The case for early contact with children in teacher education

Abstract

There has been a growing tendency in teacher education to look with favor upon developing a program of general education for the first two years of preparation for teaching. Ideas about what this program of general education would be have varied. Some have the notion that it would consist of the current academic courses. Others propose the formation of intricate plans of integration of the old content, while still others advocate a new content based on the needs of the students. While the idea about what general education is, or would be like, is nebulous, there seems to be one thing upon which its proponents are agreed; and that is that professional education of the prospective teacher would be delayed until the third year of college work. It is this unchallenged assumption which the education staff at North Texas State Teachers College is examining. To state the assumption positively, it is assumed that there may be such a thing as maturation in teacher preparation similar to the maturation in reading readiness. It is assumed further that this maturation may be best served through early contact with children. This assumption needs to be examined in many different ways and by different people. One measure would be the degree to which senior student teaching is affected by contact with children in the freshman or sophomore years of college. Another aspect would be revealed in the evaluation by superintendents, principals, and supervisors of beginning teachers who have experienced this early contact with children in their preparation, as compared with those who have not. Another evaluation would be revealed in the kinds of people who go into teaching in the two plans. The questions to be answered would be. Does early contact with children draw into the teaching profession a higher per cent of the college student body and if so does this higher per cent represent a higher degree of potentiality for teaching success? Another question is, What are the judgments of college sophomores as they participate in the experiences of early contact with children? It is this question which we wish to explore further in this report.