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Surveyed Teachers Need More Training and Management Skills
> 9/20/2006 9:50:17 AM

In this year's Teacher Needs Survey, which was sponsored by the American Psychological Association's Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education and involved more than two thousand educators across the country, respondents overwhelmingly voiced a desire for further preparation in maximizing student potential and maintaining disciplinary structure. In order to successfully organize classes and respond to the academic challenges faced by each individual child, teachers want more detailed, personal training before beginning their careers. This issue clearly warrants the attention of the entire education system; nearly two thirds of current teachers state that they have little or no control over the content and administration of professional development programs.

The report, which included professionals from 49 states and the District of Columbia, ranked disruptive behavior as a foremost area of concern. Almost every class across the country faces problems with unruly and disrespectful children who threaten to undermine the academic progress of their classmates, but teachers have little confidence in their ability to effectively defuse such potential disasters. More extensive training and an expansion of parent-teacher relations will certainly increase the effectiveness of disciplinary regulation; parents serve as a necessary link in the chain of communication, and teachers report difficulty in establishing such relationships.

The challenges of dealing with disparate aptitudes among schoolkids also necessitates further training: how can a new instructor best attend to the needs of all his or her students, many of whom do not perform at comparable levels? As our country's population changes, teachers must attend to an increasingly diverse student body often limited by linguistic and academic discrepancies. Once inside the classroom, how can these teachers facilitate critical thinking and encourage kids to enjoy the learning process? New teachers, who are traditionally more likely to abandon their positions, commonly profess a desire for increased assistance inside and outside the classroom. Schools inevitably need greater funding in order to hire additional staff members and help guide fledgling instructors, but the investment will pay immeasurable dividends.

Administrators who design psychology programs for teachers should clearly encourage and closely consider more suggestions from the teachers themselves. Many underestimate the difficulty faced by these professionals as they attend to the many responsibilities of a relentlessly demanding position. Their most immediate concern, however, should be improving the progress of our students, who cannot make the most of their educational opportunities without properly trained instructors. We have the power to change this situation for the better, and the APA survey only reinforces the fact that now is the best time to take decisive action, regardless of its considerable scale or cost. We owe that much to our children.

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