Teacher Education Program Admission Criteria, and What Beginning Teachers Need to Know to be Successful Teachers

Oct 15, 2026

Teacher education programs often receive more applicants than they can accept, making selection and evaluation of admission decisions central to long-term teacher quality. This article reviews North American admission criteria for selecting prospective teachers, evaluating each criterion’s strengths and limitations. A conceptual framework is proposed to connect beginning teachers’ required knowledge, skills, and attitudes with the preparation teacher education programs provide and the application criteria they use.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

What Is a Good Teacher?

What do Teacher Education Programs Teach?

What Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes do Beginning Teachers Need?

Teacher Education Program Admission Criteria and What Beginning Teachers Need to know to be Successful Teachers Catherine E. Casey & Ruth A. Childs Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto Authors’ Note Based on a doctoral thesis by Catherine Casey. Thank you to Claire Alleyne and Michael Charles for assistance in collecting the data and to Andy Anderson, Carol Rolheiser, David Silvernail and Albert W. Taylor for advice and support throughout the study. Abstract Most teacher education programs receive many more applications than they can accept. How should programs select among applicants and how should the programs evaluate the success of their selection processes? In this article we review the criteria utilized throughout North America to select prospective teachers into education programs. The strengths and weaknesses of each criterion are discussed. We propose a conceptual framework linking the knowledge, skills, and attitudes beginning teachers need, the preparation that teacher education programs provide, and the programs’ application criteria. In the conclusion, the authors make numerous suggestions about how to adapt and change the current selection criteria so that the resultant product is the successful teacher. The authors challenge teacher education programs to critically examine their admission criteria. Teacher Education Program Admission Criteria, and What Beginning Teachers Need to Know to be Successful Teachers The primary goal of teacher education programs is to produce good teachers for elementary and secondary schools (Grant, Adamson, Craig, Marrin, & Squire, 1999; Lewis, Parsad, Carey, Bartfai, Farris, Smerdon, & Greene, 1999) . The admission processes for these programs are expected to select applicants who will succeed in the preparatory programs and become good teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Darling-Hammond, Berry, & Thoreson, 2001; Murray, 1986; Turner-Bisset, 2001) . However, the relationship of admissions criteria to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes beginning teachers need and to the preparation provided by the programs are rarely made explicit. Across North American universities, a range of admission policies has been established in an attempt to select teacher candidates who can function in the dynamic environment of education. The admissions process should be viewed as a gateway to professional practice, not just a process. As such, it must support the integrity of the teaching profession by ensuring the selection of those individuals who have the potential to become effective teachers. This sounds simple, but requires teacher education programs to first define what it means to be “a good teacher,” particularly a good beginning teacher. What is a Good Teacher? Although there is wide agreement that schools need good teachers, there is little agreement about what it means to be a good teacher (Squires, 1999; Stronge, 2002; TurnerBisset, 2001) . Even the usefulness of the term is disputed, with some researchers choosing instead to focus on effective teaching (Cooper & McIntyre, 1996; Cullingford, 1995; Kyriacou, 1997; Perrott, 1982), creative teaching (Woods & Jeffery, 1996), veteran teachers (Shulman, 1987), quality teachers (Stones, 1992), and good enough teachers (Cullingford, 1995) . To further complicate matters, these terms are often used interchangeably and the descriptive criteria differ from study to study (see Table 1) . Some jurisdictions have developed descriptions of what is expected of their teachers. For example, in its Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession (1999), the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) outlines standards for Ontario teachers in five areas: commitment to students and student learning, professional knowledge, teaching practice, leadership and community, and ongoing professional learning. In this article, we propose a framework for examining the relationships between admission criteria and know

FAQs

Why do teacher education programs need explicit admission criteria?

Admissions processes are expected to select candidates who will succeed in preparation and become good teachers, yet the links between criteria and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes beginning teachers need are rarely made explicit.

How does the article describe the concept of a “good teacher”?

It notes broad agreement that schools need good teachers but highlights limited agreement on what “good” means, with researchers using multiple related terms and differing criteria across studies.

What are the two main types of teacher education programs described?

The article divides programs into concurrent programs, where candidates enter without a relevant bachelor’s degree, and consecutive programs, where applicants already hold a relevant bachelor’s degree before receiving teacher preparation.

Oct 15, 2026

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