Equality Is Excellence: Transforming Teacher Education and the Learning Process

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ira Shor suggests that conservative economic and school policy is responsible for a decline in the quality of teaching since the 1960s. He bases his analysis on a close observation of the current reform wave which, he points out, too often focuses only on student and teacher"mediocrity" and on the need for higher standards of "excellence." While refuting the conservative perspective, Shor proposes that the liberal critique needs to further infuse educational reform with an egalitarian overview and with the notion of change-agency. He suggests that teacher education must be critical, multicultural, student-centered, oriented toward equality, and desocializing, if it is to prepare teachers who can inspire students.