‘Incompetent’ Teachers
Those who can’t teach
Is it right for ‘incompetent’ teachers to be hounded out of the profession? Jackie Kemp reports
I have worked a few jobs over the years and there have always been people really good at their job and those that were pretty hopeless. This was true is every job. In some jobs I leaned towards one end of this scale and it others I leaned towards the other.
And it is frustrating to be dealing with anyone who is not good at their jobs. If they work in a shop it can cost time and money and be really annoying. If they are your doctor it can cost your health or whole life. If they are your teacher then it can be annoying and a lost opportunity to learn and that’s not good.
And I have to say that I have encountered teachers that I am not all that impressed by. Mostly this is about charisma, energy and classroom management skills. And sometimes I feel that their short coming make my life as a teacher more difficult.
However I am certain that the answer is not as simple as paying struggling teachers less. Or sacking them simply for lacking skills. I am all for sacking people guilty of misconduct.
I am not sure what the answer is. Certainly the teacher training system I went through, based in a university and deliberately ignoring the actual classroom, is a disgrace and good teachers emerge in spite of it rather than because of it. And in-school professional development can be variable in quality and usefulness.
I certainly think there needs to be much better training. I think there needs to be much more sharing of resources and more money devoted to creating teaching activities. I think schools should have some fair way of assessing teachers and teachers should seeks feedback about their practice. On that note I have surveyed my students both years and there is good news there and room for improvement. Both are good to know.
I don’t think there is a magic bullet here, but I certainly think a whole lot aspects of teaching and education could do with some serious work.
But for now I might just enjoy my holidays.
Lesson for the day – it is easier to say something is wrong than to make something right.
Previously on this date..
- Longing For Lucid - 2007
- Tuesday Questions - 2007
- epoch - 2007
- Dial M For Clever - 2006
- Trevor Of Little Things - 2005
- Font Of Knowledge - 2005
- Men In PJs - 2005
- There's A Bear In There - 2005
- Five Years Old - 2004
- Backpacker Week - 2004
- April Come She Will - 2004
- Reading Maps - 2004
- Conventions - 2004
- Popular - 2004
- On The Road Again - 2004
- By By Buy - 2004
- Shopping - 2003
- Tim's song is at number - 2002
- Well I am still using - 2002
- For those of you suffering - 2002
- Now this is a test - 2002
- So much for that theory. - 2002
- I have another theory that - 2002
- Looking on the blogger front - 2002
- I have just finished the - 2002
- And once again publishing is - 2002
- People With People - 2002
- New and Old - 2002
- Precious - 2002
- No Bogans - 2002
When reading one of the articles I was kind of horrified at the way in which it appeared to be used to manage personality or style issues. Surely there could be approaches which involved either addressing those issues or making sacking easier for perceived deficiencies.
I wouldn’t like it if it happened in my workplace – imagine having your entire career derailed and in such a public manner. I don’t see it applying to captains of industry who appear to have demonstrated themselves as grossly incompetent.