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Being a teacher is about combining art with science. But as several debate articles from student teachers lately (see here, and here) show, this is something that the university has let fall into oblivion.
I asked coordinators at the university what they were doing and asked to go through the course manuals in more detail. What I read scared me even more.
I started studying to become a teacher at the Stockholm College of Education (LHS) in the early 2000s. At LHS, we received courses on how to use our voice in the best way, how to present information on the board and how to deepen students’ learning through fiction. I remember one of my fellow students, who had a shrill voice, was given extra training in using abdominal pressure by a speech teacher.
I also fondly remember my first VFU. We were given three assignments, to 1) lead a group game, 2) carry out a lesson with choice of content and follow-up, and 3) co-plan a lesson with our VFU supervisor. Before the first VFU, we thus received training from a play pedagogue in group games, a methodology teacher gave us tips for lesson planning and a teacher who worked for 20 years in a two-teacher system conducted a workshop in co-planning. Theory was interspersed with practice and training. At LHS there was a pathos to train teachers in all that this entailed. We students were shaped to feel pride in our future profession knowing that we were receiving specialized instruction to become teacher.
In the courses at LHS, we were often taught by professional teachers. These were employed 50 percent at LHS and 50 percent at a nearby school. The lectures were led by PhD teachers who used their know-how and expertise to describe theory. The vast majority of lectures were followed by a workshop where we students gained practical knowledge of how theory could be transformed into practice in the classroom. Very few of my fellow students were dissatisfied with the College of Education’s education.
Our teacher in the last VFU course was replaced – and this is completely true – with a doctorate in economics.
Late in the spring of 2006, we were told that our teacher training would end at Stockholm University (SU) and that LHS at Konradsberg would be closed. The transition to SU was, to put it mildly, a culture shock. All training and workshops disappeared from the first course. Our teacher in the last VFU course was replaced – and this is completely true – with a doctorate in economics. The basic methodology now became 1) reading academic texts, 2) meeting at a seminar and discussing, and 3) taking the exam. We asked ISO (who was responsible for the move between LHS and SU) where all the training in leading teaching had gone, and received the answer that teacher training would now have academic rigor and follow Finland’s example. Teachers would become academics.
Teaching is an art form. It is to use both feeling, thought and reason to capture the students in learning and adapt to the students’ prior knowledge and needs. But it is also a science, an understanding of how learning works and which methods are most effective in reaching students. At KTH, which trains civil engineers, the watchword is art and science. That is something for the teacher educators to ponder.
It is as if the universities observe teaching from high towers, separated from the reality outside the classrooms. The practical aspect of leading a class is downplayed.
I myself have worked for four years as a VFU supervisor and for several years as a mentor to new graduates. A new teacher described his first semester with the words: “I’ll be honest, I have no idea how to teach. But I can give you perfect quotes about what knowledge is if you want.”
I also remember a tutorial where a recent graduate would teach the clock to his students. She stared at me in pure desperation and said frankly, “I have no idea how to get students to know something they can’t. What do I do first … and then?” Five years of study and the teacher couldn’t even count on one hand the ways in which a new knowledge can be taught.
As a VFU supervisor, I could therefore state that the teacher training did not give student teachers the knowledge and training they need to succeed in teaching. It happened that on several occasions I was forced to fail students who simply could not lead the class or even be on time in the morning. I often felt that all the practical knowledge was up to me as an active teacher to teach the student teachers. It would happen in just a few weeks when they were at school. I asked coordinators at the university what they were doing and asked to go through the course manuals in more detail. What I read scared me even more.
The students themselves are expected to put the theory into practice, but the distance between them is as great as an abyss.
It is as if the universities observe teaching from their high towers, separated from the reality outside the classrooms. The practical aspect of leading a class, of actually standing in front of students and guiding them through learning, is downplayed in favor of academic knowledge.
There is also a lack of practical knowledge to teach a heterogeneous student group. There are a myriad of ways to create a collectively good teaching, and the theory behind these is touched on in the courses but not the practice. The students themselves are expected to put the theory into practice, but the distance between them is an abyss. It takes a lot to reinvent the wheel if no one has ever shown anything that rolls. And maybe it’s not so strange considering how universities work?
To be able to work at a university, a doctorate is required. Completing one takes at least four years. For the vast majority of lecturers, this means that it has been years since they had a class of students. And if you get one like that, you’re lucky as a student teacher! Often, the courses are filled by lecturers who have doctorates from other fields, without practical teaching knowledge. The transition from specialized teacher training colleges to the inclusion of teacher education in traditional universities has led to the disappearance of the specific competence to train teachers.
The teacher training programs need to hire teachers, specialists and methodology teachers to the same extent as they hire graduates and new PhD students.
Today, teacher education is rather a jumble of different courses where there is a lack of an overall understanding of what is actually needed to become a successful teacher. There is also one missing professional pride for the teaching profession in today’s teacher training courses. I think the universities lack a clear picture of what skills are needed in the classroom by us teachers.
Student teachers are told that literature is important, but they do not receive training in how to actually lead activities with literature. It’s like learning to swim without jumping in the water and trying. The universities seem to believe that everything practical should be taught during activity-based education (VFU) or it is promised that “it will come later, on the next course” (hint: it never comes). It is not due to pure ignorance or priorities. This is because the competence in methodology and practical skills for teachers is not sufficiently widespread in today’s teacher training courses. By definition, everyone who works at universities is academics. What makes us think that it is only through academic knowledge, taught through academics, that we can shape future teachers? Where can student teachers get training in the art of teaching?
It is high time to make a powerful change in today’s teacher education, which should once again become a practical-theoretical education with a focus on the tools you need to succeed as a teacher. What is needed is a proper review of what knowledge is necessary to lead teaching and learning, and a specialized education that equates know-how (art) with theoretical knowledge (science). To succeed in this, teacher education needs to hire art practitioners (teachers, specialists and methodology teachers) to the same degree as they hire academics and new PhD students. If not, we will create a gigantic skills shortage that will then unfailingly be exploited by private actors. Who could blame them?
Do again do right!
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