Why are student teachers allowed to teach full time?

I think it's wrong. I'm a grade 11 student and I've gone through a lot of student teachers during my years as a student. In highschool, it's almost guaranteed that I will have to go through at least one student teacher's attempt at teaching. It's obvious that they cannot teach yet so why are they being allowed to take over the class for 14 weeks? I'm totally opposed to it because they cannot teach and the students learn half as much as they would if they had their normal teachers. I have friends who have marks that have gone down dramatically because of a student teacher.





One of the student teachers I have this year just rambles on and on then assigns us big projects and reading assignments where we have to teach ourselves from the text book. This is completely idiotic.





So, why are student teachers allowed to teach full time, completely taking over the class from the actual teacher?

Why are student teachers allowed to teach full time?
I saw this question and thought I'd add my input. I'm student teaching right now and it is not going well for me. I taught before this and I've never had so much trouble. One of the problems for me is that my mentor teacher is not helping me like he should. Your student teacher could be going through the same thing.





Just like somebody else said, there is a mentor teacher and a supervisor to help the student teacher. If things are going badly, the mentor teacher is there to step in and help out. So, I'm wondering if your student teacher is receiving very little guidance like I am. It's really hard to just have to figure everything out on your own.
Reply:My program only does it for 4 weeks. I think that talking to the supervisor would be the best. 14 weeks is way too long for a student teacher to have to take over the class. Plus, the mentor teacher should be in the classroom at all times. That's a requirement of the law. Sheesh..that's crazy. Report It

Reply:How do you suggest teachers learn how to do their job? I can guarantee that my education classes in college did little to help. It's the time spent in front of students that helped me learn how to be a better teacher. While your experience might not have been the best for you, I don't think that all student teachers are bad.
Reply:your normal teacher should be supervising the student teacher thats not right
Reply:Student teachers begin by observing, then they work up to having all the classes all the time. It is required. It is what they will do next year. They are supposed to be observed and graded and corrected. If you feel that you are not getting your education talk to the regular teacher. Write out what you want to say and refine it. The college supervisor will be there to observe a few times and the student teachers are required to make a tape of themselves teaching which is graded.
Reply:Hey..I was a student teacher a year ago! Have you considered the possibility that you shouldn't bash the concept of student teaching in general, but just the one you have? I had students that told me that I was better then the regular teacher..


As with any system, there are flaws. Make his life a living hell so he drops out, and I have one person to compete against for a job.
Reply:Well, as a student teacher, I say that you've had some bad experience and that you're putting everyone in the same bag. And remember that your 'professional' teachers once were student teachers. They had to start somewhere, isn't it?





Which is why student teachers have got to teach. Remember that we are evaluated on their 'performance' and that if you've not seen this person again, it probably means that they failed the module or had to find work elsewhere.





Go easy on student teachers. We try our best, but we've grown up in a different educationnal setting, and now, with all the new theories, reforms, etc, we're submerged with data. Frankly, I don't think that any of us got into teaching to learn teenage psychology. But it's part of the course, so we get on with it. Same thing with the student teaching thing. Teaching something to people you barely know is tough when you know that :


a. You're probably never gonna see them again, so there's no real commitment on either parties' side


b. Every one of your words and acts are subject to analysis.





Try to feel the stress we feel. Not easy, isn't it? Well, now, how would you make sure that you don't fail the course? By following step-by-step what is written in the educationnal program, the books and the course plan. This would explain where spontaneity and creativty went, isn't it?





We don't do this by choice; it is simply because we've got to, it is part of our formation. Take a C++ or any computer language book. Read it through. Now, go find work with this knowledge in the computer industry. Is anyone going to hire you, knowing that you've got NO practice or experience?





Think about it.
Reply:In most places I know, the student teacher is working under the direct supervision of an experienced teacher, as well as a supervisor from the school of education. That's probably happening here, but maybe it isn't obvious.





It does sometimes happen that a student teacher is given more responsibility for some reason. When I did my student teaching about forty years ago, I was given 5 or 6 classes on my own for two weeks, because a teacher had suddenly quit right before school started and they needed to find someone to take her place. After the first two weeks, I had two classes on my own and a third with the regular teacher in the back of the room. Definitely not ideal, but she did work with me on lesson plans, etc.





You could see if you can find out who is supervising this student teacher and discuss your concerns. Or you can just tough it out -- no one ever gets through school without a few duds as teachers. Those of us who are lucky have only a few.
Reply:Well if you get them a lot, than probably you're somewhat close to a university, which also means that you probably have some of the best teachers as full time teachers. That's life.





If you don't like having to donate some of your time, maybe you can go to a much less fortunate school that doesn't have any student teachers because all their teachers are fresh out of college- or their teachers are so old and lazy that they have no interest in accepting a student teacher.





Most likely, the same things that make your teachers so much better than the student teachers are the same things that brings in so many of them- and that is that your teachers believe remaining active in the entire cycle of education.