It is widely acknowledged in Britain and the US that teacher education has a profound role to play in the move towards a more just and humane society. The authors of this work set out a social reconstructionist agenda for American teacher education which should be of interest to educators world-wide. It begins with an analysis of four traditions of reform - academic, social efficiency, developmentalist, and social reconstructivist. The authors formulate their aims within the latter tradition and present a series of proposals to help prospective teachers examine their educational beliefs, practices and the social context of schooling. The arguments are backed by examples from various teacher education programmes in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.