Karen’s story about the new ETS study comparing teacher training internationally is worth reading, even though the study itself is a snooze. (What else would you expect from such an integral part of the education establishment as ETS?)
The trouble with that study is that it only looks at how various governments control entrance into the teaching ranks. The more useful question to ask would be how non-governmental educational institutions decide how to conduct their hiring and firing of teachers. It’s like comparing one governmental postal monopoly with another. Why bother?
The ETS researchers take it for granted that government officials need to regulate entry into the teaching profession with “filters” of varying strengths at different points. Evidently, it never occurred to them that if decision-makers had freedom to set their own standards for employability — even in government schools — the supposed need for central government regulation of teacher preparation would vanish.
