Sharma, Rajeev Ratan. (2014). A Study of the Pre-service Secondary Teacher Education Programme in Jammu Province for Emerging Divergent Education Contexts: Perspective, Practices and Prospects. Unpublished. ERIC, Education

Research Questions

The study attempted to address the following research questions:

• Does the existing teacher education curriculum fulfill the needs of the diverse educational contexts?

• Does the existing practice of teacher education curriculum transaction equip the teachers to meet their professional requirements?

• What is the existing profile of teacher educators?

• How do the stake-holders perceive the existing teacher education programme?

• How far the teacher education programme is able to achieve its objective in operation?

Sample of the study:

For the sample, eight colleges were chosen from five districts of Jammu Province and all of these colleges are affiliated to the University of Jammu. Among these 2 colleges are permanently affiliated to the University whereas other six colleges are temporary affiliated.

Tools used:

The following tools have been developed for use in this study:

• Teacher Educators Profile (for Marco Survey)

• Questionnaire for Student Trainees Perception

• Observation Schedule for Classroom Practices

• Questionnaires for Stakeholders

• Questionnaires for Beginners

• Questionnaires for School Principals of Practice Teaching Schools

• Content Analysis of Curriculum of B.Ed Colleges

• Focused Group Discussion with the Teacher Educators

Method of the study:

Survey method

Statistical Techniques:

Frequency count

Major Findings:

The Curriculum

The curriculum overall displays concern with the global standards but, their implementation is not judiciously done. The balance between teaching of theory and practical contents required to be revised and to be maintained appropriately.

Classroom Observation

As part of the project, classroom observations were made of the different situations of teacher education programme. Among the situations observed in all the sample colleges, the results were far

from the objectives of the study. It was also marked that the colleges were least interested to be on the equal pedestal to the global standards. Least concern was expressed to achieve the desired global levels of learning and teaching in colleges of education.

Teacher Educator’s Profile

The major thrust of the study was the performance and understanding of the Teacher Educator’s about the teacher education programme. It was found that most of the teacher educators’ in these colleges were mostly fresh graduates as well as many of them were post graduates. Hence, there was lack of appropriate experience among them. Another reason of not having experienced faculty, it is the payment of the less salary as promised by the Managements. A positive aspect about all these colleges was that a fairly cohesive environment was seen and teamwork was encouraged to its maximum. Teacher Educators did feel a need for career advancement programmes for professional betterment and weren’t well conversant with the Internet and web-based learning.

The Stake -holders Perception

The stake-holders are the main source of growth of self-finance B.Ed. colleges, their awareness about the profession and its market importance makes the course to improve in the requisite direction. Many were satisfied with the present condition of the frame work of teacher education programme. Some felt that the orthodoxy of the curriculum and the pedagogic methodology are making the entire course lose its community relevance.

Keyword(s): Secondary Education, Pre-service Teacher Education