Faculty Council Hears Proposal To Grant Students Certification

The Faculty Council last week heard a proposal to establish a program enabling undergraduates to obtain certification for teaching in Massachusetts.

The proposal, submitted by Arthur G. Powell, dean of the Faculty of Education for Academic Affairs, and Paul A. Ylvisaker, dean of the Faculty of Education, would provide an undergraduate course, probably in the Division of General Education, allowing students to acquire the 60 hours of teaching experience required by Massachusetts state law for teaching certification.

The proposal must receive Faculty Council approval before taking effect next year.

Powell said yesterday that the new program would restructure the present Social Sciences 171, "Education, Learning, and Theories and Practice of Teaching," which places students in Cambridge schools as teachers' aides. Under the new program, Powell said, rather than serve as adjuncts to full-time teachers, undergraduates would do nonsupervised teaching.

In addition, Powell said, students would have to take two half courses on education presently offered by the University, such as on the philosophy of education or the psychology of learning.

Favorable Reception

Powell, Ylvisaker, and Robert J. Kiely, dean of Undergraduate Education and one of the originators of the prospective program, agreed yesterday that the Faculty Council gave the proposal a favorable reception.

Kiely said that the council was concerned whether students would be able to meet departmental concentration requirements while fulfilling certification requirements. But since the new program would only require one or two additional courses, he said, the council found little to object to.

Powell said that most faculty members would not be in favor of a new program "with trumpets sounding," but that few were opposed to adding a few courses "not narrowly professional, but for those interested in undergraduate education generally."

Powell said, however, that after a period of experimentation with the proposed limited arrangement, a "formal program might be a good idea." But, he added, "the Faculty has to feel the courses are worthwhile for those who don't want to be teachers" and who merely want a better understanding of the principles of education.

The certification program for undergraduates was first proposed in a task force report on the Masters of Teaching program released by the Graduate School of Education last year. Two years ago the school eliminated its "fifth-year" program in which college graduates studied for a year, in order to receive teachers' certification.

The report concluded that students could pursue a Masters of Teaching most productively after receiving certification while an undergraduate and teaching fulltime for several years