The whole issue of teacher certification is one of great importance and when discussed must be done in a delicate and thoughtful manner. The reason for this increasing importance is because the education of our nation's teachers is important to the creation of an ideal education system, which is one of the goals of our national government and State governments. Over the years the whole educational reform movement has become an increasingly 'hot' topic. Reforms in the administration of school systems and in curriculum theory and practice have been asked for and a4re currently being put into effect. Recently, reform of the education of teachers is being added to the lo9ng list of refo ...view middle of the document...
For example, many states require a different amount of field hours. An inconsistency can also be seen in the various models of teacher education that are used throughout the nation. Two education researchers, Howey and Zimpher conducted a study on this variety of models in 1989. They came up with three different attempts of teacher training. The first, known as the teacher's college model, involves certification students entering a separate school within a university that is a 'teacher's college'. The second approach is called the liberal arts model by the researchers, and is a method that requires and individual to become specialized in a certain liberal arts subject in order to create 'capable and cultured human beings'. The third and final model discussed by Howley and Zimpher is entitled the competency-based model. This method trains individuals in the arts o motivation and understanding. As one can see by this case study, there have been a variety of approaches to teacher certification. An inconsistency can similarly be detected by looking at the various new and innovative ideas in teacher education. Among these include the alternative route, a topic discussed earlier, and the five-year degree program, and issue to be discussed shortly in this section. Altogether, one could state that there is some inconsistency in teacher certification, and this inconsistency brings about a small problem in the educational spectrum of our world. In my opinion, there is no national and universal set of requirements for teacher certification. The variety of different methods and forms of teacher education programs is causing an inconsistency in how teachers are being trained nationwide. When this is realized, the whole issue of reforming teacher certification becomes very relevant to our society.As stated earlier, reforms in the training of future teachers are beginning to really be requested by the general public. Various groups have met to discuss the various issues surrounding the reform movement. Among the most notable are the Holmes Group, the Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), the Education Commission of the States (ECS), and Goodlad's group. These various groups and many others have come up with a variety of reforms and new standards that most likely should and will be integrated into the current teacher certification requirements. One certain similarity that all of these recommendations have with each other is that they all call for higher regulations and an increase in the education of future teachers. Many of the group0s called for an increase in provid...
