Innovations in Teacher Education

INNOVATIONS IN TEACHER EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION:
While looking into the history of mankind, we can see that different social transformation have been witnessed by each century. Those transformations touch each and every aspect of the society, and according to it there has been new emphasis and shift in educational process. According to Selvam (2009), “Education is the key to a vibrant and prosperous India seeking to maximize the contributions of all its citizens and embracing the richness and possibilities that our nation’s diversity affords, as the new century begins.”
Education is one of the most important building blocks for a nation, serving as an instrument of economic and social development. Within this context, the all important role of the teacher is well recognised, as imparter of knowledge and information to students who are the future citizens of tomorrow. In India, the role of the teacher as not only an educator but also a guide has been emphasised through the centuries. Education is one of the oldest professions and through this profession educated people of a country are produced. It was believed that ‘teachers are born and not made’, but the teacher education has proved that teachers can also be made. Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with knowledge, attitude, behaviour and skills that are required to perform their tasks effectively in the school and classroom. It is often divide into pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher education programme. The teaching profession has a vast scope to serve the society to transform itself into a better society of tomorrow.
Teacher education is the professional preparation, in pedagogy, of those who want to enter the profession of teaching. This may be traditional or closed type with objectivist orientation, with focuses on the product of learning, and the progressive or open type with an orientation of subjectivity of the pupils focusing on the process of learning. Initial Teacher Education in many countries takes place largely or exclusively in institutions of Higher Education.
According to NCFTE (1996-97), the general objectives of teacher education programme are: * To develop a critical awareness among the teachers and teacher educators regarding the realities of Indian life. * To enable them to act as agents of modernization, social change and development and transmittance of the national and cultural heritage. * To develop among them the capabilities needed for performing their role in a dynamic society in order to meet the challenges of continuity and change. * To develop competencies and skills needed for becoming an effective teacher. * To develop interest and skills for undertaking action research/research. * To plan and organise for capacity building with a view to enabling them to look into the students’ needs in physical education and helping them in this regard.

The teachers have a sacred responsibility for the total development of the children in all aspects professing democratic, secular and socialistic values in them. Therefore it is not enough that a student teacher is only equipped to meet varied needs of pupil at school, what is required is that along with theoretical knowledge there should be greater emphasis on the practical aspects of the various components of teacher education so that it can be linked to the needs of the community and national development.

RECOMMENDATIONS OF VARIOUS COMMISSIONS:
Education Commission (1964-66) emphasised on the recognition of education as an independent discipline and for that, departments of education should be established in selective universities in order to develop teacher education studies and research in education through collaboration with other university disciplines. (Inter – disciplinary approach.) Extension work, alumni association, practice in active collaboration with selected schools, implementation of phased programmes, Establishment of comprehensive colleges of education in each state on a planned basis, state board of teacher education (SBTE) in each state to look after teacher education at all levels – all these are also emphasised by Kothari Commission.

The National Policy on Education (1986) has put emphasis on honour, academic freedom and satisfaction of a teacher with regard to their qualifications and responsibilities. Suitable steps should be taken to improve professional competencies of teachers at all levels. The academic freedom of teachers to conduct research, experiments and innovations should be assured. The curriculum of teacher education of the elementary and secondary stages should be suitably changed in order to enable the teachers to play their role properly in reforming the education system.
According to Education Commission, (1948-49), “Until and unless we have dedicated and committed teachers, who can take teaching as a mission in their lives, we cannot have a good educational system. Teachers should be the best minds of the country.”
PRESENT STATUS OF TEACHER EDUCATION:
A nation is built by its citizens, citizens are moulded by teachers and teachers are made by teacher educators. The National Policy on Education, (1986) has rightly stated, “no people can rise above the level of its teachers.” So for the development of the country, it is very important to have good teachers and good teachers can be produced only if we have a good system of teacher education and dedicated and efficient teacher-educators. Extraordinary expansion of teacher education institutions and programmes during the past few years characterizes the teacher education scenario of today. With increasing school enrolments and the launch of pan-Indian primary education development programmes like Operation Blackboard (OB), District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) 1995, SSA (2002) to achieve UEE, there was a natural increase in demand for teachers. Added to this, the backlog of untrained teachers in the system and the essential requirement of pre-service teacher certification for appointment as a teacher led to mounting pressure on existing institutional capacity. The demand far exceeding supply, market forces have taken over causing unprecedented rise in the number of teacher education institutions in most parts of the country. The escalating demand for trained teachers and the belief that a training certificate acts as collateral against future unemployment has made teacher education a beneficial business proposition. It has also led to large scale mushrooming of substandard teacher education institutions.

PROBLEMS AND CHALLANGES FACED BY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMME:
The role of the teacher is changing so fast that no amount of pre-service or in-service teacher education can probably cope with the expectations of the society. The teacher needs to be convinced as a ‘change agent’ and not as a mere transmitter of knowledge and culture. According to Gupta (2009), “The miserable conditions of the teachers is despite the fact that we achieved independence many years ago, but still 40% of Indian population is living below the poverty line.” The first task of educationist is to make educational effort in rural areas is to render each individual peasant in rural society, conscious of his position. The system of teacher preparation is weak on several counts though efforts have been made to upgrade these and enhance the quality of products of teacher training institutions. Problems in teacher education include expectations, roles, relationships, rewards, recognition and sanction in the social group in which teachers work. Sociological forces are subtle but crucial determinants in educational programmes, including evaluation of teacher’s quality, power and status.
General problems in teacher education: * Time bound short term programme to clear the back log of untrained teachers in schools, is unfortunately commercialized. * Government is allowing the opening of new institutions even if the new colleges do not satisfy the prescribed norms. * There is need for continuous monitoring of the demand and supply of trained teachers for each state and to make subtle plans to balance these two. * Entrance requirement or admission criteria are not the same in all states. * This professional course needs to be critically reviewed regarding the professional requirements of Student teachers. * There is less scope for social recognition, honours, rewards and incentives. * Many teachers have little understanding over the subject content they teach they possess few teaching skills and are poorly motivated. * There is very little standardization in the curriculum for pre primary Teacher Training.
Even many subjects like art, craft, drawing - are not there in the syllabus of teacher education programmes. Mangala (2001) states that there is no provision for training teachers for the subjects like art, craft, music, etc. while these subjects are very well taught in schools.
To solve all these and even other than these problems, one of the important solutions is innovation in teacher education programme. Proper innovations may lead to quality improvement.

INNOVATIONS - PRACTICES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE:
Education prepares an individual with healthy and creative mind. Education is at the centre of all developmental efforts of any nation. Teacher is the basis for this purposeful and continuous process. The progress of any state depends on the quality of its teacher. That is why the teacher is called the nation builder. The irony of the fact is that the teacher is not equipped with the knowledge of latest trends in the content and process of curricular transaction and related issues.
Quality is the main concern of almost all sectors of life including education. Access, cost and quality are some issues of formal system of education which are as old as system itself. Quality is an abstract concept and difficult to define although a few attempts are notable. According to Vijayalakshmi (2009), “Quality is a totality of features or characteristics of product and service that bears its ability to satisfy its need.” Defining quality in teacher education is much more challenging. The process of teacher education is often compared to service, but the relationship between a teacher and taught is not like a relationship between service provider and client. The quality of teacher education is to be defined as its needs in terms of excellence, value, enrichment and educational outcome. According to Mukerji (1968), “In India, teaching has been a recognised and revered profession since the dawn of history. The teacher was expected not only to impart information and skills, but lead and guide his students ‘supreme knowledge.’ Hence, the quality laid down for teachers were very high.” According to NCFTE (2009), “It is obvious that the education and training of a prospective teacher will be effective to the extent that it has been delivered by teacher educators who are competent and professionally equipped for the job. The quality of pedagogical inputs in teacher education programmes and the manner in which they are transacted to realize their intended objectives depend largely on the professional competence of teacher educators.”
Researches as well as innovations both play a very important role in improving the quality of teacher education at secondary stage. In teacher education programme efficient and good teachers are prepared who always try to introduce new ideas, techniques and practices in classroom transaction, curricular or co-curricular activities. The National policy on education (NPE 1986, 92) also recognized that “teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appreciate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs of and capabilities of and the concerns of the community.”
Chattopadhyaya Commission notes, “If school teachers are expected to bring about a revolution in their approach to teaching... That same revolution must precede and find a place in the colleges of education.”
Many innovations have been conducted in the past particularly after independence which has brought out significant changes and improvement in the field of teacher education at secondary stage. Some important areas of secondary teacher education in which innovations attempted are: A. Improvement in student teaching through: 1. Micro teaching techniques. 2. Organisation of internship in teaching programmes. 3. Evaluation of student teachers by subject specialists that is education staff (method master) and the practicing classroom teacher. B. Improvement in the methods of teaching through: 1. Team teaching. 2. Workshop in teaching. 3. Seminars and discussions. 4. Systematic evaluation as an integral part of the teaching – learning process. C. Introduction of alternative programmes of the education and training of teachers such as: 1. For year integrated Teacher Education Programme. 2. Two year B.Ed. Programme. 3. Correspondence Courses. D. The Pre-Service education of teacher incorporates in its programmes the major policy thrusts Viz.: 1. Universalisation of primary education (UPE) 2. Increased access to educational facilities especially for the weaker sections of the society 3. Education for working with the community and for integrated rural development 4. Better health and nutrition education. 5. Education for developing employable skills. 6. Non – formal education and lifelong education s a new dimension as a new dimension of education system. E. Developments in science and technology, rapidly increasing communication network and mass media: 1. Categories of ICT in the Governance of Higher Education 2. E-learning 3. Distance Learning 4. Teaching and Learning with ICT 5. Training through Tele Conferencing. 6. Computer assisted Instruction (CAI)
Government of India has launched a national campaign called ‘operation knowledge’ to universalize computer literacy and information literacy in education. F. Models of Teaching: 1. Alternative patterns of teaching 2. Teachers may model their behaviour in accordance with demands of different teaching models.

The National Policy of Education (NPE 1986/92) recognized that teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs of and capabilities of and the concerns of the community. The policy further stated that teacher education is a continuous process, and its pre-service and in-service components are inseparable. As the first step, the system of teacher education should be overhauled.
Quality of education is directly linked with the preparation of the teachers for teaching. It is the teacher education programme that develops various skills with proper balance among the teachers. There are high challenges standing in the way of teacher education, but new practices and innovations have added a new level of complexities to these challenges. We can say that the major innovation in teacher education was a shift from teacher training to teacher education. This may be viewed as a major innovation to revamp the complete system of both pre – service and in – service teacher education. Many innovations continued with and without the support of external organisations. And it can be said that innovations have brought significant improvement in the field of secondary teacher education stage. These innovations should be conducted on continuous basis so that future challenges can be faced.

REFERENCES:

Gupta, S.N.(2009). Teacher Education In The Changing Scenario. In Panda, B.N. & Tewari, A.D. (Eds.) (2009). Teacher Education, New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishingationa Corporation.

Mangala, S. (2001). Teacher Education: Trends and Strategies. New Delhi: Radha Publication.

Mukerji, S.N. (1968). Education Of Teachers In India, New Delhi: S. Chand & Co.

NCFTE. (2009). National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education Towards Preparing Professional and Humane Teacher, New Delhi: NCTE.

NPE (1986,92). Innovations in Teacher Education, University News, Association of Indian Universities, Vol. 48, No. 45, October 04-10, 2010. Pandey, R.S. & Sharma, R.U. (1990). Educational Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Ambala Cantt: The Associated Publishers. Vijayalakshmi, G. (2009). Progress And Process Of Teacher Education. In Venkataiah, N. (Eds.) (2009). Teacher Education, New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation.

References: Gupta, S.N.(2009). Teacher Education In The Changing Scenario. In Panda, B.N. & Tewari, A.D Mangala, S. (2001). Teacher Education: Trends and Strategies. New Delhi: Radha Publication. Mukerji, S.N. (1968). Education Of Teachers In India, New Delhi: S. Chand & Co. NCFTE. (2009). National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education Towards Preparing Professional and Humane Teacher, New Delhi: NCTE. NPE (1986,92). Innovations in Teacher Education, University News, Association of Indian Universities, Vol Venkataiah, N. (Eds.) (2009). Teacher Education, New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation.