The Work of Teaching and the Challenge
for Teacher Education
Deborah Loewenberg Ball1 and
Francesca M. Forzani1
Abstract
In this article, the authors argue for making practice the core of teachers’ professional preparation. They set the argument
for teaching practice against the contemporary backdrop of a teacher education curriculum that is often centered not on the
tasks and activities of teaching but on beliefs and knowledge, on orientations and commitments, and a policy environment
preoccupied with recruitment and retention. The authors caution that the bias against detailed professional training that
often pervades common views of teaching as idiosyncratic and independently creative impedes the improvement of teachers’
preparation for the work of teaching. They offer examples of what might be involved in teaching practice and conclude with
a discussion of challenges of and resources for the enterprise.
Keywords
teacher education, teaching practice, teacher education curriculum, professional education