Teacher education futures: the impact of generational modes of learning, disruptive technologies, and terrorism on the profession

Teacher bashing is rife in political circles and the press. Fallout from this activity, and associated collateral damage impacts many attendant professions. Most adopt defensive postures under these attacks, ready to shield their territories from incursions from any direction. In this climate, many who educate teachers tend to circle the wagons, preparing to defend at all costs those practices so worn by the passage of time that they are revered as 'tried and true'. In the process, those who defend are blinded to some changing and immutable truths…the context in which learning occurs is changing…learners are changing the way they learn…what learners are learning is changing. In fact, what is being learned, why it is being learned, and when and how it is being learned are all changing-dramatically! How are teacher educators responding? This paper raises questions about the future direction of teacher education through analysis of three emerging issues facing new millennium teachers.