Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community.
Although ideally it should be conceived of, and organised 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 (CPD) (an in-service process for practicing teachers).
There is a longstanding and ongoing debate about the most appropriate term to describe these activities. The term 'teacher training' (which may give the impression that the activity involves training staff to undertake relatively routine tasks) seems to be losing ground, at least in the U.S., to 'teacher education' (with its connotation of preparing staff for a professional role as a reflective practitioner).
Read more about Teacher Education: Induction of Beginning Teachers, Continuous Professional Development, Quality Assurance, Teacher Education Policy
Famous quotes containing the words teacher and/or education:
“The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.”
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952)
“Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and enlightenment. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the center of the day’s demonstration. Let the national flag float over every schoolhouse in the country and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)