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Teacher Certification

Teacher Certification


The whole issue of teacher certification is one of great importance and
when discussed must be done in a delicate and thoughtful manner. The reason for
this increasing importance is because the education of our nation's teachers is
important to the creation of an ideal education system, which is one of the
goals of our national government and State governments. Over the years the
whole educational reform movement has become an increasingly "hot" topic.
Reforms in the administration of school systems and in curriculum theory and
practice have been asked for and a4re currently being put into effect. Recently,
reform of the education of teachers is being added to the lo9ng list of reforms
needed. Many reform activists feel that direct changes need to be made on the
methods of training and certifying the teachers of our country. Before looking
at the reform movement, however, one must first look at the so called problem of
inconsistency in teacher certification.
In our country today there is a general consistency among the
requirements for state certification of teachers. Most states require their
teacher institutions to establish a teacher education program that includes
coursework and fieldwork. The coursework includes those courses that prepare a
student to become a professional teacher and those classes that include major
and minor fields of specialization. Fieldwork, which is probably the most
important of the two forms of requirements, involves the individual interested
in being a teacher going out and observing, practicing, and preparing to enter
the educational world as an instructor. There is no argument that all schools
in every state has these basic requirements of teacher certification. However,
the inconsistency lies within how the numerous institutions go about in teaching
these requirements. Each post-secondary school is given the jurisdiction to
choose how they are going to go about meeting these basic teacher...