Comparing Humanistic Approaches in Teacher Education
Comparing Humanistic Approaches in Teacher Education

Summary/Abstract: Teacher education programs have a long, perpetuated expectation for how to teach (Shulman, 1987). The overwhelming focus in teacher education programs on planning, instruction, and assessment obscures the ultimate goal of education; that is, to help every student become happy and lead a fulfilled life. This paper offers a perspective to cultivate preservice teachers who value humanity and therefore go beyond disciplinary knowledge and pedagogical practices. Humanity creates order in society, not arbitrary rules or authority. Yet, this aspect is often lost in higher education that focuses on professional skills over the cultivation of students’ humanity (Muscatine, 2009). We argue that teacher education needs to attend to humanity and pave the way for peace and happiness for human beings. Teachers’ roles are not just to deliver knowledge to students but to plant the seeds of hope and joy through education. To achieve this goal, we explored various humanistic approaches from Freire’s (1993) critical pedagogy, Valenzuelz’s (1999) subtractive schooling, Ginwright and Cammarota’s (2002) social justice approach, Comstock et al.’s (2008) relational-cultural theory, and Ikeda’s (2010) human education. This paper seeks to approach humanity as a theoretical and methodological basis for reclaiming the promise of teacher education.

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