About Us

The Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta has developed and maintained strong graduate studies and research programs that place it at the forefront of graduate programs and research at both the national and international levels. CRTED plays an important role in the Faculty’s graduate studies and research by serving as a faculty-wide centre for research for teacher education and development.

CENTRE OBJECTIVES 

  • Conducting research for teacher education. 
  • Providing a place to explore narrative inquiry and other research methodologies. 
  • Discussing what it means to teach and be a teacher. 
  • Collaborating with teachers, student teachers and faculty in the design and evaluation of pre-service teacher education. 
  • Supporting research through ongoing weekly conversations into issues surrounding research and seminars for graduate students, faculty, and visiting professors to share and receive responses to their research. 
  • Assisting in developing funding proposals. 
  • Sponsoring the Horowitz Institute. 
  • Providing a supportive community for graduate students and faculty whose research interests include teacher education and curriculum studies.

GUIDING ASSUMPTIONS OF THE CRTED

Ideas, beliefs, and theories about teaching and teacher development, their nature and methods, are numerous, diverse, and often conflicting. The Centre intends to reflect this diversity by adopting a comparative, critical approach to research and development. This approach is embodied in the following beliefs about teaching and teachers:
  • "Teacher" and "teaching" refer to social and educational relations. There are many places where teachers work and teaching occurs. 
  • Much can be learned from comparing images of " teacher" and "teaching" in a range of social settings and cultures. 
  • Teachers are the single most important influence on the emotional, moral, aesthetic and intellectual qualities of education. Thus, school improvement is closely linked to teacher development. 
  • Teaching is a reflective activity that requires continuous adaptation, invention, problem-defining, and problem-solving. 
  • Teachers come to an understanding of students' education when they have opportunities to think of themselves as reflective learners. 
  • Professional growth is a career-long process and many factors influence teacher career development. 
  • Wider social, organizational, and political contexts influence, and, in turn, are influenced by, the personal experiences of teachers.