Conventionally, teacher education programs are set around the
familiar boundaries of fixed courses—curriculum and instruction, psychology,
foundations, practicum, and so forth. These elements persist for reasons of logic
and habit. How these various components actually work for a student wishing to
become a teacher is seldom given much attention in any systematic way. This
paper describes some of the insights and practices resulting form an ongoing
action research project into the effects of teacher education on professional
identity formation. These insights and practices raise questions about the
curriculum of teacher education and the pedagogical roles of university teacher
educators, faculty consultants, and cooperating teachers