You recruit teachers and provide some teacher training prior to being placed in a teaching position. That’s wonderful but it can’t end there. Teacher training needs to be ongoing. Regardless of how new a person is to teaching or how long they’ve been teaching, they need ongoing, in-service training opportunities.
Without Ongoing Teacher Training
The reason ongoing training is necessary becomes obvious when you consider what could potentially happen without it.
Teachers could plateau.
They could stop learning and improving without ongoing training. The whole of the Christian life, however, should be about pressing on to become more and more of who we can be in Christ (Phil. 3:12). We never arrive!
Teachers could get stuck in a rut.
They might keep using the same methods over and over because that is all they know. In failing to use new ways of teaching, their teaching could actually become less effective.
Teachers could become delusional about their teaching.
They could get to thinking that their teaching is better than it is because they aren’t being exposed to new or better ideas. We can help with this perception when ongoing training isn’t provided, making it seem as though they already know everything there is to know about teaching. Constant exposure to other ways of doing things helps to stretch Bible teachers beyond where they are.
Teachers could experience frustration.
They might be trying everything they know to do but not getting anywhere with issues. Not knowing how to fix problems can overwhelm, discourage, and frustrate teachers.
Teachers could quit.
They might get so frustrated or discouraged in their teaching that they sense no recourse but to quit. Without a support system in place, a platform for getting the help they need, the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness become too overwhelming.
Why risk any of the above happening? Provide the on-going training teachers need.
Here’s help: Bible Teachers Training Resources