Structural and Conceptual Foundations of Teacher Education Programs in Selected Universities in Lebanon

النوع : Article

The purpose of this paper was to explore teacher education programs across Lebanese private and public universities. Data sources included: a) documents describing the programs furnished by the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in the Arab States in Beirut, b) institutional websites, catalogues, and/or brochures describing teacher preparation programs in those institutions, and c) phone interviews with university and program administrators. Analysis of the programs showed that the universities in Lebanon emphasize an orientation which has characteristics of the academic and technological approaches to teacher preparation. The analysis of the programs also showed that there is a relative lack of emphasis on fieldwork. Finally, results also showed that there is absence of university level programs for the preparation of intermediate level teachers (cycle 3) and that post-graduate programs that prepare secondary teachers require significant amount of content background.