ABSTRACT
The beginning years of teaching are a problem for the education profession. Beginning teachers who come to their first position from the collegiate training institutions are generally not well treated. Senior teachers have first choice of assignments, newcomers take what is left over. New teachers develop a survival mentality that takes its toll in many ways, not the least of which is in reducing their freedom to consult more experienced colleagues and supervisors concerning weaknesses and failures.
At a time when attention is focusing less on pre-service and more on in-service education, the viewpoint here expressed recommends that the attenion of the profession be directed at these beginning years; by so doing, new sources of energy could be unlocked for the energy-impoverished field of teacher education. A specific plan is advanced for adding these beginning years to the initial preparatory period, thus substantially lengthening the period of training of teachers, enabling newcomers and ‘old-timers’ to collaborate as colleagues in school improvement. It invites others too to join in the process: the colleges and universities, the state accreditation and licensing officials, the trainees, the students in the schools, and members of the community. The proposition advanced is that this is an opportune time in educational history to increase sharply the amount of energy – time, money and other resources – devoted to teacher education. The new sources of energy that can be tapped lie in the community, the schools, the institutions of higher education, the local, state, and national governments, and in the redirection of some of our present energies. The central idea is that this new force should focus upon reforming the beginning years of teaching in such a way that the whole of teacher education would be influenced. Strong leadership will be required. The effort would not be without risks. But the result might be a renaissance in teacher education that would reverberate throughout the education system.
