Book Review: “The Good Teacher: Dominant discourses in teaching and teacher education” by Alex Moore

I’ve just received this book on the “good teacher question” from Amazon. I’m trying to deepen my knowledge about this strain of research, because I want to provide my tutees (students of the bachelor in educational sciences) with better guidance on their own way to “becoming a teacher”.

I particularly like, in this book, the author’s approach to the question, namely that he’s analyzing what is said about the “good teacher question” by the general public, politicians, administrations, teacher training institutions, in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, students, researchers and teacher trainers. I hope this analysis will allow me to better understand how I, myself, think and speak about “the good teacher question”, what are my own personal representations of “the good teacher”, in how far they are deeply rooted in my own experiences of “good teachers” and “bad teachers”, in my conceptions of learning, in my representations of “good schools”, in my ideas about knowledge and competence, and in my believes about “the capacities of learners to learn for themselves, by themselves and with the help of others”.

Alex Moore has published several papers related to this topic:
Moore, A., Edwards, G., Halpin, D. & George, R. (2004). Compliance, Resistance and Pragmatism: the (re)construction of schoolteachers’ identities in a period of intensive educational reform. British Education Research Journal, vol 28 no 4; pp. 551-565.
Moore, A. & Atkinson, D. (1998). Charisma, Competence and Teacher Education. Discourse 19 (2) 171-182.
Moore, A. & Ash, A. (2002). Reflective practice in beginning teachers: helps, hindrances and the role of the critical other. Education-line. Retrieved 28th January 2009 from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002531.htm