Responding to an evident desire of Bowdoin students to go into teaching, this semester the education department is debuting Bowdoin Teacher Scholars (BTS), a new teaching certification program.
According the Career Planning Center, 18.2 percent of seniors from 2000 to 2007 entered the field of education. Despite the apparent popularity of the teaching profession, the previous teaching accreditation system was not always easy to navigate.
One prominent goal of the education department in its development of BTS was to smooth out some of the wrinkles in the previous certification program.
"The logistical and financial problems have been on our radar for the past two years," Associate Professor of Education Charles Dorn said.
The Senior Teacher Certification program awarded graduating seniors with a Maine State Department of Education Public School Teaching Certificate, allowing them to teach in public schools nationwide.
However, the program was only open to seniors during their spring semester. According to Dorn, requiring seniors to complete their certification, a rigorous 14-week teaching practicum, often inhibited them from completing their honors theses.
"They really couldn't do both. We didn't want them to have to make that choice," he said.
The education department also gave students the option of returning to the College for a ninth semester within two years of graduating to fulfill their requirements and receive a certificate.
However, this too presented significant problems, as post-graduate students were still required to pay for room and board but were not getting paid for their full-time teaching work.
The program "became cost-prohibitive for students," said Dorn, despite the offer of reduced tuition.
Moreover, there was no collaboration or interaction between the post-graduate students who chose to complete their certification during the fall semester and the seniors who participated in the spring.
Visiting Fellow of Education Kenneth Templeton, an alumnus of Bowdoin's Senior Teacher Certification, described the program as an, "intellectually, emotionally, and physically taxing experience," and emphasized the importance of having a support network of teachers and peers.
The education department established BTS in the hope that it would resolve many of the problems associated with the previous system. The Senior Teacher Certification and the Ninth Semester program have both been phased out in favor of BTS.
Dorn said BTS "opens the floodgates for the students who would have liked to do this but couldn't fit into their schedules."
Bowdoin students can now participate in the program in the spring of either their junior or senior years. In addition, graduates who have fulfilled a teaching minor have the opportunity to participate in the program during a spring semester within two years of their graduation.
What was once two separate systems is now one program, composed of two interconnected pathways. Both the undergraduate and post-graduate students work together, completing a 14-week teaching practicum in local public schools and participating in weekly seminars that foster personal and group reflection.
By the end of their semester, students will have developed a teaching portfolio and will have received certification to teach in any public school in the United States.
The BTS program is tuition-free for post-graduate students and Dorn hopes that the program will, "establish a fellowship that will offset some of the costs of room and board."
The reaction has been positive and Dorn and Templeton say they have "ten to 12 seniors who are already talking about coming back for the post-graduate pathway."
While the Education department seeks to increase the number of Student Teachers, the program is highly selective. Although the requirements are exacting and the expectations high, Templeton feels that the program builds, "habits and skills to sustain a career in teaching."
BTS, which Dorn calls "the opposite of the sink or swim model," is more comprehensive in its training and induction of new teachers than other teaching residency programs, such as Teach for America (TFA).
Bowdoin Teacher Scholars spend 75 hours observing school classrooms and have completed the four courses necessary to minor in Education before embarking on their 14-week teaching practicum. Students also have the support of the Bowdoin faculty and their peers while engaging in the program.
"We are committed to a rigorous and substantive preparation for people to become teachers. I'm not sure that's where TFA's priorities lie," Dorn said.
Templeton said that "once we certify someone, we connect them. We provide you with the support you need... a network of connections."
On the topic of Bowdoin students and TFA, Templeton admires "the Bowdoin student's real desire to positively impact the community," but warns it is "irresponsible" for college graduates to use their experience in the program as a stepping-stone for better job placement down the line. Templeton said he would much rather see students taking advantage of the programs at the College.
"At Bowdoin, we have a different vision of how to change the world," he said.
There will be an information session about Bowdoin Teacher Scholars on Tuesday, September 22 in the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good from 7:00-8:00 p.m. All applications for the program must be submitted by October 23, 2009.