"preach or teach?" an ongoing journey to becoming STEPWISE

This chapter outlines my ongoing journey as a science teacher educator towards a more activist approach to science teacher education. Science teacher education curriculum is typically framed within the same neoliberal influences that governments prescribe in school science curriculum documentation. The science teacher educator is thus expected to prepare emerging generations of science teachers to know and be able to teach this prescribed curriculum. Subsequently, the status quo citizenship demanded by a neoliberal, industrial society and supported by school systems is maintained. Perpetuating the status quo like this can be useful and even necessary in order to establish and maintain a well-functioning society where a productive life can be enjoyed. However, the neoliberal climate that is currently evident in societies of the “developed” (or global North/minority) world advantages the privileged few at the expense of the less privileged many, creating an unjust world of increasing inequity. This inequity has led to some (e.g., Ayers, Quinn, & Stovall, 2009; Clover, 2002; Hodson, 2010) to call for an activist approach to education in order to create a ‘better’ world, one in which the wellbeing of individuals, societies, animals and the broader environment, is promoted