Teacher Education

?     NEED, SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF TEACHER
EDUCATION :
Need of teacher education :
The American Commission on Teacher Education rightly observes,
“The quality of a nation depends upon the quality of its citizens.
The quality of its citizens depends not exclusively, but in critical
measure upon the quality of their education, the quality of their
education depends more than upon any single factor, upon the
quality of their teacher.”
In his Call for Action for American Education in the 21st
Century in 1996, Clinton indicated that :
―Every community should have a talented and dedicated teacher
in every classroom. We have enormous opportunity for ensuring
teacher quality well into the 21st century if we recruit promising
people into teaching and give them the highest quality
preparation and training”.
The need for teacher education is felt due to the following reasons;
1) It is common knowledge that the academic and professional
standards of teachers constitute a critical component of the
essential learning conditions for achieving the educational goals
of a nation. The focus of teacher preparation had to shift from
training to education if it had to make a positive influence on the
quality of curriculum transaction in classrooms and thereby pupil
learning and the larger social transformation. The aspects that
need greater emphasis are;
the length of academic preparation,
the level and quality of subject matter knowledge,
the repertoire of pedagogical skills that teachers possess to
meet the needs of diverse learning situations,
the degree of commitment to the profession,
sensitivity to contemporary issues and problems and
the level of motivation.
This is not possible if teacher preparation focused only on
training. Holistic teacher building is necessary and therefore
teacher education needed more emphasis than mere training.
2) Educating all children well depends not only on ensuring that
teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out
their work, but also that they take responsibility for seeing that
all children reach high levels of learning and that they act
accordingly.
3) People come to teacher education with beliefs, values,
commitments, personalities and moral codes from their
upbringing and schooling which affect who they are as teachers
and what they are able to learn in teacher education and in
teaching. Helping teacher candidates examine critically their
beliefs and values as they relate to teaching, learning and subject
matter and form a vision of good teaching to guide and inspire
their learning and their work is a central task of teacher education
(Fieman-Nemser, 2001).
4) The National Academy of Education Committee‘s Report
(Darling-Hammond and Bransford, 2005) wrote that :
―On a daily basis, teachers confront complex decisions that rely
on many different kinds of knowledge and judgement and that
can involve high stakes outcomes for students‘ future. To make
good decisions, teachers must be aware of the many ways in
which student learning can unfold in the context of development,
learning differences, language and cultural influences, and
individual temperaments, interests and approaches to learning‖.
In addition to foundational knowledge about the areas of learning
and performance listed in the above quotation, teachers need to
know how to take the steps necessary to gather additional
information that will allow them to make more grounded
judgements about what is going on and what strategies may be
helpful. More importantly, teachers need to keep what is best for
the student at the centre of their decision making.
5) Teacher education like any other educational intervention, can
only work on those professional commitments or dispositions
that are susceptible to modification. While we can‘t remake
someone‘s personality, we can reshape attitudes towards the
other and develop a professional rather than a personal role
orientation towards teaching as a practice.
6) The Ministry of Education document ―Challenge of Education :
A Policy Perspective‖ (1985) has mentioned, ―Teacher
performance is the most crucial input in the field of education.
Whatever policies may be laid down, in the ultimate analysis
these have to be implemented by teachers as much through their
personal example as through teaching learning processes.‖ India
has reached the threshold of the development of new
technologies which are likely to revolutionise the classroom
teaching. Unless capable and committed are teachers in service,
the education system cannot become a suitable and potential
instrument of national development.
The teacher is required to acquire adequate knowledge, skills,
interests and attitudes towards the teaching profession. The teacher‘s
work has become more complicated and technical in view of the new
theories of psychology, philosophy, sociology, modern media and
materials. The teacher can be made proficient with well planned,
imaginative pre-service and in-service training programmes.
Scope of Teacher Education :
The scope of teacher education can be understood in the following
ways;
Teacher education at different levels of education
Triangular basis of teacher education
Aspects of teacher education
Teacher Education at different levels of Education : Teacher
education reaches teachers at all levels of education, namely Pre-
primary, Primary, Elementary, Secondary, Higher Secondary and the
Tertiary. The needs and requirements of students and education vary
at each level. Hence level and stage-specific teacher preparation is
essential. Teacher education also helps in the development of
teaching skills in teachers of professional institutions. The teachers
in professional institutions have only the theoretical and practical
knowledge of their respective subjects. They require specialized
teacher training inputs to deal with students entering their
professions. Teacher education also reaches special education and
physical education. Thus where there are teachers, there would be
teacher education.
The knowledge base is adequately specialized and diversified
across stages, in order to develop effective processes of preparing
entrant teachers for the functions which a teacher is expected to
perform at each stage.

Triangular Basis of Teacher education : Construction of the
relevant knowledge base for each stage of education requires a high
degree of academic and intellectual understanding of matter related
to teacher education at each stage. This involves selection of
theoretical knowledge from disciplines cognate to education,
namely, psychology, sociology and philosophy, and converting it
into forms suitable for teacher education. Teacher education derives
its content from the disciplines of Philosophy, Sociology and
Psychology. These disciplines provide the base for better
understanding and application of Teacher education. The
Philosophical basis provides insights to the student teachers about
the implications of- the various schools of philosophy, ancient and
modern philosophical thoughts, educational thoughts of
philosophical thinkers on education and its various aspects such as
curriculum construction and discipline. The Sociological basis helps
the student teachers to understand the role of society and its
dynamics in the educational system of a nation and the world at
large. It encompasses the ideals that influence national and
international scenes. The Psychological basis helps the student
teachers develop insights into students‘ psychological make-up. This
enables the student teachers to understand their self, their students
and the learning situations such that they are able to provide
meaningful and relevant learning experiences to their students.
Aspects of Teacher Education : Teacher education is concerned
with the aspects such as, who (Teacher Educator), whom (Student
teacher), what (Content) and how (Teaching Strategy). Teacher
education is dependent upon the quality of teacher educators. The
quality of pedagogical inputs in teacher education programmes and
their effective utilization for the purpose of preparing prospective
teachers depend largely on the professional competence of teacher
educators and the ways in which it is utilized for strengthening the
teacher education programme. Teacher education, thus, first deals
with the preparation of effective teacher educators.
Teacher education reaches out to the student teachers by
providing the relevant knowledge, attitude and skills to function
effectively in their teaching profession. It serves to equip the student
teachers with the conceptual and theoretical framework within which
they can understand the intricacies of the profession. It aims at
creating the necessary attitude in student teachers towards the
stakeholders of the profession, so that they approach the challenges
posed by the environment in a very positive manner. It empowers
the student teachers with the skills (teaching and soft skills) that
would enable them to carry on the functions in the most efficient and

effective manner. Teacher education therefore pays attention to its
content matter.
Objectives :
Vision of teacher education :
Teacher education has to become more sensitive to the
emerging demands from the school system. For this, it has to prepare
teachers for a dual role of;
Encouraging, supportive and humane facilitator in teaching
learning situations who enables learners (students) to discover
their talents, to realize their physical and intellectual
potentialities to the fullest, to develop character and desirable
social and human values to function as responsible citizens; and,
An active member of the group of persons who make conscious
effort to contribute towards the process of renewal of school
curriculum to maintain its relevance to the changing societal
needs and personal needs of learners, keeping in view the
experiences gained in the past and the concerns and imperatives
that have emerged in the light of changing national development
goals and educational priorities.
These expectations suggest that teacher operates in a larger
context and its dynamics as well as concerns impinge upon her
functioning. That is to say, teacher has to be responsive and sensitive
to the social contexts of education, the various disparities in the
background of learners as well as in the macro national and global
contexts, national concerns for achieving the goals of equity, parity,
social justice as also excellence.
To be able to realize such expectations, TE has to comprise such
features as would enable the student teachers to
Care for children, and who love to be with them;
Understand children within social, cultural and political contexts;
View learning as a search for meaning out of personal
experience;
Understand the way learning occurs, possible ways of creating
conductive conditions for learning, differences among students in
respect of the kind, pace and styles of learning.

View knowledge generation as a continuously evolving process
of reflective learning.
Be receptive and constantly learning.
View learning as a search for meaning out of personal
experience, and knowledge generation as a continuously
evolving process of reflective learning.
View knowledge not as an external reality embedded in
textbooks, but as constructed in the shared context of teaching-
learning and personal experience.
Own responsibility towards society, and work to build a better
world.
Appreciate the potential of productive work and hands-on
experience as a pedagogic medium both inside and outside the
classroom.
Analyze the curricular framework, policy implications and texts.
Have a sound knowledge base and basic proficiency in language.
The objectives of teacher education would therefore be to,
Provide opportunities to observe and engage with children,
communicate with and relate to children
Provide opportunities for self-learning, reflection, assimilation
and articulation of new ideas; developing capacities for self
directed learning and the ability to think, be self-critical and to
work in groups.
Provide opportunities for understanding self and others
(including one‘s beliefs, assumptions and emotions); developing
the ability for self analysis, self-evaluation, adaptability,
flexibility, creativity and innovation.
Provide opportunities to enhance understanding, knowledge and
examine disciplinary knowledge and social realities, relate
subject matter with the social milieu and develop critical
thinking.
Provide opportunities to develop professional skills in pedagogy,
observation, documentation, analysis, drama, craft, story-telling
and reflective inquiry.