Reflections On Teacher’s Training

 Most teachers agree that they ended up joining the teaching profession, not by passion, but by chance. The success of teacher education depends on training the teachers to handle people (and pupil), while promoting their welfare and achieve the goals of education. In the past, teachers were a source of knowledge, but now multiple sources of knowledge are available such as, internet, newspapers, magazines, media etc. The change in the scenario of families (shift from joint to nuclear) and globalization have put high expectations and demand on the teachers. Parents aim their children to not only achieve good academic results but also physical,social,emotional and spiritual training. Thus,teachers need more professional development in multiple areas to empowered to shape the future citizens of a country. Design of teacher training programs becomes very important in this context and have to include wider areas of cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains.

Teacher education in India: then and now

In India, Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is a professional degree which is mandatory for students to work as teachers in schools. The course can be done by any graduate, who wishes to teach primary or secondary level students. It was a one-year course (almost 10 months) until 2014, but the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has updated the duration of course to two years from 2015.This change has definitely given wider scope of course for quality improvement. This year (2019), the B.Ed. course program is converted into a four-year integrated training program, which can be taken up after 12th class at two levels – pre-primary to primary and upper primary to secondary. The four year integrated B.Ed. course will be conducted in three streams – B.A. (Bachelor in Arts), B.Com. (Bachelor in Commerce) and B.Sc. (Bachelor in Science). The course is taken up after 12th class for three years, one year is saved since in the previous plan after three years of graduation, two-year course of education is done which comes to a total of five years. Students who would like to opt for this course have to think well and take the right decision before choosing it as they need to justify the profession.

The aim of four-year teacher training program is to have quality teacher training and to generate well trained teachers who shape the classrooms and in turn the future citizens of the society. It also aims to highlight the fact that teaching should become a profession of choice but not a profession of left over. Teachers need more professional development than they had received during the training period of one or two years.

What is happening elsewhere?

National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore, has earned 2nd place in Asia and 12th place in the world, is offering a four under-graduate Bachelor of Arts (education) and Bachelor of Science (education) which gives quality training in both subject content and professional teaching qualification. The degree programs focus on grooming the passionate and driven students to become truly effective educators and differentiate them from others. The program will equip the trainee with content knowledge that is school-relevant and pedagogical, making it most suitable for teaching career.

While the education system in Finland has been the centre of attention of educators across the world since Finnish students have consistently featured among the top performances in PISA (Programme for International Assessment). Teacher education in Finland had introduced to a two-tier degree system in 2005, which suggest that all teachers need a 3-year Bachelors degree and a 2-year Master’s degree (kindergarten Teachers need only a Bachelor degree). Classroom Teachers (I-VI level) teach all the subjects and Subject Teachers (VII- IX) teach one or two subjects (one major and one minor subject) only. The important principles behind the design of education is pedagogy studies, language and communication (including ICT) along with personal study plan which forms a common core between the classroom and subject teacher education curriculum. Teachers have to write a research-based dissertation at the end of course of study in education and human development, training in diagnosing students with learning difficulties and extensive training on how to teach the children of varied learning abilities by applying differentiated strategies are given.

Attributes of a 21st century teacher

Following are the attributes of the 21st century teaching professional, which definitely needs more time (training period) for empowering the teachers:

1. Skills: Pedagogical skills, People management, Self-management, Reflective management and thinking disposition, Administration and management, Communication skills, Technological skills, Innovation and entrepreneurship skills, Social and emotional intelligence.
2. Learner centered skills: Empathy, Valuing of diversity, Belief that all children can learn, Commitment to nurturing the potential in each child.
3. Knowledge: Self, Pupil, Commitment, Subject content, Pedagogy, Educational foundation and policies, Curriculum, Multiple literacy, Global awareness and Environment awareness.
4. Teacher Identity: Aims for high standards, Enquiry nature, Quest for learning, Strive to improve, Ethical, Professionalism, Passion and adaptiveness.
5. Service to the profession and community: Collaborative learning and practice, Building apprenticeship and membership, Social responsibility and engagement.

On a concluding note…

The initiative of four year Teacher training course, which can cover wider aspects of education and teaching-learning processes can empower the teachers towards quality improvement of education system and prepare global citizens in every classroom.

The aim of four-year teacher training program is to have quality teacher training and to generate well trained teachers who shape the classrooms and in turn the future citizens of the society. It also aims to highlight the fact that teaching should become a profession of choice but not a profession of left over.

Surekha Nayani, M.Sc., B.Ed., is working as Academic Co-ordinator and Head of the department for science in Delhi Public School, Secunderabad from past 13 years. She has a total teaching experience of 19 years in CBSE curriculum and has been teaching science to secondary school students. She conducts workshops for teachers in the areas of Teaching-learning processes and CBSE compliances. She is a recipient of Teacher Excellence Awards twice in Effective Lesson Planning and Innovative strategies in Teaching Resources organised by S. Chand & Progressive Teacher in the year 2016 and 2017 and also Global Teacher Award in the year 2019 by AKS educational society.