TEACHER VOICE: When it comes to teacher training, the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Canada
How the province of Alberta handles preparation and certification
here and how do teachers get their training in preparation for the demands of the 21st century classroom? This is an essential question educators and policy makers face in education systems across the globe.
The Empowered Educators international study from Linda Darling-Hammond finds that the process of teacher training and certification is quite centralized in the high-performing systems studied, with a small number of degree-granting institutions: a single teacher training institution in Singapore, eight in Finland and nine in Alberta. In contrast, Colorado has 35 such avenues for certification, and Washington state has 53 different routes to gaining a teaching certificate. (Here’s a link to order the book associated with the study. Note: a print copy of the book costs $31. The Canada brief can be read free of charge here. Other country briefs can be accessed free by scrolling to the bottom of this page. )
I often wonder about the multitude of routes to certification available in countries like the U.S., and the trade-off between ease or efficiency and consistency. While the numerous routes may allow for flexibility in finding and developing teaching staff, the cost of inconsistency likely does not serve students or schools very well.
I teach social studies in Edmonton, Alberta in what we would consider a medium-sized school of slightly under a thousand students. Alberta’s population is around four million, similar to Kentucky, but with demographics more like California.TEACHER VOICE: When it comes to teacher training, the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Canada - The Hechinger Report:
