Currently an active discussion on the best ways of a teacher preparation is taking a place in the community of educationalists. This is what I think about the matter (the sort version, of course).

Physics is one of the oldest and the most developed sciences up to date.

That is why we can use the general approach/methodology developed in Physics to any science, including educational science. We can see that any research in Physics has three main phases: first, one makes observations and experiments to find some specific relations between different objects and processes; then, one makes a generalization and formulates the set of laws which cover all the specific phenomena; and finally, one uses those laws to understand other specific phenomena and predict the outcomes of specific actions.

Obviously, the drawn picture is very simplistic, but for our purposes it is good enough.

In educational science we have done many wonderful studies and collected many fruitful research results. I believe we can now state some general principles, which are not needed to be

falsified again and again, but in turn can be used as the starting point for developing instructional approaches, teaching tools, learning aids, etc.

What statement can be done	What can it mean for educationalists
I don’t feel like we need more research to prove that a teacher has to know the subject the one teaches. A teacher has to know the subject the one teaches!	Although, we may need to spend some time on achieving a consensus on what a level of the subject knowledge and skills are needed and the ways to measure it. As long as the level is achieved, it does not matter how it has been done.
We can state with sure today that a teacher has to be able to manage children’s activities directed toward developing children’s subject knowledge and skills.	This ability includes the ability to transfer effectively the knowledge and skills a teacher has, the ability to use effectively the teaching tools and learning aids the teacher has in the classroom, the ability to understand the reasons of children’s setbacks and difficulties and to find the most efficient way to help them to overcome all the obstacles, the ability to manage the whole class full of different children, and some other important abilities. Of course, we need still to keep working on developing better teaching tools, learning aids, assessments instruments, etc., which teachers can effectively utilize. Plus, we need to teach a teacher how to use all that stuff, which means, a teacher has to be able to go through all the same activities the kids would be doing in the classroom.
We can state that today’s teaching is a specific human practice, which naturally includes - as a vital part of the practice itself - the need for a constant development and improvement.	This kind of an activity (improving the own practice) a teacher has to be able to do even in between of professional development sessions, just on an every day bases. To be able to conduct this activity (a self-professional development) a teacher has to be able to perform a specific kind of a human mental work named reflection on the practice (that was one of the fundamental statements of my dissertation and one of the fundamental element of my long-term practice when working with teachers). A professional development without this component is not a professional development (when we talk about teachers). A teacher is needed to be taught to perform this kind of an activity.
The nature of a teaching practice leads also to the necessity of developing effectively functioning teachers’ communities, which only can keep the self-professional development process sustained without a constant supervising from officials or educationalists.	Supporting teachers’ communities working on their professional development (not on the conditions of their contracts) is not a research problem, but rather political (funds) and organizational (time).
Teaching is a very hard job that should have a very strong support from a society.	Schools of education and other teacher preparation and professional development institutions should be involved in the policy making process helping teachers doing their job.

This kind of general logic helps us to summarize which common feathers any efficient teacher preparation or professional development program should have: 1. subject preparation (we need a common measuring device; today everybody uses the own “thermometer” with no way to compare the scales); 2. participating in the process of developing and implementing teaching tools of some kind; 3. giving to a teacher a hand-on experience of using the teaching tools needed for the work in the classroom; 4. walking a teacher through main stages of managing the class in a friendly environment (ideal students who are listening to a teacher, doing what asked to do, asking questions, etc.); 5. walking a teacher through main stages of managing the class in a real-life environment (real classes);6. practicing with a teacher performing the reflective analysis on the own teaching practice; 7. supporting teachers’ professional development communities and involving teachers into them; 8. participating in a policy making process.

Obviously, it takes years to walk a person through all the stages of a professional teacher development, hence the ideal program should have described all the phases starting from a day one at the school of education and ending years after the person is graduated. Of course, today we cannot name a program as an effective program if the program does not offer to a (prospective) teacher an effective in-class (in-school) practice.