Teacher education

A teacher educator (also called a teacher trainer) is a person who helps in-service and pre-service teacher trainees to acquire the knowledge, competencies and attitudes they require to be effective teachers. Several individual teacher educators are usually involved in the initial or ongoing education of each teacher; often each specialises in teaching about a different aspect of teaching (e.g. educational ethics, philosophy of education, sociology of education, curriculum, pedagogy, subject-specific teaching methods etc.).

Not every culture has a concept that precisely matches the English term 'teacher educator'... Even where the concept exists, the range of roles that is covered by the term varies significantly from country to country. In some traditions, the term 'teacher trainer' may be used instead of 'teacher educator'.

A teacher educator may be narrowly defined as a higher education professional whose principle activity is the preparation of beginning teachers in universities and other institutions of teacher education, such as National Colleges of Education, Teacher Training Colleges and Teacher Centers. A broader definition might include any professional whose work contributes in some way to the initial education or the continuing professional development of school and other teachers.

Even within a single educational system, teacher educators may be employed in different roles by different kinds of organisation. In the European context, for example, people who could be considered to be teacher educators include:

* Higher Education academics with a responsibility ** for Teacher Education as such, ** for teaching a subject (such as chemistry or mathematics) to students who will later become teachers; ** for research into teaching, ** for subject studies or ** for didactics; * teachers in schools who supervise student teachers during periods of teaching practice; * school teachers or school managers responsible for inducting new teachers during their first year of teaching; or * those in charge of school teaching staff's continuous professional development.

Teacher educators may therefore work in many different contexts including National Colleges of Education, teacher training colleges, teacher centers,(universities, schools, private sector training organisations or trade unions) and their working time may be fully, or only partly, dedicated to the preparation of teachers. Provided by Wikipedia