TEACHER TRAINING MUST SHIFT PRIORITIES
I’m going to go out on a limb, and am open to corrections, but here are my views about a SOURCE of much of the education problems we discuss in Canada.
1 The problem is with the Deans of Faculties of Education in Canada and their over-arching Manifesto — Accord On Initial Teacher Education http://www.csse-scee.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE32-4/CJE32-4-TeacherAccord.pdf
2 All 50 Faculties of Education in Canada have signed this Accord.
3 Developed in 2006, this is how the Accord is described in an abstract of an article by Alice Collins and Rob Tierney (then Dean of UBC Ed Faculty):
The twelve principles advance values and ideals about the teacher as professional, life long learner and social activist; about the power of teaching and learning; about values of respect, inclusion, globalization and diversity; about collaboration with educational and public communities; and about strong content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge.
4 Principle #3 states:
An effective initial teacher education program encourages teachers to assume a social and political leadership role.
5 All 50 faculties include in their mandated or suggested reading materials — Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire.
6 All 50 faculties do NOT teach how to teach phonics — an essential teaching skill in the tool kit of primary teachers.
7 One in four Canadians is functionally illiterate.
8 Rob Tierney, after a stint in Australian academe is back at UBC in the Language Division of the faculty. He is decrying the high burnout rate of teachers — 30% leave within 5 years. He suggests social workers “to help build better relationships between the teachers and the community they serve.” http://news.ubc.ca/2015/04/22/why-are-so-many-new-teachers-burning-out/
My Conclusion:
a) Again — as is customary in a defensive education system — the blame on burn-out or anything else educational is placed on everything except the teaching “profession” itself and its trainers!
b) There is far too much time spent on theory, philosophy and social activism instead of teaching the essential student learning skills of reading, arithmetic and writing that are the fundamental building blocks toward academic and aptitude development.
c) There is much that is irrefutably known about good teaching (Hattie, Willingham, Lemov, etc.) that can be applied universally and today (as it is in many independent schools).
d) What will drive meaningful education reform — presently in the grip of progressive, constructivist philosophy (which is not a science) — is NOT the system reforming itself (impossible) but for consumers, bolstered with choices and funding following the student, to become more informed and assertive of their sovereign rights.
e) Seriously, urgently, review how 50 teacher training faculties in Canada contribute to or hinder our well-being. Add Myth #8 to Daisy Christodoulou’s Seven Myths About Education — Teacher training prepares teachers for teaching.
The 7 myths are:
1. Facts prevent understanding
2. Teacher-led instruction is passive
3. The 21st century fundamentally changes everything
4. You can always just look it up
5. We should teach transferable skills
6. Projects and activities are the best way to learn
7. Teaching knowledge is indoctrination