Trainers in industry and teachers in schools: a comparative analysis of two teaching professions

Abstract

This is an exposition and comparison of the objectives, methodology and findings in two research projects: (1) an occupational analysis of training in industry; and (2) an occupational analysis of the work of beginning teachers. The relevance of these studies to the design and evaluation of teacher education curriculum and the practicum will be emphasised. The reasons for using the 'time-spent task inventory' approach are discussed. The results of the analysis of the work of trainers, using the CODAP system of computer programs, are outlined. Duty and task job descriptions of the entire sample are presented and their implications for curriculum design and evaluation are discussed. The process of grouping the trainers with the clustering program is explained and the resulting groups are identified and described. Duty and task job descriptions are provided for each group. A wide range of background data is presented for each group as an aid to labelling the job groups. Finally, the methodology and findings of this study are compared with those in the 'Occupational analysis of teaching: the work of beginning teachers', and the implications for the design of train-the-trainer and teacher education programs are discussed.