Among the objectives Chapter 14 seeks to achieve are these:
Students should reflect on whether their reading of this book is likely to have any impact on their own practice. To assist in such reflection, students should consider the "theory of impact" that the authors put forward for the value of studying social foundations in education: Those teachers who best understand what this book has to offer are in a better position to help improve student learning because they will understand students, schools, and themselves in the social contexts that affect the meanings and interactions among these three components of educational processes.
Students should reflect on their own personal, professional, and political motivations for becoming teachers, realizing that most teachers have a mix of motives and that motives change over time. For example, a person could start by "just looking for a job," and end up being "all about the students."
Readers should also recognize that whatever their motives for teaching, they are more likely to achieve their aims if they have a clear theory of impact—an explanation of how their practices are likely to lead to the teacher's goals, whether those goals are just keeping a job, maximizing student learning, or contributing to a more just society.
Prospective and current teachers should be able to connect their teaching goals to reflect on teaching as an "isolated" versus a "collaborative" profession. That is, some goals may be attainable without structured collaboration with other teachers, but teachers are increasingly finding that working strategically with other teachers is essential to attaining the most ambitious goals for student learning.
Finally, readers should reflect on the changing landscape of "teacher leadership" and what that will mean to teaching and learning. The chapter urges teachers to become willing and able to "step up" to responsibility for school outcomes outside their own classrooms because such teacher leadership can have important consequences for school culture and student learning.
