Reforming of teacher education: adaptation of international experience

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Reforming of teacher education: adaptation of international experience

Reform of the educational sector of Ukraine is using world experience of human adaptation to life under competitive conditions of contemporary society. The integration of Ukrainian education system into European and world educational space is associated with the rethinking of national experience, finding mechanisms of adaptation of positive foreign experience to modern realities.

International experience of scientific analysis of teacher training in the US in the context of studying is of particular interest. Despite some differences in the historical, social and cultural aspects of the US and Ukraine, the functional commonality of national education systems makes it possible to experience the creative use of teacher training in the United States and contributes to the improvement of the Ukrainian system of teacher education in general.

The USA has convincing pedagogical achievements and the developed system of professional preparation of teachers. Theory and practice of education in the USA is based on old multinational and historical traditions and depend on public policy in the sphere of education.

American researchers contributed into theory and practice of teacher preparation in such aspects as: foundations of education research (D. Baker, A. Bandura, G. LeTendre, and others); teachers' role in education reform (H. Beare, B. Caldwell, R. Millikan, and others); teachers' preparation curriculum (D. Ball, D. Cohen, F. Forzani, and others); quality of professional preparation of teachers (W. Bergquist, J. Armstrong, and others); university-school collaboration (H. Austin, A. Bermudez, B. Dwyer, P. Freebody, and others); skills, abilities and knowledge of teachers (S. Barab, T. Duffy, D. Jonassen, S. Land, and others); professional development of teachers (B. Berry, D. Montgomery, R. Curtis, M. Hernandez, J. Wurtzel, J. Snyder, and others); motivation of teachers (J. Atkinson, D. Birch, N. Feather, and others).

Integration of Ukraine into international education sphere, essentiality of study and implementation of human experience in the sphere of professional preparation of teachers defined the purpose of our research that consists in study and analysis of experience of professional preparation of teachers in the USA.

America has tried many strategies over the decades to reverse the slow, steady decline in its public schools. Few of these have delivered real results. The 2002 No Child Left Behind requirements, for example, were supposed to guarantee that every kid learned at least the «three R» basics. English and math scores for elementary students did inch up, but the scores of average American high scholars on international science and math tests continued to sink [5]. Now President Obama has launched the Race to the Top campaign to improve schools by holding students to higher standards, paying bonuses to teachers whose students excel, and replacing the worst schools with charter schools.

New approaches need considerable strategic and procedural reforms of both the system of public higher education and the state general system that will be resulted in modernization of long-term strategies and methods that do not answer modern demands. These reforms will need collaboration of leaders of higher education, governors and public school administrators in overcoming of political barriers and support of new idea of professional preparation of teachers.

The USA president Barack Obama and vicepresident Joe Biden are convinced that America faces more important problems than preparation of children to compete in global economy. Their vision of education in the 21^st century begins with requirements of greater reformation and stronger accountability of resources for realization of education reforms; making parents responsible for their children academic progress; recruiting, retaining and rewarding of new teachers for the purpose of filling new effective schools that will prepare American children for successful study in college or productive activity at their workplace [2].

Indeed, educators are the heart and soul of American education. Great teachers and principals are drawn to the profession because they want to nurture young people and watch them grow not only academically, but also socially and emotionally. They teach because of their belief in the power of education to transform lives. Strong teachers can boost students' academic achievement, improve their attitudes about school and themselves, and increase their ability to learn. Highly effective teachers accelerate student learning, close achievement gaps that have persisted for decades, and build habits of mind that change the trajectories of students' lives, resulting in lower dropout rates, lower rates of teen pregnancy, and greater lifetime earnings and career satisfaction. Strong school leaders enable effective teachers to grow and thrive [4].

Teachers come into the profession for differing reasons in different country contexts, in differing economic circumstances and with varying expectations of the rewards and challenges of the role. Common to all, however, is a need for appreciation, autonomy and affiliation - the latitude and discretion to exercise professional judgment, together with recognition and endorsement for such initiative and a sense of belonging to a cadre of like - minded people whose interests and motivations you share. The place of these within a hierarchy of needs varies country by country depending on an essential infrastructure of safety, security, working conditions, resourcing and adequate remuneration [3].

Teachers, unlike most professions, are burdened with excessive expectations from society at large, caught between high expectation and low professional esteem. Debates may continue as to whether teaching meets the criteria of a `profession', but it is impossible to deny the juxtaposition of low esteem and the highly specialized knowledge, skills, and «bedside manner» which characterize high, and continuously rising, teaching standards in countries at the leading edge of development. John MacBeath in his work «Future of Teaching Profession» gives the commonly accepted criteria of what it means to be a «professional»:

1. Theoretical knowledge and concomitant skills: Professionals are assumed to have extensive theoretical knowledge and, deriving from that, skills that are exercised in practice.

2. High quality pre-service academic and professional preparation: Professions usually require at least three years' academic accreditation plus professional induction, together with a requirement to demonstrate professional competence in the workplace.

3. Legal recognition and professional closure: Professions tend to exclude those who have not met their requirements nor joined the appropriate professional body.

4. Induction: A period of induction and a trainee role is a prerequisite to being recognized as a full member of a professional body together with continuous upgrading of skills through continuing professional development.

5. Professional association: Professions usually have professional bodies organized by their members, intended to enhance their status together with carefully controlled entrance requirements and membership.

6. Work autonomy: Professionals retain control over their work and also have control over their own theoretical knowledge.

7. Code of professional conduct or ethics: Professional bodies usually have codes of conduct or ethics for their members and disciplinary procedures for those who infringe the rules.

8. Self-regulation: Professional bodies are self-regulating and independent from government.

9. Public service and altruism: Services provided are for the public good and altruistic in nature.

10. Authority and legitimacy: Professions have clear legal authority over some activities but also add legitimacy to a wide range of related activities.

11. Inaccessible and indeterminacy body of knowledge: The body of professional skills are relatively inaccessible to the uninitiated.

12. Mobility: Skills, knowledge and authority belong to professionals as individuals, not the organisations for which they work and, as they move, they take their talents with them. Standardisation of professional training and procedures enhances such mobility.

Meeting the criteria to be a teacher goes beyond these formal categories [3, p. 14-15].

Recently, individuals and organizations from across the field of education have increasingly called for a similar set of ambitious, comprehensive, and transformative improvements to the teaching profession. The work of a number of national organizations embraces shared notions of what must be done to advance the profession, including the work of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), the National Education Association (NEA), and the National School Board Association (NSBA) [1].

Inspired by this growing consensus among leading national organizations, and an opportunity to focus on and galvanize the dialogue around teaching and leading, the U.S. Department of Education committed to developing a responsive and robust policy framework for transforming the profession. At the same time, the Department undertook an extensive effort to seek input directly from educators by initiating a national conversation on the teaching profession and hosting roundtable conversations with teachers and leaders across the country. To help frame the national conversation and inform future policy, the Department took on the challenge of depicting a new vision of teaching, leading, and learning - a vision unconstrained and unprejudiced by the limits of today's reality and guided solely by what the U.S. education system must accomplish in order to remain globally competitive, and provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in their careers and in their lives. In developing and drafting this vision, the Department engaged educators and organizations at the local, state, national, and international levels in a deep discussion about the teaching profession [1].

A Blueprint for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching [1] shares vision of seven critical components of a transformed education profession: shared responsibility and leadership, recruitment and preparation, growth and development, evaluation, compensation and advancement, school climate, and community engagement. Educators consistently identified these components as critical to transforming the profession and characteristic of the highest - performing school systems in the U.S. and abroad. A strong education system effectively fuses these components to build one comprehensive and coherent system.

Integration of Ukraine into international educational space, the demand to study and introduce international experience in the field of professional preparation of teachers require comparative research and analysis of foreign experience of preparation of teachers, in particular, organizational forms of preparation of teachers in the USA.

Reform of the educational sector of Ukraine is using world experience of human adaptation to life under competitive conditions of contemporary society. The integration of Ukrainian education system into European and world educational space is associated with the rethinking of national experience, finding mechanisms of adaptation of positive foreign experience to modern realities.

International experience of scientific analysis of teacher training in the US in the context of studying is of particular interest. The USA has convincing pedagogical achievements and the developed system of professional preparation of teachers. Theory and practice of education in the USA is based on old multinational and historical traditions and depend on public policy in the sphere of education.

New approaches need considerable strategic and procedural reforms of both the system of public higher education and the state general system that will be resulted in modernization of long-term strategies and methods that do not answer modern demands. These reforms will need collaboration of leaders of higher education, governors and public school administrators in overcoming of political barriers and support of new idea of professional preparation of teachers.

Positive experience of maintaining high quality professional preparation of American teachers, which was found out during research, correlates with specific tasks of modernization of national education, exposes new sources of innovation, management and improvement of pre-service and post-graduate pedagogical education in Ukraine.

Among the promising areas of further research professional preparation of teachers in developed countries, trends in the development of pedagogical education in the USA and Ukraine deserve special attention.

Bibliography

pedagogy education adapting reforming

1. A Blueprint for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching [electronic resource]. - US Department of Education, April 2013. - Access mode: http://www2.ed.gov/documents/respect/blueprint-for - respect.pdf

2. Education [electronic resource] / Change.gov: The Obama-Biden Transition Team. - Access mode: http://change.gov/ agenda/ education_agenda/.

3. MacBeath, J. Future of Teaching Profession / John MacBeath. - Leadership for Learning: The Cambridge Network, 2012. - 112 p.

4. McKinsey & Co. Closing the Talent Gap:

Attracting and Retaining Top-Third Graduates to Careers in Teaching (2010) [electronic resource]. - Access mode: http:// mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education/C losing_the_ talent_gap.pdf.

5. Will Obama's School Reform Plan Work? [electronic resource]. - Access mode: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2009/12/09/will - obamas-school-reform-plan-work.

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