We, as teachers interested in education reform, have to realize something “brought home” to me by an innocent question from a medical doctor who had been reading ‘The Silent Voice in Education.’ He looked at recertification in a different manner than which it is described in the book. My explanation that such thinking, recertification, didn’t exist in education before the 1980s, at least in the form of allowing teachers to continue teaching, seemed to give him a reason to look more critically at it. I added, in my experience, the state did a poor job of offering meaningful seminars on pertinent subjects under discussion at the time. In addition, teacher evaluation was once an individual evaluation, taking into consideration each teacher’s individual style and approach. Indeed, researchers at one time honestly could not agree as to what constituted good teaching.
Modern ideas about what constitutes good teaching and accountability are products of education theory and psychology theory, unproven ideas that have contributed confusion to the knot in which education now exists. Most teachers know what I mean when recertification is described as a “sham.” In fact, there is yet to be one who defends it. Understandably, the modern administrator does not see the issue in the same light in which it is seen by a teacher because the modern administrator is no longer the education leader of the school and a part of the staff, as in Finland. They are part of the education establishment that influences the thinking and decision-making of each board of education.
Few people can look beyond their own experience when considering recertification. The medical doctor probably looked at the concept in terms of making sure the most modern proven science is involved. The concept of the teacher as an individual whose skills are built on the experience of day to day teaching, constantly readjusting the curriculum to make it more relevant to the student, is gradually being replaced by the concept of the teacher who will read a script prepared by an expert who can make sure all the rules of good teaching and learning are included in the lesson. The fact that the research did not show success is ignored because the education establishment has decided what is best for the future of education.
This blog is dedicated to the dissemination of anecdotal information from teachers regarding their success, or lack of it, in attempting to create a dialogue directly with their board of education. School curricula reform can only begin with information about the needs of a school district from those who know it best, the teachers, all the teachers. More local control of education can only be meaningful if it is based on all the information from curricula reports, not from spokesmen, or educator statesmen far from the everyday events of the classroom.
Please offer your experience in providing a one page report on curriculum directly to the board of education. We would like to share such experiences among the teaching profession.