ABSTRACT
Our goal in this chapter is to examine how teacher education can prepare beginning teachers so that they develop expertise in cooperative methods, particularly cognitive approaches to peer learning, as they gain experience in teaching. Today, at least one course in most teacher education programs advocates peer learning. Yet, these increasingly popular approaches are very complex and challenging to apply effectively, especially for prospective and novice teachers. We explore the current state of teaching and learning to teach, asking what prospective teachers should learn and how they should learn it, by focusing on four topics. In section one, we consider the role that peer learning might play in schooling and teaching in the future. Next, we develop a framework that could guide teachers' application of peer learning approaches. In the third section, we examine how prospective teachers might learn to use this framework and what gets in the way of such learning. Finally, the last section of the chapter explores the larger issue of professional development in the complex environment of teaching.
