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Unit 29: Curriculum Development on in Integrated in Teacher Education Curriculum

• Teachers are the greatest assets of any education system. They stand in the interface of the Notes
transmission of knowledge, skills and values. They are accepted as the backbone of education
system. Teacher quality is therefore crucial and has been globally accepted to be significantly
associated with the quality of education in general and students’ learning outcomes in
particular.
• The four year integrated programme was introduced during the 1960s in NCERT’s four
Regional Colleges of Education in Ajmer, Bhubneshwar, Mysore and Bhopal. This programme
was designed to prepare secondary school teachers in the Sciences and Humanities.
• A number of studies were conducted to examine the effectiveness of these four year integrated
programme. The key finding is that teachers that emerge from this programme are much
better than the products of the traditional one-year B.Ed programme. The difference in
effectiveness is attributed to ‘selection of meritorious students, greater length, integrated
curriculum along with simultaneous teaching of content and methods of teaching.’ In spite
of a sound conceptual base, the availability of evidence with regard to its effectiveness and
experiences of developed countries and recommendation of several expert bodies, the
innovation has not been mainstreamed beyond the confines of the four NCERT Regional
Colleges of Education.
• The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) is a four year integrated professional degree
programme of Elementary Teacher Education offered after the senior secondary (Class XII
or equivalent) stage of school.
• The (B.El.Ed.) programme is designed to integrate the study of subject knowledge, human
development, pedagogic knowledge and self-knowledge. The main aim of the B.El.Ed. is to
prepare reflective practitioners who are socially sensitive. It is an attempt to replace an
unquestioning and meek teacher with one who can critically reflect on the ‘received’
curriculum and ‘prescribed’ knowledge. It prepares students to move beyond mere textbook
knowledge.
• The B.El.Ed. course attempts to develop the individuality of the student based on the
assumption that it is the individual transformation that leads to social transformation. The
course structure gives students the space to engage intensely with issues of understanding
themselves and others. There is a special emphasis on understanding the nature of the child,
the adult-child relationship and its dynamics within the classroom. The students engage
with issues of politics of education within the classroom as they reflect on the best way of
facilitating children’s learning.
• A major effort to rejuvenate school education as well as teacher education towards
modernisation, contextualisation and professionalization has been made in 2005 and 2009
through the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (2005), and National
Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2009) respectively. During recent years the
epistemology of learning has undergone a major change; i.e.
• The National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2009) developed by NCTE
tries to ensure that teacher education courses are reoriented to align with the epistemological
shift envisaged in the NCF 2005 and develop teachers as facilitators of learning.
• The traditional approach to teacher preparation based on philosophical, sociological and
psychological orientation of courses has given way to ‘carefully crafted curriculum design
that draws upon theoretical and empirical knowledge as well as student teachers’ ‘experiential
knowledge’( NCFTE 2009, p24). Three broad curricular areas identified by this framework
are: (A) Foundations of Education which includes courses under three rubrics, namely,
Learner Studies, Contemporary Studies and Educational Studies; (B) Curriculum and
Pedagogy including Curriculum Studies and Pedagogic Studies; and (C) School Internship.
• The present curriculum format of teacher education at distinct levels, pre-main, elementary
and secondary education is usually based, apart from others on Foundation Courses, which
consists of philosophical, sociological and psychological perspectives of education. The
intention is that the teacher must have a conceptual understanding of the field of education,

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