Aspiring teachers in California will now be able to major in education as undergraduates, which has been forbidden for more than five decades under an unusual state law.
Gov. Jerry Brown last month signed a law that will end the requirement that teachers get an undergraduate degree in a subject other than education. Teachers there have generally taken a fifth postgraduate year to complete their training.
Critics of the approach, which was instituted because lawmakers feared an education degree was too easy, say a single year is not enough time to give teachers the specific training they need—particularly at the elementary level, which requires a wide range of content and pedagogical knowledge.
