Academisation is not a dirty word
Too many young professionals leave the teaching profession after just a few years. The so-called academisation of training is often blamed for this. The main criticism is that the high academic requirements are a deterrent and do not ensure that young teachers are optimally prepared for everyday school life.
In my opinion, the demand for more practice-relevant topics instead of academic work is logical and urgent. The universities of teacher education would be well advised to accept this criticism and discuss it jointly with politicians.
The increased demands on schools and teaching are still being neglected.
Nevertheless, I believe that academisation has been unfairly discredited. Ultimately, we cannot avoid finding the most suitable people for the teaching profession and offering them the best possible training.
There are a number of important reasons why it is so important for teachers to be very well trained.
A good relationship with the children is no longer enough
In my opinion, the increased demands on schools and teaching are still being neglected. It is often said that teachers «only» need to succeed in building a good relationship with their pupils. This is the only prerequisite for good learning.
Far from it! The latest findings on teaching and learning research paint a different picture of good teaching. Below I briefly describe seven quality requirements for teachers. You can then decide for yourself whether you would stand in front of a class unprepared - i.e. without training in these competences and skills.
7 Quality requirements for teachers
- 1st class guidance
In a well-managed class, teaching time is used optimally for learning. Teachers have mastered efficient time management, well-organised transitions, careful preparation and a proactive and constructive approach to disciplinary problems.
- 2. motivational-emotional support
Teachers treat their pupils with respect. They encourage learners' self-efficacy and sense of responsibility for their own learning progress, allow them to help shape lessons, recognise individual achievements and deal constructively with mistakes.
- 3. selection of topics
The content taught in the lessons serves to build skills, motivates the pupils by being relevant to everyday life and is structured, communicated and conveyed in a goal-orientated, pupil-, subject- and situation-appropriate manner that is clear, comprehensible and technically correct.
- 4. cognitive activation
Teachers use complex tasks to guide pupils to develop their own solutions. Teachers gain insight into pupils' individual learning processes through a technically challenging dialogue about learning content.
- 5. best possible preparation and communication of content
Teachers choose a variety of task types, ensure that the practice phases are well distributed over time and use relevant insights into the individual learning processes for joint processing, constructive feedback and targeted support.
- 6 Assessment and feedback
Teachers continuously assess where the individual students are in relation to the competences to be acquired in order to align the further design of lessons accordingly and to provide high-quality and constructive feedback.
- 7. dealing with diversity
Heterogeneity is to be welcomed and at the same time represents a fundamental challenge for teachers, as the diversity among pupils must be taken into account so that every pupil receives appropriate support.
Further training opportunities enrich the profession and schools
If you're already feeling a little dizzy after reading these lines, remember: we haven't even mentioned parent contact, joint lesson development, various school events, understanding children's special educational needs and familiarising new team colleagues. In view of these quality requirements, theoretically sound training with a high level of practical relevance is indispensable.
To become a teacher in Switzerland today, you have to complete a three-year degree programme. Anyone with a federal baccalaureate certificate has access to this programme. Those who choose the passarelle after the vocational baccalaureate complete the programme in four years.
Aptitude test before training would bring recognition
Initially, it was expected that the academisation of the teaching profession would lead to greater public recognition. However, I doubt that the teaching profession will join the ranks of respected professions in the medical and legal fields.
Only a stronger selection of the most suitable personalities would change the public perception of the teaching profession. How can this be achieved? With an aptitude test lasting several days based on the Finnish model. There, only one in ten applicants is admitted to the programme. So it is a real privilege to become a teacher. And this should have a positive effect in the medium and long term, even in times of a shortage of teaching staff.
It is crucial that we once again see the sound training of teachers as something worth striving for.
In the past, teachers in Switzerland hardly saw any development opportunities for themselves, let alone career opportunities. This has changed thanks to the autonomy of primary schools: School management teams have been established, teachers with additional responsibilities in IT are in demand and special needs teachers support school operations in challenging situations.
It goes without saying that teachers continue to train and specialise. I see this as a positive development, as it enables teachers to keep up to date with the latest pedagogical research and methods and to enrich their teams as teacher leaders - as people with specialised skills.
In the short term, schools must somehow cope with the shortage of well-trained staff. The higher demands placed on teachers, better further training opportunities and greater public recognition would all have a positive impact on the teaching profession in the long term and would contribute to overcoming the shortage. It is crucial that we once again see the sound, high-quality training of teachers at an academic level as something worth striving for.
In addition, education policy has set itself the sensible target of 95 per cent of people in Switzerland having a secondary level 2 qualification (Matura or vocational training). Unfortunately, with a rate of 88 per cent, we are a long way from achieving this. Too many young people drop out of education, mainly due to a lack of interdisciplinary skills such as self-management, self-regulation and social skills. We will therefore continue to need highly trained teachers.
