Teacher education

Teacher education refers to the training and preparation of teachers, particularly those of elementary and secondary schools. Formal, standardized education for teachers only became commonplace in the eighteenth century, and has changed greatly over time. In modern times, teaching candidates generally earn college degrees, and many go on to postgraduate studies before becoming professional teachers. Most teachers must be credentialed not only in the subject they will be teaching, but also in the art and science of teaching itself. To accomplish this, teachers undergo both preservice and in-service training. In many cases, teachers continue to learn their subject and refine their craft throughout their teaching careers.

Overview

Education is a human tradition that dates back to prehistoric times, before the rise of the first civilizations. It has served to pass on vital knowledge from one generation to another. In its first and most basic forms, education allowed young people to learn the basic skills and information needed to survive, such as how to hunt or plant crops. Later, education conveyed the wisdom of elders and lessons about life. In a broader sense, education has also sought to induct the young into their society's norms, values, and shared belief systems, whether that was a family, a regional group, or a city or country. Without education, humankind may not have survived at all, never mind reaching its modern heights of achievement.

Education has played a vital role in human history, but for most of that time, teaching was a relatively informal endeavor. The first teachers were parents and older family members whose qualifications were mainly their own life experiences. In larger social groups, clan elders and spiritual leaders became de facto teachers. Group stories may have been taught in song during community ceremonies. In towns and villages, education likely consisted of a tradesman teaching an apprentice how to perform a productive task, such as tailoring or blacksmithing. Only in relatively modern times has teaching reached the level of a true profession and career, with teachers prepared explicitly to educate people full-time.

The shift to professional teachers ran parallel with an increased need for and appreciation of education in many parts of the world. In ancient times, most education was informal and skill-based. Formal education, if available, was reserved for the privileged few, usually male children of wealthy or well-connected families. The Age of Enlightenment and other great shifts in philosophy led to a new perspective on education in the eighteenth century. As modern nations formed and democracy afforded increasing power and responsibility to regular people, many began to realize that it was no longer acceptable to educate only a small percentage of a population.

Over many generations, the idea of universal education spread and strengthened. Leaders pushed for education as a means of strengthening not only individuals but also entire nations. They believed that well-educated citizens could contribute more socially, economically, and politically. The ideal of universal literacy, or ensuring that all people are able to read and write, became a rallying cry of educational reformers in the twentieth century. As a means of instituting universal literacy, many countries adopted policies of mandatory education, in which young people are legally required to attend schooling until they turn sixteen or eighteen years of age.

During this transition, teachers had to become more capable and qualified in order to handle their increased responsibility and the expectations of their cultures. Merely relying upon personal experience or authority within a group was no longer sufficient. Rather, teachers had to be well-versed in the subjects they would teach as well as effective practices of managing a classroom and conducting lessons.

Formal education of teachers in the art and science of teaching can be traced back at least until the early eighteenth century, when teacher-centric schools began to open in parts of what is today Germany. In the coming generations, the process became more standardized as well as strenuous. Many societies required that their professional teachers gain certification both in their subject matter and in their ability to teach effectively, such as controlling the behavior of a class. Many teachers were required to attend regular classes to improve their skills and knowledge and ensure they were proceeding in step with the expectations of their community, nation, and, often, religious affiliation.

Countries such as Britain, France, Japan, and the United States invested heavily in teacher preparation programs through the nineteenth century. During this period, educators proposed various approaches to the training of teachers. One of the most popular of these was the monitorial system, in which a master teacher instructed a small body of pupils, who then passed along the lessons to lower-rung pupils. This system was easy and inexpensive, as it required few pre-trained and paid instructors, and it did include some inherent on-the-job training as the pupils taught one another. It spread quickly and allowed the educational systems in several countries to build a foundation of capable teachers.

However, the system had some significant flaws. Critics charged that it was too heavily based on memorization and repetition of facts, which did little to encourage personalized engagement or to teach prospective teachers to think actively. Later, new systems emerged to better prepare teachers for real-life experience and more thoroughly address student needs. Student needs were also expanding. The realities of increasingly urban and scientifically advanced societies required that most young people know more than merely reading and writing. To accommodate this, teacher training continued to expand in its scope, complexity, and requirements.

Other changes were taking place on the global level. Humanist philosophies were promoting the idea that all individuals had value and that education was a key to human fulfillment and an essential right. Humanists believed that people should have the opportunity to learn as much as possible to pursue whatever goals or levels of success they aspired to. Psychologists began to study the internal processes of teaching and learning, particularly their tremendous effect on young people. Additionally, cultural values necessitated that schools not only teach dry facts and figures but also support broader belief systems.

These trends placed a heavier emphasis on teachers studying the techniques of teaching. By finding and employing the best teaching strategies, teachers would be more likely to engage with and inspire young learners on a deeper level than could be achieved with lectures and recitation. For example, teachers might be trained to interpret the reactions of students to various lessons, looking for signs of particular interest or curiosity. If the teacher notices such promising signs, they may choose to customize the lesson to better appeal to students rather than simply following a rigidly set plan.

Applications

Teacher education approaches of the twenty-first century developed primarily from innovations in the twentieth century, a time of rapid and widespread global change. Many social factors were combined to necessitate significant alterations in teacher training and techniques. These factors included rapidly growing populations, increasing lifespans, massive jumps forward in technologies (including classroom teaching aids), increasing diversity of student populations, budgetary concerns, and political interventions.

Modern countries set their own requirements for teachers. However, in most countries, teachers are held to a high standard of academic and professional credentials. Most teachers complete secondary education and college- or university-level education. Many, particularly teachers who aim to teach at the university level themselves, proceed to continue their education.

Prospective teachers generally study their intended subject matters as well as teaching-centric topics, such as educational techniques and philosophies, before they are considered fully qualified to teach. Many institutions issue certifications upon graduation to assert that the teaching candidate has met the necessary standards. However, these standards are not universal and do not apply to all teaching roles. In some cases, people with little or no actual teaching-centric education are considered qualified to teach specific classes based solely on the strength of their subject-matter expertise. For example, a master carpenter may teach a vocational class on carpentry, even without formally studying teaching techniques.

In modern times, teachers generally engage in two levels of teacher education. The first is preservice, which encompasses learning in preparation for becoming a professional teacher. This preservice generally includes the prospective teacher’s own time as a student in secondary and postsecondary systems. Usually, the prospective teacher will gain a general education in secondary school and then focus more on a particular subject matter and teaching skills during the postsecondary level. Some institutions offer separate courses for people who have already graduated with general education and seek to focus on gaining teaching skills and credentials.

The second main level of teacher education is in-service training, which takes place after the professional work starts, as the teacher continues their personal education. In-service training can take place in real “on the job” teaching scenarios as teachers improvise new understandings, strategies, and adaptations in the course of their day-to-day work. For example, a teacher may invent a highly effective method of focusing student attention on a task and begin employing that method. In-service training often also includes continuing formal educational programs meant to bolster the teacher’s knowledge both in the subject matter being taught and in the processes of teaching. A teacher might undertake online lessons or attend conferences after work, for instance, in pursuit of a doctorate degree. During this process, many successful teachers develop, review, and revise their own personal philosophies of teaching, a process that may last for an entire career.

In the United States, each state has specific educational requirements for teachers that span from simply having a four-year college degree to having a specified graduate degree. For example, New York State has required teachers to earn an undergraduate degree in their area of teaching, whether it be elementary or secondary education. The state has also required teachers to obtain their master's degree within five years of entering the profession. Further, New York teachers must fulfill professional development hours throughout each school year that are logged and documented by the state. Other states, like Florida, have not required a degree in the field of education, but instead have allowed prospective teachers with a four-year college degree to complete teacher education on the job. These requirements have fluctuated state-by-state and year-by-year, depending on the employment needs of each state and district. Most states have required prospective teachers to pass exams geared toward their specialized area of teaching.

Extensive and ongoing teacher training is necessitated by society’s high demands on and expectations of teachers. It is also a necessary practice as technology and curriculum grow and change. According to a report by the American Psychological Association (APA), teachers of pre-kindergarten to grade twelve should be expected to master and practice at least twenty major principles. These principles deal with personal behavior, understanding and relating to students, promoting student well-being, managing the classroom environment, and fairly and accurately assessing student progress. Teachers are challenged to recognize and correct misconceptions, provide clear feedback, foster creativity, form and refine goals and expectations, manage the social contexts of learning, and understand the psychological sciences behind learning.

One primary expectation of teachers is that they master classroom management. Classroom management is a multifaceted body of skills relating to a teacher’s ability to control what takes place in their classroom. Teachers generally strive for structured learning environments with fair but clear rules that seek to remove obstacles to student learning. Teachers of different age levels may have to learn dramatically different skills to achieve sufficient and efficient classroom management. A few standout classroom management skills include ensuring that students remain on task, eliminating problems and quelling troublemakers, and encouraging student interest and curiosity about lesson topics. Although administrations have some near-universal classroom management goals, most experienced teachers develop their own approaches based on their personalities, experiences, and goals for their pupils.

Issues

Teacher education is an essential part of society that has developed significantly through the millennia. Teacher education has always reacted to the changing circumstances and needs of society, and all indications suggest that it will do so in the future. Teachers will likely face new and potentially more challenging requirements as they seek to increase public knowledge and ability at a time when education is becoming more important than ever.

Teachers will also be challenged to embrace and adopt new teaching strategies and technologies, many of which will require specialized training and preparation. A striking example of the constant—and sometimes sudden—evolution of teaching played out during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. At that time, many in-person public schools were closed to reduce the spread of the illness, and educators took their lessons to students via online means. Learning to use cutting-edge distance learning technology, as well as to grasp the changes in psychology and classroom dynamics that occur in distance learning, required that teachers learn and adapt quickly to avoid potentially harmful gaps in student education.

Meanwhile, educational trends and philosophies continue to develop. For instance, the twenty-first-century push for social and emotional learning has moved some focus from the facts and figures of traditional general education to the development of students as well-rounded, self-managed, open-minded individuals. New movements, as well as the means by which they are to be implemented, are often subject to debate and interpretation. These changes may also tie into government policies and social mores that affect the ways in which teachers are allowed or expected to work. Teacher education will have to account for these different perspectives and ongoing changes in the educational landscape, along with changes in culture, science, and economy.

About the Author

Mark Dziak earned his BA in English from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 2003 and completed a secondary education program there in 2011. He has worked at Northeast Editing, Inc., since 2004. As a content developer, he has researched and written hundreds of educational articles, test items, and other resources on a wide variety of social science topics. In his spare time, Dziak has also published numerous works of nonfiction and fiction.

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