Change is on the minds of everyone these days.  Mike Dias sent me a news release that originated from the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, entitled “National Survey Identifies Incentives To Attract Talented Career Changers into America’s Classrooms.”  According to the news release, career changers might be the best way to solve the problem of finding 1.5 million teachers to fill the need of public schools over the next five to ten years. 

To give you an idea of what some of the results of survey were, here are some of the findings:

Findings indicate that more people would consider teaching as a second career if starting salaries were raised to $50,000 and if career changers could receive quality training and support. Three in ten of those who are not interested in teaching say that teaching has appeal, but that there are aspects of teaching that prevent them from considering it, and low pay was the factor most often cited.  

Quality training and support, in addition to salary, are significantly important to encourage people to make mid-career changes.  Quite often people who are considering teaching do not have school experiences to help them make a career changing decision.  There are number of programs that are clinically based, and involve students in intense teacher preparation work, usually amounting to a full-year and a summer leading to the Masters Degree and teacher certification.  Kennesaw State University has just initiated a new program for science teacher education.  It resembles the program that I was involved in at Georgia State University, the TEEMS teacher preparation program.  In each of these program candidates with degrees in science or engineering enter an intense program beginning in the summer, and extending through the following summer.  

One of the theoretical goals of these kinds of programs is the attempt to narrow the gap between theory and practice, and indeed to adopt the philosophy that theory emerges from practice—a constructivist approach to teacher education. 

What is or was the nature of your teacher education program?  Was it rooted in experiential learning, or was it overly didactic?  Share some of your insights into what is needed to create a quality teacher education program.