Initial Teacher Education is Not That Important

December 4, 2009

BEN LEVIN, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy. University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)

Over the entire 30 plus years of my career in education people have been talking about the importance of reforming initial teacher education.  But my experience, both as a researcher and a senior official, has led me to the opposite conclusion; while better teacher education may be needed, it should be a low item on the education reform priority list, not a high priority.

I say this for two reasons.

First, changing schools through improving initial teacher education is a low impact strategy.  It will take way too long to have any effect.  Even if 10% of all teachers turn over each year, it would take many years (because much of the turnover is among new teachers) to reshape the teaching force. READ MORE...

Between January 2006 and December 2008, there were 1153 attacks on Afghanistan schools, including poisonings, murders, rocket attacks and grenades. In 2008 alone, there were 670 attacks -- more than the two previous years combined. According to the Afghan Ministry of Education, 230 people died as a result of attacks between 2006 and 2007. At the beginning of 2009, 670 schools from across the country were shut down, with 65 to 81 per cent of schools in the southern provinces closed because of security concerns. Despite the fact that girls make up 19 per cent of Afghan schools, they continue to be targeted, with girls' schools making up 40 per cent of all schools attacked

Source: Vancouver Sun  

THE NEWS

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A clutch of University of Alberta education students gathered on the steps of the legislature Tuesday to protest a potential $300M to the school system over the next two years. Sharon Armstrong, vice-president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, told the 15 gathered students that the time to speak out on potential cuts is now, before the budget is released next spring.

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The Internet makes it easy for teachers to share information and learn from each other, which is all to the good. There's an ethical line, though. Teachers buying and selling work on-line are profiting from work they’re already being paid to do. Ontario taxpayers pay public teachers’ salaries, so some question whether Ontario citizens have rights to the coursework being sold for profits, and if they have a say in what teachers are able to do with work developed in and for Ontario schools.
 
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