Demonstrating competency.

Demonstrating competency. Recently, the importance of "certification" was madeabundantly clear to me. I was in Anchorage, Alaska, representing MTNA MTNA Music Teachers National AssociationMTNA Middle Tennessee Nursery Association (McMinnville, Tennessee)atthe annual meeting of the Trust for Insuring Educators. One of the events, sponsored by The Anchorage Convention andVisitors Bureau, was a "flight seeing" tour of the glacierssurrounding Anchorage. For over an hour, we soared among the peaks and valleys, gazingupon some of the most spectacular sights in nature. The pilot guided theairplane expertly above these glaciers, often within a few feet of theoutcropping, snow-covered summits. As we made our way back to Anchorage, I thought about the obviousskill of the pilot. Well, to be more precise, I was more than gratefulthat the pilot was not only skillful skill��ful?adj.1. Possessing or exercising skill; expert. See Synonyms at proficient.2. Characterized by, exhibiting, or requiring skill. , but that he had demonstrated hiscompetencies to pilot an aircraft to an impartial adjudicator ad��ju��di��cate?v. ad��ju��di��cat��ed, ad��ju��di��cat��ing, ad��ju��di��catesv.tr.1. To hear and settle (a case) by judicial procedure.2. , theFederal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration(FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control (FAA). Knowing that he had to have apilot "certificate" conferred by the FAA upon hisdemonstration of his flying competency, gave me the confidence to bucklemyself in that aircraft and enjoy the experience. This was not the case before 1926. Prior to that year, anyone could"hang up a shingle shingleThin piece of building material made of wood, asphaltic material, slate, metal, or concrete, laid in overlapping rows to shed water. Shingles are widely used as roof covering on residential buildings and sometimes also for siding (see Shingle style). " and say he was a pilot. With noregulations or licensing of pilots or aircraft, a passenger literallyrisked his life when accepting the claim of competence of some of these"pilots." Fortunately, the Federal government stepped in. The Air CommerceAct of May 20, 1926, was the cornerstone of the Federalgovernment's regulation of civil aviation. This legislation waspassed at the urging of the aviation industry, whose leaders believedthe airplane could not reach its full commercial potential withoutimproving and maintaining safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. . One of the earliest actionswas the certification of pilots and aircrafts. Regardless of how muchthe individual heard about aeronautics, aerodynamics aerodynamics,study of gases in motion. As the principal application of aerodynamics is the design of aircraft, air is the gas with which the science is most concerned. , navigation, andthe like, he or she had to demonstrate the ability to competently fly anairplane. As a result, the aviation profession has become one of thesafest and most skillful occupations anywhere. I believe the parallels to music teaching are obvious. To be surelives are not in danger during a music lesson (although, like me, youmay have suppressed more than a few irate i��rate?adj.1. Extremely angry; enraged. See Synonyms at angry.2. Characterized or occasioned by anger: an irate phone call. impulses during a particularlytrying lesson). But the importance of certification for music teacherscannot be understated. Like pre-1926 "pilots," anyone can hangup a shingle to be a "music teacher." The claim may be true ornot. Fortunately, the music teaching profession has a certificationorganization--MTNA. Our association recognizes the absolute importanceof having competent music teachers in the studio, in the same way thatthe FAA recognizes the importance of having competent pilots in thecockpit. We have developed standards for the music teachingprofessional, and we require candidates to demonstrate this competenceto impartial adjudicators. To those of you who have achieved National Certified Teacher A certified teacher is a teacher who has earned credentials from an authoritative source, such as the government, a higher education institution or a private source. These certifications allow teachers to teach in schools which require authorization in general, as well as allowing ofMusic status, I say thank you for doing your part in advancing theprofession of music teaching. To those who are not certified yet, Iencourage you to start the process as soon as possible (information canbe found at www.mtnacertification.org). You will benefit, and so willyour students. Gary L. Ingle in��gle?n.1. An open fire in a fireplace.2. A fireplace.[Perhaps Scottish Gaelic aingeal, fire, light. Executive Director