“Those who can do. Those who can’t teach.”
This widely repeated saying has been used to get a rise out of educators nationwide for years.
And one way many teachers have come together and battled this attitude has been by becoming increasingly professionalized.
How do teachers grow as professionals? Often, their growth comes in professional developments and in their own informal learning communities, where they learn from mentors at their school sites and beyond. But in many other cases, teachers have advanced their professionalism through formal education, including earning master’s and doctoral degrees.
In graduate school, teachers typically learn more about how to read, analyze and even conduct research. They learn what research is out there, how to access it and how to determine whether it is sound. And in learning more about research, teachers are then equipped to use quality research to inform their day-to-day classroom decisions.
At the same time, teachers working on advanced degrees also typically develop their own leadership skills.
This may come in formal ways, including through classes that focus on topics including leadership styles or through studying case studies on teachers who have brought about improvements through their leadership. And at other times, leadership development has occurred more indirectly, with teachers feeling empowered by their graduate studies and then compelled to take on increasingly influential school and district leadership positions.
Earning advanced degrees also often helps teachers to develop their credibility with students, parents, and the community at large. What parent would not prefer to see their child taught by a teacher holding an advanced degree? And aren’t students often inspired by the examples set by teachers with graduate degrees?
It seems unquestionable: Teachers benefit from earning graduate degrees – and so do their students and communities.
But the practice of rewarding teachers financially for completing graduate school is currently under attack. Some districts have scrapped the practice of paying teachers with advanced degrees more than their peers. And the concept of rewarding teachers for graduate degrees has been questioned in the past two weeks by both Bill Gates and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Eliminating bonuses to teachers with graduate degrees would send a clear message about the value of teaching to teachers, students and others.
And what would that message be? That teaching is a simple job – one that is so menial and mindless that earning a graduate degree can’t possibly have value.
Is this really the message we want to send?
I have a friend who is Head of Clinical Psychology at UCSB and a teacher and mentor to many. He is still VERY actively involved in his field professionally. I believe this is one of the key reasons for his success and I also believe that it a quality that his students value. He not only has theory but actual practical experience at his finger tips. Theories are up for debate but it is hard to argue with actual experience.
ReplyDelete@ Chester. Good point. And thanks for commenting. I think with all the debate, MOST would agree that a combination of education and experience in the field is the ideal. :)
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