Educational Law: A Requisite Course for Preservice and Inservice Teacher Education Programs

Abstract

Today's schools function in a complex legal environment. A wide range of legal issues influence the lives of teachers, students, parents, and administrators (Fischer, Schimmel, & Kelly, 1995). Some legal decisions, such as how local education will be financed or where the next new school building will be located, relate to general control of the school curriculum. Other decisions deal with issues of classroom teachers' authority as they perform duties required by their job assignments (Nolte, 1983). Recent court proceedings reflect an increase in settlements related to educational matters (Hartmeister, 1995). The National Education Association (NEA) reports approximately 14,500 teacher employment disputes in 1992-1993, resulting in expenditures of $24,650,000 by the organization's legal fund (Patterson & Rossow, 1996). NEA figures do not include tort claims. Applying a finding by Underwood and Noffke (cited in Pell, 1994) that 42.5% of all education cases involve employee issues to the information supplied by the NEA, we extrapolate that in 1992-1993, teachers and their districts were involved in at least 27,500 legal disputes in such matters as employee relations, negligence, special education, and discipline practices (p. 38). Focus of this Study Society is becoming more legally complex. To be more responsive to society and to better serve children's interests, future teachers require a firm understanding of the law related to children (Sametz, 1983). In this article, we present information about the amount of educational law required by the various states during undergraduate and graduate preservice teacher certification programs. We describe Louisiana teachers' self-perception of knowledge of educational law gleaned from their preservice courses. We consider educational law concepts suggested for preservice teacher education by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and those suggested by the Teacher Certification Committee (1993) of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education (NOLPE), a nonadvocacy group of education law attorneys, public and private school administrators, and college and university professors. Finally, we suggest recommendations affecting the emphasis on educational law for preservice and inservice teacher education. Research Methods We surveyed all 50 United States state teacher certification bureaus about whether they require an educational law course or the study of legal issues affecting teachers as part of required teacher education coursework prior to certification. We examined Louisiana teachers' perceptions of the educational law content in the teacher preparation programs they completed. We also report comments, concerns, and apprehensions relating to educational law and the classroom setting expressed by the participating educators. State data reflect findings from 480 participating teachers (of 800 teachers surveyed) working in 12 locations throughout Louisiana. We chose each school site for its proximity (within 30 miles of a college or university with undergraduate and graduate education programs). Schools representing varying organizational patterns and demographic regions of the state were chosen for the survey. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) of Louisiana mandates certification standards for subject matter areas in which an educator must exhibit competency to become certified as a teacher. Similar mandates exist for educators seeking administrative certification (Louisiana Department of Education, 1985). The Difficulty at Hand We see a problem, however, with the teacher certification model in Louisiana that prompted our research. Very little, if any, room exists within present certification standards for a course in educational law for undergraduate or graduate education programs. Currently, state certification standards require only those students seeking certification in administration and/or supervision to include at least one course in educational law. …