In the article“Initial Teacher Education: Complex Problems—Disruptive Solutions,”Vaillant—who currently serves as academic secretary at the Institute of Education at Universidad ORT Uruguayand Marcelo—a visiting professor at the Institute of Education—reflected on teacher education.
In his words, it is a complex field, since it is often perceived as a “simple and easy” activity. Sometimes it is even seen as something “trivial.” The reason is that everyone—at some point in their lives—has been a teacher, a parent, or an informal educator.
According to Vaillant and Marcelo, it is also a complex field because the main question that needs to be asked does not have a single answer: “What should a teacher know upon graduating from a teacher-training institution in order to enter the teaching profession and continue learning?”
The only certainty, in the authors' view, is that the traditional model of teacher training has run its course.
For that reason, they proposed a drastic and disruptive change: training teachers from a global perspective, incorporating the emotional dimension, and fostering opportunities for collaboration and exchange are just some of their ideas.
“We need to give teacher training a new purpose; this situation is causing a great deal of uncertainty and calls for solutions,” they concluded.
The article“Initial Teacher Education: Complex Problems—Disruptive Solutions”was published in 2018 in issue 489 of Cuadernos de Pedagogía.