I can say with great certainty that the standard of teacher training in this country is lamentable. In my view it is the single biggest factor when it comes to our slipping academic standards. Teachers coming from years of university training are just not ready for the rigors of teaching.
It isn’t surprising that Principals have noticed this. That is why new teachers often find it extremely difficult to get their first job. They are constantly overlooked, regardless of their grades, passion, determination and communication skills. They aren’t overlooked for who they are, but rather where they have come from.
But where the Principals get it all wrong is that they place the blame on the quality of the teachers graduating rather than the quality of the training program. This is a cheap shot and is extremely unfair to the exuberant and idealistic teacher graduates served so poorly by training courses steeped in the theoretical and starved of the practical:
TEACHERS should face one-year internships before they get jobs, to stop underperformers permanently entering classrooms, principals will tell the Federal Government.
Australian Secondary Principals Association executive director Rob Nairn said school heads wanted to see a better selection process for teacher education and year-long internships — longer than current teacher practical places — could be a way of doing it.
“At the moment, we have some teachers who are underperforming,” he said.
“We have got to get better at selecting teachers for teacher training.
“We then have to get better at supporting those teachers and developing those teachers so that every teacher is a good teacher.”
Mr Nairn said the principals association would be suggesting the changes to the Federal Government’s Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group.
Click on the link to read my post The Bizarre Call to Train Teachers Specifically for Left-Handed Students
Click on the link to read my post Why Professional Development for Teachers is Often Useless
Click on the link to read my post Finally, a Step Forward in Education
Click on the link to read my post Tips For New Teachers from Experienced Teachers
Tags: College, Education, News, Teacher Training, Teachers, Teaching, University
Topical Teaching 
June 12, 2014 at 7:01 am |
This seems to me to be a suggestion to go back to the way things were over 40 years ago. Why did they change?
My experience has been otherwise. I have seen principals who prefer new graduates because they are more easily bullied. It doesn’t matter if they quit the profession. There are plenty more to take their place.
Back in the days when things were the way they used to be teachers were trained in teachers colleges that were part of the school education system. The lecturers were experienced ex teachers. When new teachers began work it was not expected that they had the skills of a seasoned veteran and they were supported and coached by supervisors who had come up through the ranks and knew the ropes. They were nurtured until they developed the skills they needed themselves. Furthermore there was frequent in-service training for all teachers.
I’m sick of teachers being blamed for incompetence, even experienced ones these days, when the incompetence exists in the ranks of management and in the initial training. If a teacher fails because of his/her own lack of application, that is one thing. If a teacher fails through lack of training and support and incompetent management that is another thing altogether. That is a systemic problem which can only be fixed by improving the management.