B. GOALS OF THE EDUCATION PROGRAM 

The purpose of the Education Program at Centre College is to provide study for undergraduate students in the methods and theories of effective teaching and to give the students practical experiences in classroom settings. We believe that the undergraduate college experience offers an excellent opportunity for prospective teachers to integrate pedagogical studies and experiences with a rigorous education in the liberal arts and sciences. Our mission is for our students to develop a greater  understanding of and appreciation for the complexities of teaching and learning and, as alumni, to lead lives of learning, leadership, and service as effective elementary and secondary classroom teachers. 

An assumption of the Education Program is that a liberal arts education, with a solid foundation of content matter and critical reflection at its heart, is the most appropriate type of preparation for teachers. By acquiring content knowledge along with the skills of reflective learning and teaching, students who become teachers will become self-directed professionals. 

TEACHER AS DECISION MAKER

All aspects of Centre's Education Program are centered around its Conceptual Framework with the Teacher as Decision Maker at its heart. The Teacher as Decision Maker is the essence of the Conceptual Framework. It provides the theory and the vision for the Education Program. Teachers make three major types of decisions, which constitute the three major elements of the framework:

1. Making planning and preparation decisions.
2. Making decisions in the classroom.
3. Making decisions as a professional.
   
   The Education Program has a number of goals including the following: 

• To help students recognize the complexity of education in the U. S.; the nature of its assumptions, goals, organization, and problems; the nature of its students; and the nature of teaching and learning. 
• To provide experiences and information to help students decide whether a career in teaching is appropriate for them. 
• To prepare students for certification and teaching in the nation's elementary and secondary schools by equipping them with the theoretical and practical knowledge (including information about the Kentucky Education Reform Act) needed by beginning teachers. 
• To stress critical reflection so that teachers will be able to recognize educational dilemmas, to analyze such dilemmas and problems, to formulate possible solutions and anticipate some of their consequences, and to test solutions.
• To prepare teachers who are able to make competent and effective decisions in planning, in the classroom, and as professionals.
  
  Centre strives to produce teachers who are knowledgeable in the subject area, well grounded in the liberal arts, sensitive to children, and skillful in teaching. It also seeks to produce reflective teachers who are aware of the changing world and can adapt to new situations and challenges. As George Posner describes it:

  Nonreflective teachers rely on routine behavior and are guided more by impulse, tradition, and authority than by reflection. They simplify their professional lives by uncritically accepting everyday reality in schools. They can then "concentrate their efforts on finding the most effective and efficient means to achieve ends and to solve problems that have largely been defined for them by others." In contrast, reflective teachers actively, persistently, and carefully consider and reconsider beliefs and practices "in light of the grounds that support them and the further consequences to which they lead." Reflective thinking allows the teacher to examine critically the assumptions that schools make about what can count as acceptable goals and methods, problems and solutions. (George J. Posner. (1989). Field Experience: Methods of Reflective Teaching, 2nd edition. New York: Longman, p. 21.)

We seek to educate students who will be competent, caring, and thinking teachers who are able to make effective decisions.

Handbook Home

Education Home