Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Curriculum Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.

Teacher Education has historically centered curriculum and field-based teaching practice preparation on conventional school classrooms, despite the expansion of teaching and learning in contexts shaped by displacement, incarceration, and other adult learning needs. Yet preservice teacher education programs continue to position other learning spaces, such as refugee education and correctional education, as peripheral rather than as integral sites of professional preparation. In the context of persistent teacher shortages and expanding educational provision in carceral and displacement settings, this paper argues for a fundamental reframing of preservice teacher education to address the pedagogical realities of unconventional learning spaces, particularly refugee education programs and correctional institutions. Drawing on the conceptual framework of uncommon pedagogies, the paper advances curriculum design principles for coursework, teaching practice, and professional formation that move beyond scholarly assumptions but prepare teachers to teach under constraint and across difference. The analysis reframes teacher education as a public preparation infrastructure responsible for preparing teachers to teach under constraint and discusses the implications for curriculum design and programmatic responsibility.