The authors offer their view of a normative basis for an approach to teacher education that contributes to the establishment of more critical and emancipatory practices in the public schools of United States. These ideas are then linked to the broader tradition of radicalism in teacher education. A variety of conceptual lenses and instructional strategies utilized by radically oriented teacher educators are discussed together with the possibilities for the realization of a radical agenda for teacher education. It is argued that teacher educators need to become much more politically involved in confronting the external conditions that limit the possibilities for reform in teacher education. (Author)