The overwhelming majority of public school teachers enter the teaching profession only after completing an apprenticeship as a student teacher. A growing body of research demonstrates how important the student teaching experience, also known as clinical practice, is for developing teaching capacities and shaping teacher career paths. But recent…

In this article, Susan Moore Johnson calls for a balanced approach to improving teaching and learning, one that focuses on both teachers and the contexts in which they work. Drawing on over a decade of research on the experiences of new teachers, Johnson argues that focusing on the effectiveness of individuals while ignoring how their schools are…

Four conditions for creating or refining alternative teacher certification programs are improving instruction, addressing shortages of qualified teachers, placing teachers in hard-to-staff schools, and measuring teacher competence. Programs should be pragmatic, market sensitive, embedded in the learning context, and performance driven. (SK)

Many local education authorities in the United Kingdom have adopted the approach of staffing schools (i.e., determining the number of teachers to be allocated to schools) according to their curriculum needs--curriculum based staffing (CBS). Examined are the methods being used to implement CBS and implications of the CBS system. (RM)

Discusses University of Iowa's efforts to prepare graduate students in rhetorical and communication studies for employment in academia. (PD)

A recent survey found that the practice of assigning teachers to teach subjects for which they hold neither endorsements nor certificates is widespread in many States. This practice hurts both students and teachers and ultimately damages the image of education. (GC)

This document discusses how many states are facing a shortage in teachers. Specifically, the document focuses on how the state department and colleges of education in Missouri have been actively working to maintain high levels of educational standards as well as recruiting more teachers. The document reports that some educational reform took place…

The preparation of teachers and other educators during the 1960s and 1970s is reviewed and predictions are made for the 1980s. Admission to teacher education programs will become more difficult, school and university cooperation will be necessary, and internships will be commonplace. (JD)

Goodlad discusses his comprehensive plan for reforming undergraduate teacher education, abolishing state-mandated courses, instituting state examinations modeled after law and medicine exams, and creating unified faculty groups devoting primary attention to teacher education. First, some basic changes in organization, student-teacher placement and…

This publication contains nine articles on finding employment in education as well as a directory of state teacher certification offices. The authors of the articles include educational placement directors, faculty in colleges of education, and recognized specialists in education-related careers. The following topics are addressed: (1) using a…

Discusses the importance of having well-qualified teachers in classrooms and notes that decreasing enrollments and financial cutbacks have sometimes resulted in unqualified instructors teaching English classes. (DF)

Teacher retraining in a subject area different from the teacher's original training and certification may be the most viable way of retaining the best teachers and filling the most critical vacancies. The conditions for retraining should be built into the undergraduate curriculum, including liberal arts and interdisciplinary education. (MSE)

The "raison d'etre" for traditional schools of education has radically shifted in recent years. Research demonstrates that schools have been remarkably unsuccessful at reducing the unacceptable achievement gap between black and Latino students, on the one hand, and white students, on the other, and some have laid the blame at the feet of…

Due to declining enrollments and "burnout," schools face two potentials for staff imbalance: a stagnant older staff or too many inexperienced teachers. The author proposes preventing these problems by teaming older teachers, ready for gradual retirement, with new teachers, who gain experience while taking over by degrees. Costs are considered.…

Given the growing need to look across national borders in order to be prepared for global challenges confronting higher education in the coming decades, it can be expected that institutional administrators in the U.S. and other western countries will need information on the quality and efficiency of their activities, including an international…