Devi, M D Usha. (2005). A STUDY OF PRE-SERVICE SECONDARY STAGE TEACHER EDUCATION FOR EMERGING DIVERSE EDUCATION CONTEXT IN KARNATAKA: PERSPECTIVES, PRACTICES AND PROSPECTS. Unpublished. ERIC, Education
Objectives of the study:
To assess the existing teacher education curriculum in-terms of its relevance to the emerging diverse educational contexts
To study whether the existing practice of teacher education curriculum transaction equips the trainees to meet their professional requirements.
To analyze the perception of teacher educators and teacher trainees with regard to relevance and adequacy of the existing professional preparation programme of teachers.
To evolve profile of teacher educators with a view to assess their competence in changing contexts.
To identify the gaps between the on-going process of teacher preparation and the intended objectives.
To analyze the perception of stakeholders with respect to compatibility of the teacher education programme for emerging roles of the teacher.
Sample:
There are about 23 B.Ed colleges (9 Pvt. Aided and 14 Pvt. Unaided) affiliated to Bangalore University.
Tools Used:
Questionnaire for Teacher Educators
In-Depth Interview Schedule for Teacher Educators
Questionnaire for Student Teachers
Questionnaire for Beginner Teachers
Content analysis proforma for Students Observation Records
Observation of curricular transaction in B.Ed college
Design of the Study:
Survey Method.
Statistical Techniques:
Frequency and Percentage Analysis
Findings:
In terms of the intentions and objectives of teacher education for secondary stage of education, the. B.Ed programme appears to reflect the broader national goals of education as well as some of the emerging concerns in the diverse education context. Curricular objectives under the professional subjects are clearly indicative of the excellent intentions of the B.Ed programme.
The study reveals that it becomes necessary that the B.Ed curriculum not only reflect such an intention but also allow adequate curricular space to even practice the same.
In-terms of providing knowledge base, the programme seems to have created adequate space through different professional subjects.
In-terms of relevance, the current B.Ed programme is found to reflect all the ten parameters of diverse educational context in some paper or the other. The current B.ed curriculum is found to be relevant in terms of its intentions and goals, coverage of unit contents, seminar topics and practical activities as it is found to reflect not only the national goals and societal concerns but also the emerging concerns in the field of education.
In terms of the capacity to equip the prospective teachers, the current B.Ed programme is found to fall short in several areas of professional practice, induction and orientation to teaching.
In-terms of curricular practice, the most commonly observed pattern of classroom transaction is the knowledge transmission model.
In-terms of orienting student teachers to professional roles of teachers during the classroom curricular transaction by teacher educators, there were very few references to the teachers role for emerging demands in the diverse education context.
It is seen that more than 80.0 per cent of the teacher educators are highly academically accomplished with an additional post graduate degree/diploma and doctoral degree. It is also gratifying to note that more than 76.0 per cent of the teacher educators have received various kinds of professional training during their tenure; more than 57.0 per cent have participated in seminars/conferences. However, when it comes to involvement in professional activities, publications and research, there are very few of them. Similarly the computer literacy skill is not universalized among the teacher educators. Only a little over 20.0 per cent of teacher educators are familiar with MS Word, Excel and multi media and over 30.0 per cent of the teacher educators are familiar with internet surfing. Although all the sample B.Ed colleges had a personal computer, its use was restricted to administrative and managerial activities rather than teaching-learning.
In terms of equipping student teachers with necessary skills and competence, over 60.0 percent of the teacher educators are of the view that the present B.Ed partially fulfills this. While over 45.0 per cent of the teacher educators believe that communication skills are important for teaching profession, another 25.0 per cent of them believe that computer skills are necessary for the prospective teachers. Similarly with respect to the existing B.Ed programme equipping student teachers with necessary skills and competence for the emerging challenges and roles, particularly in the diverse education context, only very few of them are able to identify teacher's roles. Also, More than 70% of the student teachers believe that teachers can be made rather than teachers are born.
The findings emerging from the results of the analysis of data from the present study have implications for just not restructuring the initial teacher preparation programme for secondary schools but also for reconceptualising the teacher education.
Keyword(s): Pre-service Teacher Education