Teacher education, also known as teacher training, refers to programs, policies, procedures, and services designed to provide (potential) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, approaches, methodologies, and skills needed to perform their duties effectively in the classroom, school, and wider community. Teacher educators are professionals who work with prospective teachers to train them.
There has long been a debate about the best term to use to describe these activities. The term ‘teacher training’ appears to be losing ground to ‘teacher education’, at least in the United States (with its connotation of preparing staff for a professional role as a reflective practitioner). In-service teacher education and pre-service teacher education are the two primary components of teacher education.
Many countries are debating the process by which teachers are educated, reflecting both the importance that societies and cultures place on preparing young people for life and the reality that education systems consume significant financial resources. The degree of political control over Teacher Education, on the other hand, varies. When teacher education is entirely in the hands of universities, the state may have no direct control over what or how new teachers are taught; this can result in oddities, such as teachers being taught using teaching techniques that would be deemed inappropriate if they used the same methods in schools, or teachers being instructed by people who have little or no hands-on experience teaching in real classrooms.
