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:
“Parents do not give up their children to strangers lightly. They wait in uncertain anticipation for an expression of awareness and interest in their children that is as genuine as their own. They are subject to ambivalent feelings of trust and competitiveness toward a teacher their child loves and to feelings of resentment and anger when their child suffers at her hands. They place high hopes in their children and struggle with themselves to cope with their children’s failures.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“I prefer to finish my education at a different school.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)