tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/world-teachers-day-21125/articlesWorld Teachers Day – The Conversation2016-11-03T22:19:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/662872016-11-03T22:19:19Z2016-11-03T22:19:19ZHow training can prepare teachers for diversity in their classrooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142319/original/image-20161019-20333-199u70p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers need support to make sure they deal well with diversity and conflict.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teachers have been shaping lives for centuries. Everyone remembers their favourite (and of course their least favourite) teachers. This important group of people even has its <a href="http://en.unesco.org/events/world-teachers-day-0">own special day</a>, marked each October by the United Nations.</p>
<p>Teachers are at the coal face when it comes to watching societies change. South Africa’s classrooms, for instance, look vastly different today than they did two decades ago. They bring together children from different racial, cultural, economic and social backgrounds. This can sometimes cause conflict as varied ways of understanding the world bump up against each other. </p>
<p>How can teachers develop the skills to work with these differences in productive ways? What practical support do they need to bring the values of <a href="http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/constitution-republic-south-Africa-1996-1">the Constitution</a> to life in their classes?</p>
<p>To answer these questions, my colleagues and I in the <a href="http://www.sun.ac.za/education">Faculty of Education</a> at Stellenbosch University have put together four examples <a href="http://www.sun.ac.za/english/Documents/Yearbooks/2016/2016Education.pdf">from modules</a> within our faculty’s teacher education programme. These ideas are by no means exhaustive; other institutions also tackle these issues. What we present here is based on our own research, teaching and experience and is open to further discussion.</p>
<h2>1. Working with multilingualism</h2>
<p>English is only South Africa’s <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/language.htm#.WActfeh97IU">fifth most spoken</a> home language. Teachers must remember this: even if their pupils are speaking English in the classroom, their home languages may be far more diverse.</p>
<p>Trainee teachers can benefit enormously from a course on multilingual education. In our faculty, for instance, students are given the chance to place multilingual education in a South African policy framework. They model multilingual classroom strategies like code switching and translation. They visit schools to observe how such strategies are applied in the real classroom. Students then report back on whether this approach helps learners from different language backgrounds to participate actively in the lesson. </p>
<p>There’s also great value in introducing student teachers to the notion of “<a href="http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/09/10-ways-speakers-of-world-english-are-changing-the-language/">World Englishes</a>”. This focuses on the role of English in multilingual communities, where it is seen as being used for communication and academic purposes rather than as a way for someone to be integrated into an English community. </p>
<h2>2. Supporting diverse learning needs</h2>
<p>Student teachers must be trained to identify and support pupils’ diverse learning needs. This helps teachers to identify and address barriers to learning and development and encourages linkages between the home and the school.</p>
<p>This is even more meaningful when it is embedded in experiential learning. For instance, in guided exercises with their own class groups, our students engage with their feelings, experiences and thinking about their own backgrounds and identities. Other activities may be based on real scenarios, such as discussing <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/rasta-boy-misses-school-over-dreads-1972722">the case</a> of a boy who was sanctioned by his school for wearing his hair in a way prescribed by his religion.</p>
<p>In these modules we focus on language, culture, race, socioeconomic conditions, disability, sexual orientation, learning differences and behavioural, health or emotional difficulties. The students also learn how to help vulnerable learners who are being bullied.</p>
<p>And these areas are constantly expanding. At Stellenbosch University, we’ve recently noted that we need to prepare teachers to deal with the bullying of <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-02-17-homosexuality-in-south-african-schools-still-largely-a-silent-taboo/">LGBT</a> learners. They also need to be equipped with the tools to support pupils who’ve <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-can-help-migrant-learners-feel-more-included-56760">immigrated</a> from elsewhere in Africa.</p>
<h2>3. Advancing a democratic classroom</h2>
<p>Courses that deal with the philosophy of education are an important element of teacher education. These explore notions of diversity, human dignity, social justice and democratic citizenship.</p>
<p>In these classes, student teachers are encouraged to see their own lecture rooms as spaces for open and equal engagement, with regard and respect for different ways of being. They’re given opportunities to express and engage with controversial views. This stands them in good stead to create such spaces in their own classrooms.</p>
<p>Most importantly, students are invited to critically reconsider commonly held beliefs – and to disrupt their ideas of the world – so that they might encounter the other as they are and not as they desire them to be. In such a classroom, a teacher promotes discussion and debate. She cultivates respect and regard for the other by listening to different accounts and perspectives. Ultimately, the teacher accepts that she is just one voice in the classroom.</p>
<h2>4. Understanding constitutional rights in the classroom</h2>
<p>All the approaches to teacher education described here are underpinned by the Constitution. </p>
<p>The idea is that teacher education programmes should develop teachers who understand notions of justice, citizenship and <a href="http://www.litnet.co.za/racial-difference-common-citizenship-hair-raising-issue/">social cohesion</a>. Any good teacher needs to be able to reflect critically on their own role as leader and manager within the contexts of classrooms, schools and the broader society. This includes promoting values of democracy, social justice and equality, and building attitudes of respect and reciprocity.</p>
<p>A critical reflective ethos is encouraged. Students get numerous opportunities to interrogate, debate, research, express and reflect upon educational challenges, theories and policies, from different perspectives, as these apply to practice. This is all aimed at building a positive school environment for everyone.</p>
<h2>Moving into teaching</h2>
<p>What about when students become teachers themselves?</p>
<p>For many new teachers these inclusive practices are not easy to implement in schools. One lecturer in our faculty has been approached by former students who report that as beginner teachers, they don’t have “the status or voice to change existing discriminatory practices and what some experience as the resistance to inclusive education”. This suggests that ongoing discussion and training in both pre-service and in-service education is needed.</p>
<p>At the same time, however, there are signs that these modules are having a positive impact. Students post comments and ideas on social media and lecturers regularly hear from first-time teachers about how useful their acquired knowledge is in different contexts. Many are also eager to study further so they can explore the issues more deeply.</p>
<p>Everything I’ve described here is part of one faculty’s attempts to provide safe spaces where student teachers can learn to work constructively with the issues pertaining to diversity in education. In doing so, we hope they’ll become part of building a country based on respect for all.</p>
<p><em>Author’s note: I am grateful to my colleagues Lynette Collair, Nuraan Davids, Jerome Joorst and Christa van der Walt for the ideas contained in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66287/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maureen Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teachers need training and support to deal with increasing diversity in their classrooms.Maureen Robinson, Dean, Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631772016-10-05T14:15:47Z2016-10-05T14:15:47ZWant great teachers? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140351/original/image-20161004-30459-q01jky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What is teacher quality?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/5428589423/in/photolist-9gGWvn-96MMau-Efunvv-5iDrbq-9FaqhG-7E8u9u-mYp9yX-ehQ5wy-e9JABd-fdkjRB-nfbus8-oo5zUt-ddVJ2M-d2myGu-qruMtV-duS9qC-FCLa4t-i2mzDe-5KTPV9-iodDyD-9qfUsc-4U2Kjd-5vgyTv-5JEedG-8sPJGT-c7GYYS-61AczZ-9qmLuW-cJd6N-7kfJGJ-5KTQrQ-GNnV2-9qiHdX-9qk9tT-5UvAaN-7kfJmW-pXf4NX-66PVgA-bdUL6e-apqLkd-dWKuSR-9qjLqt-8vX4ss-9qkhrv-fsAEq-gnsvcy-nLkST7-9qnnMm-39dCV-dLVbWj">Jeremy Wilburn</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us know the difference a good teacher makes in the life of a child. Many global institutions working to improve access to education, such as the <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/teachers06-en.pdf">United Nations</a>, the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/48627229.pdf">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> and <a href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/6212">Education International</a> agree that “teacher quality” is the critical element in whether or not an educational system succeeds. </p>
<p>The United Nations has even <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47034#.V_I2ZJN96qA">called for</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“allocating the best teachers to the most challenging parts of a country; and providing teachers with the right mix of government incentives to remain in the profession and ensure all children are learning, regardless of their circumstances.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is clear we need good teachers, but just what makes for “teacher quality”? And can quality be systematically improved by public policy? </p>
<p>For 30 years I have been studying cultural expectations for what makes a good teacher, beginning with field work in a Tibetan refugee school and an ethnographic study of <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300084382/learning-be-adolescent">Japanese and American public schools</a> conducted some years later. More recently, my colleague <a href="http://coe.lehigh.edu/faculty/awiseman">Alex Wiseman</a> and I have been working on what researchers from around the world <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679201527">consider to be “teacher quality.”</a> </p>
<p>The consensus is that teacher quality entails much more than just the way teachers deliver lessons in the classroom. Teacher quality is strongly affected by a teacher’s working conditions. Teachers working long hours, with low pay, in crowded schools cannot give each individual student the attention they need.</p>
<p>Simply raising the requirements for teacher certification, based on what has worked in some high-performing countries, is not effective. An <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807749885.shtml">effective policy requires</a> changes at the level of teacher recruitment, teacher education and long-term support for professional development.</p>
<h2>Quality is more than certification</h2>
<p>Around the world, more than a dozen nations have recently engaged in efforts <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679(2013)19">to rapidly reform</a> their teacher education and certification systems. The United States, along with nations as diverse as France, India, Japan and Mexico, has sought to improve its educational system by reforming teacher certification or teacher education.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140352/original/image-20161004-20230-1gay4h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Borrowing from other models is not effective.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2760560588/in/photolist-5cWAud-fCTNDF-cz6BD3-cdzUd5-3itE3u-9qiNQK-639rw-oRaNA8-Yym25-4zjnt1-4EFgr9-gf7ht-qB5chG-kfqWCX-6Kvv7z-kfsBa5-4FsLJw-o1VnZF-nnx9KQ-arEDkg-a7tAAT-7mVAQY-4m6rjd-dwT1z2-nRTp2J-5vzyee-p3fyUd-zrxXC-aNtArP-c2XYoC-oMBSYP-dLrhCw-cZnEEq-6erhQc-c2Y26d-c9BzhN-dgeyLL-C1N8fb-c2XZJu-cbHPQW-6Fxvvi-pXsrwX-5iJcp1-bUmBCt-dnxskW-3Af86-88eSnq-i2kzaH-5MD5Ws-arEJTx">World Bank Photo Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Usually, governments try to do this by passing laws that <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/book/10.1108/S1479-3679(2013)19">list more requirements</a> for teachers to get their teaching certificate or license. Often they look for models in countries that score well on international achievement tests like <a href="http://timss.bc.edu/">Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)</a> or <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a> such as <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807752576.shtml">Finland</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-singapores-school-system-so-successful-and-is-it-a-model-for-the-west-22917">Singapore</a> or South Korea. </p>
<p>It is true that a teacher’s qualifications, experience, personality and instructional skills <a href="https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PICTEAMAT.pdf">all play a role</a> in contributing to “quality.” Teacher quality covers what teachers do outside the classroom: how responsive they are to parents and how much time they put into planning lessons or grading papers. <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_quality_execsum_intro/">Teaching certificates</a> can make a difference toward ensuring <a href="http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/epaa/article/view/392">teacher quality</a>.</p>
<p>But that does not make for an effective policy. And here’s the problem: One, merely focusing on standards like certification is not enough. Two, the effect <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/rest.89.1.134#.V_IsEZN968U">can vary</a> by grade level or because of student background – so borrowing models from other countries is not the best strategy. </p>
<p>In the U.S., for example, a key part of the important legislation <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind (NCLB)</a> <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/addressing-inequitable-distribution-teachers-what-it-will-take-get-qualified-effective-teachers-all-_1.pdf">was to put a “qualified teacher” in every classroom</a>. The law emphasized certification, a college degree and content specialization, <a href="http://epa.sagepub.com/content/27/1/75.short">but failed</a> to identify teachers who knew how to implement reforms and who promoted critical thinking skills in their classrooms. </p>
<p>The most recent law addressing teacher quality, the <a href="http://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, had to roll back these requirements <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/06/essa-loosens-reins-on-teacher-evaluations-qualifications.html">allowing each state in the U.S. to experiment</a> with different ways to identify quality teaching. </p>
<p>The law allows states to experiment with different types of teacher training academies and with measures of student progress other than just standardized tests.</p>
<h2>Goal of American teachers different from Japanese</h2>
<p>Moreover, teacher quality is context-dependent: What works in one country may not work in another, or even for another group of students.</p>
<p>Let’s take preschool or early elementary teachers as an example. At this age, many parents would look for teachers who are warm, caring and understand child development. But this, as we know, would change for high school students.</p>
<p>In high school, especially in college preparation courses, students and parents would expect teachers to focus on the lesson. The quality of their teaching would be judged by how well their students score on tests, not how well they are developing socially or emotionally.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140353/original/image-20161004-27269-13mwoxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Classroom goals vary: First grade English class in session in Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinryder/9098099018/in/photolist-eRY8Sb-eRLHAv-pf8m7B-eRY9r7-56FqAS-jm5tXf-oDyXLg-9N3HNz-eipCVT-6sSfkw-x69t-777FW7-838YMR-8DBHrC-e1KWo1-eRY9yb-jasPSj-92KDud-fnRnR7-777CUh-dvcxsQ-773LEv-2nJZs9-83962x-773G3H-83caBd-82t8Ku-8JTmnj-83c9sE-3XUXY-fnRo27-fnRn2E-e1EhLT-jm4Yie-e1EhTM-e1EhRB-4sJbR-jL118-e1KW75-e1EhPx-e1KVP7-jaoky2-fnBaya-niEV94-773HGg-jaqykQ-83c7zj-773NHz-9N1ei6-9NuKFS">Colin Ryder</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other than the age of the student, goals of the educational system would matter too. For example, American, Chinese and Japanese teachers take very different approaches to caring for small children and helping them learn basic academic skills. In their book, <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300048124/preschool-three-cultures">“Preschool in Three Cultures</a>,” educational anthropologist <a href="http://joetobin.net/">Joe Tobin</a> and others showed that Japanese preschool teachers are comfortable with classes of 20 students, and tend to tolerate noise and disorder that most American teachers would find uncomfortable. </p>
<p>By contrast, American teachers place great emphasis on one-on-one interactions between children and adults, especially in helping children learn to express their feelings. It is possible that a competent, “high-quality” teacher from Japan would likely feel incompetent and confused in a U.S. school, even if she was fluent in English.</p>
<h2>Countries have their own challenges</h2>
<p>That’s not all. National conditions impact teacher quality. In some nations, it is a struggle to <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807749885.shtml">retain good teachers</a> and distribute them evenly. </p>
<p>For example, many low-income countries face challenges related to poverty, illness and labor shortages that <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/teachers06-en.pdf">create teacher shortages.</a> Peter Wallet, a researcher at <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/aboutuis/pages/contacts.aspx">UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics</a>, shows that in many countries, national governments <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S1479-367920140000027002">struggle to find</a> enough teachers to staff their schools. He writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The impact of HIV and AIDS in Tanzania for example meant that in 2006 an estimated 45,000 additional teachers were needed to make up for those who had died or left work because of illness.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The loss of so many teachers places many children at risk of having no access to quality teachers. This basic lack of qualified teachers has been identified by UNESCO as the <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/gmr-2013-14-teaching-and-learning-education-for-all-2014-en.pdf">major barrier</a> to providing access to quality education for all the world’s children. </p>
<p>Even in wealthy nations, sometimes the most qualified teachers are <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/36/7/369.abstract">concentrated</a> at certain schools. For example, in the U.S. <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/36/7/369.abstract">there is a very unequal distribution</a> of teachers between high- and low-income school districts. Scholar <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/node/46">Linda Darling-Hammond</a> sees this unequal access to teachers as one of the <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/9850a3f0f244c110e9c0a7445207c484/1?pq-origsite=gscholar">greatest challenges facing the U.S.</a></p>
<h2>The point is not to borrow</h2>
<p>The fact is that teaching is complex work. Teachers must build trust, increase motivation, research new methods of teaching, engage parents or caregivers and be adept at the social engineering of the classroom so that learning is not disrupted. </p>
<p>Effective teacher policy has to have <a href="https://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/6212">at least three levels</a>: It must provide clear goals for teacher education and skill development, it must provide “support to local institutions for the education of teachers” and it must address national demands for high quality education. </p>
<p>And in order to develop teacher quality, nations need to do far more that “borrow” policies from high-scoring nations. Nations can learn from one another, but this requires a systematic exchange of information about sets of policies, not just identifying one promising approach. </p>
<p><a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/internationaled/teaching-summit.html">The International Summit on the Teaching Profession</a>, an annual event that began in New York in 2011, is one example of this kind of global exchange that brings together governments and teacher unions for a dialogue.</p>
<p>To be effective, reforms need to have the support and input of teachers themselves. And, national and global leaders need to create more ways for teachers to provide suggestions, or criticism, of proposed reforms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerald K LeTendre receives funding from the Fulbright Foundation. </span></em></p>On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, on Oct. 5, a scholar explains why borrowing teacher quality models from high-scoring countries such as Finland, South Korea or Singapore is not effective.Gerald K. LeTendre, Professor of Education, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659792016-10-05T07:29:09Z2016-10-05T07:29:09ZRemembering Sol Plaatje as South Africa’s original public educator<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139433/original/image-20160927-14618-7iac11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sol Plaatje never stopped learning, nor teaching.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/flowcomm/13902788208/in/photolist-nsKpmb-nbxpmu-nbxqyY-6MtoQj-6n9wpR-nqZmNo-nbx5o9-nsKGCW-nuNE4F-nbxkbx-nbxkFv-nt584A-nt2pST-nbxmPc-nbxikv">Flowcomm/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asp?relid=7894">Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje</a> was born 140 years ago in what is today South Africa’s Free State province. When he was 40 years old, he published <em>Native Life in South Africa</em>, his great expose of the ruinous effects of the 1913 <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/natives-land-act-1913">Natives’ Land Act</a>. This legislation almost completely stripped black South Africans of the right to own land.</p>
<p>Plaatje, known as Sol, came from a family that had been associated with Christian missions for three generations. He was also a proud member of the Barolong clan and treasured his African identity and culture. He lived through times of tumultuous change in South Africa, including the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/second-anglo-boer-war-1899-1902">Anglo Boer War</a> and the creation of the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/union-south-africa-1910">Union of South Africa</a>. </p>
<p>He transcended his own tribal and religious identities to embrace a vision of a common South Africa. He stood up against the forces of white supremacy and segregation and advocated for a united, inclusive nation based on justice, equality and the rule of law. All of this during the darkest of days and at great personal cost. </p>
<p>In honour of <em>Native Life’s</em> centenary, it’s worth revisiting Plaatje’s legacy as one of his country’s greatest public intellectuals. It’s also a good opportunity to reflect on how a man with only four years of formal schooling became a brilliant public educator who promoted a common and inclusive South Africanness. </p>
<h2>Early years</h2>
<p>Plaatje is best known as a leader of the South African Native National Congress, which later became the now-governing African National Congress (ANC). He was also a novelist and journalist. But many may not know that teaching was his first job – and enduring vocation.</p>
<p>He was just 14 or 15 when he was appointed as “pupil-teacher” at the Pniel mission station where he’d completed only three grades of school. He later finished another school year in the city of Kimberley.</p>
<p>Despite his limited formal schooling, Plaatje received what historian Tim Couzens <a href="http://www.oerafrica.org/FTPFolder/guyana/CCTI%20CD/CCTI%20CD/ukzncore2a/documents/core2a.insight.htm">described</a> as “the very best education”. His mother, grandmother and aunts steeped him in Setswana culture and oral tradition. They sparked his fascination with African history, folklore and proverbs, which he later evocatively captured in his 1929 novel <em><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/book/mhudi/9780143185406">Mhudi</a></em>. It was the first English language novel published by a black South African. </p>
<p>A prodigious polyglot, Plaatje used the limited opportunities at Pniel to increase his repertoire. One day he overheard the missionary’s wife, Elizebeth Westphal, speaking English to a lady in the kitchen. He <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2636726?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">said</a> to her “I want to be able to speak English and Dutch and German as you do”. She gave him extra lessons and introduced him to English literature and classical music. He mastered other South African languages as he encountered them. </p>
<p>During his brief time at school in Kimberley, Plaatje was exposed to a very diverse spectrum of children from the mining town.</p>
<p>The resident priest at the All Saints mission school <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sol-Plaatje-biography-Brian-Willan/dp/0869752529">described</a> the pupils as being </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cape Dutch [that is, “Coloured”], Bechuana, Zulus, Fingoes, Malays, Indians; and classified in order of creed …. Dutch Reformed, Anglican, Wesleyan, Independent, Roman Catholic; and in addition to Christians, Mahommedans, and Brahmin…‘ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This thriving polyglot, racially integrated, ecumenical and interfaith school community perhaps gave Plaatje an early taste - not realised in his lifetime - of what an integrated South Africa might mean and how South Africans might learn from each other.</p>
<h2>Lifelong and life-wide learning</h2>
<p>Plaatje was an indefatigable self-directed learner throughout his life. He practised lifelong learning long before it became a <a href="http://uil.unesco.org/fileadmin/keydocuments/LifelongLearning/en/LLPSCollection.pdf">policy buzzword</a>. In his various professions - post office messenger, court interpreter, journalist, politician, author, translator - he found and learnt from mentors, books and life experiences. He made the knowledge his own to share with others. Almost instinctively, he combined the role of public educator with everything else that he did.</p>
<p>In his first adult job in Kimberley as post office messenger, one of the few positions available to educated Africans in the Cape Colony, Plaatje learnt the importance of bearing the message from sender to receiver. From this he perhaps gained insight into the power and importance of the word in connecting people.</p>
<p>He continued this “in-between” role when appointed court interpreter in Mafeking in 1898. The job was about more than just translating. It involved mediating the world of the English and Dutch magistrates and prosecutors to African plaintiffs and vice versa. He made possible, through his voice and person and the virtue of listening, a dialogue between these worlds. </p>
<h2>A pioneer</h2>
<p>Plaatje was also a pioneer of African independent journalism. He launched and edited a number of newspapers such as <em><a href="http://hpra-atom.wits.ac.za/atom-2.1.0/index.php/koranta-ea-becoana-tsala-ea-becoana-and-tsala-ea-batho">Koranta ea Becoana</a></em> (1901-1906). These newspapers published articles in English and Setswana, targeting the country’s small minority of mission-educated Africans. His titles gave this group a public voice and educated them about current affairs. </p>
<p>Plaatje’s newspapers also attacked unjust laws and racial discrimination in the Cape Colony and later the Union of South Africa. He also wrote very widely in English medium newspapers like the <em>Diamond Fields Advertiser</em> and <em>The Star</em>, educating their white readerships about black experiences and perspectives. </p>
<p>Plaatje’s journalism gave him a national profile and he was elected as Secretary General of the newly formed <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/formation-south-african-native-national-congress">South African Native National Congress</a> (SANNC) in 1912. A response to the white-dominated Union of 1910, the SANNC united Africans across tribal, regional and language divisions. Later to become the ANC, it gave them a national political voice and identity. </p>
<p>Plaatje travelled to England as part of the congress’s delegation to protest against the Land Act. He joined a second delegation in 1919, where he visited North America as well. On these visits, he addressed hundreds of gatherings to present the “native case”.</p>
<p>His publication in 1916 of <em>Native Life in South Africa</em> was part of this campaign. This and his travels took his role as public educator to an international audience. Although these delegations were ultimately unsuccessful, they laid roots for the later anti-apartheid movement.</p>
<p>Plaatje returned from his travels disappointed by the failure of the delegations to effect change and heavily in debt. He resumed his journalism and travelled the country showing films – a novel technology – to black African audiences. These showed the progress that black Americans had made in politics and education. </p>
<p>Again, this was an effort to educate and connect people. But, in a rapidly urbanising and industrialising South Africa, Plaatje’s messages of educational self-help and moral improvement did not resonate as they once had. </p>
<p>In his final years he increasingly turned to literary concerns: a book about Setswana proverbs and folktales, and a translation of Shakespeare into Setswana. These works bear testimony to his profound and visionary engagement in a dialogue between the oral and the written, Setswana and English, the past and the present.</p>
<h2>A fitting tribute</h2>
<p>Plaatje died of pneumonia in 1932. His riches lay not in material wealth but in the range and depth of his contribution to society. </p>
<p>As his daughter Violet recited as his funeral:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For here was one devoid of wealth/But buried like a lord. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perhaps the greatest testament to these gifts, for a man who valued education and learning so deeply, is the living memorial just around the corner from his Kimberley house at 32 Angel Street: the brand new <a href="http://www.spu.ac.za/">Sol Plaatje University</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Rule does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How did Sol Plaatje, a man with only four years of formal schooling, become one of South Africa’s most brilliant and committed public educators?Peter Rule, Senior Lecturer, Adult Education, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/483712015-10-05T09:32:24Z2015-10-05T09:32:24ZDo teachers in Finland have more autonomy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97000/original/image-20151001-23109-8f9yx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The atmosphere in classrooms in Finland is more relaxed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jarsjo/4169491742/in/photolist-7mrHTC-7mrM1Q-7mnNop-ekDtHw-7mrHEQ-7mrH97-7mrHMu-7mnSht-7mnPLF-7mrHfC-7mnS3z-7mrL4Q-7mrHyb-7mnSFP-7mnQ4v-7mrLAs-7mnQrP-7mrJxU-7mnNL6-7mnSPV-7mnQLV-7mrLhL-7mnQZp-7mnPx4-7mrJCE-7mrJPf-7mnSAc-7mnQTp-7mnReH-7mnSug-7mrHZY-7mrGHq-7mnPDX-7mnPrp-7mnQmp-7mrLob-7mrLum-7mrJV9-7mrKdC-7mrKjj-6tCj9r-ftqssX-ckX4b9-pSjHWr-4NDZS1-8ZVfgy-C2zaz-osRGqA-5DxKKb-o1aVg9">Jari Sjölund</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine this: you spend a day in a typical American public school going from one classroom to another, observing what teachers do. Then you do the same in Finland. <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/10/13/Succesful-Schools-Finland/">What would you expect to see?</a></p>
<p>Many things would probably look similar. But, without a doubt, you would notice one big difference: teachers in Finland would be much less concerned about whether all students have reached the grade level, met the homework standard or feel prepared for the forthcoming standardized tests.</p>
<p>In my previous job as director general at the Finnish Ministry of Education in Helsinki, I had an opportunity to host scores of education delegations from the United States. They often did what I asked you to imagine above.</p>
<p>After spending a day or sometimes two in Finnish schools, they were puzzled. Among other things they said was the following: the atmosphere in schools is informal and relaxed. Teachers have time in school to do other things than teach. And people trust each other. A common takeaway was that Finnish teachers seem to have <a href="http://www.teachingquality.org/content/barnett-berry-s-finland-travel-log">much more professional autonomy</a> than teachers in the United States to help students to learn and feel well.</p>
<p>So what’s the evidence for teachers in Finland having more autonomy? </p>
<h2>What we know about the teaching profession</h2>
<p>We have more anecdotal evidence than solid research to answer this important question. And we have surprisingly little internationally comparable evidence about what teachers do in their schools. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/talis-country-notes-and-country-profiles.htm">2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)</a> conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offered some insights into teachers’ working conditions across 30 countries.</p>
<p>Some other studies provide some further details. For example, the <a href="http://www.timssvideo.com/timss-video-study">1999 TIMSS Video Study</a> shed light on how teachers teach mathematics and science in Australia, Hong Kong, the US and four other countries. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/projects/1185">a new study</a> by Professor Linda Darling-Hammond and her colleagues at Stanford University opens a few new windows to better understand how teachers are educated and what they do in their schools around the world. But we don’t know exactly how professional autonomy of teachers affects teaching and learning in different countries.</p>
<h2>Experience of teachers in US, Finland</h2>
<p>We do know that teachers’ workplaces provide very <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/talis.htm">different conditions</a> for teaching in different countries.</p>
<p>First, teachers in the US work longer hours (45 hours/week) than their peers in Finland (32 hours/week). They also teach more weekly, 27 hours compared to 21 hours in Finland. </p>
<p>This means that American teachers, on average, have much less time to do anything beyond their teaching duties (whether alone or with colleagues) than teachers in most other OECD countries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97003/original/image-20151001-13364-gy2vjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American teachers put in far more hours of work than their Finnish counterparts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10708169946/in/photolist-hjfaRL-am1uZL-6rNyo3-9976EK-72SFbz-fAfmUr-dd1r5Z-7GD9sN-duXyZY-bUW2DN-7hSPK3-8kU2tU-ukLP6B-bUW3Nj-vLQTC-v9Mtz-v9H9F-nGZQyQ-ovtMhK-conEGw-conGEG-dNM1Bo-nLePir-9ZaWtC-fTUrr2-oR32Aq-4Jtoke-5kTt2k-feXYz2-3THhfY-hm3hBj-9UM6CB-6Xj1cg-9XqLas-onxbz8-kFUgHg-dQBUxs-aoBQ5n-aoBSDP-tkAWUN-7ftJd1-bEhrD-9jjhLy-9jgigz-oizhZ8-8sRz9s-7knUY-npY5sR-f26qNf-fKqyX9">Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, over half of American middle school teachers report that they never teach jointly with other teachers in the same classroom, compared to about one-third of teachers in Finland. And 42% of US teachers report never engaging in joint projects across classes or age groups. In Finland, 23% of teachers lack that experience. </p>
<p>But having freedom to teach alone by being the only teacher in the classroom doesn’t provide teachers with professional autonomy. </p>
<h2>Voices of teachers</h2>
<p>I have studied classrooms in Finland and in many other countries during the past 20 years. One way to find out how teachers teach is through international surveys and studies mentioned earlier. Another way is to visit schools and listen to what teachers have to say about it. </p>
<p>In Finland, teachers often say that they are professionals akin to doctors, architects and lawyers. This means, they explain, that teachers are expected to perform in their workplaces like pros: use professional judgment, creativity and autonomy individually and together with other teachers to find the best ways to help their students to learn. </p>
<p>In the absence of common teaching standards, Finnish teachers design their own school curricula steered by flexible national framework. Most importantly, while visiting schools, I have heard Finnish teachers say that due to absence of high-stakes standardized tests, they can teach and assess their students in schools as they think is most appropriate. </p>
<p>The keyword between teachers and authorities in Finland is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/17/highly-trained-respected-and-free-why-finlands-teachers-are-different">trust</a>. Indeed, professional autonomy requires trust, and trust makes teacher autonomy alive.</p>
<p>Many US visitors to Finland have told me about very different voices of American teachers. They have told me about teachers who must teach by predetermined scripts. </p>
<p>In the US, I have seen teachers drilling students for standardized tests to make the mark. Teachers tell me that they have no choice but to do that because the test results are part of their performance evaluations.</p>
<p>I have also received letters from American teachers who are frustrated because of lack of professional judgment, respect and trust in their work. This is why they leave teaching too early and for good.</p>
<h2>School autonomy versus teacher autonomy</h2>
<p>The Global Educational Reform Movement (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/how-germ-is-infecting-schools-around-the-world/2012/06/29/gJQAVELZAW_blog.html">GERM</a>) that emerged in the 1990s has adopted school autonomy as the driver of excellence and improvement. The basic assumption of this movement is that in order to compete, schools need more autonomy. </p>
<p>This is evident in current education policies that offer parents more alternatives between public schools, private schools and various independent (charter schools, free schools, academies) schools in Sweden, Chile, England, Australia and in the US.</p>
<p>Some recent studies suggest that granting schools with more autonomy does not necessarily improve quality of education. For example, the Grattan Institute, a public policy think tank based in Australia, recently concluded that “<a href="http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/myth_of_markets_in_school_education.pdf">on autonomy, Australia and other countries have the wrong strategy</a>.” In the US, <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/charter-schools-overview.aspx">research on privately managed charter schools</a> that have more freedom to organize their work has not been able to show that school autonomy would lead to better student learning. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/48910490.pdf">OECD recently concluded</a> that greater autonomy in decisions related to curriculum and assessment – in other words, teacher professional autonomy – tends to be associated with better student performance.</p>
<p>But teacher autonomy should not be mixed with autonomy of the school. </p>
<p>School autonomy has often led to lessening teacher professionalism and autonomy for the benefit of greater profits for those who manage or own private schools, charter schools or other independent schools. Boston College’s Professor <a href="http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9781138929968/">Andy Hargreaves</a> has warned about unintended consequences of greater school autonomy. It is about the freedom of the school management, not necessarily the teacher, who operate without due regard for the community or for local democratic control. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/15/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think/">I have argued</a>, that teachers in the US are necessarily no worse or better than teachers in Finland. Both in the US and Finland, they decided to become teachers for the same reason: they want to make a difference in children’s lives. </p>
<p>That said, I don’t think that the primary problem in American education is the lack of teacher quality, or that part of the solution would be to find the best and the brightest to become teachers. The quality of an education system can exceed the quality of its teachers if teaching is seen as a team sport, not as an individual race. </p>
<p>And this is perhaps the most powerful lesson the US can learn from better-performing education systems: teachers need greater collective professional autonomy and more support to work with one another.</p>
<p>In other words, more freedom from bureaucracy, but less from one another.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pasi Sahlberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>October 5 is World Teachers’ Day. How about paying some attention to how teachers experience their work? Do teachers in Finland have more autonomy when compared to those in the US?Pasi Sahlberg, Visiting Professor of Practice in Education, Graduate School of Education, Harvard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485502015-10-05T09:32:19Z2015-10-05T09:32:19ZA somber message on World Teachers’ Day 2015: our teachers are at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97111/original/image-20151002-23063-1uoafjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The work of teachers is not valued as much as other professions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/besphotos/2358166134/in/photolist-4AodCN-7Cv6qi-eJc5nQ-4smAGv-cKqUN1-7mAk3R-aHvVNg-8gdwZF-9TprRe-j587eW-rPEZXm-ryLN2H-7YL6Vw-8ePWKG-7NYcNs-7nS8RE-23EySh-7dujYF-8cBzeW-6VtJ5a-4dxked-8NbVe2-iEvL1r-7YBySL-5iD1Sa-4ragHd-aEDKDN-pfPSMa-9WCrcY-asdPBd-9124du-aywv8r-9CYP1m-6D5fFW-BmeM1-d9Hpn1-q2L9yr-dbKYqL-fy5mc9-wVvnpT-rjLQjT-rPaQek-yUEHce-8oNY9-eWQ7RH-4PuUPc-bGXdU8-uTuLYs-8rxuy8-qYp2AC">BES Photos</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is among the first actions that brutal totalitarian regimes take upon assuming power? They imprison, exile or <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807743593.shtml">“disappear” teachers</a>.</p>
<p>Dictators employ such harsh tactics because of the role teachers play in society. Teachers provide not only a crucial link to our cultural past but also exercise critical influence on the present and the future. Teachers train future citizens on how to think and creatively challenge accepted wisdom, which can threaten the power of tyrants.</p>
<p>But before we rush to congratulate ourselves on how well teachers are treated in our free society, we need to recognize the multiple ways in which damage has been caused to the profession.</p>
<p>The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-teachersday-2015#.Vg6imLRYWJV">World Teachers’ Day</a> – celebrated every year on October 5 since 1994 – as a result of concerns about the historically low status of teachers and their mistreatment. </p>
<p>As a researcher who studies the history of schooling in the United States, I can testify that Americans have long had a deep and enduring ambivalence about teachers: we value their work, but <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_pay/">we pay them less respect and less money</a> than those in many other comparable professions. There are plenty of signs that teaching as a vocation is in trouble in the US.</p>
<h2>The problem of teacher turnover</h2>
<p>Look at how <a href="https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx">enrollments in teacher preparation programs</a> have plummeted in the last few years in US schools.</p>
<p>The hardest-hit state – <a href="http://www.ctc.ca.gov/commission/agendas/2014-10/2014-10-3D.pdf">California</a> – experienced a 53% decline between 2008 and 2013. Other states are not too far behind – <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/04/25/teacher-preparation-programs-declining-enrollment/26379779/">Michigan</a>, for instance, experienced a 38% drop, and <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/10/22/09enroll.h34.html?qs=drop+in+texas+enrollment+in+teacher+education+programs">Texas</a> a 19% reduction, during the same period. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/23/kindergarten-teacher-my-job-is-now-about-tests-and-data-not-children-i-quit/">Several</a> high-profile educators have either decided to <a href="http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2015/04/06/why-im-calling-it-quits-after-six.html?qs=quit+teaching">“hang up their chalk”</a> or encouraged others to <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/01/award-winning-educator-decries-current-teaching-climate.html?qs=global+teacher+prize">avoid the profession altogether</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97112/original/image-20151002-23072-10alomf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">What is leading teachers to quit?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peoplesworld/18680600211/in/photolist-usJXBZ-us8a2W-usx7Yx-ub69tP-ub5UpX-us7Qu5-ub5Y1e-tvFW1F-usxy2i-tvw5bQ-9hSvnm-bUvVwv-62wwkq-gHofKz-dacThu-gHnq3B-sKj3hQ-sv2iFY-sMBjVx-sMBvD6-sv1GNE-sv91dM-sKhzGN-sKhiWu-suZBUJ-sMATST-sv2GEy-sMrKCL-sv54hS-rQBsa1-svax8k-sKiXMs-sMBuC4-sMCj6p-sMCJ4V-rQzMX1-rQMrRp-sMC6ZF-sv1EbA-sMzUwk-sMC864-sKj85f-sv4j73-sKjHhJ-sMrMg5-sv2uD9-sv2mTY-sv8hPp-sMDAxv-sv3CgG">peoplesworld</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And what is causing good, experienced educators to flee the ship of teaching? </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/crisis-in-american-education-as-teacher-morale-hits-an-all-time-low-39226">Teacher turnover</a> has long been an area of concern (<a href="http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1239&context=gse_pubs">teachers depart at a higher rate</a> than comparable professions). The more precise reasons for recent departures are under <a href="http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pdf/rmi/RetentionData.pdf">scrutiny</a>, but we can point to a variety of likely causes.</p>
<p>First, teachers have experienced <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/86547/education-reform-nclb-boehner-van-roekel">heavy attacks</a> from a number of directions over the past 15 years. </p>
<p>Ever since the passage of the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001</a>, which accelerated an ongoing education accountability movement, teachers and schools have felt under <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">immense pressure</a> to <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/tested/lindaperlstein">improve</a> the annual yearly progress of their students on statewide standardized tests and demonstrate that they are “<a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/methods/teachers/stateplanfacts.html">highly qualified</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco4361/readings/murnane%20papay%202010.pdf">Researchers</a> who investigated these concerns found that teachers generally applaud efforts to improve academic standards, instruction and teacher qualifications. But many of these policies have had profound unintended consequences.</p>
<p>For example, because of the differences between state policies, teachers and schools in one state can be <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG589.html">punished</a> for <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/books-teachers_performance_pay_and_accountability/">student achievement scores</a> that in other states would be rewarded. </p>
<p>Second, the accountability movement has led many policymakers, especially those keen on finding ways to measure the worth of all things, to fasten onto “<a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may10/vol67/num08/Using_Value-Added_Measures_to_Evaluate_Teachers.aspx">value-added measures”</a> (VAM) as a way of evaluating teacher performance. </p>
<p>The idea behind VAM is that yearly student test scores can be used not only to track student achievement but also as a way to measure the instructional impact of their teachers. </p>
<h2>Dealing with tests and fixing poverty</h2>
<p>On the face of it, such instructional assessments might seem like a reasonable approach. But there are many pitfalls to using a test originally designed to measure students to evaluate teachers.</p>
<p>So much so that eminent scholars in the field of statistics, economics, psychology and education have issued <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/bp278/">urgent warnings</a> to policymakers that VAM are far too flawed to be of any value in teacher assessment. </p>
<p>Despite such caution, <a href="http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/beardsleyputtinggrowthandvalueaddedmodel.pdf">many states</a> have moved forward with the implementation of evaluation systems that employ VAM as a primary mechanism for teacher evaluation, a development that is sure to signal to many teachers that they are in what one researcher calls “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-do-teachers-quit/280699/">a very disempowered line of work</a>” because they have so little control over their professional lives.</p>
<p>Finally, and perhaps most importantly, <a href="http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/johnsons-remarks-on-signing-the-elementary-and-secondary-education-act">for decades</a> teachers and schools have been <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/schools-cant-fix-everything-about-poverty/article/2566473">asked to do something that is beyond their control</a>: fix poverty. </p>
<p>While teachers can have profoundly powerful and positive impacts on students, there is an overwhelming amount of <a href="http://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">research</a> demonstrating that student performance on standardized tests is largely determined by their socioeconomic background. </p>
<p>For a variety of reasons that researchers are still struggling to understand, the achievement scores of students from poor communities across the country <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED507359.pdf">are lower than their wealthier counterparts</a>. </p>
<h2>Vocation is in trouble</h2>
<p>Until we better understand the mechanisms behind the relationship between poverty and achievement, state leaders should be morally bound to avoid legislation or regulations that can “mis-measure” the value of their teachers.</p>
<p>If we want to encourage smart, creative, passionate individuals to enter the teaching ranks, we must insist that they receive the respect, autonomy and intellectual freedom they deserve. </p>
<p>We cannot afford to lose a whole generation of teachers. We will endanger the crucial <a href="http://www.jstor.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/stable/23014368?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">professional and institutional knowledge</a> that one generation of teachers passes on to another.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David A Gamson receives funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. </span></em></p>There are plenty of signs that teaching as a vocation is in trouble in the US.David A Gamson, Associate Professor of Education (Education Theory & Policy), Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.