Improving Teacher Education: Some Considerations. Occasional Paper No. 16.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper surveys research literature on teacher education in Canada and the United States in an attempt to describe and analyze the current situation and add some new directions to the field. In discussing the goals of teacher training programs, it is concluded that these goals are dependent on the goals in education, i.e., learning. Some external factors affecting the teacher training programs are reviewed; stressed is the cost of education, the demand for changes in existing teaching practices, and skepticism regarding the relevance of years of training to competence in the classroom. A review of the literature in Canada and the United States on current practices and the need for change in teacher education reveals parallels between the two countries. Of the new directions discussed, the following programs are suggested: the new teacher as a change agent, team teaching and differentiated staffing, and teacher internship. The abstracts of 30 documents on teacher education are included along with two pages of references. The appendix presents some policy statements of School Trustees Associations advocating changes in teacher training. (BRB)