Abstract
The Hungarian-born physicist and mathematician Eugene Wigner, a winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, remembered his mathematics teacher in Budapest, Hungary, as follows: "He had every quality of a miraculous teacher: He loved teaching, he knew his subject and how to kindle interest in it. No one could evoke the beauty of a subject like him" (Matron, 2007, p. 40). Wigner's words show that teachers have a critical role in shaping students' learning experience. Through nurturing human potential, teachers make a considerable imprint on future generations and on society. Therefore, teacher education programs carry a great responsibility, as they are tasked with preparing teachers who have broad subject knowledge, sound pedagogical skills and dispositions to guide and support students, and an understanding of the social and cultural climate of education.