There is a much greater problem, and one that won't solve itself. We don't know much about teaching. Some teachers do because they've figured it out after years of practice. But most teachers don't know for certain how to teach. And it's not their fault. We in the ed business have not done enough work to learn about teaching, and determine what works, in what order, and what might work best. Yes it might be the same for 80 percent of the kids, and the other 20 percent might need much more tailored instruction.
Jenny implicitly points out a basic assumption made by most people without realizing it. Teaching is a profession but not profession on par in society's mind with other professions such as attorneys or physicians despite their relative importance to society. The latter two professions have a recognized, rigorous course of instruction coupled with fairly stringent licensing requirements. True, teaching requires certification or licensing, ongoing professional development and shares many other attributes with other professions, but there is a clear difference--there is no rigorous course of instruction like law school or medical school.
Law school, contrary to popular belief, is not really about learning the law, but rather learning about how the law works. Thus, law students spend a majority of their time and effort learning the basic principles of the law, how the law is made, works and is applied in society. Medical school is much the same way. Unless I am mistaken, there is not the same type of emphasis in education schools. True, there are classes on pedagogy, classroom management, subject matter expertise, testing and other aspects of teaching, but education school does not carry the same general systematic approach to the methodology of teaching.
To be admitted to law school or medical school, one must have a bachelor's degree. Then, only after completing law or medical school may a person apply to become a lawyer or a doctor. They must sit for a rigorous set of multi-day examinations to ensure minimum competency. Educators may enter the classroom with a bachelor's degree and a promise or contractual provision to obtain a master's degree. However, there is no professional requirement to obtain an advanced degree in teaching. There is no requirement to sit for a rigorous series of multi-day exams to become a licensed teacher. There is not systematic, relatively standardized method of training teachers to TEACH in the same manner in which we educate future lawyers or doctors.
Teaching should be treated as a profession, but in order for society to hold teachers in the same esteem as other professions, the practice of teaching needs to be taught and the only way to do that is as Jenny has pointed out. We need to reduce the practice of teaching to is core principals, require everyone who wants to be a teacher to learn those principles and demonstrate a minimum competency in those principles--before stepping into a classroom.
The practice of law and medicine used to not be a state regulated profession. However, over time the good of society was served by a regulated profession staffed by people trained in a similar, somewhat standardized fashion so that the faith placed in that profession by society was well placed.
Teachers are entrusted with a duty far more fundamental than the law, yet we require more traning of future attorneys (which we turn out in the hundreds of thousands a year) than we do of teachers.
(BTW--if teachers has this same level of professional training in teaching, they could and should demand more salary--after all they trained for it.)
1 comment:
Actually, I am an intern at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Student teaching is much like Law school or Medical school. I have just begun my year long internship where I gradually take on the full responsibilities of a teacher. I attend classes three times a week in addition to lesson planning, which I am doing right now while trying to complete a presentation for a class I have. I have to grade papers make lessons (which takes much more professionalism and education than any common citizen realizes) in addition to teaching the class, doing my own homework, and preparing for my graduate classes. I went through a selective process to earn my spot in The University of Tennessee's Education program. Of all the people who interviewed for English Education, only half got in. May I mention that I am not being paid a dime to do this year long internship and am having to take out loans in order to do this? In addition to all of the classes I must take for my MA in Education I also must take two certifications tests (one on teaching practices the other on content) and I am doing all of this to be paid much less than most professionals. Undoubtedly, it takes much skill to be an effective teacher. Regardless of what NCLB would suggest, not just anyone who has a BA in something can be a teacher. Therefore, teachers should be respected and paid for their efforts by the community. In what other profession can you go to school for five years and make about the same pay as a good mechanic? Isn't a good education for your students worth paying for?
Post a Comment