Removing Hurdles for Prospective New Teachers in Texas

February 28, 2004

We learn from Tim Stahmer over at Assorted Stuff that Texas has recently approved a plan to let recent college grads (depending on one's major) essentially pass a test to earn a two-year teaching certificate, without ever setting foot in a College of Education. He writes:

I can already hear the cheers of the "reformers" who will say how wonderful this kind of plan is.

Why the scare quotes around reformers? For the record, we do think this plan is wonderful.

Now they say, many classrooms in Texas can be led by eager young teachers with "real world" experience and none of that nasty teacher college indoctrination to get in the way.

Say what you will about teacher indoctrination, but we can tell you that it really messed with our heads.

After all, the only thing a teacher really needs is lots of knowledge in their subject matter and a love of kids. Plus lots of good test prep materials, of course. And keep them away from those evil union reps.

He took the words right out our mouths. Except the part of the evil union reps. Without exception, the union reps in all of the schools in which we've taught have been the nicest, most professional people with which you'd want to work. (Now, about union leaders . . . )

Tim's major complaint on this proposal to generate new teachers is centered on the issue of teacher mentoring once the candidate is hired by a school. He writes:

Texas, like other states considering such instant teacher plans, abandons responsibility for this kind of support, leaving it entirely up to the local school systems.

Which, we might add, is precisely where such responsibility belongs.

Without the on-the-job support, some of these new teachers will still do well and become good educators, maybe great. Experience has shown, however, that most will leave the profession within five years and many will be asked to leave by the end of two.

This is kind of like saying that you don't like skim milk because it's mostly water--using a factually true statement designed to give the impression of a valid argument. While it is true that many teachers leave in the first five years, there is no evidence that we're aware of tying this with a lack of mentoring.

From our personal experience, we have an idea why so many new teachers leave the profession: It's a hard job! We say that with a smile, not a frown, for we relish the challenging nature of educating children, and it's why we get up in the morning.

In a summary of "It’s a Hard Job: A Study of Novice Teachers’ Perspectives on Why Teachers Leave the Profession" the author identifies 6 key areas contributing to attrition: "societal attitude toward teachers, financial issues, time scarcity, workload, working conditions, and relationships with students and parents."

A school mentoring program wouldn't affect the first five of these areas, and with regards to the sixth ("relationships with students and parents"), the concern was one of discipline and motivation.

Being that teaching is difficult, not a profession for everyone, it is not surprising that new teachers suffer such attrition. But we certainly don't feel yet another state-mandated program would be the solution.

After eliminating the whole College of Education requirement, here's our plan for teacher training:

1. Be sure the candidate knows the subject matter cold, and genuinely wants to work with kids (as opposed to seeing teaching as a fallback position).

2. Hand the teacher copies of The First Days of School by Harry Wong, and Setting Limits in the Classroom: How to Move Beyond the Dance of Discipline in Today's Classrooms by Robert MacKenzie. Both of these books are extremely practical, the first focuses on general classroom procedures, and the second on discipline.

3. Finally, let the individual schools deal with new teachers their own way. Sure, not everyone's cut out to be a teacher. But let the individual school decide that, not the State.

How do you think they do it in private schools?