EDITORIAL
Teacher learning is a lifelong activity that starts
from his/her school days and continues throughout the life.The techniques
through which a teacher was taught during his/her school days, plays effective
role in the techniques he/she uses in his/her own teaching (Schwille, Dembele
and Schubert 2007, P. 27). Some
individuals are born teachers and do not need much training for learning skills of teaching. Their sincerity paves the path for self-learning and some
times, such self-made teachers have been found more effective than formally
trained teachers. However, in case of majority,
teacher learning is facilitated by
training programmes delivered before entry into teaching profession and
also while continuing in teaching profession. They need appropriate knowledge and skills,
personal characteristics, professional prospects and motivation if they are to
meet the expectations placed on them (Delors 1996, p.142). Teacher education
has been given importance throughout the world. Training provides certain
skills; but whether to utilise these skills or not depends on the professional
values and the attitude of the concerned teacher. Teacher learning through
participation in initial training programmes or through continuing education
programmes is a complex activity. Formulating strategies for teacher training
has become problematic because of lack of consensus on what constitutes a
qualified teacher. Teacher education scenario is like the Bermuda triangle (Cochran-Smith 2003).
Teaching is an art as well as science, so also teacher training. Cultural roles
and identities of teachers, details of definition of teacher quality and
details of initial teacher training programmes including nature of practical
training vary from one country to another. Within a nation, these also vary from one State to another. “Teacher
preparation has become a controversial issue all over the world.” (Bray 2007,
P.11). This is also true for teacher education scenario in India.
Knowledge Commission (2008) stated that both pre-service and in-service training of school
teachers is extremely inadequate and also poorly managed in most States.
“Pre-service training needs to be improved and differently regulated in both
public and private institutions, while systems for inservice training require
expansion and major reform that allows for greater flexibility.” Initial
(pre-service) teacher training programmes in India vary from State to State.
Variations are prominent in respect of aspects like: (a) state subsidy for
tuition fee, degree of scope for private initiative, (b) scope for self
financing programmes by examining bodies including universities, government
institutions and private managements, (c) involvement of universities through
their Departments of Education, (d) admission criteria for teacher education
courses on the basis of performance in common admission test / career marking
etc., (e) selection of teacher trainees in B. Ed. programmes for secondary
school teaching on the basis of number of eligible faculty members available in
an institution for teaching a method subject, (f) amount of fees, (g)
qualifications necessary for the head of the teacher training institution /
department and for the faculty members, (h) level of content knowledge of a
faculty member for teaching a method subject or for supervising lessons during
internship / practice teaching, etc. Some of the aspects on which universities
inside a State / UT also vary include (a) total marks for a course, (b) number
of papers for theory and practical, (c) titles of papers and the aspects
covered by them, (d) lesson planning formats, (e) amount of time devoted for
observation of a lesson delivered during internship / practice teaching period
and for the purpose of evaluation of teaching performance, (f) specialisation
of the faculty member required for observing a lesson, (g) number of spells in
which internship is organised, (h) types of records maintained by teacher
trainees for their practical examination, (i) number and categories of
practical work other than teaching, (j) marks distribution for theory and
practical, (k) percentage of internal assessment, (l) manner of assessment of
theory papers, (m) amount of time given for observation of teaching of school
teachers and types of schools covered for the purpose, (n) degree of
involvement of school teachers in supervision of teacher trainees, etc. Some of
the aspects on which institutions, affiliated to an examining body within a
State / UT vary include (a) dress code for teacher trainees and faculty members,
(b) organization of daily morning assembly that includes prayer and other
activities, etc., (c) duration of stay of faculty members in the institution in
a working day, (d) quality and quantity of various types of teaching aids
including multi media and power point presentation.
As part of
various efforts to improve quality of teacher training, a number of
developed countries have prescribed
Standards for school teachers and school leaders (heads of schools). In USA,
professional standards for teachers and school leaders vary from State to
State. Its New Jersey State has 10 different sets of standards and each
standard has three components: (a) knowledge, (b) disposition and (c)
performance. In UK, since September 2007, the Training and Development Agency
for Schools has come out with six types of standards for teachers. In India,
quality of teacher training can be improved by working out and prescribing national
level as well as state level standards for teachers and leaders working
in various stages of school education. This will improve teacher education curriculum for various
stages of school education.
Teacher performance is strongly influenced by teacher
motivation. There can be various strategies to improve level of teacher
motivation. One such strategy is creating an advanced level scale for efficient
teachers. A number of developed
countries such as UK have advanced skills teachers. Such strategies should also
be introduced in India to initiate teacher motivation for self-improvement. The
selection process for advanced level teachers needs to be more rigorous and
scientific and should also include evaluation of video recorded lessons.
The teachers selected through national level tests can be posted in schools
under Central Government schemes.
The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education of the MHRD has been
instituted to support efforts of the
governments of various States and UTs
for improving quality of initial training as well as for providing continued
professional development of teachers. The scheme provides assistance to 38 Institutes of Advanced Study in Education
(IASEs), 86 Colleges of Teacher
Education (CTEs) and 471 District
Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). On the eve of the XIth Plan, MHRD
sent teams to the States and the UTs to
evaluate the status of implementation of the scheme. The editor as member of
the assessment team,came across huge wastage of funds in terms of under
utilised human and physical resources. In most of the IASEs and CTEs, the faculty members did not have adequate workload because of non
availability of funds from the concerned
State governments for conducting in-service programmes. In case of one Govt.
College of Teacher Education, huge over staffing gave a work load of as low as 3 periods per
week per faculty member. In case of DIETs, in a State, there was no pre-service
training programme. However, the faculty members were fully involved in SSA
activities. There was also variation among States and UTs with regard to salary
scales of the faculty in these institutions. The deterioration process is
further accentuated by lack of separate cadres for teacher educators and lack
of State policy of creating posts with
appropriate specialisation and selecting
faculty members without specifying their
specialisation. Hence, there is a necessity
to modify this scheme. The system of providing grants for IASEs and CTEs should be abolished. The existing ones
should be managed by the respective State governments out of their own funds. The
central government should establish its own IASEs and CTEs.The funding of DIETs should be
transferred to SSA.
The Tenth Five Year Plan document stated that “New
courses for teacher educators and curriculum developers would be developed and
tried out on a pilot basis. Innovations and pilot projects in pre-service and
in-service teacher education will be supported.”( Planning Commission 2002,
Art. 2.2.58). There is an urgent necessity
to develop special courses for teaching in special schools. Navodaya
Vidyalayas have been set up to give education to rural talents. Teachers of
such schools should have not only higher scale of pay than available for teachers in Central
schools, but also better initial teacher training. Persons aspiring for posts
in Navodaya Vidyalayas should undergo
training through Special Two Year B. Ed. courses to be instituted for
this purpose.
A higher / senior secondary school teacher teaches
only one subject in which she or he has acquired PG Degree. Making such a
teacher trainee study two method subjects is wastage of time and resources. In
order to teach at this level, instead of a B. Ed. degree, a Diploma of duration
of 36 weeks with provision for practical training of 18 weeks may be
introduced.
In certain States, teaching of Education as a subject
of instruction extends from higher
secondary to post graduate stage. The
subject also provides training in teaching in primary schools. Hence, graduates with
Education subject need to be allowed to
sit for B. Ed. examination privately, after undergoing training in practical teaching under an
approved guide.
Two year Certificate/Diploma courses were instituted
for training lower secondary passed students for making them primary school
teachers. At present, in most of the parts of the nation, the minimum
qualification for admission to these courses is higher secondary. These courses
spend a lot of time on content knowledge up gradation. There is a B.Ed.
(Nursery) course at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and a B. El. Ed. course at University of Delhi.
There is provision for PGCE (Primary) in UK. Similarly, there may be provision
for One Year B. Ed. (Primary / Nursery) courses in India. All types of teacher
training courses should be brought under university system so that the university
team visiting an institution for granting affiliation evaluates all types of
physical and human resources available in the institution for various courses
being offered by it.
In order to make Indian teacher training
qualifications acceptable in UK and other countries, there is a necessity to make comparative
studies of teacher training programmes from international perspective. For
instance, in UK, duration of the One Year PGCE Course is 48
weeks that includes 24 weeks for training in practical work. Hence, there is a
necessity to incraese practical component in initial teacher training
programmes.
Teachers need to get opportunities to upgrade their
formal qualification and training. The graduate teachers who have been working
with Diploma qualifications, should get opportunity to appear at B.Ed.
examination as private candidates.
Qualitative improvements in initial teacher training
programmes require more participation of schools in teacher training
programmes. The school heads and the school
teachers whose classes are utilised for practical teaching should be paid
remuneration for their work in connection with
giving guidance and feedback.
Generally, assessment of teaching skills is carried
out by direct observation of teaching and in some cases evaluation of
records. In addition to this practice,
it shall be more appropriate to have continuous evaluation by involving
concerned school teacher whose classes have been utilised. There may be provision
for assessment of video recorded lessons,
teaching performance portfolio and
professional attributes questionnaire.
Many developed countries have been providing training
for school leaders, so that they function better. UK has started a National
College for School Leadership. Hence, the Govt. of India should take steps for
training of heads of schools. To make it cost effective, the training programme
may be provided through distance mode.
Programmes for continued professional development of teachers are considered more important
than their initial training programmes. However, many urban teachers,
especially those who earn extra money through their teaching in coaching
classes, make effort at their individual
level to update their knowledge and skills. However, majority of teachers, especially
those who work in rural areas, need continued professional development
programmes. The cost effectiveness of
programmes can be improved by delivering them through distance mode.
Peer feedback system may be introduced
as a support system for teacher development.
In earlier days, teacher educators not only had school
teaching experience before entering to a teacher training institution, but also
continued to take classes in schools. In order to improve quality of
demonstration lessons and supervision of practice teaching lessons,the
practice of school teaching at least for one unit in a year needs to be introduced.
Unfortunately, to keep themselves
abreast In case of minimum qualifications of teacher educators, in certain States, a graduate spends two years (one year B.Ed. and
another year M.Ed.) to become eligible to become a Lecturer in Education for teaching in B.Ed.
and M.Ed. courses. This is also the UGC prescribed qualification to appear at
National Eligibility Test (NET) for lecturer in Education. However, in many
States, a graduate has to study for four
years (one year B.Ed., one year M.Ed. and two years another PG) to become
eligible for the post of lecturer in Education. UGC failed to make all the
States accepts its Guidelines. While UGC norms do not differentiate between
minimum qualification for a lecturer in Education to teach B.Ed. or M.Ed.
course, NCTE norms have made the difference.
As per NCTE, a post graduate with
a B.Ed. can also be a lecturer in Education for B.Ed. courses. NCTE itself has also violated its prescribed norms and
standards. For instance, NCTE has
recognised a Govt. College of
Teacher Education for B.Ed. course, although the principal and most of the faculty members
of the institution do not have even B.Ed. degree. A decade of functioning of
NCTE has not enabled creation of separate cadre for teacher educators in many
States. The universities do not bother to adhere to UGC guidelines for minimum
number of teaching days in an academic session. They also do not adhere to NCTE
guidelines for minimum number of teaching days in a session. B. Ed.
qualification is yet to be made compulsory for higher secondary school teaching
in a State, where the size of a general
higher secondary class is 128, which is more than the double of the maximum
strength for a class prescribed in many States.
It may be noted that attempts to have teacher
education programmes centrally
recognised failed in Australia (Chadbourne 1997). The Australian Teaching Council set up in 1994 was abolished in 1997 as the Government
decided in favour of decentralisation and deregulation. USA has a number of
non-government agencies for accreditation.
According to Murray (2005), a
large number of good teacher education institutions in USA have not
got them accredited.
Accreditation is also not a requirement for the State’s teaching
licensing regulations and for the hiring
decision of the school districts. In India, a decade of functioning of NCTE is
a story of success and failures. Its important success includes extending
duration of B.Ed.(distance Mode) from one year to two years. During the decade
of its existence, NCTE has modified several times its norms and standards for
teacher education courses. Its latest revision has created confusion in the
field, especially in case of faculty qualification that contradicts UGC Norms.
Functioning of National Council for Teacher Education as a statutory body,
brought in another quality supervisor in addition to already existing quality
supervisors in form of examining bodies
and education departments of the governments of the States and the UTs. In
order to improve quality of functioning of NCTE, it may be appropriate for the
Central Government to undertake modification of NCTE Act so that its General Body may consist of only experts having professional
qualification and experience in teacher
education. The Act needs to free NCTE from its regulatory role, as it is not possible
for a central agency in a large country to regulate teacher education programmes
on the basis of a common standard, disregarding cultural and socio-political
and economic diversities existing in States.
The Act may suggest acacdemic activities for NCTE which may
include (a) Formulating standards for
(i) teacher educators for different stages of teacher education, and (ii) heads
of schools and school teachers of various central level organisations, (b)
Formulating guidelines for developing
state level standards for heads of schools and school teachers for various
stages of school education, (c) Developing and operationalising resource centres for teacher education at
national and regional levels, (d) Providing guidelines to the States and the
UTs for their resource centre
activities, (e) Identifying and disseminating innovative and excellent
programmes of teacher education, (f)
Maintaining a register of teacher educators including index of experts in
various fields, and (g) carrying out comparative studies on teacher education.
CONCLUSION
There is a necessity for the Central Government to
have a Standing Committee for co-ordination among various statutory bodies
involved in improving quality of teacher learning. The statutory bodies need
take into account the place of education in the Constitution. If the Central Government is keen to improve quality of teacher learning, it should impart model initial (pre-service)
teacher training programmes through its own teacher training institutions and
should provide high quality continued professional development programmes for teachers
through distance mode. It should carry out
modification in NCTE act to make it function as a Resource Centre for
teacher learning.
REFERENCES
Bray, M. (2007) Foreword. In Schwille, J.; Dembele, M.
and Schubert, J. Global Perspectives on Teacher Learning: Improving Policy
and Practice. UNESCO: IIEP, Paris.
Chadbourne,
R. (1997) Teacher education in Australia. Journal of Education for Teaching
23, 1, 7 - 27, May.
Cochran-Smith,
M. (2003) Teacher education’s Bermuda triangle: dichotomy, mythology and
amnesia. Journal of Teacher Education 54, 4, 275-279, October.
Delors, J. (1996) (Chairman) Learning: The Treasure
Within. UNESCO, Paris.
Knowledge Commission, Govt. of India, 2008
http://knowledgecommission.gov.in/downloads/recommendations/SchoolLetterPM.pdf
Murray,
F. B. (2005) On building a unified system of accreditation of teacher
education. Journal of Teacher Education 56, 4, 307 - 317, September /
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National College for School Leadership, UK
http://www.ncsl.org.uk/
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Govt. of India, New Delhi.
Schwille, J.; Dembele, M. and Schubert, J. (2007) Global
Perspectives on Teacher Learning: Improving Policy and Practice. UNESCO:
IIEP, Paris.
TERG (2006) Review of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of
Teacher Education-Guidelines.NCTE, New Delhi
Training and Development Agency for Schools http://www.tda.gov.uk/teachers/professionalstandards/downloads.aspx