Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D
Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India
Teachers play an import role in shaping the future of the country and hence it’s important that a lot of attention is paid on the quality of teachers churned out every year, . Teachers can greatly influence young minds and hence it’s important that competent teachers are recruited for the gullible and vulnerable young minds.The present goal of the Indian Government is to provide education for all. They are trying out with schemes that would enhance enrollment and are ensuring that every child gets access to school. A lot of planning and resource has been spent on education in India and at the same time for improving the quality of education. One simple way of uplifting the standard of educations is by improving the quality of teachers. A great teacher can make a huge difference to the life of children. A lot of stress is given on teacher training course in India; unfortunately there are several loopholes in the system and a lot of times incompetent teachers get recruited.
Teacher training course in India is designed for aspiring teachers to learn interactive and better ways of teaching to make a subject interesting. There are several schools and colleges in India which cater to teacher training schools in India and these offer teaching courses for different levels. Teacher education in India is institution based, along with internship programs in real classroom settings. Teacher education is provided by several Universities, affiliated colleges, private and open Universities in India. Some of these institutions are more like an eye wash and provide certification just by paying the fee, and this leads to rise of unqualified teachers in India.
We can no longer depend upon the concept of born teachers. The college of education have to make all efforts to prepare the student-teachers, to perform teaching roles sincerely. The future quality of teachers turned out by the College of Education will largely depend upon the quality of the intake of the pre-service teacher education programme, selection procedure followed for the admission of trainees, instructional materials method of teaching and evaluation, supervision of teaching practice, inculcating social and moral values, individual guidance to student-teachers and the utilisation of available academic facilities.
Over the last few decades the teacher education has been severely criticised for being very theoretical and obsolete. Teacher education system is strongly evolving so that quality of teachers in India improved. The curriculum of teacher education is being severely revised since 1998. In this internet age, the use of IT and computer should be used for training teachers and the curriculum now also advocates the use of internet to be used by teachers for teaching students.
Unfortunately teacher education has received scant attention from the state government and the universities. A number of factors affect the quality of teacher education.
Limitation of Teacher Training Programmes
Short Duration of B.Ed course
The major short comings of teacher education is its short duration compared with the duration of training for other professions – medical, engineering and law. Five, four and three years of training is required to become a doctor, engineer and lawyer respectively, But an academic year, generally of nine months, is thought to be enough to train a teacher.Under special circumstances the academic year may be reduced to even 4 to 5 months.
Most of the B.Ed students count their days in the College of Education. They are, in general, said to be neither serious nor sincere to acquire teaching learning skills required. With the formal completion of of the course, it is assumed that the trainees has acquired the required teaching skills.
Poorly Equipped College of Education
Majority of College of Education have poor or inadequate physical facilities and infrastructure. Lack of teaching aids, and other aids like overhead projector, TV, Vedio-tapeing facilities and inadequate libraries are commonly observed in colleges
Teaching Methods are of little practical value
Anybody who has undergone B.Ed. course will try to implement in the schools the methods he has learnt. He gets disappointed because the practical situation in the schools is not congenial for implementing any other method except lecture method .Besides there is a general lack of faith in the method learnt in the Colleges of Education. Neither the administrators nor the teachers of the secondary schools or Colleges of Education are fully convinced about the utility of the teaching methods. It can be said that the methods of teaching are, largely speaking, based more upon opinions than on tested experiences or experimentation. As these methods are of little practical value when translated into action, they are losing ground in the practical situation, namely, in the schools. It is a fact that the attitude of the headmasters, the prevalent examination system and the system of evaluation of the work of the teacher would compel the trainees to forget the time consuming, strenuous and unproductive methods as soon as they leave the four walls of the College of Education.
Unfortunately the Colleges of Education are mostly following the traditional method of teaching. Of course, there is realisation among the members of staff of the College of Education to develop the student-teacher’s maturity through contacts, study and discussion requiring student participation and independent study. Similarly a number of techniques— programmed instruction, language laboratories, microteaching, etc are being developed. But the teacher training colleges have yet to put them in practice. The student-teachers should be introduced to them first in their own learning programmes and later on in their teaching practice.
Practice teaching has become a formality
The objective of teaching practice is to provide the prospective teachers a command over the necessary tools of the profession, control of the technique of class instruction and management skill and proficiency in the art of teaching. The practice teaching provides an opportunity for the teachers to translate the theoretical instruction, the knowledge of subject matter and the principles of education into practice.
Practice teaching is an important aspect of teacher education programme and in some of the Teacher education programme it is becoming a farce, in some it is monotonous and stereotyped while in others it is a matter of purposeless activity requiring drastic change.
The general complaint is that in majority of colleges of Education and specially in Correspondence Courses the practice teaching is not followed honestly. The total number of prescribed practice teaching lessons is large and the time at the disposal of the college to carry out the practice teaching lessons is short. Usually the practice teaching should be over before the month of March. Some times it is not possible to organise more than one lesson on systematic lines.
Continuous teaching practice in majority colleges, is organised with a view to formally completing the practice teaching without systematic planning. The B.Ed trainees and the staff go to some local schools and their classes are turned over to the trainees of the College of Education. The lecturer of the B.Ed college goes from class to class from morning till evening supervising not less than 25 lesson every day. Discussion hardly takes place after the lesson. Offering suggestions to the trainee is rarely practised. The high school students are bored from morning till evening with ill-orgasised and badly taught lessons from B.Ed trainees. Thus supervision by teacher educators has become ceremonial.
Evaluation is Subjective
In the evaluation of B.Ed subjects, subjectivity is found increasing. Internal assessment of theory and practice teaching usually contributed to inflation of marks. The validity of division is questionable. External examination is also not free from subjectivity.
Correspondence courses –producing sub-standard teachers
The B.Ed being a professional course, cannot be made a very cheap degree available to everyone without an aptitude for that. It is not uncommon to come across institutes of correspondence courses of the universities each one admitting large number of students for the B.Ed course. Minting money may be the primary aim rather than the standard of teachers turned out by them. They have become almost factories, producing thousands of B.Ed degree holders every year. The cancerous disease of starting B.Ed correspondence courses has spread all over the country just for the sake of financial benefits of the universities.
Subjective Valuation of Records
In addition of teaching practice, the student teachers has to submit number of records on the basis of project work. How far the record work is original is a basic question? The time at the disposal of the student teacher is short and the load of record work is very heavy. Very few can actually study, observe and record. If we accept the truth frankly, it may be said that the student teacher would secure some records of the previous years and reproduce them in his own hand writing. Though all the concerned know about it, this practice is going on in many places .Hundreds of records are valued by the examiners in a day or two. Do the examiner find time to go through the records and evaluate them properly? The answer is ’IT IS NOT POSSIBLE’.
Shortage of Time to Study Theory
The student teachers has to write examination in six to seven theory papers. He is burdened with the practice teaching and project work, and has no time to spare for genuinely studying the theory papers. In a short period of six to seven months duration, the student teacher has to spend most of the time completing the formalities prescribed for the course. He finds little time to study, think and explore the fascinating subjects which are inter-disciplinary in nature.
Role of National Council of Teacher Education
The National Council for Teacher Education (N.C.T.E) is a regulatory body but because the country is so diverse with innumerable institutions it sometimes get difficult to monitor all the institutions. Since 1973, the National Council for Teacher Education was an advisory body for the Central and State Governments on all matters pertaining to teacher education, with its Secretariat in the Department of Teacher Education of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (N.C.E.R.T). Despite its commendable work in the academic fields, it could not perform essential regulatory functions, to ensure maintenance of standards in teacher education and preventing rise of substandard teacher education institutions. The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and the Programme of Action there under, envisaged a National Council for Teacher Education with statutory status and necessary resources as a first step for overhauling the system of teacher education. The National Council for Teacher Education as a statutory body came into existence in pursuance of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 (No. 73 of 1993) on the 17th August,1995.
The main objective of the N.C.T.E. is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country ,and to ensure regulation and proper maintenance of Norms and Standards in the teacher education system and for matters connected therewith.
The mandate given to the N.C.T.E. is very broad and covers the whole gamut of teacher education programmes including, research and training of persons for equipping them to teach at pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary stages in schools ,and in non-formal education, part-time education, adult education and distance (correspondence) education courses.
The N.C.T.E. performs functions that are regulatory and also concerned with academic development of teacher education. Its functions are wide ranging and include among others planning, programming, advising, and formulations of norms for different teacher education courses. In addition the NCTE is expected to undertake periodic surveys, studies, and researches for promotion of innovations in teacher education and for institutional development. The following list gives its functions in detail.
1. To undertake surveys and studies relating to various aspects of teacher education and publish the results thereof,
2. To make recommendations to the Central and State Governments, Universities, and recognised institutions in the matter of preparation of suitable plans and programs in the field of teacher education,
3. To co-ordinate and monitor teacher education and its development in the country,
4. To lay down guidelines in respect of minimum qualifications for a person to be employed as a teacher in schools or in recognised institutions,
5. To lay down norms for any specified category of courses of training in teacher education, including the minimum eligibility criteria for admission thereof, and the method of selection of candidates, duration of the courses, course contents and mode of curriculum,
6. To lay down guidelines for compliance by recognised institutions, for starting new courses or training and for providing physical and instructional facilities, staffing pattern and staff qualifications,
7. To lay down standards in respect of examinations leading to teacher education qualifications, criteria for admission to such examinations and schemes of courses of training,
8. To lay down guidelines regarding tuition fees and other fees chargeable by recognised institutions,
9. To promote and conduct innovation and research in various areas of teacher education and disseminate the results thereof,
10. To examine and review periodically the implementation of the norms, guidelines and standards laid down by the Council, and to suitably advise the recognised institutions,
11. To evolve suitable performance appraisal systems, norms and mechanisms for enforcing accountability on recognised institutions,
12. To formulate schemes for various levels of teacher education and identify recognized institutions and set up new institutions for teacher development programs,
13. To take all necessary steps to prevent commercialization of teacher education, and perform such other functions as may be entrusted to it by the Central Government.
By laying down norms for different teacher education courses the NCTE has tried to regulate standards of teacher education.
Revised N.C.T.E. Norms for B.Ed for 2015 :
Duration for B.Ed Course and Working Days
Duration: The B.Ed. programme shall be of a duration of two academic years, which can be completed in a maximum of three years from the date of admission to the programme.
Working Days
(a) There shall be at least two hundred working days each year exclusive of the period of examination and admission.
(b) The institution shall work for a minimum of thirty six hours in a week (five or six days), during which physical presence in the institution of all the teachers and student teachers is necessary to ensure their availability for advice, guidance, dialogue and consultation as and when needed.
(c) The minimum attendance of student-teachers shall have to be 80% for all course work and practicum, and 90% for school internship.
Intake, Eligibility, Admission Procedure:
Intake: There shall be a basic unit of 50 students, with a maximum of two units. There shall not be more than twenty five students per teacher for a school subject for methods courses and other practical activities of the programme to facilitate participatory teaching and learning.
Eligibility:
(a) Candidates with at least fifty percent marks either in the Bachelor’s Degree and/or in the Master’s Degree in Sciences/Social Sciences/ Humanity, Bachelor’s in Engineering or Technology with specialization in Science and Mathematics with 55% marks or any other qualification equivalent thereto, are eligible for admission to the programme.
(b) The reservation and relaxation for SC/ST/OBC/PWD and other categories shall be as per the rules of the Central Government / State Government, whichever is applicable.
Curriculum, Programme Implementation and Assessment
Curriculum:
The B.Ed. curriculum shall be designed to integrate the study of subject knowledge, human development, pedagogical knowledge and communication skills. The programme shall comprise three broad curricular areas: Perspectives in Education, Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies, and Engagement with the Field.
The courses under each of these curricular areas will be based on a close reading of original writings, seminar/term paper presentations and continuous engagement with the field. Transaction of the courses shall be done using a variety of approaches, such as base studies, discussions on reflective journals, observations of children, and interactions with the community in multiple socio-cultural environments. Information and Communication Technology (ICT), gender, yoga education, and disability/inclusive education shall form an integral part of the B.Ed. curriculum.
(i) Theory Courses
(a) Perspectives in Education:
Perspectives in Education should include courses in the study of childhood, child development and adolescence, contemporary India and education, philosophical and sociological perspectives in education, theoretical foundations of knowledge and curriculum, teaching and learning, gender in the context of school and society, and inclusive education.
(b) Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies
Courses in Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies shall include aspects of language across the curriculum and communication, understanding of a discipline, social history of a school subject, and its pedagogical foundations, with a focus on the learner; and a course on the theoretical perspectives on assessment for learning.
Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies courses shall offer a study of the nature of a particular discipline, critical understanding of the school curriculum; pedagogy as the integration of knowledge about the learner, the discipline and the societal context of learning, and research relating to different aspects of young children’s learning. The design of the programme would enable students to specialize in one disciplinary area, viz. Social Science, Science, Mathematics, Languages, and a subject area from the same discipline, at one/ two levels of school.
(ii) Engagement with the Field/Practicum
The B.Ed. programme shall provide for sustained engagement with the Self, the Child, Community and School, at different levels and through establishing close connections between different curricular areas. This curricular area would serve as an important link between the above two broad curricular areas through its three components:
(a) Tasks and Assignments that run through all the courses.
(b) School Internship.
(c) Courses on Enhancing Professional Capacities.
Assessment
For Perspectives in Education and Curriculum and Pedagogic Studies, at least 20% to 30% marks may be assigned for continuous internal assessment and 70% to 80% marks for external examination. One-fourth of the total marks/weightage shall be allocated to assessment of practice teaching.
Suggestions for Improvement
- For rectifying the existing shortcomings and improving the quality of teacher education, a few suggestions are offered-
- The mushroom growth of institutions of teacher education is to be stopped .NCTE should look after the accreditation of Colleges of Education and standard of teacher education programme in the country.
- The present one year B.Ed course should be made two year course. Teacher training should be as rigorous as it is in the medical, engineering profession.
- The qualifications of lecturers in training colleges should be fixed as M.A/M.Sc.M.Ed M.A In Education should not be treated eligible for lecturer ship In training colleges.
- There should be a state level entrance test for the admission of students into B.Ed courses run by the College of Education.
- An interview board at the state level has to be setup to examine the candidate’s oral expression like speech, word fluency, confidence, poise, etc. It must be ensured that the selected candidates do not suffer from stammering, stuttering, etc. Candidate’s aptitude for teaching profession should also be ascertained
- Additional weight age at the rate of 2%, 3% and 5% of marks for 3rd, 2nd and 1st Class post graduate degree holders be given for the admission into B.Ed course.
- The teacher taught ratio should be reduced to 1:8
- .Internal and external assessment should be separately shown and divisions should be shown separately on the mark sheet.
- There should be a reasonable limit on the number of candidates to be evaluated by any examiner in one session.
- Correspondence education should not be allowed in teacher education for fresh graduates.