Teacher-Education in Advanced Countries: What is Different

Teacher-Education in Advanced Countries: What isDifferent

Chaman Lal Banga, Assistant Professor (Education), Department of Education, ICDEOL, Himachal Pradesh University Shimla, Email: [email protected]: Teacher Education, Advanced Countries.

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to highlight the Teacher-Education in Advanced Countries.In this context four advanced countries have been taken up i.e. United StateAmerica, Japan, Australia & Canada. Teacher have assumed prominent role ininstruction, curriculum and national development.    A teacher educationfaculty member would provide a minimum of three visits to observe theprospective teacher teach. Teacher education refers to the policies andprocedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge,attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their taskseffectively in the classroom, school and wider community. The process by whichteachers are educated is the subject of political discussion in manycountries, reflecting both the value attached by societies and cultures to thepreparation of young people for life, and the fact that education systemsconsume significant financial resources. Teachers play an import role inshaping the future of the country and hence it’s important that a lot ofattention is paid on the quality of teachers churned out every year. Teachereducation in India is institution based, along with internship programs inreal classroom settings. Teacher education in the United States has come to beoffered primarily within the institutional setting of the university. In thenineteenth century, teacher education, if it took place at all, occurred in avariety of organizational settings, until the state normal school emerged inthe last quarter of the century as the emergent (if not yet predominant)model. From the perspective of their students, normal schools were more thanjust a way to become a teacher. Japanese teachers are an essential element inthe success story. Japanese society entrusts major responsibilities toteachers and expects much from them. Japanese culture views the school as amoral community and a basic training ground for becoming a good citizen,teachers have broad responsibility for moral education and characterdevelopment and for instilling fundamental Japanese values, attitudes, and"living habits" in students at all levels. These responsibilities are equal inimportance to the academic roles of developing student motivation and helpingstudents meet the high academic standards required for success in secondaryschool and university entrance examinations. Teaching is one of the fewlifetime professional career opportunities readily available to women inJapan. In Canada, professional learning to support teachers’ work is most

often located within a “professional growth” paradigm rather than the moretraditional “deficit” paradigm (Broad & Evans, 2006). Initial teachereducation programs are more often viewed as the first stage in a longerprofessional learning process where certain knowledge bases and practices(e.g. subject knowledge, curriculum knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge,knowledge of learners, knowledge of educational contexts) are introduced andpracticed in a rudimentary manner, rather than programs targeted to compensatefor a lack in skills or knowledge that view beginning teachers as emptyvessels to be “topped up”. Although teacher education has attracted modestattention in Canada as a public policy issue, these findings call forcollective dialogue and further inquiry.

INTRODUCTION

Effective teacher education incorporates an abundance of content

knowledge, pedagogical and didactical methodologies. Proficient

teacher education thus incorporates a range of subject knowledge

content, an understanding of learning styles and methods, and how to

translate such knowledge into effective instructional methods while

developing an ability to comprehend and nurture the unique person that

is every child and student.    Teacher education refers to the

policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with

the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to

perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider

community. Initial Teacher Education in many countries takes place

largely or exclusively in institutions of Higher Education. In the

United States, approximately one-third of new teachers come through

alternative routes to teacher certification, according to testimony

given by Emily Feistritzer, the President of National Centre for

Alternative Certification and the National Centre for Education

Information, to a congressional subcommittee on May 17, 2007. An

Advanced country can be defined through economic growth and security.

Most commonly the criteria for evaluating the degree of development is

to look at gross domestic product (GDP), the per capita income, level

of industrialization, amount of widespread infrastructure and general

standard of living. In Japan, it is often observed that students

cannot communicate in English no matter how they study at school.

Developing teacher quality is the way to improve English Education in

Japan. Japanese society entrusts major responsibilities to teachers

and expects much from them. Japanese teachers work very hard and often

feel overworked because of an enormous number of lessons a week and

the additional tasks inside and outside school.      The mission of

the Australian Teacher Education Association is to promote, the pre-

service and continuing education of teachers in all forms and

contexts; Teacher education as central in the educational enterprise

of the nation.    Canadian teacher education has focused on academic

disciplines, pedagogical training, and an emphasis on field experience

to enhance professional competency.

Teacher

A good teacher can be defined as a teacher who helps the student

to learn. He or she contributes to this in a number of ways. The

teacher’s role goes well beyond information giving, with the teacher

having a range of key roles to play in the education process.

Teacher education is an integral component of the educational system.

It is intimately connected with society and is conditioned by the

ethos, culture and character of a nation. The constitutional goals,

the directive principles of the state policy, the socio-economic

problems and the growth of knowledge, the emerging expectations and

the changes operating in education, etc. call for an appropriate

response from a futuristic education system and provide the

perspective within which teacher education programmes need to be

viewed.

Teacher Education

An educational institution performs a significant function of

providing learning experiences to lead their students from the

darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. The key personnel in

the institutions who play an important role to bring about this

transformation are teachers. As stated by NCTE (1998) in Quality

Concerns in Secondary Teacher Education, ―The teacher is the most

important element in any educational program. It is the teacher who is

mainly responsible for implementation of the educational process at

any stage.

Meaning of Teacher Education

Teachings is more than picking up a bag of instructional tricks

at the school room door or learning to mimic the actions of another

educator—even a very good one. Good teachers are thinkers and problem

solvers.    The National Council for Teacher Education has defined

teacher education as – A programme of education, research and training

of persons to teach from pre-primary to higher education level.

According to Goods Dictionary of Education Teacher education means,

―all the formal and non-formal activities and experiences that help to

qualify a person to assume responsibilities of a member of the

educational profession or to discharge his responsibilities more

effectively.

Teacher education encompasses teaching skills, sound pedagogical

theory and professional skills.

Teacher Education = Teaching Skills + Pedagogical theory +

Professional skills.

Teacher education is broad and comprehensive. Besides pre-service

and in-service programmes for teachers, it is meant to be involved in

various community programmes and extension activities, viz adult

education and non-formal education programmes, literacy and

development activities of the society.

The American Commission on Teacher Education rightly observes, “The

quality of a nation depends upon the quality of its citizens. The quality of its citizens depends

not exclusively, but in critical measure upon the quality of their education, the quality of their

education depends more than upon any single factor, upon the quality of their teacher.”

Advanced countriesA group of industrialized nations including Australia, Austria,

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the United States.

In some contexts such countries are collectively called the North.

Necessity of Teacher Education

The quality of teaching depends on the teachers (Kanatani, 1995

cited in Mizuno. 1999). Good teachers have some common characteristics

such as praising students often, making a lot of jokes and actively

use the target language in teaching (Moskowitz. 1976). The students of

good English teachers’ “are working positively and independently with

a lively expression” (Koinuma.2000.) during class. According to

research conducted by Koike (1988), the character or personality of

English Language teachers affects students twice as strongly as those

of other subjects. English teachers need to realize the extant of

their influence on their students and to have a wide range of

appropriate qualities, abilities and qualifications including their

characters.

Teacher Education in Australia, United States, Japan, &Canada.

Teacher Education in Australia

Across Australia, the picture of external accreditation of

university teacher education courses is very uneven. Some states have

statutory bodies that attempt to regulate the teaching profession,

some do not. In some states, these regulatory bodies are called

‘Registration Boards’, in others they are ‘Institutes’ or ‘Colleges’.

Rationales for their existence vary, as do stakeholder perceptions of

their core purposes. More variation is to be found in their

relationships with stakeholders, the ways they carry out their key

functions, and their standing in the wider education community. Of the

eight Australian states and territories, only Queensland and Victoria

have teacher registration bodies that possess statutory power to carry

out teacher preparation course accreditation.

1 The Australian Council of Deans of Education has expressed support

for a national approach to accreditation and some concern that current

systems lead to duplication of work for universities that prepared

teachers to work across state boundaries.

2 Many universities now prepare graduates who move to teach in other

states and some run the same course in more than one state.

Universities in smaller states were strongly supportive of a national

approach that would lead to greater cross-fertilisation of ideas.

3 In Tasmania and South Australia, the teacher registration bodies

exercise an indirect form of accreditation, in that graduates must

meet their requirements to be registered as teachers in those states.

4 In The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Northern Territory,

New South Wales and Western Australia, state teacher registration

bodies have yet to start functioning although, in the latter three

states, this situation is likely to change in the very near future, as

the legislation necessary for their establishment is passed.

5 The Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) is the major

professional association for teacher educators in Australia.

6 The mission of the Australian Teacher Education Association is to

promote:

1. The pre-service and continuing education of teachers in all forms

and contexts;

2. Teacher education as central in the educational enterprise of the

nation;

3. Research on teacher education as a core endeavour.

The Association enacts this mission through several key strategies, namely:

To foster improvement in initial teacher education;

To engage in national advocacy for teacher education;

To promote and support the teaching profession;

To form strong links with individuals and organisations involved

in educational change;

To improve the nature, quality and availability of professional

development for teachers educators.

To promote and disseminate research, ideas and practices,

innovation and evaluation in teacher education.

A graduate leaving a teacher education program, rooted in

tertiary learning, should be able to view their life, their

chosen career, their spheres of influence and their personal

contribution to planet earth in a totally different way to that

which they perceived it when they entered their teacher

preparation course.

Australia in joining the rest of the world in the first decade of

the 2nd millennium has moved once again into a re-occurring cycle

of examining what is effective in pre-service teacher education.

It does so, as well documented by Preston (2000), on the cusp of

a major shortage of primary and secondary teachers. This shortage

is not only an Australian problem but also a worldwide problem.

In Australia, like New Zealand and the UK, the roots of teacher

preparation, or what has in the past been referred to as teacher

training, resides in the tradition of a monitorial or apprenticeship

system. Within this scheme, as noted in the National Inquiry into

Teacher Education (NITE) report of 1980, “teacher training

institutions    were as much concerned with bringing teacher trainees

up to an acceptable minimum standard of general education as with

ensuring effective teaching in the classroom” (Auchmuty, 1980, p. 1).

In summary, the review of developments in Australia and overseas, and

in other professions, indicated that there was a positive attitude

among most stakeholders to the idea of a national approach to the

accreditation of teacher education courses. The primary and secondary

teachers in Australia are generally trained at universities, a four

year program for undergraduates or one-year diploma program for

graduates. Educational systems, including Teacher Education, are

decentralized as eight state/territory ministries have the primary

responsibility for the education policy, curricula design and

practice.    A National Framework for Professional Standards for

Teaching (MCEETYA, 2003). The emerging issues and challenges are (1) A

national system of teacher education (e.g., a common set of national

professional standards); (2) Induction; (3) Practicum and partnership

between Universities and schools to prepare teachers; (4) Mentoring

the beginning teachers;(5) The necessity of ongoing professional

learning;(6) Settings for professional learning; (7) Learning

communities and networks; (7) Learning to foster creativity and

innovation; (8) Professional learning needs of teachers of Science,

Technology and Mathematics; (9) Professional learning for educational

leaders; (10) Articulation of an inclusive framework for professional

learning; (11) A greater transparency in the funding of teacher

education (DEST, 2003; 2007). A number of professional organizations

have developed professional standards.

Present situation of teacher Education in Australia.

Australia has many immigrants from various countries and the

indigenous Aboriginal people. For example, about 40% of the population

of Queensland is immigrants or descendants of immigrants from more

than 200 different nations. Many indigenous people live in Queensland.

Australia has also supported LOTE (Language Other Than English) the

past 20 years with strong ties to Asian countries economically and

geographically.     

In Australia, universities and postgraduate schools play a big

role in professional development. There are a variety of courses

ranging from doing a subject or two within an undergraduate degree to

postgraduate certificates and diplomas or masters degree ( MeArthur.

2003).      Nearly forty tertiary institutions prepare teachers in

Australia. There are about 200 teacher education courses all together.

Approximately 16,000 students completed such courses in 2005. Seventy

percent of these graduated from the fifteen largest institutions. Some

courses, such as the Diploma of Education at Monash and Melbourne

Universities, graduate over 400 students each year. Other courses,

graduate as few as 20. We know very little about the relative

effectiveness of these courses in preparing future teachers. In

Australia, current efforts to develop more regulated approaches to

initial teacher preparation have, at their core, efforts to improve

educational outcomes for students, recognition of the impact of

teacher quality on student learning and enhancement of teacher

professionalism and the status of the profession. It is believed that

better quality teacher education and greater consistency across

programs will impact positively on graduate teachers’ initial

competencies.

Teacher Education in United States.

Good teaching is perhaps the most critical part of a solid

education. The critical importance of teaching is not just

acknowledged by educators and practitioners, but by the public at

large. A 1998 survey conducted by Louis Harris and Associates found

that 55 percent of Americans chose the quality of teachers as “the

greatest influence on student learning” (NEA, 1999). And good teaching

is not an accident. Surely some teachers have a gift to help students

learn, but knowledge of the learning process, child development, and

academic content are all important components of good teaching.

Teacher quality has long been an important issue for parents,

educators, and policymakers, to the extent that new legislation was

recently enacted by Congress to watchdog teacher preparation across

the nation.

Seemingly regardless of how many teachers are trained nationally,

or what sorts of incentives have been offered, there have been teacher

shortages in our high-poverty inner-cities and rural communities

throughout the past century (Stoddart & Floden, 1995). While suburban

schools have often had a glut of well-qualified teachers applying for

positions, high-poverty urban and rural schools have resorted to

employing teachers who enter the classroom via the most expedient

route possible and are often teaching outside their area of expertise.

They are employed by virtue of the fact that an “emergency” credential

program exists in their region (Haberman, 1988). Teachers in urban

areas carry a particularly heavy burden given the fact that they

educate 50 percent of our minority students, 40 percent of our lowest

income students, and between 40 and 50 percent of the nation’s

students who are not proficient in English (Recruiting New Teachers,

2000). The United States is one of the few industrialized countries

that does not require teachers to pass a uniform test for licensure

(NEA, 1999). This inconsistency is a consequence of our decentralized

system of education, where states are the legislating authority across

the country. For almost one hundred years, institutions of higher

education were uniquely endowed with the authority to both educate

prospective teachers and certify to state authorities that “newly

minted” teachers were qualified to teach.

The number of individuals studying to become teachers in the U.S.

has increased 49 percent, from 134,870 to 200,545 between 1983 and

1998. Similarly, the number of teacher preparation institutions has

increased. In 1999, 1,354 institutions of higher education (IHE) were

involved in the preparation of teachers. Of these, 60 percent are

independent non profit institutions, 37 percent are public, and 3

percent are proprietary. Almost two-thirds of the institutions are

accredited by a professional accrediting body. Of these, 44 percent

were accredited by NCATE and 14 percent by a regional accreditation

body (Feistritzer, 1999). While the majority of teachers are prepared

as undergraduates through these programs, a growing number of teachers

are beginning their teaching careers later in life.

Prior to the existence of formal programs of teacher education, a

classical liberal arts education was equivalent to being prepared to

teach (Borrowman, 1965). During the 20th century, as programs for the

preparation of elementary and secondary teachers became established in

colleges and universities, the point of view persisted that a sound

liberal arts education, complemented by an apprenticeship experience

in a school, is the most sensible way to prepare teachers for their

work. Throughout this period, the contributions of schools, colleges,

and departments of education to an education for teaching were

severely criticized for their alleged inferior intellectual quality

and for interfering with the liberal education of teachers. This

orientation to teacher education emphasizes the teacher's role as a

scholar and subject matter specialist and has taken different forms,

depending upon the particular view of the disciplines and subject

matter knowledge that has supported specific reform proposals.

Present situation of teacher Education in United States.

As education is constitutionally a state responsibility in the

USA, each state has legislation in place that requires university

teacher education programs to be “approved”. In most states, state

departments of education conduct the approval function, but many

states, such as California and Colorado, have established independent

statutory professional standards authorities. There are similar

statelevel program approval authorities for most professions.

Alongside these compulsory state program approval processes, there are

also independent national agencies that offer voluntary accreditation.

These voluntary, not-for-profit agencies are a unique feature of

professional education in the USA and most have been in place since

the end of the Second World War. They are usually established by a

coalition of constituents, including professional associations,

universities, unions, client groups and employing authorities. Given

the purposes of this review, it seemed to focus on the two national

agencies that have been established to provide voluntary

accreditation. One, the National Council for    Teacher Accreditation

(NCATE) has been offering accreditation for over 50 years. The other,

the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) was only

established recently. The National Council for Teacher Accreditation

(NCATE) NCATE’s main role is to provide a voluntary, national

assessment and accreditation service. It is recognised by the U.S.

Department of Education as the accrediting body for colleges and

universities that prepare teachers and other professional personnel

for work in elementary and secondary schools (NCATE, 2006). While

states have their own program approval processes, many require their

universities to gain NCATE accreditation also. Some states will only

employ teachers who have graduated from NCATE accredited teacher

education institutions.

NCATE is a coalition of more than 30 national associations called

“constituents” (including the two main teacher unions), representing

the profession of education. Membership of its policy boards includes

representatives from organisations of teacher educators, school

administrators, teacher subject association and unions, state and

local policy makers and professional specialists such as librarians

and school psychologists. About 600 of the country’s 1300 education

courses were accredited in 2001, and these produced more than two

thirds of America’s teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2001, p.753). NCATE

standards define ‘graduating standards’ for teachers in terms of what

teachers who have newly graduated from those institutions can be

expected to know and do. The NCATE standards are developed and

articulated by groups with a majority of teaching practitioners, under

the aegis of the Standards Committee of the NCATE Unit Accreditation

Board. The standards are revised every five years to ensure that they

reflect research and state of the art educational practice. Much of

this work is carried out by teachers’ professional associations whose

work guides the design and delivery of the ITE programs. Thus the

National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science

Teachers Association and 17 other specialty associations set

professional standards for their respective disciplines, and NCATE

incorporates these standards into its accreditation system.

Teacher Education in Japan In Japan, it is often observed that students cannot communicate

in English, no matter how they study at school. It is also said that

English – language teaching in Japan does not help students develop

their communicative abilities, but serves only to help students pass

university entrance examinations. As a result, English education in

Japan is a focus of much criticism and debate ( Mastumoto, cited in

Hinenoya and Gatbonton,2000).

1 Developing teacher quality is the way to improve English Education

in Japan. It is teachers who have their students acquire English and

communicative ability by their teaching.

2 Teachers greatly influence their students whether the students come

to like English or not (Saeki.1992).   

3 Japanese teachers are an essential element in the success story.

Japanese society entrusts major responsibilities to teachers and

expects much from them.

4 It confers high social status and economic rewards but also subjects

teachers to constant public scrutiny. Because Japanese culture views

the school as a moral community and a basic training ground for

becoming a good citizen, teachers have broad responsibility for moral

education and character development and for instilling fundamental

Japanese values, attitudes, and "living habits" in students at all

levels.

5 These responsibilities are equal in importance to the academic roles

of developing student motivation and helping students meet the high

academic standards required for success in secondary school and

university entrance examinations.

6 Teachers are expected to infuse cultural values throughout school

activities and to be concerned about students' lives both in and out

of school. Their efforts and influence often extend into the home and

the community.

7 It is a well-known fact that the two major principles of teacher

education in Japan are "Teacher Education at Universities" and "Open

System for Teachers‟ License".

8 "Teacher Education at Universities" means that the basic status for

school teacher is Bachelor Degree, four years after secondary

education.

9 Although there are three certificate level according to degrees, 1st

class license with BA degree is regarded as the standard to be a

school teacher.

10 Present advanced/premier license with MA degree has not so much

priority in the status as a school teacher.

In 1984, Japan's school system was staffed by approximately 1,000,000

full-time teachers at the elementary and secondary levels. In

addition, about 99,000 teachers served in preschools under the

Ministry of Education, about 38,000 in schools for the blind, deaf and

otherwise handicapped, a total of about 50,000 in technical colleges,

special training schools and miscellaneous schools, and another

128,000 in universities and junior colleges. Teaching is one of the

few lifetime professional career opportunities readily available to

women in Japan.

In Japan, a teacher (sensei) is conscious of the expectations of

his work that are predominant in the public.

1. He is not only expected to assure the children’s right to receive

education, but also to have to fulfil a huge scope of duties holding a

wider role and responsibility than in the West.

2. Japanese teachers work very hard and often feel overworked

because of an enormous number of lessons a week and the additional

tasks inside and outside school.

3. Some even fear “karoshi”, meaning death from overwork. In 1993, the

time of classroom teaching was 16.8 hours for high-school teachers,

19.7 hours for middle-school teachers and 26.5 hours a week for

primary-school teachers.

4. This is in fact not too much but Japanese teachers also have a

lot of supplementary tasks.

5. Another difference, compared to Western countries, is the

excessive number of students per class. Teachers often face more than

35 in primary and middle school and they have to teach very

heterogeneous classes (according to the students’ abilities) because

of the missing separation at Japanese schools.

Japanese teachers see themselves as professionals who have a sense

of pride in their profession. They enjoy a career that provides them

with a handsome pay scale, job autonomy; the high sense of

accomplishment, and a collaborative community with their colleagues

that affords them chances to grow and develop as educators (Fujita,

2007). The majority of teachers remains in the teaching profession and

only leaves it at retirement age (Japanese Ministry of Education Data,

2004). Teachers at different school levels have been trained at three

levels of education. Most of the upper secondary teachers have

graduated from general colleges and universities, while teachers in

the public and national schools have graduated from the normal

colleges and universities; and the private school teachers have

graduated from general colleges and universities at all three levels

(Japanese Ministry of Education, 2004). However, at all levels of

public education in Japan, teachers have maintained a strong sense of

professionalism and have been dedicated career educators. Teachers

have been confronted with a number of societal problems, which

challenge them in their many roles. A number of issues have arisen

related to the quality of teaching and teacher training. Among the

targets of teacher education reforms (started in 1980) are teachers’

subject knowledge and teaching skills, teachers’ interpersonal

relationships with their students, guidance and counselling, classroom

management, as well as teachers’ decline in confidence, dedication and

morality (Fujita, 2007). To improve the quality of teachers,

systematic policies are promoted throughout the fostering, hiring and

on-the-job training stages. The Ministry of Education, Culture,

Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is making improvements to the

teacher training curriculum related to obtaining a teacher certificate

from a university, and is urging the Prefectural Boards of Education

(local administrative units), etc., to institute improvement in the

processes of the teacher appointment system in order to place more

importance on evaluation of a person. Education reform in Japan is an

ongoing process. Starting from 2004, the Ministry of Education has

focused on the improvement of the quality of teachers. Many new

improvements in teacher education levels promoted by the Ministry of

Education are: (1) to enhance teacher training based on levels of

teaching experience; (2) social experience training in Prefectural

Board of Education; and (3) to encourage self-training by teachers.

Present situation of teacher Education in Japan.

In Japan ,the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has

decided to provide all junior and senior high school English teachers

with intensive training. This is a five – year project commencing in

2003. The training consists of two types one is about two week long

and the other has a long term intensive curriculum held by individual

local governments. Class size is small and participants can actively

participate in most training independently        . The other type of

training is two month, six month or one year overseas training held on

a nation wide level. Universities and postgraduate schools in Japan

are expected to a play bigger role in both pre – training.    Numerous

teachers in Japan hope that pre-service training in universities will

improve in order to allow teachers to acquire greater English

proficiency (Mizuno.1999). Many teachers want Japanese universities to

a play more important and extensive role in teacher education and

training. Recently some postgraduate schools have started to offer

various programmes that enable teachers to acquire a master’s degree

without taking leave of their jobs.

Teacher Education in Canada

In Canada, there has been a movement towards the

Professionalisation of teachers, as defined by the Bachelor of

Education degree requirement within the context of university

faculties of education (Young, Hall and Clarke, 2007) and by having a

monopoly over teaching in provincial schools.

1 Canadian teacher education has focused on academic disciplines,

pedagogical training, and an emphasis on field experience to enhance

professional competency.

2 The recent accord by the Association of Canadian Deans of Education

(ACDE) enumerated a number of principles of teacher education in

Canada that defined the teacher as a professional who critically

observes, assesses, and acts through inclusive pedagogies and

practices and sees teacher education as providing in new teachers an

understanding of student and child development, learning

methodologies, subject knowledge, and knowledge of pedagogies (Collins

and Tierney, 2006).

3 However, in the Canadian context, while there is an increased focus

on university preparation, professionalism, and an undergraduate

bachelor degree as the minimum entry into practice requirement, an

ambiguity exists between teacher education that highlighted

discretionary judgment, critical thinking, reflection, and

collaborative practice and increasing government imposed curricula and

assessment regimes, which restrict teacher autonomy and create tension

between the ideals of teacher education as practiced in education

faculties and the notions of accountability and standard tests

assessment as mandated by government (Hall and Shulz, 2003).

4 Canada has fifty faculties of education. Universities took over the

sole responsibility of teacher education at the end of World War II

from normal schools (Sheehan and Wilson, 1994).

5 The University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of

Alberta (U of A) are such universities, which host two of the oldest

and largest teacher education programs in Canada.

6 In Canada, professional learning to support teachers’ work is most

often located within a” professional growth” paradigm rather than the

more traditional “deficit” paradigm (Broad & Evans, 2006).

7 Initial teacher education programs are more often viewed as the

first stage in a longer professional learning process where certain

knowledge bases and practices (e.g. subject knowledge, curriculum

knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners,

knowledge of educational contexts) are introduced and practiced in a

rudimentary manner, rather than programs targeted to compensate for a

lack in skills or knowledge that view beginning teachers as empty

vessels to be “topped up”.

8 In Canada, provincial and territorial education

departments/ministries most often establish appropriate goals and

standards for teaching in relation to the broad educational goals of

the region and tend to work co-operatively with the various

stakeholders in their design (e.g. Colleges of Teachers, District

School Boards, Federations, Faculties of Education, Professional

Associations).

9 Initial teacher education programs in Canada tend to be viewed as a

first, foundational stage in this professional development process.

They are expected to provide an introduction to critical knowledge

bases, skills, and practices that assist prospective teachers to

develop a fundamental understanding of high quality student and

teacher learning and performance.   

10 To be a teacher in Canada you require a bachelor's degree in

education (BEd) and a provincial teacher's certificate. Currently,

Athabasca University does not offer the BEd.

11 However, you can complete up to one-two years of courses here,

toward the BEd at another university, or complete a bachelor's degree

at AU and take an after-degree BEd elsewhere. It could take from four

to six years to become a teacher depending on where you do your BEd.

Present situation of teacher Education in Canada

The preparation of teachers in Canada varies from province to

province and from institution to institution. This fact of history

explains why Canada is the only industrialized country without a

national department of education or any mechanism to regulate national

policy for education (Scott, 2001, p.2). Each of Canada’s ten

provinces and three territories has the exclusive right to pass

legislation on matters of education. The powers include the following;

teacher education is among them, the power to tax for the support of

schools and to provide provincial aid to local school districts; the

power to set curriculum and identify curriculum materials and

textbooks, and methods of student assessment; school funding policies

and levels; diploma requirements for secondary graduation; teacher

certification (although the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario

have established Colleges of Teachers to regulate the profession);

regulations for trustees and education officials of school boards, and

laws for general support including libraries and transportation; and

maintenance of schools. Across the country, the provincial government

or the College of Teachers (where one exists) sets regulations for

certification and universities deliver the education program.

Historically there have been two program models: consecutive and

concurrent. From either model students receive a bachelor of education

(B.Ed.) degree in recognition of completing their professional

studies. The consecutive model is a one or two year program after an

undergraduate degree. Boote and colleagues (1997) have documented some

changing trends in teacher education programs in Canada, in part as a

response to changing societal, intellectual and economic pressures.

They identified five trends in the 1990’s and all of these are

continuing into the present decade: replacing disciplinary lecture

courses with workshops and general seminars that enable student

teachers to integrate research and field experience; focusing programs

on the needs of student teachers, rather than on the interests of

teacher educators; changing program structure and length, and

admissions requirements to attract and graduate more mature and

experienced teachers; shifting teacher educators’ focus to use

research to inform their practice and practice to inform their

research; and, using teacher education as a site of social and

professional change and renewal.

Conclusion

To conclude ,the working environment in English Language Training

needs to be improved. The teacher education system needs to provide

varied training or studying opportunities to satisfy the desire of

teachers at regular intervals, to some extent both non- mandatory.

Universities and postgraduate schools should have bigger roles in

helping teachers develop and maintain their teaching skills and

qualities. Comparing teacher education in Japan, United States,

Australia, and Canada , it is clear that Japan needs to improve in

certain areas. It is necessary for Japan to learn from these three

countries, although the situation of each country is somewhat

different. Primarily teachers need to have a better working

environment where they can attend in-service training independently.

If teachers change and improve their students and their teaching will

also change and improve. It is essential to enrich teachers teaching

skills and quality, as well as adjust teacher education according to

their work situation. Teachers need to keep improving through

professional development. The importance of continuing development is

stressed by Desforges (1995.p.2) as follows, “ the best of teachers

spend a lifetime learning to improve on their professional practice.”

The teaching    profession in the U.S. does not have the same high

status as it once did, nor does it compare with the status teachers

enjoy in the world’s best-performing economies. Canadian teacher

education is more standardized at the university level. The structure

and courses strike a balance between subject area and pedagogy. A

broad range of subject grounding, combined with pedagogical theories

and reflective practice are the lynch pins of Canadian teacher

qualifications. Canadian universities encourage a variety of teaching

methodologies be they child-centred (co-operative learning, jigsaw,

individualized learning, mastery-based learning, inquiry learning) or

teacher-centred (lecture, didactic method). Student teachers can

incorporate different teaching methods into their field experience and

have a base of knowledge from which to continue their life-long

learning. The Canadian teacher education places an emphasis on the

social foundations of teaching through coursework in educational

philosophy, sociology, history, anthropology, and the social context

of learning. Teacher education in Canada has been moving towards

professionalization. In general, teachers in Canada have professional

autonomy to choosen pedagogic methods but have limited input into

curriculum development, which is authorized by provincial governments.

An interesting fact about high-performing Ontario, Canada is that the

teachers there are heavily unionized. In fact, every teacher is

required to join the union, which is as strong and as fiercely

protective of teachers’ rights as any union in the U.S.    As a

federal system, in which responsibility for education rests with the

states, Australia has more in common with the USA than with England,

but here too are some important differences. Education in the USA is

much more decentralised to local authorities than in Australia; and

where Australia has 33 institutions that offer teacher education

courses, the USA has 1300. These differences, together with some

important cultural and historical differences between the Australian

and American education systems, suggest that it would be no more

possible to directly adopt an NCATE or TEAC type of teacher

accreditation system than it would be to copy the English one. The USA

approach to teacher education accreditation has some aspects that

could be considered in developing an Australian accreditation

framework. Most states have compulsory course approval criteria and

procedures that are implemented by statutory professional standards

bodies or state education departments. (Graduates in many states are

required to pass tests of content and pedagogical content knowledge

set by state governments, in addition to graduating from an approved

course.) Universities can in addition, if they choose, apply for

national professional accreditation to an independent national agency,

such as the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education

(NCATE), or the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). These

national agencies serve as a second accrediting agency for

institutions seeking additional credibility and commendation. Some

states, instead, forgo operating their own course approval system and

mandate that universities in their state must gain NCATE

accreditation, if their graduates are to be eligible for a license to

teach. In effect. they outsource accreditation to NCATE.

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