Interesting thought on the teaching profession
04/19/07 12:53 PM
I was sitting in my EDFON 420 class this morning
listening to a group of my classmates give a
presentation about special education. While they
were discussing the necessary support systems that
need to be in place for special needs students and
educators, they made an interesting point. They
stated that teaching is the only profession that
expects its novices to "fly solo." I had never
thought about it before but they do have a point.
As a new teacher you are placed in a classroom by
yourself and given 25 to 30 students to teach.
While all preservice educators must complete one
semester of student teaching, that is under the
supervision of a cooperating teacher. Once you have
a full-time teaching position, with your own
students and classroom, you are expected to hit the
ground running.
This got me to thinking about the support systems we could implement to help beginning teachers in the first few years of their jobs. Its a fairly well-known fact that within the first 3-5 years, 40% of teachers leave the profession. That is a huge turnover rate for a profession that relies so much on experiences of individuals. Preservice educators spend so much time learning about different learning styles, methods of instruction, lesson design, curriculum development, and much more. Most people would agree that the better teachers tend to be the older, more experienced ones. Fresh, young teachers may offer innovative instructional strategies and assignments but the older, more experienced teachers know their content, they know their students, they know how they learn, and they know what students need to do to ensure that they are successful.
So here is my question to all of you. Is our current support system for new teachers sufficient or does it need to be improved? If it needs to be improved, what changes could be made? What would the short-term and long-term effects of either improving the system or leaving it alone? It is important to think about these issues not only as a preservice educator but also as a professional in the field.
This got me to thinking about the support systems we could implement to help beginning teachers in the first few years of their jobs. Its a fairly well-known fact that within the first 3-5 years, 40% of teachers leave the profession. That is a huge turnover rate for a profession that relies so much on experiences of individuals. Preservice educators spend so much time learning about different learning styles, methods of instruction, lesson design, curriculum development, and much more. Most people would agree that the better teachers tend to be the older, more experienced ones. Fresh, young teachers may offer innovative instructional strategies and assignments but the older, more experienced teachers know their content, they know their students, they know how they learn, and they know what students need to do to ensure that they are successful.
So here is my question to all of you. Is our current support system for new teachers sufficient or does it need to be improved? If it needs to be improved, what changes could be made? What would the short-term and long-term effects of either improving the system or leaving it alone? It is important to think about these issues not only as a preservice educator but also as a professional in the field.
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