The 21st Century Teacher Trainer…

…or even TEACHer EDUcator!

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It seems you can’t throw a rock into the blogosphere these days without hitting a post or article on the 21st Century “something-or-other”.

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Teaching is no different, teacher training is no different…so, and because I obviously have my “teacher educator” hat on these days, here’s my two cents on “trainers” of the present and future.

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To be honest, I have done my own fair share of promoting the concept of the “21st Century Teacher”…but, and in my defense, I have also maintained that being a 21st Century teacher involves more than just the skills and tools peddled by “edtech visionaries”.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at a couple of earlier posts:

• Imagineering the 21st Century Teacher
• Imagineering the 21st Century Teacher – The Sequel
• Imagineering the 21st Century Teacher – The Prequel

See, told you so!

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Teaching, good teaching, has always been about authenticity, values and educational literacy (fluency, too).

OK – it is true – technology will play a larger and larger role in the lives of learners and teachers (and trainers, too) – and teachers and teacher educators will increasingly have to have the very same 21st Century technological skills and digital literacies that their students are expected to have.

Fair cop, guv!

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…But, 21st Century education and teacher learning will never be all about the tech n’ toys. Well, it shouldn’t be…

I am not alone…and I’ll step on the shoulders of a “giant” to prove it:

Na, nah, na, na, nah – no talk of EdTech from Mr. Multiple Intelligencies himself.

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A more recent “study” from another (very) tech-savvy edu-commentator, Meris Stansbury:

Told you so – last on the list and more about “knowing the difference” than “using the new and different”.

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Tony, you are still on “teachers”…look at the “title” of the post, darling!

OK, OK – getting there. In a minute!

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This week, Educational Origami also did a nice post on the 21st Century Teacher – and, surprise-surprise, my man Andrew did the same:

Like most sensible thinkers in education, I doubt if many of you will disagree that both teachers and trainers need to have many of the same “human” characteristics:

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And, both teaching and training rely on the same basic “facts of life” – what we know, what we do with what we know and what we do to improve what we do with what we know (yes, I know it’s a mouthful)!

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So, and taking inspiration from all these sensible chaps and chapettes mentioned here today…

– here’s my list of “roles” for the 21st Century Teacher Trainer:

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OK – OK! And, you want to know what they actually do on a day-to-day basis, too?

Is there no pleasing you, at all?

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I’m going to go out on a limb here (why change the habit of a lifetime) – and say exactly what I said about the 21st Century Teacher…

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The 21st Century Teacher Educator…will (still) need to think more about the headware, the heartware and the careware – not just the hardware, the software and the webware everyone is trying to flog us!

I openly admit that these things can help us get the job of “teacher training” done…but they cannot replace what is at the heart of the job – teachers and how we make a real and significant difference to their lives (and the lives of their “kids”)!

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That is unless YOU have anything you’d like to add to this little diatribe!

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