Although ideally teacher education should be conceived of, and organized as, a seamless continuum, teacher education is often divided into these stages: • initial teacher training/education: a pre-service course before entering the classroom as a fully responsible teacher •
induction: the process of providing training and support during the first few years of teaching or the first year in a particular school • teacher development or continuing professional development: an in-service process for practicing teachers.
Initial Organization In many countries, Initial Teacher Education (also known as preservice teacher training) takes place largely or exclusively in institutions of
higher education. In countries like
Sri Lanka, there are separate institutes called National colleges of Education to provide pre-service teacher training, while Teacher Training Colleges provide in-service teacher education. Further institutes called Teacher Centers provide continuing professional development for teachers. It may be organized according to two basic models: • in the consecutive model, a teacher first obtains a qualification in one or more subjects (often a diploma in teaching or an undergraduate bachelor's degree), and then studies for a further period to gain an additional qualification in teaching (this may take the form of a post-baccalaureate credential or master's degree). • in the alternative concurrent model, a student simultaneously studies both one or more academic subjects and the ways of teaching those subjects, leading to a combined bachelor's degree and teaching credential to qualify as a teacher of those subjects. Other pathways are also available. In some countries, a person can receive teacher training by working in a school under the supervision of an accredited, experienced practitioner. In the
United Kingdom, there is a long tradition of partnerships between universities and schools in providing state-supported teacher education. This tradition is not without tensions and controversies. In the United States, approximately one-third of new teachers enter the profession through alternative routes to teacher certification, according to testimony by Emily Feistritzer, the President of the National Center for Alternative Certification and the National Center for Education Information, before a congressional subcommittee on May 17, 2007. However, many alternative pathways are affiliated with schools of education, where candidates still enroll in university-based coursework. A supplemental component of university-based coursework is community-based teacher education, in which teacher candidates immerse themselves in communities to apply teaching theory in practice. Community-based teacher education also challenges teacher candidates' assumptions about gender, race, and multicultural diversity. This assists in fostering an attitudinal change among teacher trainees to eliminate segregation within the school community.
Curriculum The question of what knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies, and skills teachers should possess is the subject of much debate in many cultures. This is understandable, as teachers are entrusted with the transmission to learners of society's beliefs, attitudes, and
deontology, as well as of information, advice, and wisdom, and with facilitating learners' acquisition of the key knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that they will need to be active in society and the economy. Generally, Teacher Education curricula can be broken down into four major areas: •
Domain knowledge in education-related aspects of
philosophy of education,
history of education,
educational psychology, and
sociology of education. • Skills in assessing student learning, supporting English Language learners, using technology to improve teaching and learning, and supporting students with special needs. • Content-area and methods knowledge and skills—often also including ways of teaching and assessing a specific subject, in which case this area may overlap with the first ("foundational") area. There is increasing debate about this aspect because it is no longer possible to know in advance what kinds of knowledge and skills pupils will need when they enter adult life. It becomes harder to know what kinds of knowledge and skills teachers should have. Increasingly, emphasis is placed upon transversal or horizontal skills (such as "learning to learn" or "social competences"), which cut across traditional subject boundaries, and therefore call into question traditional ways of designing the Teacher Education curriculum (and traditional school curricula and ways of working in the classroom). • Practice at classroom teaching or at some other form of educational practice—usually supervised and supported in some way, though not always. Practice can take the form of field observations, student teaching, or (U.S.) internship (See Supervised Field Experiences below). This area also includes extracurricular competences such as dealing with conflicts and bullying among pupils.
Rural Those training to teach in rural and remote areas face different challenges from those who teach in urban centers. Therefore, a different approach to teacher education is needed for those who aspire to each in rural and remote areas. It has been proposed that rural and remote communities may have more success recruiting teachers who already live in these communities, rather than recruiting urbanites to move to rural areas after completing their teacher training. Online and blended teacher education programs are becoming more prevalent to help meet the needs of teacher shortages in rural and remote areas. In addition, the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers by 2030 through international cooperation.
Supervised field experiences Supervised field experiences may include: • Field observations: Include observation and limited participation within a classroom under the supervision of the classroom teacher. • Student teaching: Includes many weeks of teaching in an assigned classroom under the supervision of the classroom teacher and a supervisor (e.g., from the university). • Internship: Teaching candidates are supervised within their own classroom. These three areas reflect the organization of most teacher education programs in North America and in Asian countries such as Sri Lanka. Courses, modules, and other activities are often organized into one of the three major areas of teacher education. The organization makes the programs more rational or logical in structure. The conventional organization has sometimes also been criticized, however, as artificial and unrepresentative of how teachers actually experience their work. Problems of practice frequently (perhaps usually) concern foundational issues, curriculum, and practical knowledge simultaneously, and separating them in teacher education may therefore be unhelpful. However, the question of necessary training components is highly debated, as continuing increases in attrition among new teachers and struggling learners are evident. Additionally, with the increasing demands of the "teacher," research is beginning to suggest that teachers must not only be trained to increase learning experiences for their students, but also to be leaders in an increasingly challenging field. The debate of how best to prepare teachers for teaching in today's demanding environments will continue to be an important focus of the United States, where the education of all children successfully is a priority.
Induction of beginning teachers Teaching involves a wide body of knowledge about the subject being taught and another set of knowledge about the most effective ways to teach that subject to different kinds of learners; it therefore requires teachers to undertake a complex set of tasks every minute. Many teachers experience their first years in the profession as stressful. The proportion of teachers who either do not enter the profession after completing initial training or who leave the profession after their first teaching post is high. A distinction is sometimes made between inducting a teacher into a new school (explaining the school's vision, procedures, etc.) and inducting a new teacher into the teaching profession (providing the support necessary to help the beginning teacher develop a professional identity and to develop further the basic competencies that were acquired in college). Many countries and states have implemented comprehensive support systems to help beginning teachers during their first years in the profession. Elements of such a program can include: • Mentoring: the allocation to each beginning teacher of an experienced teacher, specifically trained as a mentor; the mentor may provide emotional and professional support and guidance; in teacher training, induction is limited to the provision of a mentor, but research suggests that, in itself, it is not enough. • A peer network: for mutual support but also for peer learning. • Input from educational experts (e.g., to help the beginning teacher relate what she learned in college to classroom reality). • Support for the process of self-reflection that all teachers engage in (e.g., through the keeping of a journal). Some research suggests that such programs can increase the
retention of beginning teachers in the profession, improve teaching performance, and promote teachers' personal and professional well-being. However, numerous authors suggests that current teacher education is highly flawed and primarily geared towards a Western-dominated curriculum. Hence, they suggest that teacher education should be inclusive and take into account multiple backgrounds and variables to allow teachers to be responsive to the requirements of their students. argue that this is an essential process in helping students of ethnicity, colour and diversity achieve and attain.
Continuous professional development Because the world that teachers are preparing young people to enter is changing so rapidly, and because the teaching skills required are evolving likewise, no initial course of teacher education can be sufficient to prepare a teacher for a career of 30 or 40 years. In addition, as the student body continues to change due to demographic issues, there is ongoing pressure on academics to master their subjects and understand their students. Continuous professional development is the process by which teachers (like other professionals) reflect upon their competencies, keep them up to date, and develop them further. The extent to which education authorities support this process varies, as does the effectiveness of the different approaches. A growing research base suggests that to be most effective, continuing professional development activities should: • Be spread over time. • Be collaborative. • Use active learning. • Be delivered to groups of teachers. • Include periods of practice, coaching, and follow-up. • Promote reflective practice. • Encourage experimentation. • Respond to teachers' needs. However, a systematic review published in 2019 by the
Campbell Collaboration, which summarizes evidence from 51 studies, finds no clear evidence that continuing professional development in education improves students' academic outcomes. == Quality assurance in teacher education ==