Education Reform and the Concept of Good Teaching

"In an effort to address the problems confronting the American education system, the Obama administration has issued structural and systematic reforms such as Race to the Top. These initiatives introduce new statistics and accountability systems to gaugewhat constitutes "good" teaching, both from an administrative standpoint and the perspective of teacher training programs. This volume offers a direct critique of this approach, concluding that it does not respond adequately to the issues of education reform but rather raises new problems and actively stymies progress.The author argues that at the heart of the confusion lies a misguided and rationalistic view of teaching and learning. He draws on the philosophical strategies of Ludwig Wittgenstein to break down the guiding assumptions of Race to the Top, allowing both the positive and the negative aspects of the policies to be heard. The author then proposes a different view of teaching and learning which considers how to effectively address the problemsRace to the Top seeks to confront. "--

Derek Gottlieb is a research fellow in the English department of the University of Basel in Switzerland. He holds PhDs in English Literature and in Education. He has published on teacher training and educational evaluation; his next book will explore theories of Shakespearean comedy.