revamping teacher education: suggestions from prof poonam batra committee report, specific to b.ed

Observer Research Foundation MumbaiIdeas and Action for a Better India

In collaboration with

Smt Kapila Khandvala College of Education

What’s the best way to revamp Teacher Education

to prepare students for future…

Your beliefs become your thoughts,Your thoughts become your words,Your words become your actions,Your actions become your habits,Your habits become your values,Your values become your destiny.

 M K Gandhi

History is made when mindsets are changed

― Toba Beta

TRACING THE TIMELINE

of different reviews and reforms towards

change

With increasing concerns on quality, context and readiness of teachers in the country and the need

to prepare students for the 21st century…

2012 – Justice Verma Commission report.

May 2014 – NCTE constituted a Committee for reviewing the existing regulatory functions of NCTE regarding grant of recognition and related functions under the Chairpersonship of Prof. Poonam Batra.

July 2014 – Views / Comments / Observations on the Report of Committee constituted for implementation of Recommendations No. 2,3,6,9 and 11 of Justice Verma Commission.

HIGHLIGHTSof Prof Poonam Batra

Report

• Duration of the B.Ed course (and other courses)

• Student intake suggestions

• Curriculum revision

• Practicum and School internship

• Assessment

• B.Ed faculty qualifications and requirements

The B.Ed. programme shall be of duration of two academic years including a minimum period of school internship of 16 weeks.

At least 200 working days should be dedicated each year exclusive of admission and inclusive of the period of classroom transaction, practicum, school internship and examination.

The institution shall work for a minimum of thirty six hours in a week (five or six days).

Duration and number of working days

Student Intake

Basic unit of One hundred (100) students divided into

two sections of fifty (50) each for general sessions and

not more than twenty (20) students per teacher tor a school subject or methods courses and other practical activities of the programme to facilitate participatory teaching and learning.

Distribution of students

Suggested constitution

Mathematics : 20 Students

Social Studies : 20 Students

First Language : 20 Students

General Science : 20 Students

English Language: 20 Students

Curriculum

Three broad curricular areas:

1. Foundations of Education.

2. Curriculum and Pedagogy

3. School Internship.

Curricular Area A: Foundations of Education

The Foundations of Education includes courses in:

Learner Studies,

Contemporary Studies and

Educational Studies.

Curricular Area B: Curriculum and Pedagogy

This shall include:

constructs of knowledge and curriculum,

language facility and communication.

Practicum courses

Practicum courses are to be designed to:

• give opportunities to acquire a repertoire of professional capacities and skills in craft, creative drama, music and theatre in education;

• developing and analyzing curricular material;

• work with children,

• work with community, classroom management;

• systematic observation, documentation and evaluation.

Colloquia

Colloquia would form an integral part of the B.Ed. programme.

Colloquium provides for a platform where students draw theory-practice connections in order to interact with children and prepare resources for them.

Students are expected to present term papers, practicum reports and participate in group discussions.

Colloquia shall include a school contact programme, literature for adolescents, theatre in education, developing a resource centre in schools…

School Internship

Minimum duration 16 weeks for a two-year programme including

an initial phase of one week for observing a regular classroom with a regular teacher and

would also include peer observations,

teacher observations and

faculty observations of practice teaching lessons.

The Internship shall be conducted in two phases

The first year would include 4 weeks of orientation, of which:

one week is to be dedicated to classroom observations,

one week for community experiences and

two weeks for unit planning & teaching in opted teaching subject.

The Internship shall be conducted in two phases

Teaching during the second year of school internship would be spread over 12 weeks spread over secondary and/or senior secondary level.

In the second year, interns will be expected to:

be in school for 4 continuous days of a week.

2 days in a week shall be dedicated to planning, developing materials, reflective journal writing, and interacting with faculty at the institute.

One faculty to support a maximum of 7 students in a school for feedback, support, guidance and assessment

Programme Implementation

Enter into an MoU with at least ten schools indicating their willingness to allow the internship as well as other school based activities of the programme.

Assessment in the B.Ed. Programme

For each theory course, at least 30% shall be assigned for continuous internal assessment and 70% for external examination.

Academic Faculty

For intake of 100 students, the faculty-student ratio shall be I:15

Profiles of Faculty Required

Foundations Courses (2 posts)

Post-graduate degree in Psychology/Sociology

Or

M.Phil/Ph.D. in areas of the area of psychology /sociology of education

(Degree of education is a desirable qualification for these posts)

Curriculum and pedagogy – science, mathematics, social science, language

education

Post-graduate degree in the subject (language, science,

maths etc) and M.Ed./M.A.(Education)

Or

Post-graduate degree in subject and B.Ed

The faculty appointed on these qualifications shall be appointed subject to the condition that an M.Ed. degree shall be acquired in the subsequent five years or a Ph.D. degree in a relevant area shall be acquired in the subsequent eight years from the date of their appointment.

Or

Research degree (M.Phil./Ph.D.) in the area of relevant

Education (science education, social science etc)

VIEWS/COMMENTS/OBSERVATIONS

on the Report of Committee

constituted for implementation of Recommendations No.2,3,6,9 and 11

of Justice Verma

Background

For the purpose of implementing the recommendations 2,3,6,9 and 11 of Justice Verma, the NCTE

constituted a Committee under the Chairpersonship of Prof. Poonam Batra.

The Committee had since finalised its report and submitted to NCTE for further consideration – this is available on the NCTE portal.

All the stakeholders/ general public are requested to kindly go through the report and submit their comments/ observations on the report of the Committee by 5th August 2014

Recommendation 3

“Teacher education should be a part of the Higher

Education system.

The duration of programme of teacher education

needs to be enhanced, in keeping with the

recommendations of the Education Commission

(1966), the implementation of which is long

overdue.”

(P.95, JVC Report)

Recommendation 4“It is desirable that new teacher education institutions are

located in multi- and inter-disciplinary academic environment.

This will have significant implications for the redesigning of

norms and standards of various teacher education courses

specified by the NCTE.

This will also have implications for employment and career

progression of prospective teachers.

Existing teacher education institutions may be encouraged to

take necessary steps towards attaining academic parity with

new institutions.”

(P.95, JVCReport).

Modalities of implementing Recommendations No. 3 and 4

This Committee proposes that the restructuring of

TE in line with the Justice Verma Commission

recommendations is to be done in a phased

manner over five years.

It will cover five academic cycles beginning with

the year 2015-16 and concluding with the

academic year 2019-20.

University Affiliation

All existing Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs),

government and private, shall obtain affiliation from

local universities by the academic year 2016-17.

This is mandatory as the first batch of students studying

the new curriculum will commence the programme in

that academic year.

TEIs must meet the requisite norms laid down by the

affiliating institution including norms on infrastructure,

faculty and support staff, academic accreditation,

instituting internal processes.

Multi and Inter-disciplinary Institutions

TEIs merge with existing composite institutions/colleges offering degrees in liberal arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities.

or

TEIs/colleges start programmes in liberal arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities.

or

TEIs partner with existing composite institutions/colleges offering programmes of liberal arts, sciences, social sciences and humanities in a phased manner.

Structural and Institutional aspects

Stop admissions to 1-year B Ed. programme in 2015.

June 2014 should be the last batch admitted – 2015

will be a ‘gap’ year for admissions which will be used

to prepare for the 2-year programme to be launched

in 2016. States may exercise the option of admitting

the first batch of a two-year programme in 2015

provided institutes are fully prepared to do so.

Offer 2-year B Ed. Programme in June 2016.

Recommendation No. 6

“In keeping with the recommendations of the

Education Commission (1966), every pre-service teacher education institution may have a dedicated school attached to it as a laboratory where student teachers get

opportunities to experiment with new ideas and hone their capacities and skills to be become reflective practitioners”

(p. 95, JVC Report).

Modalities for Implementing Recommendation No. 6: A

RoadmapAll teacher education institutions, private as well as government, shall be required to have a dedicated school attached to it.

It is recommended that an attached school is either located within the campus of the institute conducting pre-service teacher education or in close proximity (within 2 km) to the institute.

The association between the school and the teacher education institution could be made on the basis of a MoU that delineates specific aspects that allow both institutions to benefit from the collaboration.

By Academic Year 2015-16, all TEIs are required to have entered into MoU with the attached school.

Recommendation No. 11

“The idea of creating opportunities for teaching practitioners to teach in teacher education institutions, as visiting faculty, may be explored. Similarly, teacher educators could be considered as visiting faculty in schools.”

(p. 96, JVC Report).

Modalities for Implementing Recommendation No. 11

The exchange of faculty members from both institutions, TEIs and

schools, shall be done mutually or otherwise. During the course of

one academic year, a maximum of two faculty exchanges shall be

permitted. The duration of each exchange shall be from within a

range from three months to one year, with provision of extension,

during the regular academic session.

School Teachers should be deputed to TEIs with which the school has

entered into an MoU. Teachers shall be offered opportunities to take

up a range of activities within TEIs.

Teacher educators shall be offered opportunities to be associated

with schools for a given duration and in different capacities.

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