Competency-Based Teacher Education Revisited

Abstract

It has been 20 years since the concept of Competency-Based Teacher Education (CBTE) burst onto the teacher preparation scene (Balow, 1971). Disenchantment over failed attempts to isolate personal attributes of teachers that predicted student success prompted many teacher educators to seek new ways to prepare special education teachers. With the emergence of CBTE in the 1970s, attention focused on accountability, relevance, and training that emphasized skills that produced changes in pupil performance (e.g., Shores, Cegelka, & Nelson, 1973). Although not without its critics (cf. Heath & Neilson, 1974), the CBTE movement had a significant effect on training practices (e. g., Cullinar,, Epstein, & Schultz, 1986). Even so, it would appear that the fervor that once surrounded CBTE has somewhat diminished. In an effort to discover its current status, opinions were solicited from two teacher educators who were instrumental in advancing the CBTE movement. Drs. Richard E. Shores and C. Michael Nelson were singled out because of their longstanding commitment to training and their research contributions in the area of special education teacher preparation. What follows is a conversation with Dick Shores and Mike Nelson on the past, present, and future of Competency-Based Teacher Education.