Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce

We often ask, if a young learner experiences learner-centered education in primary and secondary settings, how will they handle traditional college settings? Will they struggle? From what we’ve learned, the simple answer is “no.”

Young learners thrive thanks to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that often include but certainly go far beyond traditional academics. But, for those learners interested in pursuing a career as an educator, how can they maintain their learner-centered foundation within degree programs that focus on school-centered thinking?

The researchers at iNACOL have released a new resource that looks into this question in their Developing a Modern Teacher Workforce publication. They too are interested in “federal policy opportunities to improve and modernize professional learning and development for educators for competency-based education systems.” The paper focuses on three components to improve the practices of current and future educators: “diversifying pathways into the teaching profession, catalyzing innovation to redesign teacher preparation, and developing meaningful systems of assessments and evaluation.” With these insights, education stakeholders at the local, state, and federal level can find new ways to transform their education workforce.