Teacher training is a broad concept that goes beyond the classroom setting, but rather stretches to the larger world of how people relate in their social groupings as well as how parents relate with their children and the teachers of their children. As such, teachers must be able to reflect on everything with the sole purpose of nurturing children towards becoming responsible citizens.

Over the years, education has been considered as the hub of cognitive growth and professional development with teachers being at the epic in this filed. They are expected to be at a level where they can develop, assess and analyse new knowledge that is at the heart of their professional principles and practices, and to update their knowledge base to improve their professional practice as a way of addressing the new teaching demands.

Once that is well observed and taken into considerations by the teachers, it will significantly improve the quality of teaching and thus the quality of teachers, which is an important factor for a student’s academic and social performance.

Teachers must keep on their feet in all aspects to maintain their profession in its highest regard, and this can only be measured by the quality of students they teach and their ability to compete for job market both locally and on the international arena. Teachers hold the future of the nations because they train and nurture the policy-makers who align all government policies for sustainable development.

We must appreciate that some teachers have managed to live to their professional creed, and this has been credited by some literature that underlines the basic characteristics that define a good teacher; these teacher ingredient make them relevant and royal to their profession and its doctrines.

Teachers must understand the pedagogical content knowledge and have the ability to use various strategies to solve complex issues that can easily affect students’ performance. Their ability to adapt to the different dynamics and the awareness towards classroom management greatly influences the learning environment for students. A teacher’s professional competence involves more than just knowledge but rather skills, attitude and other motivational variables which all contribute significantly to the process of teaching and learning 

That’s why teacher training is critical because it can turn you into a formidable teacher. Much as it sometimes depends on the training institutions, as mentors, it’s important that you look out for the best training institutions to avoid ruining the profession and the careers of the future generation.

Indeed teacher training isn’t for the faint-hearted; it’s for those who will sacrifice their lavish social life for limited sleep all in the name of keeping the mother of all professions at its highest regard.

Teacher training is like a wedding cake, which all those in the trade must partake of to keep in shape. It’s your responsibility to look out for those willing and ready to herald your professional growth because without them, you might find yourself sinking rapidly in professional dilapidation.

The writer is a PhD student of Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University

pontiankbr@outlook.com