Tenure: a status granted after a trial period to a teacher that gives protection from summary dismissal" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Purpose of Tenure:
Teacher Tenure has two goals: to ensure academic freedom and due process for educators.
Tenure is meant to protect quality educators by safeguarding their employment only after a period of proven satisfactory service. Tenure mandates due process for teachers so that an employer cannot fire a tenured educator without first exhibiting evidence that proves the termination of said educator is warranted. Thus, tenured teachers are protected from discrimination based on political preference, personal conflicts or other unfair influence of the administration. Tenured teachers are therefore not bound in their construction of curriculum by the likes or dislikes of the administration. Tenured teachers instead have the academic freedom to teach what they consider apropriate without the worry of upsetting administration and being unjustly terminated.
Tenure is meant to protect quality educators by safeguarding their employment only after a period of proven satisfactory service. Tenure mandates due process for teachers so that an employer cannot fire a tenured educator without first exhibiting evidence that proves the termination of said educator is warranted. Thus, tenured teachers are protected from discrimination based on political preference, personal conflicts or other unfair influence of the administration. Tenured teachers are therefore not bound in their construction of curriculum by the likes or dislikes of the administration. Tenured teachers instead have the academic freedom to teach what they consider apropriate without the worry of upsetting administration and being unjustly terminated.
Qualified, effective educators who are benefiting students and raising student achievement should not be removed from the classroom because of political disagreements with an administrator–or because the sibling of a local, influential figure wants a job." –Kevin Hart |
Frakt, Arthur N. "Non-Tenure Teachers and the Constitution." Law Journal (1969): 27. Heinonline. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.Hart, Kevin. "What Teacher Tenure Is– And What It's Not." NEA Today. NEA, 17 Sept. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2014. <http://neatoday.org/2010/09/17/what-tenure-is-and-what-it%E2%80%99s-not/>.
"Tenure." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure>.
"Tenure." NJEA.org. New Jersey Education Association, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.njea.org/issues-and-political-action/tenure>.
"The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education." NEA. National Education Association, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nea.org/home/33067.htm>.
"Tenure." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure>.
"Tenure." NJEA.org. New Jersey Education Association, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.njea.org/issues-and-political-action/tenure>.
"The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education." NEA. National Education Association, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nea.org/home/33067.htm>.