Teacher Education

 

Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the school and classroom.

Teacher education is often divided into:

• initial teacher training / education (a pre-service course before entering the classroom as a fully responsible teacher);

• induction (the process of providing training and support during the first few years of teaching or the first year in a particular school);

• teacher development or continuing professional development (CPD) (an in-service process for practicing teachers).

The process of mentoring is also relevant.

Organization

Initial teacher education may be organized according to two basic models.

In the 'consecutive' model, a teacher first obtains a qualification (often a first university degree), and then studies for a further period to gain an additional qualification in teaching; (in some systems this takes the form of a post-graduate degree, possibly even a Masters).

The alternative is where a student simultaneously studies both an academic subject and the ways of teaching that subject, leading to a qualification as a teacher of that subject.

Other pathways are also available. In some countries, it is possible for a person to receive training as a teacher under the responsibility of an accredited experienced practitioner in a school.

Teacher Education in many countries takes place in Higher Education.

Curricula

The question of what knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills teachers should possess is the subject of much debate in many cultures. This is understandable, as teachers are entrusted with the transmission to children of society's beliefs, attitudes and deontology, as well as of information, advice and wisdom.

Generally, Teacher Education curricula can be broken down into these blocks:

• foundational knowledge and skills--usually this area is about education-related aspects of philosophy of education, history of education, educational psychology, and sociology of education
• content-area and methods knowledge--often also including ways of teaching and assessing a specific subject, in which case this area may overlap with the first ("foundational") area
• practice at classroom teaching or at some other form of educational practice--usually supervised and supported in some way, though not always.

These three areas reflect the organization of most teacher education programs in North America (though not necessarily elsewhere in the world)--courses, modules, and other activities are often organized to belong to one of the three major areas of teacher education. The organization makes the programs more rational or logical in structure. The conventional organization has sometimes also been criticized, however, as artificial and unrepresentative of how teachers actually experience their work. Problems of practice frequently (perhaps usually) concern foundational issues, curriculum, and practical knowledge simultaneously, and separating them during teacher education may therefore not be helpful.

Quality Assurance

Feedback on the performance of teachers is integral to many state and private education procedures, but takes many different forms. The 'no fault' approach is very satisfactory, where weaknesses are carefully identified, assessed and then addressed through the provision of in service training.

Stress

As a profession teaching has very high levels of Work-Related Stress (WRS)^[1] which are listed as amongst the highest of any profession in some countries, such as the United Kingdom. The degree of this problem is becoming increasingly recognised and support systems are being put into place.^[2][3]

See also

• School of Education
• Pedagogy
• Normal school
• Educational psychology
• Social foundations of education

External Links

• Research on Teacher Education in the Developing World
• Teaching Educational Psychology
• Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy

References

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