Teacher knowledge : continuing professional learning

Discussions about the nature of teacher knowledge and what it is that teachers need to know are not new. Such concerns have dominated teacher preparation for decades. However, in recent times teachers’ work has become increasingly complex and the stakes for teacher preparation have become increasingly higher. This has occurred in response to a wide range of factors including developments in information technology, the diversification of student cohorts, the ways in which knowledge is produced and transmitted, as well as pressing and urgent issues about the state of the world's environment and the need to educate for citizenship and sustainability. A rapidly changing global world has meant that teachers must have the skills to respond to uncertainty and changing priorities. They must be ready for the present and ready for the future. It is possible that those who graduate as teachers in 2013 may be teaching in 2050. What knowledge will they need for a future we can hardly imagine? For those of us involved in initial teacher education, our challenge is to equip teachers with the knowledge to problem-solve and to deal with pedagogical concerns that are unlikely to be the same in the future, as they are today.