QUESTION
Describe the nature, scope, and significance of in-service training teacher education.
Course: Teacher Education in PakistanCourse code 8626
Level: B.Ed (1.5 Years)
Solved Assignment
Answer:
Teachers’ professional education
is viewed as one of the most important factors in improving students’ learning.
Keeping this in view many developed and less developed countries pay
significant attention to improving the practices of teacher education. In order
to develop capable teachers, they make conscious efforts to establish and maintain
quality teacher education institutions. The history of teacher education in
Pakistan starts with the establishment of the country.
However, this area has been
facing various challenges such as lack of consistent policy, inconsistency in
curriculum, low resources, lack of quality teachers, low quality of teaching process,
lack of standard, etc. Today, a range of public and private institutions are
engaged in preparing school teachers. In Pakistan, like many other countries,
public institutions are the main source for developing teachers through
pre-service and in-service programs. However, many studies have raised the
question of the quality of the delivery mechanism of the institutions while
forwarding recommendations for improvement.
Historically, different reforms
have been brought to improve the condition of teacher education in the country.
Currently, teacher education in Pakistan is passing through a transition as innovation has been initiated by the Government of Pakistan with the support of
USAID through their Pre-Service Teachers Education Programme (STEP) project. This
reform is attempted in order to improve the quality of teacher education by
including different innovations.
In this regard, a new curriculum
has been developed for pre-service programs such as a two-year Associate
Degree in Education (ADE) and a four-year BEd (Hons). An effort has been made to
design the curriculum keeping in view the modern educational principle along
with contextual relevancy. These programs are gradually replacing the
previous pre-service and in-service programs such as Primary Teacher
Certificate (PTC), Certificate in Teaching (CT), and the one-year BEd program.
In addition, an effort is being made for the accreditation and standardization
of teacher training institutions through this initiative.
The ADE and BEd program has
been initiated in some colleges and will be gradually implemented in remaining
colleges throughout the country in the coming years. In addition, to attract
the best mind to the teaching profession a stipend is also offered to student-teachers
for providing them financial support.
The significance of such
educational innovation cannot be overlooked for the improvement of teacher
education in the country. However, there are areas that need serious
consideration for the effectiveness and sustainability of the new reform
initiatives. Firstly, the newly developed curriculum is based on modern
educational principles.
Teachers are provided a course
outline with the expectation that they will explore the teaching-learning
material for classroom instructions. However, it was observed that some of the
teachers are struggling with identifying teaching resources due to the
unavailability of reference books and lack of Internet facilities in their
colleges/institutions. This situation may affect the teaching-learning process
of the ADE courses. Hence there is a need to provide reference books and
Internet facilities to the faculty members in order to make the teaching-learning
process smooth.
Second, the Internet is considered one of the important sources for identifying teaching-learning material.
However, it was observed that some of the faculty members are not literate in
computers and the Internet. So they are facing challenges in accessing the
teaching18 learning resources that are available on the Internet or in a soft version. Therefore, the faculty members of colleges need to be helped in
acquiring workable computer and Internet skills.
Third, the new curriculum demands
new teaching strategies such as collaborative, inquiry, and activity-based
teaching approaches. However, a majority of the faculty in the teacher institutions
are not oriented with the teaching strategies demanded by the ADE and Bed programmer.
Therefore, the professional development of the faculty at teacher training institutions
should be given priority along with curriculum development.
Furthermore, there is a sense of
uncertainty about the sustainability of the new initiatives after the completion of
the Pre-STEP project. Many educational initiatives in the past died away with the closure of the projects. Therefore there is a dire need to develop a clear road
map for the continuity and sustainability of reforms.
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