Teacher Education

The 2009 White Paper in Norway recognises as serious challenges the dropout rates among teacher students, as well as the high number of teachers who leave the profession. To quote their report: ‘Experience and research shows that the sudden confrontation with classroom realities and total teacher responsibility can be traumatic for new teachers. Classroom experience during teacher education is from a controlled environment, with highly competent instructors at hand … A qualified teacher, on the other hand, operates with no safety net … No wonder then, that many find it overwhelming’ (p. 7). One aim for their teacher education reform is to provide a softer start to a teaching career and life-long development of professional competence. All new teachers will be offered follow-up by a qualified and experienced mentor, to give professional and practical support and help them to build confidence, through access to the collective competence and experience of the school community. Such practice may also provide opportunities for learning through discussion about observed practice in school that may conflict with key messages provided during initial education. As well as eliminating the wastage of teaching resources through attrition (drop out), such support measures should improve the quality of teaching.

The Education Commission (1964-66) of India accepted this influence of teachers in powerful words, “No nation can be more vibrant and growing than the education system of her country and no education system can rise above the Status of its teachers implementing to it.” Today the society is being transformed into a Knowledge society along with rise in the quality of life and living. India looks ahead to becoming a superpower. All this and many more achievements would not have been possible without the role and contribution of teachers at all levels in higher education in this country. Stating that teacher-educators cannot do justice to their jobs if they do not know the organization, management and sociology of schools. They should know the needs, motivations and commitments of the society to strengthen higher education ultimately well being of the nation. The teacher educator is the potential resource to provide guidance for the growth and development of student teacher. The teacher is now expected not only to inculcate knowledge but also encourage divergent and reasonble thinking. In the changed scenario, teachers should be able to guide students to the sources of information and knowledge available. This Conceptual Article is an attempt to visualize and probe into an important aspect concerning empowering teacher-educators for imparting quality teacher education.

The role of a syllabus in a university setting is explored to determine how this document may support an exploration of the degree to which current mathematics teacher education research is evidenced in pre-service teacher education programs. According to the Merriam- Webster’s dictionary, syllabus is defined as a summary, a course of study, or an outline. Matejka and Kurke (1994) propose that there are four key functions of a syllabus. The syllabus represents a legal agreement between the instructor and the student, the student and the university, and the instructor and the university; it is a communication device regarding the learning outcomes and goals of a program of study; it is a plan or description of the events to occur within the course; and it is a cognitive map, outlining the way in which knowledge will be shaped by the content of the course.

Brock Education, 18(2) 98 tensions, Dr. Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker, was appointed as the coordinator of the Elementary Foundational Methods course. Darlene’s role was to revise the Methods course of the teacher education program and contemplate how the complementary methods cohort seminar could merge better the theory practice divide. Darlene turned to the idea of case study to merge method theory topics to seminar practice topics. Using narrative cases of real teachers would dramatize the issues that teaching candidates might encounter in their classes and prepare them in practical ways (Sykes & Bird, 1992; McAninch, 1993; Merseth, 1997; Richert, 1991). Darlene then began a project to edit a case study book which matched methods topics to real life case scenarios in classrooms, schools and educational communities across Ontario. The idea was to incorporate cases in the cohort seminar where skilled faculty members could aid the facilitation for teacher candidates and use their own skilled knowledge and experiences to stimulate a rich theory practice discourse (Shulman, 2002). Emulating a reflective and collaborative stance would help beginning teachers guide their decision-making processes (Cochrane-Smith, 2002).

This research study is an attempt to explore some of the issues on the experiences of student teachers during their educational journey from different cultural background which shows urgency of reforming teacher education for multicultural education. The major objectives of the study were To find out experiences of student teacher due to cultural diversity during School life and Teacher training program and to express the need of Multicultural Education in Teacher Education. The population was the pre-service teachers undergoing teacher training for the secondary level in the Colleges of Education in Maharashtra state. From this, a sample of fifty two student teachers was obtained by purposive sample method. Survey was conducted to study this problem.

Many academics in the field of inclusive education point to teacher education and school leadership as essential for the implementation of inclusive education in the classroom yet the standard of teacher training courses across India varies hugely, and they usually approach the inclusion of children with disabilities from a deficit perspective. In the general teacher education diplomas and degrees available nationwide, there is an optional „special needs‟ paper to train and „prepare‟ teachers to identify and diagnose disability. However, it is not an integral part of the training, and it does not train teachers to deal with diversity or challenge negative attitudes. This reinforces the „difference‟ of children with disabilities who, some believe, can only be taught by teachers qualified specifically for them. However, it is ultimately teacher treatment of students in the classroom, rather than the training per say, that would reinforce this difference.

Our research could have significant impact in the field, especially given the current uncertainty in teacher education policy, especially in England. The insights afforded by this research into the background and perspectives of teacher educators, their practical activities and balance of job dimensions, their expertise and yet their difficult positioning within higher education more generally have the potential to inform the development of the profession from within and, particularly, the strengthening of a specifically academic culture of teacher education. Strengthening the academic culture of teacher education does not mean rejecting the more professional and practical dimensions. The English model of teacher education is unusual in Europe in its model of very early placements – its perceived ‘rush to practice’ - where trainee teachers are expected to demonstrate competence quite quickly in school. In Finland, for example, teacher education is more firmly rooted in universities and there is no national minimum length of time that must be spent teaching in schools. Our

Besides academic activities, the NCTE has achieved some success in its regulatory functions by bringing a vast majority of teacher training institutions under its purview. Particularly, commercialization of Teacher Education has been controlled to a great extent at the cost of a large number of cases pending in the courts and a huge expenditure on account of this. A so called landmark decision taken by NCTE was "to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy a compulsory part of B.Ed. course, mainly to create general awareness amongst the teacher trainees about ICT and its use in teaching-learning." (NCTE Annual Report, 2000-2001 p.3). Unless qualified and competent teachers/teacher educators are in a position to utilize properly the hardware facilities supplied by various agencies, the purpose for doing the same may not be realized.

The teacher education faculty of Arkansas State University wishes to take this opportunity to congratulate you on selecting teaching as a professional career. The Teacher Education Handbook was formulated to aid you in gaining an understanding of the conceptual framework, policies, and procedures that govern teacher education. As the College of Education and Behavioral Science moves through the 21 st century, many issues will be debated, studied, and subsequently modified to continue striving to produce quality teachers. Please read this Handbook carefully and consult with your advisor for clarification or additional information as you proceed through your program. The most recent revised handbook can be retrieved on the Professional Education Programs web site http://www.astate.edu/a/prof- ed-programs-office/.

At EU level, the cooperation on teacher education among Member States have increased in recent years in the context of the increased political cooperation on education since the launch of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000. The improvement of the education of teachers and trainers was identified as one of the key objectives to improve the overall quality of the education and training systems in the EU. In 2002 the Commission established an expert group with representa- tives of Member States, social partners and other stakeholders to support the implementation of this objective, notably through identifying key issues and exchanging best practices. In 2004, the Commission was given the mandate by the Council of Ministers to begin the development of Common European Principles on Teacher Competences and Qualifications, a common framework to support policy reforms on teacher education in the Member States. The expert group developed a set of common principles which were pre- sented in 2005, but it was not until August 2007 that the Commis- sion formally presented the results of its work on teacher education in a Communication on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education. In its work on teacher policy, the Commission is drawing on data from both the OECD and Eurydice: in 2002-2004, Eurydice published four reports as part of a comprehensive survey on “The Teaching Profession in Europe: Profile, Trends and Concern”. In the context of the development of EU indicators in education, the EU has also entered into a formal cooperation with the OECD on the collection of data. The data which will be collected via the TALIS survey will formally provide the basis of an EU indicator on teachers’ continu- ous professional development. This indicator will add to the three existing indicators on teachers at EU level which long have been acknowledged as inadequate as they only relate to the issue of shortages/surpluses of teachers.

in this study, both the questionnaire and the blog writings were valuable as sources of information about teacher students’ perceptions. the purpose of group discussions was to get further information to supplement the views highlighted in the questionnaire and blog writings. the blog writings especially enabled us to capture teacher students’ own style of writing; ga- thering data which had been personally produced by the teacher students, using concepts that were familiar to them. blog writings revealed teacher students’ perceptions through their own individual ways of describing and interpreting medicine education and the role of the teacher in it. however, the perceptions found in all data were coherent, focusing on very similar issues. this study did bring to the debate on medicine education, an awareness of concrete pedagogical challenges. these results cannot be generalized but may be utilized in planning and implemen- ting teacher students’ further education. the results from this study will be useful to those who are concerned about health as well as medicine education. by developing good teaching and learning methods during teacher education, the importance of health and critical health literacy can be promoted. more experiences would be needed in order to gain a profound understanding of medicine education and the role of the teacher in it.

The policies and procedures, which serve as a systematic foundation for teacher education are initiated and developed at a number of levels. Faculty members and administrators at the departmental level assume a major responsibility for the initiation, development, and administration of goals and objectives relating to their teacher education majors. For example, changes in a particular teacher education degree program may be studied and developed by the department curriculum committee, and if approved, the committee chair will forward to the college curriculum committee, and if approved, to the Council on Professional Education (COPE). All professional education matters, such as curriculum proposals, originating in ASU academic departments and colleges (including the College of Education and its departments, forums, and standing committees) enter unit governance by way of the Head of the Unit who will route the material to the COPE. COPE will review the requests, information, reports, curriculum proposals, etc. and forward it to the appropriate standing committee, or program committee for recommendations. The Council may schedule regular reports or special reports from the standing committees and ad hoc committees. It may accept the reports in whole or in part; it may amend them; and may return them to committee for revisions. The reports are then forwarded by COPE to the Head of the Unit for action.

While there is often an assumption of similarity between the kinds of teacher education work undertaken across the higher education sector, and although when teacher educators meet they often identify commonalities at a personal level, previous research such as the ESRC demographic review of the social sciences (Mills et al 2006) and our own (Ellis et al, submitted) suggests significant institutional differences. In addition, the policy trajectories within the devolved UK also indicate increasing national variations in the practical activities of teacher education and how these are conceptualised (Menter et al 2006). The proposed study seeks to open out these questions for discussion by the widest possible constituency, including teacher educators themselves, the departments or professional schools in which they are based, the higher education sector and employers generally, UCET, the TDA (in England) and other professional and policy stake-holders. To that end, the project aims to achieve the following outcomes:

MAR-APRIL 2016, VOL-3/23 www.srjis.com Page 1690 1. To maintain quality in teacher education three factors i.e. infrastructure, instructional facilities and human resources are required. If these requirements are provided to each teacher education institutes, the quality development is possible.

In recent years computer and internet are useful to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education at all levels and both in formal and informal education. In India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio, television and audio conferencing technologies for teacher education.

www.srjis.com Page 27 The curriculum design of the present teacher education pattern provides an opportunity to go through these dimensions, so that the ethical development can be achieved. Philosophical and sociological foundations of education give them the understanding to know the truth and to discriminate between right and wrong and also to understand the customs and traditions of the prevailing society while the knowledge of psychology makes them aware with the different aspects of personality, thus helping them to develop a right kind of attitude for their profession. Therefore, it becomes the duty of the teacher to see what role to play, to know which professional opportunities to use, which impulses to encourage and which social attitude to cultivate in the child. For this reason, the curriculum of the present teacher education must be dealt with great care and attention, so that the prospective teachers could be made aware of their responsibilities towards their wards and their profession as well as to boost their commitment towards the society and the nation as such.

often found in the new pedagogies – wants to make the child or learner meet his own reality. Recent evidence also indicates that reforms of teacher education creating more tightly integrated programs with extended clinical preparation interwoven with coursework on learning and teaching produce teachers who are both more effective and more likely to enter and stay in teaching. An important contribution of teacher education is its development of teachers’ abilities to examine teaching from the perspective of learners who bring diverse experiences and frames of reference to the classroom. Teaching is emotional, especially when teachers must change their practices. Self-regulation usually refers to awareness and knowledge of one's learning and cognition and the control of one's cognition that renders this ability essential in learning and development. Recently, the concept has been studied intensively, except in professional learning. A revised role for teacher educators in shaping an emerging course room culture is presented, acknowledging the realities of power and ideology that influence the daily practices in the course room. E-learning can be a powerful means of creating open educational resources accessible to everybody thus counteracting a divided knowledge society. In this paper, the educational trends of developing different learning strategies for learning beyond traditional school curriculum. The child is developing in all areas and not only intellectually. He is exploring the world in accordance with his preferences and making it a little better. This vision of the human being – often found in the new pedagogies – wants to make the child or learner meet his own reality. The teacher as reflective practitioner

ICT in education is the foundation upon which a country develops. It is a dynamic force in the life of every individual influencing his physical. Mental, emotional, social and ethical development. It is a complete development of the individual of a child enabling him to make original contribution to human life. Teachers have always played a crucial role in preparing communication and societies towards exploring new horizons and achieving higher levels of progress and development. Recognizing the growing importance of ICT in the education area, policy making in the teacher education sector following can be achieving by using ICT;

School education system has developed considerably across the years as a result of new, improvised policies and programmes for better accessibility and quality of school education. This has enhanced the need of improvised infrastructure and skilled manpower to cater to the needs of the diverse student population in the classroom. The teacher education system, though is developing, yet has failed to take a quantum leap to match the demand of the quality teachers that has risen in the recent past. In this context, the paper aims to highlight the need for revitalising the teacher education system in the country in order to make the policies for improved school education a success.

In 2002, the Council also developed. “Curriculum Framework for Quality Teacher Education” for upgrading the quality of teacher education programmes at par with international standards. NCTE being aware of the importance of information and Communication Technology (ITC) has made ICT literacy a compulsory part of B. Ed course. NCTE has been engaging in organizing number of workshops for teacher educators all over the country to make known them with basics of computer usage. In addition, B.Ed. colleges were provided with CD-ROM‟s to teach IT literacy.