A teacher accreditation is the last important step a teacher-to-be has to take in order to be able to take his profession seriously and start having a job and earning money.
All countries have different methods of delivering teacher accreditation: different kind of tests, various associations, several institutions developing programs in this direction. In the US, The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) was founded in 1954 and it is made of a council of educators with the sole goal to ensure and raise the quality of preparation for their profession.
The US Department of Education has already recognized this teacher certification council which can take different forms and testing methods depending on each region. Teachers and teacher educators, content specialists and local and state policy makers form this NCATE, which has presently become a coalition of 33 member organizations. All together, they gather more than 3 million members of people interested in the quality of teaching and entirely committed to their role in the society.
Receiving teacher accreditation means having to participate in several kinds of tests, either psychological or knowledge based. These test are usually developed according to such associations’ standards, policies and procedures, just like the NCATE is doing for the US. These professional associations are also providing financial support for testing and finding the most qualified persons to receive teacher accreditation.
Having teacher accreditation means gaining professional recognition for your work. Some persons may have the possibility of doing this step in their professional careers and gaining a postgraduate accreditation as a result of a school work and partnership, through a diploma, a certification or even as part of a Masters degree. Working and studying for this certification should only be one more reason, if that should be necessary, to encourage professional development. You can also use this professional development and attend a university program.
Over the past years, alternative methods of teacher accreditation have been developed in response to the extraordinary need of teachers in areas having small populations or being far from the civilized world. And when these methods proved inefficient, teachers had to return to situations and methods that most of this world’s countries have left behind tens of years ago.
All in all, receiving teacher accreditation is not as difficult as developing a career as teacher. Performance-based standards in teacher accreditation focus on the skills and abilities that teachers need in order to ensure that all their students receive a quality education.