Perspectives on Teacher Certification Programs in India

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Perspectives on Teacher Certification Programs in India

Proposal

This poster examines pre-service teacher education in India by exploring the following questions:
• What are the predominant pathways to teacher certification in India?
• What are the major areas of research on teacher certification programs in India?
• What are some of the perspectives that current teachers hold towards their teacher certification programs?
• How can teacher certification programs in India be strengthened to address challenges faced by the Indian education system?

India has the second largest school system in the world with 8.5 million teachers and 250 million students, but performs poorly on key metrics such as student dropout rates, youth literacy rate, and grade appropriate learning outcomes (UNICEF, n.d.). Since teachers are the frontline workers of any education system, teacher education (in addition to other interventions) can be one of the cross-cutting solutions to many of the challenges in the Indian education system. High quality teacher education can enhance teacher effectiveness by preparing teachers to perform specialized and intricate tasks such as planning curriculum, managing the classroom, diagnosing students’ learning needs, and adapting instruction to meet the needs of diverse students with different kinds of prior knowledge. It can also improve teachers’ work satisfaction and commitment to the profession (Darling-Hammond, 2000).

Pre-service teacher education in India takes the form of different degree programs offered by a patchwork of government, government aided, and private institutions. Although it is regulated by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), corruption, poor quality, and lack of accountability continue to be persistent problems (Sarangapani, et. al., 2021). In response to the National Education Policy 2020 identifying teacher education as an area of development, the NCTE recently introduced a reconceptualized structure of pre-service teacher education that is expected to replace traditional teacher education institutes by 2030 (The Indian Express, 2021).

This poster will first provide an overview of teacher certification programs and the major areas of research on the topic published in the last 5 years (2018-2022). Then, it will present a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview and focus group data collected from 20 teachers who currently work as teachers and teacher educators at public and private K-12 schools and teacher education institutions in Tamil Nadu, India. The goal of the poster is to identify strengths and areas of growth in the pre-service teacher education landscape.

References:
Darling-Hammond, L. (2000). How Teacher Education Matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 51(3), 166-173. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022487100051003002
Sarangapani, P. M., Thirumalai, B., Ramanathan, A., Jumar, R., & Ramchand, M. (2021). No Teacher, No Class. UNESCO. Retrieved from: https://www.tatatrusts.org/Upload/Content_Files/no-teacher-no-class-state-of- the-education-report-for-india-2021.pdf
UNICEF India. (n.d.). Education. Retrieved from: https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/education
The Indian Express. (2021, October 27). Centre notifies 4-year teacher education programme. Retrieved from: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/centre-notifies-4-year-teacher-education-programme-itep-7593981/

Author

• Keerthanya Rajesh, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania