In my opinion, one of the biggest factors concerning the current failures of our educational system is the inadequate and substandard teacher training programs offered by our Universities. Not just the minnow Universities but also the elite ones.
The idea proposed by Lord Adonis that every secondary school should have teachers who attended elite universities is not only unworkable but costly and simplistic.
Addressing the Independent Academies Association (IAA) conference in central London, Lord Adonis said: “You need a good mix of teachers, of course, at any successful school, but you cannot be a successful school unless you at least have a certain proportion of your teachers who have themselves come from leading universities in to which you intend to send your best students.”
Lord Adonis warned delegates it would not be possible to transform admissions to top universities “unless you can develop a cadre of teachers in your own schools that have that background themselves.”
I attended one of Australia’s elite Universities and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there was precious little that I was taught that was of value to me in the classroom. From my experience the training of teachers needs an overhaul. Teaching theory is all well and good but it needs to be complemented with proper practical instruction. I’ve seen teachers who are more academic and have sharper intellects than I do, who floundered in the classroom because sometimes all the knowledge in the world on the right and left brain and metacognition can’t help you get through to a hostile or challenging class.
My lecturers were mostly former teachers who left the classroom because they couldn’t manage anymore. They were a fountain of knowledge when it came to theory, but clearly relieved to be out of the classroom. Their pearls of wisdom included “Use them or lose them”, concerning the number of paid sick days available to teachers. Sure, it can be seen as good advice to cash in on your paid sick leave, but it isn’t the positive and responsible message to be sending to future teachers.
Lord Adonis may be right. Perhaps it is easier to get pupils, particularly those from poorer areas, into top universities when their teachers have studied at those institutions too. But for my daughter, I am satisfied with a teacher that is caring, dedicated, and prepared to challenge educational norms by experimenting and taking responsible risks.
You don’t need an elite University to educate, prepare and nature an elite teacher.
Tags: Education, News, School, Schools, Teachers, Teaching, Training, University
Topical Teaching 
February 5, 2011 at 2:18 am |
Truly inspiring teachers think outside their box of training. They are innovators. There are inspiring training programs, but I don’t think they are confined to the “Elite” universities, whatever that means. The professors that I taught me the most were both well trained and willing to abandon that training in favor of methods that suited their situation. Sound educational practice is based on both general principles and specific situational and cultural environment. A good teacher needs be trained to take advantage of what is available while drawing on sound ideas of how people learn and develop skills. If you focus on the science of education and ignore what is in front of your face then it doesn’t matter how elite your schooling background is.
February 5, 2011 at 7:08 pm |
I agree with both you and randommyriad. However, in American schools, we need to be ALLOWED to teach our curricula rather than the Federal Governments agenda…My country’s literacy rate has plummete because the Dept. of Education and the NEA have watered down the curricula to the point that we are having to teach “social skills” and programming kids to work in environments reminiscent of correctional facilities. Sorry but I have worked in both. My country is failing it’s children because it will not let teachers think “outside of the box”. It won’t let them teach what kids need to know, but wants them to learn that it is okay to fail as long as you “feel good about yourself”…This is a perpetual self-esteem fraud and it must change.
February 5, 2011 at 7:08 pm |
Sorry for my typos…It is 2 a.m. ;-D