Ex-troops without degrees to train as teachers

[Trav Le Bleu]

[sphericalfox]

Yep, I always have a laugh watching the chase when you see the next teacher/assistant/advisor (How many do they have in the classroom these days?) being carted off after thinking Barcelona was the capital of Madrid.

 

Not knocking the ones who teach real subjects mind, I never got my head around anything Scientific, but I'm sure most could take a two year course and teach Year 7 Social Studies.

 

There's a capital of Madrid? I hope you don't have notions of going into the teaching profession. 

[inckley fox]

Teaching is much simpler than being a doctor, that is why the comparison is invalid. You could shadow a refuse collection officer for a day and have a pretty good idea on what makes a good refuse collection officer and how to perform the role to an adequate standard.

Meanwhile if you shadowed a doctor for a day you would still know essentially nothing whatsoever about how to perform their role.

 

My opinion of teachers is actually formed by the 3/4 I know.

 

All cracking blokes actually, but not too bright.

 

H G Wells, William Golding, Lyndon B Johnson, Shakespeare (possibly), Alexander Graham Bell, Orwell, Jose Mourinho, D H Lawrence, Steve Wozniak, Robert Frost and Confucius were all teachers, so there are plenty of intelligent chaps out there who were in the profession. Of course, intelligence isn't as essential to teaching as it is to being a doctor, but don't kid yourself that teachers are, as a rule, not bright. Nor that the profession is in some way 'simple'.

 

You couldn't shadow a teacher for a day and know how to be an effective educator any more than you could a doctor. You may pick up a trick or two (I think of TEFL teachers, who get a month of training and, at times, do a stunning job), much like first aiders can - on occasion - administer decent healthcare without having years of experience. But the very fact that there are so many utterly rubbish teachers out there (with 17 years of education, like yourself perhaps, as well as years of training and experience) and so many first aiders that aren't competent doctors, is testament to the complexities of both professions.

 

There are poor teachers out there who consider their jobs of limited significance, straightforward and easy. But a good teacher will know that outstanding subject knowledge, communication skills and a full appreciation of the psychology of the classroom are far from simple matters. The essential traits needed for a good teacher are, unlike most of those required by a doctor, impossible to teach at university. Indeed they're often not predicted by university results (one of the best teachers I ever knew got a Third at uni, three more got a First at Cambridge).

 

But to think that an outstanding educator operates at a lower level than a fully qualified and competent doctor is nonsense.