Conceptions of the study of Jewish texts in teachers' professional development

The proliferation of the study of Jewish texts in settings of teachers' professional development poses a challenge for teacher educators. What is the study of these texts to provide for teachers? What would be ways for these texts to be studied in order to contribute to the education of teachers? This paper presents four conceptual approaches of current practices and discussions as to the role of the study of Jewish texts in teachers' professional development. Three approaches are mainly concerned with the questions of what teachers should know and do not pay enough attention to, and, one of the key questions of teacher education, how teachers may learn. A fourth possible approach is therefore presented. It draws on recent development in the field of teacher education, calling for the investigation of teaching and learning by teachers. It describes what would be the conditions so as to have the study of Jewish texts become a "site" for the investigation of teaching and learning. This approach seeks to integrate some of what teachers should learn with how they may learn it and attempts to show what might be a role of the study of traditional texts in the context of professional development.