Особливості підготовки американських вчителів початкової школи: історичний досвід та сучасні тенденції

Abstract

У статті описано історичний досвід США у підготовці вчителів початкової школи періоду початку колоніальної ери до ХХІ століття. Описано шляхи отримання вищої педагогічної освіти в США сьогодні. Проаналізовано проблеми сучасної системи педагогічної освіти у США. Закцентовано увагу на інноваційних програмах підготовки вчителів початкової школи. Обґрунтовано ефективність використання досвіду США у вітчизняній системі педагогічної освіти.

The history of elementary teacher education in USA from the settlement of American colonies to the beginning of XXI century has been analysed in this article. The study has shown a pattern of teacher preparation from no formal education to two years, then four years and at the turn of the twenty-first century often five years and more. It has been pointed out that a distinctive trend in the 1980s and 1990s was the formulation of professional development, professional practice and partner schools. The general structure of the contemporary preparation of elementary teachers, which includes academic study, foundational study, professional study and practice teaching has been shown. The main ways of continuing education, such as summer and after-school workshops, which are mandated by licensing requirements have been presented. Great educational challenges that America faces today make the need to improve teacher preparation programs more urgent. New alternative certificate teacher preparation programs such as Teacher Residency, High Tech High, the New Teacher Project, Teach for America program, Teacher Policy Research Project have been analysed in this article. The main features of alternative certificate teacher preparation programs: greater attention to practice teaching of the prospective elementary teachers, longer field-based curriculum, quality and supervision of student teachers during their clinical training, linking teacher education programs back to student performance in Math, English, Reading, Science and Social studies have been researched. The importance of creative use of American experience in this field to improve elementary teacher education programs in Ukrainehas been proved.