What is a good teacher...a bad teacher...we have all claimed it sometime in our life, so it must be easy to define, or is it? So often, we depend on common sense to steer our thoughts, actions, and arguments -- but as @alyssagaudio says http://mls590leadership.blogspot.com/2012/10/bad-teacher-bad-common-sense.html, "more research needs to be put into defining the problem". One problem that is brought up in Bad Teacher is "professional preparation", or lack thereof. Specifically, the institution of higher education is criticized for being hypocrites. While professors are advocating for more intensive "teacher" training -- they, themselves teach without needing any specific training in the area of teaching. In actuality, a negative correlation exists; as the level of education increases, you will find a decrease in the requirements for "professional preparation".
Example: Illinois
Primary Education = Major in Elementary Education
Secondary Education = Major in subject, minor in Secondary Education
Higher Education = Be considered an "expert" in the field, no teaching qualifications necessary
While common sense tells me that I am comfortable with this set-up due to developmental differences in students who range in age from 5 to 22 -- I can't help but wonder if our "common sense" is failing us. Is higher education contributing to a vicious cycle? Aspiring teachers spend time in both major and non-major courses where they encounter professors with potentially no "professional preparation", in terms of teaching. So, it is okay to assume a person's credentials in a field automatically make them qualified to teach the future teachers how to teach. Was the field of teaching necessarily created, and if so, why are we not embodying its very essence in institutions of higher education...That's right, because it is HIGHER education and we are above that?!
Although I do feel teaching credentials play a part, I know that there's a part, called "professional development" that often goes unnoticed. For me as a secondary education teacher,I still need to log 200 hours of professional development, in different categories, and submit every few years to validify I am fostering growth as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteFor post-secondary education there is no written, mandated qualifications, but if you think about the level of committment, intense study and specialization, being accepted and excelling in a PHD program, critically and effectively writing capstone and thesis papers, along with the need to write in journals and maintain a scholarly aesthetic, I feel that our professors are qualified, but then again, we've all had professors that makes us question "How did they ever become a teacher for this?!"