Reconsidering Teacher Education as Object:

Complex System and Intersectionality

Abstract

ABSTRACT 　　 As one of the studies on the transformation of teacher as object, this paper aimed to examine how teacher education as object within a certain policy framework can be transformed. Prior research has pointed to teachers as object in the issue of teacher autonomy and examined the transformation through discussions of teachers’ proactive participation in continuous professional learning and the positioning of teachers in the governance of the teaching profession. This paper focused on teacher education itself, first pointing out that teacher education itself was objectified. The paper then examined the challenges of “teacher education as a policy problem,” which embodied the idea of teacher education as object. This was that it led to a narrowing of teacher education, thereby narrowing the scope for the development of teachers who could proactively participate in the framework and play an active role in setting it. In order to overcome this problem, this paper first clarified that teacher education was a diverse activity by defining teacher education as a complex system. As long as teacher education is a complex system established through the interaction of various components, there will be limitations in defining it as the object of a single framework. Rather, it was shown that it was possible to reexamine the framework as a premise from the interaction of various initiatives. Additionally, the paper conceptualises teacher education through the lens of intersectionality to provide opportunities for teachers to construct their identities within social interactions. The lens of intersectionality would increase teachers’ sensitivity to societal contexts and facilitate the construction of teacher identities through their relationships with society. This approach implies that teachers themselves can act as agents who question the framework of teacher education.