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I rarely blog about teaching, which is funny given that that’s my life. Today, in a session regarding educational research and the best direction for the future, the conversation boiled down to, in my mind, whether teaching is a complex craft or a job. The answer to this question is the same regarding whether education research should focus on finding ‘cure-alls’ and quick fixes or trying to understanding how people learn certain things, in certain places, at certain times, with certain people.
I had a conversation with a lawyer who had a teaching certification and taught high school for one year…and then ran away screaming. I asked him about his certification program (as a person who works to certify teachers) to get ideas as I try to improve our current process. He let out this long sigh, and proceeded to tell me (as if I had no idea) just how demanding and difficult teaching was and how much of his time outside of the classroom it took him to prepare lessons. Hence, he left teaching after that one year and went into law, which he said was not nearly as difficult and demanding a career. His concerns were regarding the fact that he only received one year of training to be certified as a teacher. The fact that he only got one hour of prep during the day and spent six to seven with students. And that there was little if any professional development or mentoring that met his needs as a beginning teacher.
These are all things that teacher educators would like to change, and have offered remedies for. Some have been instituted in progressive education programs and schools. However, until we all consider teaching a complex and demanding craft, the amount of time to be certified won’t increase but will continue to decrease with alternative certification programs, such as Teach For America, which allow people to teach with even less training. These are programs government-supported, even lauded and applauded. Also, teachers will continue to be paid incommensurate with the amount of work it requires to do their jobs well. (Yes, I hear you saying that there are those who don’t put in the requisite effort and don’t do the job well…My response: perhaps they needed more than one year of training, better mentoring and professional development, more support from administration, and parents. And if that doesn’t rebuff your arguments…there are also poor professors, horrible doctors, shady financial advisors…what shall we do about them?? This is not to say that we shouldn’t do a better job of training, retraining and vetting teacher candidates.)
If only the majority of the US population understood the complexities and demands of teaching. Not only understood but appreciated them and responded by fully funding education, education research, and education training…and fully supporting public school teachers.
As a new school year begins, thank a teacher. Support teachers.
i graduated from the fulton county public school system, in the state of georgia, in 1992. my next point of contact with a public school system will likely be in 2012, when my oldest child is of age to enter kindergarten in new york city. in the twenty years between my exit and his entry, i have had little to no contact with the public school system, in any city or state, beyond what i have seen in the media, or has been shared, in casual conversation, by friends and family members who are students, teachers, teacher educators, or administrators. and i suspect that i am not the only person living in this populous state of ignorance.
suffice it to say, i am largely unaware of the real issues and needs of the nation’s public school system, beyond what makes media headlines. it simply has not been on my radar. it wasn’t when i was a college student, single adult, nor married person without children. public education did not become a part of my regular conversation again until i had my first child. BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN. we don’t wait until we’re about to retire to begin planning for retirement (or, at least we shouldn’t), so why should we wait to care about public school systems until we’re about to enroll our children into school? and what about those who never have children? at what point does public education become relevant to them, again? and, what about persons who were educated in private schools, how does the importance of public education get introduced and then become relevant to them? just as there are teacher educators, we need public educators about teaching. then, we, the public, can grow in awareness and become advocates, even during that significant gap when we are neither student nor parent.
for us, the majority of the US population, to recognize, understand, and appreciate the complexity and demand of the teaching craft, and i believe that we should, then we, the distracted and pre-occupied public, must be taught to care. just as jamie oliver has launched and is fighting the food revolution – in prime time – so too must public education take up airwaves, when are where we, the public, are watching.
tuned-in,
brian
thanks, brian. I agree. Too often people who are not directly connected to public school in some way believe that it is of no concern to them (and complain about being taxed for public schools), thinking that they do not provide them a service. i agree with Elizabeth Warren’s recent quote (http://bit.ly/pBu6sL) that highlighted the fact that each of us is impacted by the education of all of us…think about the current economic situation.
Currently my institution offers a course on education for non-education majors. It covers the history of education in the US, what it means to teach, the work that goes into it, the ways people learn, etc. I would love to see this kind of course regularly offered at all colleges and universities and even able to fulfill a requirement in order to get more people to take the course.
As far as a parallel to Jamie Oliver, I wholeheartedly agree that teachers and teacher educators do not (and need to) take over the conversation about education. Currently those speaking about education were never teachers. My profession has lots to do!