New teaching credential

I think academia needs a new credential for university and college faculty—the teaching counterpart to the PhD, which is a research credential. The overall quality of undergraduate science instruction at the university level is poor, and my hope is that a new credential in teaching would improve that.

Unfortunately, many universities equate the PhD to a teaching credential. Alas, it has nothing to do with teaching. Despite advertising that they desire experienced teachers, universities will typically not hire applicants who do not hold a PhD. Many fully qualified teachers are kept out of university classrooms and PhD programs because they have not been involved in research, in some cases have not been permitted to do so, and usually have no interest in doing so.

It is wrong to equate lack of research to lack of instructional competence. I have attended professional conferences at which research faculty members openly expressed their discontent at having to teach, for example, introductory astronomy or introductory physics, particularly for non-science majors. Having a new teaching credential would allow competent and innovative instructors to take over those courses and leave researchers free to do research, navigate the tenure process, and spend more time with graduate students. Perhaps existing master’s and doctoral education programs could be overhauled and made more rigorous. I encourage science and education departments to explore the possibility of a new credential, a doctorate in science teaching.