Teacher Education

       1.4 CHANGING CONTEXT OF TEACHER
EDUCATION IN THE INDIAN SCENARIO :
The well-established tradition of teaching and learning in
India has retained its inherent strength even under adverse
circumstances. The post-independence period was characterized by
major efforts being made to nurture and transform teacher education.
The system of teacher preparation has come under considerable
pressure as a result of the expansion and growth of school education,
through efforts to universalize elementary education. Having
inherited a foreign model of teacher preparation at the time of
independence from Britain in 1946, major efforts have been made to
adapt and up-date the teacher education curriculum to local needs, to
make it more context based, responsive and dynamic with regard to
best meeting the particular needs of India. The current system of
teacher education is supported by a network of national, provincial
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and district level resource institutions working together to enhance
the quality and effectiveness of teacher preparation programs at the
pre-service level and also through in-service programs for serving
teachers throughout the country.
Impact of National Policies :
India has made considerable progress in school education
since independence with reference to overall literacy, infrastructure
and universal access and enrolment in schools. Two major
developments in the recent years form the background to the present
reform in teacher education-
The political recognition of Universalization of Elementary
Education that led to the Right to Education Bill, 2008 and
The National Curriculum Framework for school education, 2005.
The Bill has been passed by the Parliament and the Right to
Education Act has come into being making it mandatory for the state
to provide free and compulsory education to almost 20 crore
children in the 6-14 age group till class 8. The Act mandates a
schedule for the functioning of schools which includes a teacher-
student ratio of 1:30 till a student population of 200 students at the
primary stage. This would increase the demand for qualified
elementary school teachers many times. The country has to address
the need of supplying well qualified and professionally trained
teachers in large numbers in the coming years. The lunch of the
massive Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2002 and the recent financial
commitment and education cess to augment the Universal
Elementary Education mission have underscored the need to
adequately prepare teachers to address the growing demand for
quality education.
Developments in School education :
School education has seen significant development over the
decades since independence. According to Government estimates
(Selected Educational Statistics- 2004-2005 – Ministry of Human
Resource Development, New Delhi) while 82% of the 20 crore
children of the 5-14 age group were in school as per enrolment
figures, it is equally true that 50% of these children are dropping out
before completing class 8 (MHRD Annual Report 2007-08). The
situation on the ground is still ridden with difficulties. Regional,
social, economic and gender disparities are posing new challenges.
This reality increases the challenge that the prospective teacher will
face in implementing the Right to Education Act.
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The continued fragmentation of the school system poses the
severest challenge to the national declaration of catering to the basic
needs of all children in the 6-14 age group through the elementary
education in an inclusive setting. However increasing privatization
and differentiation of the schooling system have vitiated drastically
the right to quality education for all children.
Changing Role of the Teacher :
The current system of schooling poses tremendous burden on
children. Educationists are of the view that the burden arises from
treating knowledge as a ‗given‘, an external reality existing outside
the learner and embedded in textbooks. Knowledge is essentially a
human construct, a continuously evolving process of reflective
learning. The NCF 2005, requires a teacher to be a facilitator of
children‘s learning in a manner that the child is helped to construct
his/her knowledge. Education is not a mechanical activity of
information transmission and teachers are not information
dispensers. Teachers have to increasingly play the role of crucial
mediating agents through whom curriculum is transacted.
Challenges in Teacher Education :
Unprecedented 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, District Primary Education
Programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Universalization of
Elementary Education, there was a natural increase in the 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 unprecedented rise in the number of
teacher education institutions in most parts of the country.
From 3489 courses in 3199 institutions and an intake of
2,74,072 in 2004, the numbers in December, 2008 swelled to 14,523
courses in 12,200 institutions with an intake of 10,73,661 at different
levels. This expansion has taken a heavy toll on quality parameters
like infrastructure, faculty learning resources and student profile.
Teacher education as a whole needs urgent and
comprehensive reform. There is a need to bring greater convergence 
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between professional preparation and continuing professional
development of teachers at all stages of schooling in terms of level,
duration and structure. Considering the complexity and significance
of teaching as a professional practice, it is imperative that the entire
enterprise of teacher education should be raised to a university level
and that the duration and rigour of programmes should be
appropriately enhanced.
Research and Innovation :
There is a need to increase research that documents practices
reflectively and analytically- whether it is of programs or of
individual classrooms – so that it can be included in the body of
knowledge available for study to student teachers. University
departments and research institutions need to undertake such
research. In addition there is a need to innovate with different
models of teacher education. Institutional capacity and capability to
innovate and create are a pre-requisite for the pursuit of excellence.
Hence in the present scenario a lot of impetus has been given to
research. Many teacher educators are encouraged to take up either
major or minor research projects.
Inclusive Education :
There are two kinds of exclusion prevalent in schools; one is
the exclusion of the child with disabilities and the second is the
social exclusion of children who come from socially and
economically deprived backgrounds. There is a dire need to equip
teachers to overcome their biases in these regards and positively
handle these challenges.
The Persons with Disabilities (PWD) Act of 2005 provides
for free and compulsory education up to the age of 18 years for all
children with disabilities. The education of socially and
economically disadvantaged groups, especially the SCs, STs and
minorities has remained a primary national concern of education for
several years. The enrolment and retention of girls and therefore
their participation has also remained behind those of boys. Teachers
will have to be specially equipped if the social deprivation has to be
overcome through education.
Perspectives for equitable and sustainable development :
In order to develop future citizens who promote equitable and
sustainable development for all sections of society and respect for
all, it is necessary that they be educated through perspectives of 

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gender equity, perspectives that develop values for peace, respect the
rights of all, and that respect and value work. In the present
ecological crisis promoted by extremely commercialized and
competitive lifestyles, children need to be educated to change their
consumption patterns and the way they look at natural resources.
There is also a increasing violence and polarization both
within children and between them, that is being caused by increasing
stress in society. Education has a crucial role to play in promoting
values of peace based on equal respect of self and others. The NCF
2005 and subsequent development of syllabi and materials is
attempting to do this as well.
Role of Community knowledge in education :
It is important for the development of concepts in children as
well as the application of school knowledge in real life that the
formal knowledge is linked with community knowledge. The NCF
2005 promotes the inclusion of locally relevant content in the
curriculum as well as pedagogy.
ICT in Schools and e-learning :
With the onset and proliferation of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), there is a growing demand that it
be included in school education. Teacher education has been
structured to orient and sensitize the teacher to distinguish between
developmentally appropriate and detrimental uses of ICT. It needs to
also equip teachers with competence to use ICT for their own
professional development.
In view of the above discussion the newly visualized Teacher
education program as put forth by NCERT is as follows;
Newly visualized Teacher Education Program-
Emphasizes learning as a self-learning participatory process
taking place in social context of learner‘s as well as wider social
context of the community to nation as a whole.
Puts full faith in self learning capacity of school children and
student teacher and evolving proper educative programme for
education.
Views the learner as an active participative person in learning.
His/her capabilities or potentials are seen not as fixed but capable
of development through experiences.

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Views the teacher as a facilitator, supporting, encouraging
learner‘s learning.
Does not treat knowledge as fixed, static or confined in books but
as something being constructed through various types of
experiences. It is created through discussion, evaluate, explain,
compare and contrasts i.e., through interaction.
Emphasizes that appraisal in such an educative process will be
continuous, will be self-appraisal, will be peer appraisal, will be
done by teacher educators, and formal type too.
Hence there would be a major shift;
From To
Teacher centric, stable designs Learner centric, flexible process
Teacher direction and
decisions
Learner autonomy
Teacher guidance and
monitoring
Facilitates, support and encourages
learning
Passive reception in learning Active participation in learning
Learning within the four walls
of the classroom
Learning in the wider social
context the class room
Knowledge as "given" and
fixed
Knowledge as it evolves and
created
Disciplinary focus Multidisciplinary, educational
focus
Linear exposure Multiple and divergent exposure
Appraisal, short, few Multifarious, continuous
1.5 CHANGING CONTEXT OF TEACHER
EDUCATION IN THE GLOBAL SCENARIO :
Teacher education is a global profession that needs to be
understood properly. It is essential to grasp a global perspective of
the profession as it is today, to make assumptions about it in the near
future and to utilize the best thinking and instructional models
available in the present times.

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Professionally, powerful teaching is very important and
increasing in our contemporary society as a result of the steam of
dynamic initiatives of human development and evolution. Due to
these developments and evolution, standards of learning would be
higher in the 21st century than it has been in the 20th century. As a
result teachers would need to acquire additional knowledge and
skills, both general and specific, to be able to survive and be
successful in the 21st century school environment.
Education has increasingly become important to success of
both individuals and nations. Growing evidence demonstrates that,
among all educational resources, teachers‘ abilities are especially
critical contributors to students‘ learning and consequently the
success of a nation to advance in its economic, social and political
spheres (Darling-Hammond, 2006).
1. Dynamic teacher education and training in the 21st century
globalised world.
For dynamic teacher education and training in the 21st century
globalised world, teacher education and training institutions must
design programmes that would help prospective teachers to know
and understand deeply; a wide array of things about teaching and
learning and in their social and cultural contexts. Further more,
they must be able to enact these understandings in complex
classroom situation serving increasingly diverse students. If the
21st century teacher is to succeed at this task, teacher education
and training institutions must further design programmes that
transform the kinds of settings in which both the novices and the
experienced teachers teach and become competent teachers. This
signifies that the enterprise of teacher education and training
must venture out further and further and engage even more
closely with schools in a mutual transformation agenda with all
the struggles involved. Importantly, the teacher education and
training institutions must take up the charge of educating policy
makers and the general public about what it actually takes to
teach effectively both in terms of knowledge and skills that are
needed and in terms of the school contexts that must be created
to allow teachers to develop and use what they know on behalf of
their students (Fullan, 1993).
2. Structure of a globalised teacher education and training curricula.
Throughout the world, reform and innovation initiatives by
nations have triggered much discussion about the structures of
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teacher education and training programmes (Hėbert, 2001) and
certification categories into which programmes presumably fit.
Building stronger models of teacher preparation in the 21st
century would require adequate and progressive knowledge
content for teaching as well as knowledge content for the
subjects that the teacher would be required to teach. In this
respect, the ―what‖ of teacher education and training should be
the focus of the curriculum.
The ―what‖ of globalised teacher education and training
curricula
There are many ways to configure the knowledge content that
teachers may need to render their services professionally
(Darling-Hammond, 2006). In articulating the core concepts and
skills that should be represented in a common-core curriculum
for teacher education and training, there is need for a frame work
to guide decisions and practice. In the United States, the National
Academy of Education Committee on Teacher Education
adopted a framework that is organised on three intersecting areas
of knowledge found in many statements of standards for teaching
which would be applicable for consideration in the 21st century
teacher education and training curricula. The list below is
represented in figure 1 diagrammatically
Knowledge of learners and how they learn and develop within
social contexts, including knowledge of language
development.
Understanding of curriculum content and goals, including the
subject matter and skills to be taught in the light of
disciplinary demands, student needs and the social purposes
of education; and
Understanding of and skills for teaching, including content
knowledge of specific subject, content pedagogical
knowledge for teaching diverse learners, as these are
informed by an understanding of assessment and of how to
construct and manage a productive classroom.

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Figure 1 : Preparing Teachers for the 21st century
The curricula should take cognisance of the ever-changing
needs of society, the globalisation scenario, the advancement and
proliferation of technology and the way traditional classroom
teaching is loosing grounds for distance-virtual learning (Allen and
Thomas, 2000; Kantrowitz et al, 1987).
The content of the curricula should take account of the 21st
century classroom. Teachers should be trained on the state-of-the-art
hard and soft ware that will become common in the 21st century
classroom. Training in technology should encompass
telecommunications, satellite access, networking, the internet, video-
conferencing and digital components as well as optical technology.
These technologies will permit the 21st century teacher in the 21st
century classroom feel comfortable and teach effectively and
efficiently.
Another scenario is the changing pattern of world
employment. There are so many professions in our modern world
and this will multiply in the 21st century. The new directions in
teacher education and training should take cognisance of this so that
teachers are prepared to play multiple roles and take their rightful
positions in the teaching-learning environment to face these
challenges confidently. We can only improve the quality of
education worldwide for our students if we provide our teachers with
the required skills, knowledge and experiences. One which deserves
TEACHING AS A
PROFESSION
A VISION OF
PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE IN THE
21ST CENTURY
LEARNING IN A DEMOCRACY
Knowledge of Learners and their
Development in Social Context
* Learning and Language
* Human Development
Knowledge of subject matter and
Curriculum goals
* Educational goals and purposes
for skills
* Content, subject matter
Knowledge of Teaching of subject
* Content knowledge
* Content and practice pedagogy
* Teaching diverse learners (Inclusive Teaching)
* Assessment and evaluation
* Clasoom management

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mention is the ability of the 21st century teacher to control disruptive
behaviour of students in the classroom which makes it impossible
for the teacher to work efficiently and effectively and even in some
instances puts the security of both students and teachers at risk.
Problems of such nature may multiply in magnitude in schools in the
21st century and for this reason, teacher education and training
institutions should equip teachers with knowledge and skills in
management to be able to address such problems effectively and
efficiently.
Teacher education curricula should be inclusive and
emphasize on life long learning, development in technology and its
applications and strategies for planning viable alternatives to benefit
students. Emphasis should be on democratic principles and practices.
The institutionalization of democracy will make teachers see the role
of schools and their contribution to the development of democratic
values, skills and behaviour from the global perspective.
The ―how‖ of globalised teacher education and training
curricula :
The programme designs and pedagogies should attend
specifically to the how of teacher education and training. It is
important to have well-chosen courses that include core content
knowledge for teaching and advanced research background. It is
equally important to organize prospective teachers‘ experiences so
that they are able to integrate and use their acquired knowledge in a
skilful manner in the classroom, especially incorporating research in
whatever is taught so that the 21st century teacher becomes teacher-
researcher at heart. Often times, this becomes the most difficult
aspect of constructing a teacher education and training programme.
The onus of the issue is that teacher education and training should
attend to both the what and how so that knowledge for teaching, in
reality, shapes the teachers‘ practice and enables them to become
adaptive experts who are versatile and capable of operating
effectively and efficiently in a variety of teaching and learning
environments using the tools that have been provided to them during
their training.
Lortie (1975) is of the view that accomplishing what has been
indicated above requires addressing special challenges in learning to
teach. Three interrelated issues are mentioned that learning to teach
requires that the 21st century teachers
Come to understand teaching in ways quite different from their
own experiences as students. This, Lortie refers to as the

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apprenticeship of observation which refers to the learning that
takes place by virtue of being a student in traditional classroom
setting.
Learn not only to think like a teacher‖ but also to ―act as a
teacher‖. This is termed by Kennedy (1999) as the problem of
enactment. Professionally, teachers need to understand and be
able to do a wide variety of things simultaneously.
Be able to understand and respond to the dense and multifaceted
nature of the classroom environment, juggling multiple academic
and social goals requiring trade-offs from time to time and day to
day (Jackson, 1974). In short, the 21st century teacher should
learn to deal with the problem of complexity that is made more
intense by the changing nature of teaching and learning in the
teaching-learning environment.
A question that needs explicit answers in relation to the topic
under discussion is ―How can programmes of teacher education
and training prepare the 21st century teacher to confront the
identified problems of learning to teach and others
unanticipated?
Studies (Oberg, 2001; Hėbert, 2001; Glickman, 2001,
Weiner, 2001; McCall, 2001) examining seven exemplary teacher
education and training programmes find that despite outward
differences, the programmes had seven things in common namely :
A common clear vision of good teaching that permeates all
course work and clinical experiences, creating a coherent set of
learning experiences.
Well-defined standards of professional practice and performance
that are used to guide and evaluate course and clinical works.
A strong core curriculum taught in the context of practice and
grounded in knowledge of the child and adolescent development
and learning, an understanding of social and cultural contexts,
curriculum design, reform, and innovation, evaluation and
assessment and subject matter content and pedagogy knowledge
and skills.
Extended clinical experience, at least 24 to 36 weeks of
supervised practicum and student teaching opportunities in each
programme are carefully chosen to support the ideas presented in
simultaneous, closely monitored and interwoven course work.
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Extensive use of a variety of case methods, teacher research,
performance assessment and portfolio evaluation that apply
learning to real problems of practice.
Explicit strategies to help students to confront their own deep-
seated beliefs and assumptions about learning and students and to
learn about the experiences of people different from themselves.
Strong relationship, common knowledge and shared belief
among school-based and university-based faculty jointly engaged
in transforming teaching, schooling and teacher education and
training. (Darling-Hammond in Press).
Models of teacher education and training for the 21st century :
The new directions will have to grapple with models of
teacher education. The current models need reform and innovation
and new models would have to be developed that would enable
teachers to adapt comfortably to the changing times (Avalos, 1991;
Monnathoko, 1995; Popkewitz, 1987, Ginsberg, 1988; Nagel, 1992;
Al-Salmi, 1994; Shaeffer, 1990). The new models should emphasize
learning to do and learning to think so that we do not produce
learned monsters but learned thinkers.
1. There is absolute need for participatory teacher education. In
this model, teachers in training should play active role in the
training process. They should become participants in decisions
regarding the needs to which their training must respond; what
problems must be resolved in the day-to-day work environment
and what specific knowledge and skills must be transmitted to
them. In the participatory model teachers must be self-directed
and self-taught. Every aspect of the training must be based on
reflection and introspection. The needs, problems, statuses and
roles must be clearly defined, examined and analysed by them.
The actual concrete experiences of working with students should
be emphasized. Teachers must be able to collectively examine
and analyse their consequences, assisted by the trainers in
solving problems (Akinpelu, 1998; Akyeampong, 2003).
In the new directions, there should be what I would like to
term as ―better teaching‖ model. Teachers should be able to :
Author and publish experiences and researches conducted.
Be central and key participants of curriculum reform and
innovation.
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Extensive use of a variety of case methods, teacher research,
performance assessment and portfolio evaluation that apply
learning to real problems of practice.
Explicit strategies to help students to confront their own deep-
seated beliefs and assumptions about learning and students and to
learn about the experiences of people different from themselves.
Strong relationship, common knowledge and shared belief
among school-based and university-based faculty jointly engaged
in transforming teaching, schooling and teacher education and
training. (Darling-Hammond in Press).
Models of teacher education and training for the 21st century :
The new directions will have to grapple with models of
teacher education. The current models need reform and innovation
and new models would have to be developed that would enable
teachers to adapt comfortably to the changing times (Avalos, 1991;
Monnathoko, 1995; Popkewitz, 1987, Ginsberg, 1988; Nagel, 1992;
Al-Salmi, 1994; Shaeffer, 1990). The new models should emphasize
learning to do and learning to think so that we do not produce
learned monsters but learned thinkers.
1. There is absolute need for participatory teacher education. In
this model, teachers in training should play active role in the
training process. They should become participants in decisions
regarding the needs to which their training must respond; what
problems must be resolved in the day-to-day work environment
and what specific knowledge and skills must be transmitted to
them. In the participatory model teachers must be self-directed
and self-taught. Every aspect of the training must be based on
reflection and introspection. The needs, problems, statuses and
roles must be clearly defined, examined and analysed by them.
The actual concrete experiences of working with students should
be emphasized. Teachers must be able to collectively examine
and analyse their consequences, assisted by the trainers in
solving problems (Akinpelu, 1998; Akyeampong, 2003).
In the new directions, there should be what I would like to
term as ―better teaching‖ model. Teachers should be able to :
Author and publish experiences and researches conducted.
Be central and key participants of curriculum reform and
innovation.

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Encourage learners to work together in a cooperative spirit,
help each other with their work as well as be able to evaluate
themselves.
Help learners publish their own work online portfolios.
Write a bank of learning activities for learners to access at
their own pace.
Give learners a wider choice of learning activities according
to their own interests and capabilities.
Build up a personal portfolio of their best teaching plans so as
to share among other teachers.
Create exciting learning environment of active knowledge
creation and sharing.
2. The new teacher education and training should not lose site of the
power of technology for both teachers and students learning.
The real power of technology will come when teachers have been
trained well in them and have captured the potential of
technology themselves. In this way, teachers would be able to
contribute to model the behaviour that the students are expected
to learn thereby making them to grow up not to be learned
monsters but more human, creative and productive (Burke, 2000;
Holmes Group, 1986).
3. Need for in-depth content and practical knowledge of
research for teachers
Research must be a major priority in teacher education and
preparation in the 21st
century. Professional teachers naturally
seek answers to questions and solutions to problems that enable
them to help their students to learn. They are decision makers,
make thousands of choices on hourly basis regarding the choice
of texts, literature, appropriate and relevant technology
integration, curriculum pedagogy, assessment and measurement.
They are highly reflective and sensitive to the needs of their
students. They encounter failures and successes. However, much
of what teachers have to offer remains a secret. Their key to
success is a mystery. Teachers seek multiple means of looking at
their world of teaching and learning and that of their students by
unlocking the secrets within the classrooms. Research is one of
such potent keys to help unlock these secrets.

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The concept research and its significance to teacher education
and training :
There is need to look at the concept research and how it
applies to the teaching-learning environment, especially in the 21st
century school environment. This will make the professional teacher
to identify with the fact that research is a major part of the
professional practice. For this reason, research in this discussion will
be taken to mean :
“…systematic study of a phenomenon with the aim of finding
explanations or solutions or understanding and finding patterns
among what is studied so that action could be taken to arrest or
improve the situation” (Boaduo, 2001:4).
Problems of different kinds and magnitudes abound in the
teaching-learning environment and these would quadruple in the 21st
century school environment. Whenever such problems surface and
pose threat to the survival of the students and their progress, a
critical study would have to be conducted to find solutions to resolve
the threat and improve the situation.
Need to provide 21st century teachers with solid foundation in
research methods :
If the 21st century teachers are to consider themselves as
researchers and use research to improve their practice, then the
following conditions would need to be fulfilled in their entirety by
teacher education and training institutions (Boaduo and Babitseng,
2006).
All categories of teachers – pre-school, primary, secondary and
tertiary – should have as part of their training a concise detailed
course in research methods that would conceptualise and
concentrate on the work that teachers do in their day to day
practice and not just as a course to fulfil a condition for a degree
or diploma certificate.
When equipped with the required content and practical
knowledge and skills in research, teachers must be the first
people to initiate research in the teaching-learning environment
that has significant bearing on their professional practice because
they have the knowledge, skills and experiences about the needs
of their students and situations that confront them as well as the

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lives of the education institutions that they are located and
operate daily.
Decisions taken about research in their operative environment
which affect their condition and progress of their practice as
professionals in the educative sphere must be theirs to make and
implement.
Educational researches that are related to teaching – be it in the
classroom or for the general improvement of the overall school
environment (physical infrastructure, institutional materials or
methods, strategies and approaches) can be effective with the
agreement of teachers (UNESCO, 1979). This can only be
successfully accomplished if they are given in-depth training by
the institutions.
3. Globalising the teaching profession through a globalised
teacher‘s council.
Currently, every country has its own teaching council with
specific objective to register professionally qualified teachers before
they can practice. Every country has its own requirements that
professional teachers should meet in order to be registered and
certificated to teach. Even in the same country, like the USA,
Australia and United Kingdom getting registered as a teacher entails
delaying. In the USA every state has its own teaching council that
registers professionally qualified teachers and certificated with a
license to practice. A critical look at this scenario reveals that
teacher transfer from one state to another in the same country
becomes a burden if not delays while teacher-shortages abound in
these countries.
In order to make teaching to become a mobile profession
world wide, there is need for 21st century globalised teaching
council. The mandate of this council should be to collaborate with
institutions and organizations responsible for teacher education and
training to develop a common-core teacher education and training
curricula as well as the establishment of teacher professional
registration council which would be mandated to issue professional
teaching licenses for practitioners that would be recognised
worldwide to make teacher mobility from region to region and
country to country easy and fulfilling.
1) The need for teacher-tracer studies and further professional
development by teacher training institutions after training.