ABSTRACT
This chapter defines the field of teacher education, lays out the traditional pedagogy of this field, and proposes a signature pedagogy that responds to twenty-first century teachers and learners who live their lives as citizens in a democracy. Teacher education is an applied field of study that draws from a range of familiar disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, linguistics, semiotics, psychology, political science, and others. In order for teachers to teach well, a signature pedagogy must invite them to consider the many ways in which theories of learning inform practice. The chapter identifies four broad areas that make up a signature pedagogy in teacher education: the need for a deep understanding of how people learn, the importance of communities of practice and the development of identities within them, the significance of semiotic practices, and the recognition that the aim of education is to create critical and democratic spaces of learning.
