Job Discussion Forums

[golsa]

Let's ignore the issue of "credentials" being used to reduce the number of resumes a hiring manager must read.

I've been thinking about teaching credentials a lot lately and have come to a pretty solid conclusion: they're largely the result of 1) an extremely powerful Teacher's Union lobbying group in the US and 2) a bloated university system that is funded by student loans from the US's federal government.

Exactly what value do education degrees and teacher's licenses provide? Given that, by definition, professional teachers only teach the lowest levels of the worlds' education systems, educational "credentials" seem to have very little inherent value.

Tenured professors are at the top of the education system in all countries, yet almost none of them have a education degrees or teacher's licenses. Instead, they have deep knowledge of their fields and informal teaching experience. Education departments are the only exception to this, but I'll argue that only lower ranked education programs have a majority of former teachers on their faculty. And so even in the education field, we have non-professional teachers (Ph.D. professors) teaching future professional teachers.

More importantly, the bulk of lower division undergraduate classes are taught by graduate students - many who don't even have a master's degree. This means that outside of education departments, a large portion of undergraduate classes are taught by people who have no education credentials at all.

Why is it that the most demanding portions (medical and engineering school) of the world's education system operate without so-called teaching credentials while the least demanding portions require teaching degrees, licenses, and certifications? Third grade English, fifth grade math, and seventh grade social studies classes aren't exactly rocket science, yet they require educational "credentials" that medical and engineering schools don't.

Several US states have recently relaxed their laws to allow math, chemistry, and biology classes to be taught by people who hold math, chemistry, and biology degrees because professional teachers aren't getting the job done. And the teachers' unions are fighting tooth and nail to thwart this trend because their objective is to maximize revenue from union dues, not ensure that American students receive a quality education.

My question is this: do you think the current credential treadmill is good for the ESL field? I'm not questioning basic qualifications, like the CELTA, that ensure a teacher knows the most basic things about their field. I'm questioning schools that require education degrees, licenses, and certifications to teach basic subjects, like second grade English.

[HLJHLJ]

[fladude]

I agree with the original post. I am a certified teacher and have taken graduate education courses and for the most part they are just about junk. Even worse is the current crop of special instructions (student centered learning for example). While sure some of these work, the fact remains that you could figure most of that out on your own, or just use traditional teaching techniques, which obviously worked for hundreds of years. If anything kids today are less educated than those in the past, and I for one am convinced that part of the reason for this is the constant stream of new teaching techniques which are constantly being experimented with.

[DebMer]

I agree.

What I wish I'd had when I started teaching was a really good mentor teacher.

[Guerciotti]

Yes the teacher's unions are extremely powerful. Aside from job cuts, reduced salaries, reduced benefits, charter schools with subsistence-level pay scales and even the elimination or attempted elimination of the teacher's unions in some states, the teacher's unions make all the important decisions.

[veronica2]

I am not an expert but I actually think that teaching kids is a different story, with classroom discipline and everything, so it might be different ...? University students are adults so there isn't the classroom management ...

[Madame J]

[fladude]

[quote="Madame J
In theory I agree. However, apparently the PGCE course here in the UK barely even covers discipline.[/quote]

Its the same in the US. Most of what they teach you is useless research methodology or some such thing. Education degrees are extremely overrated, assuming anyone values them.

[artemisia]

[artemisia]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]