Qualified Teachers: A Victory on Paper
If someone asks me if I think we have more qualified teachers than in the past, I wouldn't say yes or no. I think that we have a large amount of qualified teachers as well as a large amount of under qualified teachers. It's really a difficult statement to make. There are so many teachers teaching out of field but does that really qualify them as being called under qualified? It really just depends. There are probably many teachers who have certification but that doesn't necessarily mean they are qualified teachers.
I don't believe that a degree and a test can make you a qualified teacher. The dedication, determination, passion, and desire for student success can make a teacher qualified. Not a piece of paper and a score on a test. Anybody can pass a test.
I work in Pasco County and we have implemented a mentoring program within our school. Our principal agrees to pay for a substitute for a day or two if a teacher would like to observe another teacher in our department or even a different department. She thinks it is important to see what other strategies and methods other teachers are using. It gives us different ideas and the opportunity to brainstorm for improved lesson plans.
With so many teachers teaching out of field these days, it is important to not automatically judge and label them as under qualified teachers. It's what the students get from the class that is the most important.
posted by Emily Delmolino @ 4/19/2005 07:15:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
You wrote, If someone asks me if I think we have more qualified teachers than in the past, I wouldn't say yes or no. As I wrote in another comment this evening, I'm also reluctant to claim trends.
There's also a difference between broader policies and how one treats individuals. One of my interviewees in Nashville was a faculty member at Peabody College for Teachers who admitted that he and some colleagues used the term "retreads" to refer to teachers who had been out of work for several years to raise children and were coming back to get licensed as special educators. In the end, he said, those "retreads" were pretty good.
I agree with Emily and Dr. Dorn. I also am glad to read about Pasco county's mentoring program. I never had a problem in Hillsborough county teaching out of field (I taught remedial reading along with my other subjects while working on a master's in special education). Other teachers stepped up and offered guidance on methods and even gave me handouts to use. But when I worked as a French/Remedial Reading/Writing teacher in Marion county, I was left out in the cold. Let me say first that I admire and respect English teachers. I never realized they worked so hard. But I did not receive ANY support from the school for help with teaching the remedial classes. There were no books for the reading classes. (I was told to just have them pass the FCATs, and maybe I could use the old social studies and SHAKESPEARE texts in the storage room). I say let the teachers who are certified in other subjects teach out of field. But they should be required to be working toward that certification. Assign them a mentor that they can work with, and put them in touch with resources at the county level.
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