A trainee's perspective on how 'born teachers' are actually made

Andreja Hazabent, Ljubljana, Slovenia

I am an undergraduate student of English, just finishing teacher training and eager to meet new challenges in class.
Therefore, I have decided to look back and evaluate the process of becoming a teacher within the context of the university programme I have just been through in Slovenia. In this paper I will present the training system that I have experienced and discuss its advantages and disadvantages. I will also include the views of trainees who were included in my research on the effectiveness of the teacher training. In addition, I will share some results of the workshop I offered to teachers of English from all over the world at the IATEFL conference in Liverpool, UK, in 2004.

The training

The two-year teacher training in Slovenia is incorporated in the four-year English studies. The whole training consists of:
- lessons, where the more theoretical side of English language teaching is covered;
- group observations that are carried out at local primary and secondary schools, where a group of trainees observe a lesson and work on given observation tasks;
- two-week individual teaching practice, where trainees are enabled to get an insight into teaching;
- final formally assessed individual lesson, where trainees are tested on whether or not they are prepared for teaching.

I believe that each step along the way is valuable to teachers-in-the-making, however, the most valuable part for most of the trainees is the two-week teaching practice. Being able to experience the atmosphere of a real class, when standing in front of pupils, and seeing the flow of school life can help trainees decide which path to choose. Slovenian trainees need to perform a week at a primary school and another week at a secondary school. I think one of the main advantages of this teacher training is that trainees are forced to work on both levels, which can help them realise which level they are most comfortable with. For example, I have always been drawn to teaching in secondary schools, and even though I have enjoyed my primary school practice, I found secondary schools more challenging. Hence I was able to confirm my instinct, which helped me in choosing my desired professional path.

The two-week teaching practice consists of class observations, team-teaching, individual teaching, observing the school environment and writing self-evaluations. For me, every task has been a rewarding experience, however self-evaluations helped me develop the most. All the work I have done would not be as valuable, if I had not been brought to reflect on my performance. It was in these reflections that I could actually see myself as a teacher with real goals, real lesson plans and real pupils. I have promised myself to cherish this habit when I become a full-time teacher, even if it means more work…but what I can learn from that enables me, as well as my pupils, to grow.

Having experienced the whole teaching practice, I have realised that, unfortunately, the most valuable part of it was also the shortest. However, as a teacher-to-be, I have tried to take advantage of that opportunity in order to find my space on the educational belt. Moreover, an important part of a good teacher training should be to show trainees that learning never ends…even (or especially) for teachers. I believe that it is essential for people on training course to realise that being a teacher is an ongoing developmental process and therefore, teacher training should introduce possible ways and opportunities for professional growth (IATEFL conferences, SEAL, etc.). Unfortunately, my training did not address these aspects of teaching, and this I found to be its biggest disadvantage.

The research

In order to check my beliefs I decided to do a short piece of research on what my fellow-trainees think about the training process at the same university. I asked them to answer five questions:
What do you think you need to learn in order to be a good teacher?
What did you expect to get from the teacher training?
What was the most valuable part of your teacher training and why?
How did you feel when you were first confronted with the class of pupils?
Do you feel ready to start teaching?

Most of the trainees agreed that in order to be a good teacher you firstly need to possess the knowledge of the language, however none of them lingered at this very long, since they all felt that being a language expert does not necessarily make them good teachers. "To know the language is in my opinion obligatory but only to some extent. No matter how good one is at grammar s/he cannot become a good teacher if they do not see the students as human beings." I was pleasantly surprised to receive similar responses. Trainees were hungry for insights into 'a teacher's personality', into building up their confidence when being confronted with a class full of students, and into discussing the difficulties a teacher faces in a 'real-life teaching'. One of the trainees even suggested a simulation workshop where the trainees would get the "worst case scenario" (such as; a teacher being threatened by a student) and then discuss possible ways of dealing with it.

To my great surprise, after having interviewed teachers as well (asking them similar questions as those put to trainees), 'training students to deal with problems' was not on the teaching agenda, what is more, only one teacher (who was not directly involved in the training) recognised that "What trainees really lack is practical advice about how to deal with difficult, disruptive students AND their parents." Hence, it is not surprising that so many young teachers feel lost and unsuccessful when they are faced with a problematic situation. I believe that being able to cope with whatever 'disturbs' the teaching process raises teacher's credibility and their self-confidence, and this is what makes them successful.

What is special about the teaching profession is that we are dealing with very sensitive human beings, who have no time to wait for us to be ready to manage lessons and deal with their growing-up issues at the same time. I honestly believe that there is no such thing as being ready for solving all the problems that sneak into our classrooms, but I am strongly convinced that being equipped with the notion of what might happen makes teachers stronger and more prepared to turn the problem into an opportunity for learning.

The workshop in Liverpool

During my IATEFL presentation I encouraged participants to reflect on their teacher development process in order to evoke the feelings, thoughts and fears they had when starting their professional path. Furthermore, I asked them to discuss in groups the five most important skills they think each trainee should develop before starting to work as a teacher of English. After lively and passionate debates, these are their conclusions:

It was interesting to experience such great differences in groups' debates and their choices, since every individual seemed to have an established opinion on teacher training. Nevertheless, participants were triggered to rethink what is really important in teaching and what should not be neglected. Moreover, I believe such different results clearly reflect how complex teaching really is.

To conclude, I have challenged the participants and would like to challenge you, now, to think about the top five skills every teacher should possess and then, underline those that you believe can actually be taught.

…and the mystery of what makes a good teacher might be unveiled.

[Editorial comment: for me the five top skills/attitudes a teacher needs to have are:

well-grounded self love
wonderment at others and their unbelievably interesting perceptions
intense fascination with the subject
suspicion of experience and any hint of "wisdom"
a spirit of adventure]