Chapter III: Preservice and Inservice Education of Elementary-and Secondary-School Teachers

Abstract

THE literature during the last three years focused chiefly upon the maintenance and improvement of quality in teacher education. Colleges and universities preparing teachers were beset by two basic problems: (a) supplying teachers to teach all of the nation's children and (b) improving and maintaining quality standards in preservice and inservice programs.That personnel in teacher education recognized these problems was reflected by the voluminous literature, mostly nonresearch, that appeared. Most common in the nonresearch writing were attempts to clarify the function of education in a democracy, to identify the elements that characterize quality in a teacher education program, and to describe programs and procedures believed to contribute directly to the preparation of highquality teachers. However, there was little research, sponsored and reported by teacher education institutions, which was designed to relate systematically their preservice and inservice programs to success in publicschool teaching.Most commonly reported in the research were studies concerning professional laboratory experiences, especially student teaching. Few studies were reported which were designed to evaluate the contribution to teaching success of programs or courses in general education, public-school teaching fields, psychology and education, and professionalized subject matter. Research in the use of TV in teacher-education classes gained prominence, but instruction in the use of TV in public schools as a part of teacher-education programs received little attention. In general, research in preservice and inservice education of teachers was designed, chiefly by opinionnaire and questionnaire, to determine strengths and weaknesses in existing programs. Extensive recommendations for improvement of existing programs were made. There is little evidence which reveals that these recommendations were tested if put into practice.Several publications of the last three years, designed to bring crucial issues sharply into focus and to produce vast improvements in particular aspects or total programs of teacher education, should have major impact upon institutional self-appraisal through research. Noteworthy are the National Commission on Teacher Education and Certification report of the DeKalb Conference (53) ; the Thirty-Fourth Yearbook of the Association for Student Teaching (4); the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education volumes, Teacher Education for a Free People (17) and an experimental edition of Qualities of Experience for Prospective Teachers (2); and the Association for Student Teaching bulletin, Achiev-208 at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on June 20, 2015 http://rer.aera.net Downloaded from June 1958 PRESERVICE AND INSERVICE EDUCATION ing High Quality in Off-Campus Professional Laboratory Experiences (3). Challenges to help crystallize purposes of and to set goals for teacher education in our democratic society were made by Callahan (9), Caswell (11), Hancher (25), Haskew (27), the President's Committee on Education Beyon...