Conceptual Framework

Illinois State University has a historic and enduring commitment to educate teachers who will be responsive to the moral and intellectual demands a democratic society places upon them. To teach in a democracy is self-consciously to take up the burden of improving the moral and epistemological quality of our societal dialogue by including in it as many educated voices as possible. The democratic ideal unites caring and knowing: the more voices we elicit and the less fettered the mutual exchange among those voices becomes, the truer our convictions and conclusions will be. This is, in a way, a democratic article of "faith," and it is why our graduates aspire to teach everyone, especially those on the margins, those who have been or are in danger of being excluded.

This democratic conception of education informs all aspects of teacher education at Illinois State University. In our view, the kind of teacher appropriate to the challenges and rewards of teaching in a democratic society unites the moral and intellectual aspects of teaching by embodying what one might call its virtues.

The moral virtues are:

• a sensitivity toward the varieties of individual and cultural diversity
• a disposition and ability to collaborate ethically and effectively with others
• a reverence for learning and a seriousness of personal, professional and public purpose
• a respect for learners of all ages and a special regard for childhood and adolescence

The intellectual virtues are:

• a wide general knowledge and a deep knowledge of the content to be taught
• a knowledge and appreciation of the diversity among learners
• an understanding of what affects learning and of appropriate teaching strategies
• an interest in and an ability to seek out informational, technological, and collegial resources
• a contagious intellectual enthusiasm and courage enough to be creative

Of the challenges facing teachers in the next millennium, none is more pressing than for them to develop and maintain a strong sense of their moral and intellectual roots--a professional identity. Toward this end, Illinois State University prepares teachers who have a strong sense of themselves and their mission as teachers: through caring and knowing they realize the democratic ideal. This, along with a high level of competence in their chosen areas, makes them teachers for whom we are thankful and of whom we are proud.

(Revised AY 2001)