Students and Alumni
TC Standards
Teachers College Mission and Standards
According to its mission, Teachers College, Columbia University defines its philosophy of teacher preparation as revolving around the following core principles:
- cognizance of the interaction of content and pedagogy
- deep and serious understanding of children and youth as learners
- attention to how students' particular life contexts are influential upon their willingness and propensity to learn in schools
- teachers serve as curriculum workers
- knowledge of the philosophical, historical, psychological, and sociological underpinnings of teaching and schooling as instruments and central features of our nation's history and future
- appreciation of relationships between and among research, theory, and practice
- predilection towards leadership and professionalism
- deep understanding of schools as educating environments
- teacher education is an ongoing continuum of opportunities to learn to become an expert teachers
To realize these goals, all teacher preparation programs at TC are undergirded by the following criteria and assumptions:
- teaching as a serious intellectual activity
- broad range of teaching strategies
- multiple opportunities to learn to teach
- command of the disciplines and appropriate discipline-related pedagogy
- knowledge and sensitivity regarding students' general and specific human and personal characteristics
- learning to teach as an ongoing process of professional development and an intellectually and practically rich community of interest
- commitment to diversity and social justice
There are five major standards Teachers College adheres to in its teacher preparation programs. Teachers College graduates will be:
TC Standard 1: Inquirers and Reflective Practitioners
TC Standard 2: Responsible and Lifelong Learners
TC Standard 3: Learner-centered Educators / Professionals
TC Standard 4: Effective Collaborators
TC Standard 5: Advocates of Social Justice and Diversity
