Educational Reform,The Aging Society,and the Teaching Profession

Abstract

Recent proposals for educational reform call for major changes in public education that, if implemented, will presage basic shifts in career patterns for teachers in the elementary and secondary schools of the United States. These changes, coupled with demographic trends now evident in the United States, suggest that public schools in the future will be staffed by teachers who are, on the average, older and more experienced. Reform statements often fail to recognize the symbiotic relationships of schools to the society they serve. As the population ages and becomes more pluralistic the developmental needs of teachers will change. Teaching is a unique skill that demands enthusiasm and vitality for its success. The continuing competence of those who stay in teaching beyond midcareer will depend less on personal characteristics of aging and more on the supportive nature of the context in which teaching takes place. The aging society will introduce many social issues not encountered before in schools or in other institutions. Teaching has, in the past, been predominantly a career for women, and it will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Ways of maintaining generativity throughout a teaching career will need to become a part of professional expectations. Recent studies of career development, work, and aging provide some clues of expectation for the teaching profession.

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