Democracy, Community , Responsibility and Influence in Teacher Education

Abstract

All education which develops power to share effectively in social life is moral.

John Dewey

Large enrollments in educational institutions have long been associated with problems of depersonalization and alienation. In a large Faculty of Education (over 4200 undergraduates and 170 instructors) in a major university in Canada a preservice undergraduate program for the preparation of elementary school teachers had as one of its major goals to allay feelings of depersonalization and alienation. This paper examines (1) processes of the program that led to the development of a sense of community, responsibility and influence among students and staff and (2) processes that countered such development.