in this special issue of the journal. The faculty organizers also invited two senior scholars steeped in teaching and teacher education to work with them as commentators before, during, and after the conference. Project Design In preparation for the conference, held at Teachers College on November 9–11, 2017, the 17 participants devoted approximately eight months to extensive collaborate work, including the construction of a conference bibliography that would inform their work. During this time, each team of future co-presenters/ co-authors (a) conceived a topic they would examine together, (b) prepared an initial outline of their planned inquiry, and (c) composed a draft of their forthcoming co-presentation at the conference. At