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CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT B.ED CURRICULUM

JOY KIRT SIDHU

PRINCIPAL
HIMALAYA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
RANWAR, KARNAL: 132001
MOBILE: +91-9996020762
ABSTRACT
Children are the basis for schools and without children, teachers and schools will
become redundant. Teachers are trained professionals and their training and
competence provide real education. Teaching and learning encompasses each
and every facet of human life. To leave out anything would be rendering it
incomplete. As professionals it has become imperative that we see the changes
in the very social structure we live in. The skills and competencies needed to
survive have changed. The teacher is no longer ‘a repository of all wisdom’
because the very concept of wisdom has changed.

Training the teacher to be able to meet the changing world order needs scientific
vision and humane perception. The technological advances and the changes
they have brought about have affected the economic structure. The role of
women and the expectations from the members of the modern society has
changed. The very basis of society, the family is undergoing a total change and
this has to be kept foremost in mind before thinking of anything related to
education both of the teacher and the taught. We have to work together to
develop the professional ethos and standards of teaching so that the demands of
the new world order are met satisfactorily. Survival of the learners is at stake and
the onus of empowering them is on the professional acumen of the teachers.

Our first commitment and aim as teacher educators should be towards complete
elimination of child labour through Universalisation of Education and similar
burning issues in our country. Our training should be designed to sensitize our
trainee teachers to know the impact of these challenges confronting our country
and the methods to be employed for eliminating them. We know that unflinching
support of the community groups is needed to combat these challenges. The
parents, community leaders, ward members, Panchayati presidents, youth, local
political leaders, Self Help Groups and TEACHERS all of us have to come
together in a planned manner. The trainee teacher has to be trained to know the
importance of meeting these challenges and bringing together the community for
effecting a positive social change. The evolution in teacher attitudes is needed
since interactions with parents through extensive meetings are important for
achieving universalisation of education. Trainee Teachers have to be trained to
meet every parent in the village and locality and motivate them to send their
children to schools. They have to be trained to respect and welcome parents
and community members to schools which was not a part of the training
schedule earlier. Teacher education has to become realistic and address the
actual needs of the student teachers and the role they are expected to play in the
changing Indian scenario to be able to cater to the needs of the waking Indian
giant whose head was in the space age and the tail in the stone age.
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Access without Quality is Meaningless

India is a vast country with a population of over a billion people spread over more
than thirty states and centrally administered territories each of which has its own
system of education at every level, including Teacher Education. As such, it is
impracticable to present a representative picture of uniform teacher education
system in this context. India has made impressive strides in recent years in many
fields like communication and technology and this is reflected in a vibrant and
fast growing economy. It is now an acknowledged world leader in the knowledge
industry. However, in the Education sector, particularly the area of Teacher
Education has lagged behind other sectors of the Indian economy in benefiting
from the fruits of technological developments.

Requirements for Teaching Secondary Education

Most States require a secondary school teacher to have both a university degree
in teacher education (1-year B.Ed.). While not all teachers are recruited from
teacher training colleges, to be considered a “professionally trained” teacher and
receive a commensurate salary grade, a would-be teacher must go through
training in a teachers’ training college. Teacher Training Colleges include about
5,000 public, government-aided, and a rapidly growing number of unaided private
institutions, some of which are affiliated with universities.

Profile of Participants
There are thousands of teacher education institutions in the country with a
student population of hundreds of thousands. The exact figures are changing
because of the recent explosive growth of such institutions in the private sector.
The NCTE approved student intake for the elementary course is 50 per section
and for the secondary course 100 per section. A large number of institutions have
been permitted to run more than one section for each course.

Entry Qualification Requirements

For the secondary course entrants, the minimum requirement is a university
degree in any school subject. Selection is usually made through a common
entrance examination conducted every year, generally at the state level. This
situation is again different in every state and changing due to incongruous
proportion of seats available to the candidates desirous of doing the course.

Participant Performance during Training

Student performance during training is evaluated through a combination of
formative and summative evaluation procedures. The evaluation is partly internal,
through a process of continuous comprehensive evaluation, and partly external,
through an annual external examination.

Post-programme Certification
At the end of a one-year programme of secondary teacher training the successful
candidates qualify for a Bachelor’s Degree in Education (B Ed) of the university
to which the concerned institution is affiliated.
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Employment Opportunities and Salaries
The NCTE has made these qualifications mandatory for all teachers. Candidates
with a master’s degree in a school subject and a degree in education can
become teachers in higher secondary schools at both the state and central
levels. Salaries paid to teachers and teacher educators vary widely from system
to system and even from state to state. Salaries payable to teacher educators,
whether in the government or private sector, are governed by NCTE regulations.

Teacher Appraisal / On-the-job Performance

Mechanisms for appraisal of on-the-job performance of teachers and teacher
educators do exist on paper but appear to be non-functional in practice. In effect,
after the training phase, the performing teacher or teacher educator hardly ever
gets evaluated in a regular and systematic manner. The system does little to
discriminate between the effective and ineffective performance.

The Context of Teacher Training Colleges in India

Quality standards are poor, the result of an inadequate accreditation and
monitoring system. Official NCTE guidelines focus more on inputs than on
results. Basic teaching, learning and reference materials are in short supply.
There is limited exposure to modern or “progressive” teaching and learning
methods and practices. The output of graduates is poorly matched to the
demand for teachers, particularly by subject discipline. Equally important, few
policies are in place to provide incentives for teacher training colleges to improve.

Weak Accreditation and Monitoring

NCTE sets the norms and standards, and specifies required qualifications of
teacher educators. NCTE lacks the manpower, resources, and capacity to
monitor compliance with these norms and standards or in providing necessary
support for these teacher training colleges to become better qualitatively.
Recognition of the need for independent assessment and accreditation of
Teacher Training Colleges led to the establishment of the National Assessment
and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of University Grants Commission in 2002,
which produced a manual for self-assessment so institutions can strengthen their
programs on their own initiative. It is unknown how many institutions are engaged
in this process, but it is safe to assume this effort needs to be strengthened and
expanded.

Shortage of Resources in Teacher Training Colleges

Many faculty vacancies, especially outside capital cities reflect “pressure groups”
on teacher posting system. Average Class Size is of ninety five trainees.
Learning materials are outdated and or in short supply; laboratory and ICT
resources scarce and hardly ever used. Fifty percent teacher trainees surveyed
stated they lacked necessary books while only thirty percent of Teacher Training
College faculty had Internet connections or links to other educators or outside
resources. Where the material is made available the motivation is lacking.

Pedagogy of Teacher Education

Videotaped teaching sessions (> 150 minutes), made with lecturers’ consent in a
range of Teacher Training Colleges, did not show good models of interaction or
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activity-based approaches. Traditional frontal teaching was the predominant
method which is present in almost all the colleges. Trainee teachers do not ask a
single question in the class. This is the opposite of what is needed. Teacher
Training Colleges need to MODEL student-centered, activity-based learning for
teacher trainees so they can in turn apply these methods in their classrooms
when they begin teaching.

Time on Task
Teacher Educator Workload is an average sixteen to eighteen class periods for
theoretical instruction, demonstration lessons, lesson plan preparation guidance
with a period of forty to forty five minutes i.e. less than 20 hours a week. Just
over one hour per week is spent on non-teaching duties. Less than fifty percent
of teacher educators are involved in research of any kind.

Professional Development (PD) for Teacher Educators

Despite the impressive paper qualifications, the competence of teacher
educators and hence the quality of teacher education has long been regarded as
poor in the country, poorer than in any other sector of education. Institutions
catering to teacher education have generally been the slowest and most
lukewarm in adapting to anything that is new and off the beaten track, especially
to the demands of ICT and work education in the revised teacher education
curricula. This has severely affected the quality of teacher education in the
country, with major repercussions on the quality of education imparted in schools
and colleges. However, a younger generation of new entrants to the profession
holds some promise for the future. The situation with regard to teacher trainers in
Technical Teachers Training Institutions is a great deal more encouraging. They
are generally engineering graduates, often in informatics subjects, well trained
and motivated.

Perceived Benefits of Professional Training among Teacher Educators

In a study conducted only 36% of teacher educators stated that professional
training was essential to become a teacher educator. Most teacher educators
said professional training in teaching was not of much help in their performance
as teacher educators.

Responsiveness to Needs (or lack thereof)

Teacher training colleges are poorly connected to state education offices, and
lack data on the demand for teachers. Very few graduates are produced in
mathematics and the sciences.

Strengthening of NCTE
A comprehensive institutional strengthening program with incentives for
improvement would appear to be called for in Staffing (training, technical
assistance), MIS, I.C.Ts, networking with other teacher accreditation institutions
worldwide.

Options for Reform of Teacher Training Colleges

Teachers are the most critical agents of change, responsible for growth,
development and progress of societies and communities. They prepare the next
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generations, and the level of their commitment, devotion and dedication
determines the future society. The role of teachers is changing in current times,
characterized by globalization and liberalization and vast expansion of new
information and communication technologies. It is essential that all issues critical
to preparation of competent, committed and willing-to-perform teachers be
examined in depth, by all stake-holders in the field of education. Changes in
policies, practices, curriculum, research areas and priorities in teacher education
need to be continuously examined. The induction, training and recurrent in-
service education of teachers, utilizing new techniques and technologies can be
a great contributing factor. Several significant aspects of teacher education have
to be analyzed in the present changing world context. The isolation of teacher
training colleges needs to be overcome, through establishment of centers of
excellence to model good teaching, and institutional twinning arrangements,
including with departments in other teacher training colleges and universities,
both nationally and internationally.

Revision of teacher education curriculum to emphasize learner-centric,

interactive pedagogy, in line with NCF 2005 needs to be undertaken. Increase in
funding for teaching and learning materials (books, labs, teaching aids) should be
undertaken. Emphasize use of video for micro-teaching exercises, to improve
learner-centric teaching processes. Revise criteria for assessment of teacher
trainees to focus on demonstration of desired classroom behaviors. Teacher
training colleges need to improve their links with departments of education, to
modify their intake of trainees and their subject-matter to respond to forecasts of
the demand for teachers. States need to conduct regular surveys to ascertain the
needs for teachers in various subjects at different levels, and encourage the
accreditation of teacher training institutions that tailor their activities to these
needs. The activities of the current centrally sponsored scheme on Teacher
Education could be reviewed and revised. What is needed is a well defined
package that links pre-service and in-service professional development, on-site
teacher support activities, performance incentives, and a built-in feedback
mechanism for improvement. There needs to be an increase in the intake of
trainee teachers in the reserved categories and for subjects for which candidates
are not available. This would include promotion campaigns in senior secondary
schools, especially in rural areas, to encourage youth to become teachers and
make them aware of the strong labor market demand for secondary teachers.
The National Council for Teacher Education and the States could review the
lessons from around the world in alternative paths to teacher certification, which
shorten formal training periods, emphasize practice-teaching and school-based
mentorship, and encourage lateral entry into the teaching profession.

Teacher Education for Secondary Education is due for an overhaul. Quality of

learning outcomes at the secondary level will only be as good as the learning
process, which will be driven primarily by teacher effectiveness. This is not
“rocket science” – it takes willingness to change and to learn from experience in
India and around the world (what education is about), increased resources,
sustained commitment, focus on outcomes, and measurement of results.
This CAN BE DONE!
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References

Britton, e. et al (2003) Comprehensive Teacher Induction: Systems for Early

Career Learning. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Carlson S. (2009) Teacher Education for the Secondary Level in India. World
Bank, Udaipur, India.

Kirby, S. N. et al (2006) Reforming Teacher Education: Something Old,

Something New. Rand Corporation, Santa Monica.

Kothari, D. S. (1966) Chairman) Report of the Education Commission 1964-66.

Govt. of India, New Delhi

NCTAF, USA (2004) High Quality Teacher Preparation – Higher Education’s

Crucial Role.

Rajput J.S. Walia, K.(2000) Teacher Education in India. ISBN : 8120723783,

http://www.sterlingpublishers.com/bookinfo.asp?na=8120723783

TDA, UK (2007) Supporting Induction Process: TDA Guidance for Newly

Qualified Teachers. Govt. of UK, London.

Wilson, V. et al (2006) Developing Teachers: A Review of Early Professional

Learning. General