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Hedging Our Bets? Now, More Than Ever, is the Time to be Vigilant About Improving Teaching Preparation by Dave Powell — November 04, 2008A recent article in USA Today suggests that there may be a “silver lining” associated with the financial turmoil gripping the country: as Wall Street downsizes, teaching ranks are expected to swell. The assumption underlying many alternative preparation programs is that holding a Bachelor’s degree and pairing it with “real world experience” is preparation enough for the rigors of teaching. But this assumption trivializes the complex nature of teaching and the equally complicated work of teacher preparation. If teaching is to ever be taken seriously as a profession, we have to begin by strengthening teacher education programs and discouraging fast-track alternative programs that may suit market philosophies but may also undermine teacher preparation by suggesting that anyone with an undergraduate degree can make the transition into classroom teaching with fairly minimal additional preparation. Moreover, we should be careful to present teaching as a legitimate career choice in and of itself, not a secondary alternative to some other professional option. To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropropriate membership. Please review your options below:
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- Dave Powell
Gettysburg College
E-mail Author
DAVE POWELL is an Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College.
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