What do Good Teachers Need? – Professional, Pedagogical and Didactical Challenges in Teacher Training
Bonn University Panel Discussion
What do Good Teachers Need? – Professional, Pedagogical and Didactical Challenges in Teacher Training
Rising demands of social and pedagogical decision-making competence of teachers in schools has led to growing calls for professional “purification” – more practice, less subject related theoretical knowledge is the motto. But, does that truly fit the bill? How to best balance professional performance orientation and sociopolitical responsibility at schools – and what are the consequences for university teacher education?
Finding Balance
Reports of student teachers exhibiting knowledge gaps in relation to school’s current curriculum are increasing from both already active teacher staff and student teachers themselves. This indeed seems to be attributable partly to an overload of student teachers’ own teacher training curriculum, trying to appropriately balance adaptation to and inclusion of broader sociopolitical developments, and technological innovations,and advancements into pedagogical and didactical skills acquisition and staying up-to-date on scientific evidence and insights on subject-matters.
Curriculum’s Race to Catch Up
In the latter case, some might argue that acquiring thematic in-depth knowledge and requiring student teachers to stay abreast of the latest developments in scientific debate is overdone and should be left to “real professional experts” on the given topic, since such kind of knowledge is not reflected within school’s curriculum, and as such takes away too much of the finite and precious time within teacher training. However, one could also argue that…
Practice, including curriculum and methodology in schools, is always lacking behind newest scientific findings and insights, and current historical developments. As an example, one might think about revelations in genetic theory, in particular epigenetics, on the impact of the environment on the modification of gene expression and heredity of diseases; or the currently ongoing Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. They are certainly not sufficiently or at all reflected in their respective school curriculum. Nonetheless, these topics will methodological be worked up and implemented in school’s future teaching curriculum. Hence, university’s teacher training curriculum ought to include conveying knowledge on and comprehension of topics prior to their advent in the classroom, i.e. on school’s curriculum. Teachers’ capabilities to appropriately teach students on subject matter that is still to come has to be developed accordingly, in the now. In the transitional period scientifically as old, obsolete or no longer as relevant considered knowledge will still show up on school’s curriculum but might already be dropped or only touched upon briefly in teacher’s training curriculum. This can in some cases indeed result in a temporary mismatch between current knowledge requirements of school’s teaching curriculum and student teachers’ knowledge on subject-matters. But,…
[… on latest findings relevant to the subject matter.]
Teaching Learning to All
In the case of expanding on mediating pedagogical and didactical skills in teacher training, former Lord Mayor of the City of Bonn Jürgen Nimptsch declared that…
And indeed, Mr Nimptsch has a point: equipping teachers with skills that allow for a more heterogeneous assessment and as such better suited, more individualized learning-support and facilitation, can improve the academic performance, i.e. marks, of an individual student.
Next to improving didactical skills of a teacher, which can result in more effective teaching of the individual, pedagogical skills play a central role in enabling inclusion of formerly not for the regular education system suited students with learning difficulties, based on comprehension impairments like dyscalculia and dyslexia or reduced cognitive or social abilities (IQ or EQ), but also of educational disadvantaged due to social and educational inequities and/ or being an refugee or immigrant. However, spending more time of teacher education on building those skills, will inevitably take away from the quantity of professional subject related knowledge that can be acquired, and later on be taught to students by the teachers themselves. Based on this background, one has to ask if doubling down on one of the skills at the expense of others fits the external environment and its requirements.
Teacher’s Job Profile in Transition
Today’s students are no longer only spectators in the classroom but play an active role in acquiring knowledge. Conveying self-organized learning competencies therefore moves to the fore as a pedagogical educational skill teachers need to posses and be able to tap into. Less time and energy is spend on directly imparting knowledge. The function of a teacher becomes less that of a knowledge broker and more so of a coach that helps students to find their own way through the ever increasing amount of data and information, and constantly renewing and amending theories and models to make sense of – see also PBL (problem-based learning).
On a side note, keeping teacher’s media literacy and competence in using new software and hardware technologies up-to-date will not only enhance their teaching efficiency/ capacity but is also paramount for the survival of the associated educational institution in general.
The balancing act between professional, pedagogical and didactical skills in teacher training is without a doubt difficult, and trying to double down all on of them will and already is responsible for teachers being inundated with curricular requirements. Teacher training’s curriculum should shift its focus accordingly to reflect the changed job profile and requirements posed on teachers, from having and giving answers to questions or imparting knowledge, to accompanying students, building and strengthening competencies along the road of acquiring knowledge and solving problems on their own.
What’s to come
According to Matthias Richter, State Secretary in the Ministry of Education in North-Rhine Westphalia, a department to streamline and speed up the evaluation and subsequently decrease the delay time in reaction of teacher training will be established, and draw on an reiterative process of feedback between practitioners, i.e. teachers, and officials in charge of designing the teacher training curriculum. Also, guidelines will be set-up for schools to qualify as having sufficiently qualified teachers to offer inclusion. Calling oneself “inclusion school” underlies currently no regulations and led to overburdened teachers and dissatisfied students and teachers.
Excursion: Humanitarian Perspective
From a social and humanitarian standpoint, in reaction to broader sociopolitical developments such as an increased influx of refugees into western countries and a changed understanding and concept of adequate treatment and inclusion of people with all kinds of prior mentioned learning difficulties, adapting teacher training curriculum in order to do justice to all, needs to be done by any means necessary. A more efficient allocation and use of resources our educational system has at its disposal, i.e. money/ subsidies, human capital and acces to data and technology, is the way to go.
