The whole issue of teacher certification is one of great importance and when discussed
must be done in a delicate and thoughtful manner. The reason for this increasing
importance is because the education of our nation's teachers is important to the creation
of an ideal education system, which is one of the goals of our national government and
State governments. Over the years the whole educational reform movement has become an
increasingly "hot" topic. Reforms in the administration of school systems and in
curriculum theory and practice have been asked for and a4re currently being put into
effect. Recently, reform of the education of teachers is being added to the lo9ng list
of reforms needed. Many reform activists feel that direct changes need to be made on the
methods of training and certifying the teachers of our country. Before looking at the
reform movement, however, one must first look at the so called problem of inconsistency
in teacher certification.
In our country today there is a general consistency among the requirements for state
certification of teachers. Most states require their teacher institutions to establish a
teacher education program that includes coursework and fieldwork. The coursework
includes those courses that prepare a student to become a professional teacher and those
classes that include major and minor fields of specialization. Fieldwork, which is
probably the most important of the two forms of requirements, involves the individual
interested in being a teacher going out and observing, practicing, and preparing to enter
the educational world as an instructor. There is no argument that all schools in every
state has these basic requirements of teacher certification. However, the inconsistency
lies within how the numerous institutions go about in teaching these requirements. Each
post-secondary school is given the jurisdiction to choose how they are going to go about
meeting these basic teacher certification requirements. For example, many states require
a different amount of field hours. An inconsistency can also be seen in the various
models of teacher education that are used throughout the nation. Two education
researchers, Howey and Zimpher conducted a study on this variety of models in 1989. They
came up with three different attempts of teacher training. The first, known as the
teacher's college model, involves certification students entering a separate school
within a university that is a "teacher's college". The second approach is called the
liberal arts model by the researchers, and is a method that requires and individual to
become specialized in a certain liberal arts subject in order to create "capable and
cultured human beings". The third and final model discussed by Howley and Zimpher is
entitled the competency-based model. This method trains individuals in the arts o
motivation and understanding. As one can see by this case study, there have been a
variety of approaches to teacher certification. An inconsistency can similarly be
detected by looking at the various new and innovative ideas in teacher education. Among
these include the alternative route, a topic discussed earlier, and the five-year degree
program, and issue to be discussed shortly in this section. Altogether, one could state
that there is some inconsistency in teacher certification, and this inconsistency brings
about a small problem in the educational spectrum of our world. In my opinion, there is
no national and universal set of requirements for teacher certification. The variety of
different methods and forms of teacher education programs is causing an inconsistency in
how teachers are being trained nationwide. When this is realized, the whole issue of
reforming teacher certification becomes very relevant to our society.
As stated earlier, reforms in the training of future teachers are beginning to really be
requested by the general public. Various groups have met to discuss the various issues
surrounding the reform movement. Among the most notable are the Holmes Group, the
Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), the Education Commission
of the States (ECS), and Goodlad's group. These various groups and many others have come
up with a variety of reforms and new standards that most likely should and will be
integrated into the current teacher certification requirements. One certain similarity
that all of these recommendations have with each other is that they all call for higher
regulations and an increase in the education of future teachers. Many of the group0s
called for an increase in providing individuals knowledge on the profession of teachi8ng,
and some groups also called for a more intense training in the various fields under a
liberal arts education. Increases in the amount of fieldwork required seems to also be a
major issue discussed by the reform groups. The issue of selection under standardized
testing was also discussed, with respect to increasing the required SAT/ACT or GRE
scores. Finally, the research groups came up with various new ideas involving the
creation of professional teaching schools or tiered systems that would require a teacher
to go through more training even after they received their bachelor's degree. All in
all, these reform groups have come up with some very unique and interesting ideas to
change teacher certification for the better. It is the best interest of our nation to
make changes in our current teacher education program, for, in this case, change would be
for the better. To conclude, I would like to take a brief but in depth look at an
innovative idea established by the Maine State Department of Education in conjunction
with the University of Southern Maine. This program, entitled the Extended Teacher
Education Program, involves future teachers continuing on for a fifth year after
completing their undergraduate studies. This fifth year involves the individual taking
part in internships. These internships give the future teachers a chance at more
fieldwork in order to gain more experiences before they become full fledged teachers.
Nonetheless, the results of the initial year of the program seem to indicate that the
idea around this new program is a successful one. Those individuals who took part in the
program obtained various skills and understandings that all ideal teachers should have.
The excellent outcomes of this program leads one to believe that it might be a good idea
to implement this structure nationwide. The idea of creating professional schools for
teachers has become a popular one in recent times. After all if doctors and lawyers have
to go to a professional school, then shouldn't teachers as well?
In conclusion, the issue of teacher training and certification brings up many questions,
especially in reference to reforming. The inconsistent and somewhat outdated education
of teachers today needs change, in order to create an ideal educational system. Numerous
reforms have been discussed and recommended by various research organizations and now is
the time to take action and implement some of these reforms before our education systems
continue to fall downwards into the depths of degradation. Change I needed and change
must come now.
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