Open Collections

A study of the development of teacher education in India; its history, philosophy, and certain modern trends and needs

University of British Columbia

This study was conducted in order to understand the present system of teacher education in India, and to find ways and means to improve it. It has been shown that two great traditions have combined in the area of teacher education in India. To begin with, there are pre-British traditions where teaching was linked with religion. Then, secondly, there were the contributions of the British period which altogether changed the character of teaching, the medium of instruction being secular rather than religious. It was also shown that in the pre-British period there were no systematic training institutions in the present-day sense, and the system of teacher training was British inspired. The foremost problem at present is teacher recruitment; a problem of enormous urgency and difficulty. Some Indian educational leaders are thinking about some sort of conscription, while others favour voluntary recruitment. This study favoured the latter course. After recruitment, the other most important problem is the present system of teacher training which required certain changes and readjustments to fit in with the new and changing conditions in India. It was thought that the formal curriculum of the training colleges should be displaced by training aimed at personal as well as professional development of the teacher as a citizen. It was indicated that the present system should be changed to suit the teachers of the Basic Education schools, and certain ways were suggested to improve the practice of teaching. Furthermore it was found that the present training period is too short and should be extended. The study also indicated that the present system of teacher training is far from being satisfactory. The remedy proposed is not only to improve it from within in the light of Indian conditions, but also to improve upon it by incorporating some of the practices used in other countries. It was therefore proposed that introductory courses in the evaluation and testing of pupils should be started in training colleges, and the suggestion was made that a general program of guidance should be started in the training colleges. Educational research should be encouraged, and in-service training of teachers should receive proper attention. The system of summer schools and the idea of educational workshops should be put into practice, and finally it was suggested that a broad education should be made the basis of specialization and in this way narrow specialization would be avoided.

Text

2012-03-14

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/41407

Education

University of British Columbia

Graduate