דמות המורה בראי הכשרת המורים 2006-1970 : מבט היסטורי

The process of the academic accreditation of teacher education in Israel, which commenced thirty years ago, is accompanied by a heated public debate regarding the teachers' image and professional identity as well as the optimal method of preparing them. In this controversy it is possible to distinguish two main currents. The first perceives teaching as a humanistic profession that relies on extensive general knowledge and rich pedagogical experience. The second emphasizes teaching as an academic discipline that is rooted in academic education as well as in systematic pedagogical knowledge, which is based on educational and social theories. These opposing perceptions of the teaching profession constitute the basis of the dispute between the Ministry of Education and the Council for Higher Education regarding the image of the "good" or "worthy" teacher and the character of the academic colleges of education as institutions of higher learning. While the colleges of education are expected to carry out the instructions of the policy makers, they afford their own interpretation of teacher education – an interpretation that is based on their unique history and their distinctive views of teachers' professional identity.