Teacher's Training or Teacher Training?Written by Ari Julianto
Once when I analyzed the students' covers of skripsi, I got confused as some of them wrote the term for Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (FKIP) in English in various versions. it was written as follows
- Teacher's Training and Education
- Teachers' Training and Education
- Teacher Training and Education and
- Teachers Training and Education
At first I ignored it but then no senior lecturer or teacher made a strict rule in writing the term of FKIP in English. Then I tried to analyze it and here is my conclusion.
1. If we search in Google engine the term Teacher's Training is not available, neither is Teachers' Training,
2. But if we search the terms Teacher Training and Teachers Training, Google engine shows mostly for Teacher Training then followed by Teachers Training,
3. The meaning of Teacher's Training or Teachers' Training seems blurred since the possessive case in those terms does not explain that the teacher has a training but it tends to the meaning of training for teacher,
4. Teacher (singular) or Teachers (plural)? In this case, I prefer the use of Teacher in singular. The reason is we can find Lawyer training, Employee Training etc,
5. In education theory, training refers to acquisition of concrete skills for meeting specific goals in a real-life, applied situation. This often includes "closed skills," like typing or juggling, that have absolute ceiling on mastery or where the only way to improve the skill is to do it faster or while multi-tasking. For teachers, training might include how to maintain a grade book or calculate reading fluency scores.
6. In contrast, education focuses on more abstract knowledge and open-ended concepts, like the ability to design factory equipment or write poetry. Open skills rely on abstract understanding and have no absolute ceiling on performance. Examples from teaching include how to design an original lesson plan or promote critical thinking.
Based on the explanation above, I prefer in translating Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (FKIP) as Faculty of Teacher Training and Education.
I hope today's posting will be useful for all of us. Amin.
