Introducing Complexity Theory to Consider Practice-Based Teacher Education for Democratic Citizenship

• In Event: Critical Examinations of Democratic Citizenship in Teacher Education

Abstract

The Practice-Based approach to teacher education has mainly emerged from specific content areas such as math and science, situating socially related educational fields as a peripheral player alone. Recently, scholars have suggested incorporating this approach into the preparation of civics teachers. In this theoretical essay, we draw on complexity theory to reexamine this proposal, evaluating the connections between teaching practices and the content of democratic citizenship. We offer a critical examination of key publications, using the components of complexity theory as an organizing scheme. Finally, we highlight this approach's reductive aspects, leading to our argument that preparing new teachers to teach democratic citizenship should be seen as a complex endeavor where borders are blurred, interactions are nonlinear, and reality changes frequently.

Authors

• Aviv Cohen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Tal Gilead, Hebrew University of Jerusalem