New trend
#1:
Diversity in students
Students have, of course, always
been diverse. Whether in the past or in the present day, students learn at unique
paces, show unique personalities, and learn in their own ways. In recent
decades, though, the forms and extent of diversity have increased. Now more
than ever, teachers are likely to serve students from diverse language backgrounds,
to serve more individuals with special educational needs, and to teach students
either younger and older than in the past.
1.1
Language
diversity
Take the case of language
diversity. In the United States, about 40 million people, or 14 per cent of the
population are Hispanic. About 20 per cent of these speak primarily Spanish,
and approximately another 50 per cent speak only limited English (United States
Census Bureau, 2005). The educators responsible for the children in this group
need to accommodate instruction to these students somehow. Part of the
solution, of course, is to arrange specialized second-language teachers and
classes. But adjustment must also happen in “regular” classrooms of various
grade levels and subjects. Classroom teachers must learn to communicate with
students whose English language background is limited, at the same time that
the students themselves are learning to use English more fluently (Pitt, 2005).
Since relatively few teachers are Hispanic or speak fluent Spanish, the adjustments
can sometimes be a challenge. Teachers must plan lessons and tasks that
students actually understand.
At the same time teachers must
also keep track of the major learning goals of the curriculum.
1.2
Diversity of
special educational needs
Another factor making classroom
increasingly diverse has been the inclusion of students with disabilities into classrooms
with non-disabled peers. In the United States the trend began in the 1970s, but
accelerated with the passage of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975, and again when the Act was
amended in 2004 (United States Government Printing Office, 2005). In Canada
similar legislation was passed in individual provinces during the same general
time period. The laws guarantee free, appropriate education for children with
disabilities of any kind—whether the impairment is physical, cognitive,
emotional, or behavioral. The laws also recognize that such students need
special supports in order to learn or function effectively in a classroom with
non-disabled peers, so they provide for special services (for example, teaching
assistants) and procedures for making individualizededucational plans for
students with disabilities.
1.3
Lifelong
learning
The diversity of modern
classrooms is not limited to language or disabilities. Another recent change
has been the broadening simply of the age range of individuals who count as
“students”. In many nations of the world, half or most of all three- and
four-year-olds attend some form of educational program, either part-time
preschool or fulltime child care (National Institute for Early Education
Research, 2006). In North America some public school divisions have moved
toward including nursery or preschool programs as a newer “grade level”
preceding kindergarten. Others have expanded the hours of kindergarten (itself
considered a “new” program early in the 20th century) to span
a full-day program.
New trend #2:
Using technology to support learning
For most teachers, “technology”
means using computers and the Internet as resources for teaching and learning. These
tools have greatly increased the amount and range of information available to
students, even if their benefits have sometimes been exaggerated in media
reports (Cuban, 2001). With the Internet, it is now relatively easy to access
up-to-date information on practically any subject imaginable, often with
pictures, video clips, and audio to accompany them. It would seem not only that
the Internet and its associated technologies have the potential to transform
traditional school-based learning, but also that they have in fact begun to do
so.
For a variety of reasons, however,
technology has not always been integrated into teachers’ practices very thoroughly (Haertel & Means, 2003). One
reason is practical: in many societies and regions, classrooms contain only one
or two computers at most, and many schools have at best only limited access to
the Internet. Waiting for a turn on the computer or arranging to visit a
computer lab or school library limits how much students use the Internet, no
matter how valuable the Internet may be. In such cases, furthermore, computers
tend to function in relatively traditional ways that do not take full advantage
of the Internet: as a word processor (a “fancy typewriter”), for example, or as
a reference book similar to an encyclopedia.
New trend #3:
Accountability in education
In recent years, the public and
its leaders have increasingly expected teachers and students to be accountable
for their work, meaning that schools and teachers are held responsible for
implementing particular curricula and goals, and that students are held
responsible for learning particular knowledge. The trend toward accountability
has increased the legal requirements for becoming and (sometimes) remaining
certified as a teacher. In the United States in particular, preservice teachers
need more subject-area and education-related courses than in the past.
They must also spend more time
practice teaching than in the past, and they must pass one or more examinations
of knowledge of subject matter and teaching strategies. The specifics of these
requirements vary among regions, but the general trend—toward more numerous and
“higher” levels of requirements—has occurred broadly throughout the
English-speaking world. The changes obviously affect individuals’ experiences
of becoming a teacher— especially the speed and cost of doing so.
Public accountability has led to
increased use of high-stakes testing, which are tests taken by all
students in a district or region that have important consequences for students'
further education (Fuhrman & Elmore, 2004). High-stakes tests may influence
grades that students receive in courses or determine whether students graduate or
continue to the next level of schooling. The tests are often a mixture of essay
and structured-response questions (such as multiple-choice items), and raise
important issues about what teachers should teach, as well as how (andwhether)
teachers should help students to pass the examinations. It also raises issues
about whether high-stakes testing is fair to all students and consistent with
other ideals of public education, such as giving students the best possible
start in life instead of disqualifying them from educational opportunities.
New trend #4:
Increased professionalism of teachers
Whatever your reactions to the
first three trends, it is important to realize that they have contributed to a
fourth trend, an increase in professionalism of teachers. By most
definitions, an occupation (like medicine or law—or in this case teaching) is a
profession if its members take personal responsibility for the quality of their
work, hold each other accountable for its quality, and recognize and require
special training in order to practice it.
By this definition, teaching has
definitely become more professional than in the past (Cochran-Smith
& Fries, 2005). Increased expectations of achievement by students mean that
teachers have increased responsibility not only for their students’ academic
success, but also for their own development as teachers. Becoming a new teacher
now requires more specialized work than in the past, as reflected in the
increased requirements for certification and licensing in many societies and
regions. The increased requirements are partly a response to the complexities
created by the increasing diversity of students and increasing use of
technology in classrooms.
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