ABSTRACT
In recent decades, teacher education has tended to focus on theory and “general method,” to the relative neglect of content and pedagogy specific to subjects such as literacy, math, and science. For example, it is not uncommon to find elementary pre-service programs with just one 40-hour course on literacy teaching and even less on math or science. In our view, it is time to return to giving higher priority to subject specific knowledge in pre-service preparation. Although teacher educators were right to reject the earlier assumption (still widespread in the public at large) that subject knowledge is all one needs in order to teach well, we have often gone too far to the other extreme. Much of the school day is spent teaching specific subjects and accordingly teachers must be prepared for this work.
