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Unit 30: NCF for Teacher Education (2009)

In view of the crucial significance of this curricular area in the overall development of the child, Notes
it is very essential that teachers are adequately prepared. The preparation of teachers in this area
has to be considered keeping in view the holistic definition of health and overall development of
the individual. Currently, teacher education programmes in this area are offered at different
levels – diploma courses (D.P.Ed.), degree (B.P.Ed.) and post degree (M.P.Ed.) programmes offered
in colleges and institutes of physical education and universities. There is a need to review the
curriculum, syllabus and pedagogy of these programmes within the conceptual framework and
objectives of health and physical education outlined above. Also, all teacher education courses
must provide health, physical education and yoga as compulsory inputs. Issues involved in
designing teacher education programmes in the said area merit separate consideration.

30.7.4 Education of Teachers for Vocational Stream
Vocationalization of education has remained an important concern for our educational system,
the success of which is determined by the quality of teachers and the modality of their professional
training. A significant attempt in this direction was made for the first time in the recommendations
of the Secondary Education Commission (1952-53) which emphasized diversification of education
after Class VIII as a part of implementing the 11-year higher secondary multipurpose scheme
recommended by the Commission. Four Regional Colleges of Education (RCEs), now known as
the Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) of the NCERT were established at Ajmer, Bhopal,
Bhubaneshwar and Mysore. These institutions offered a variety of programmes leading to teacher
preparation in major areas of vocational education covered under technology, agriculture,
commerce, home science, fine arts, etc. in the best established infrastructure created in the RCEs
for the success of such programmes. The four-year B.Tech. Ed. and B.Com. Ed. courses, and one-
year B.Ed. (Agriculture), B.Ed. (Home Science) and B.Ed. (Fine Arts) courses were designed and
offered in different RCEs with varying degrees of success under the constraints connected with
implementation of recommendations of the Commission.
The multipurpose system could not be continued and the courses offered in the RCEs suffered
discontinuance. This was further accentuated by the recommendation of the 10+2 pattern by the
Education Commission (1964-66) which recommended diversification into academic and vocational
streams at the end of Class X. Unfortunately, no teacher development programmes were developed
in the RCEs in support of this. Because of this lackadaisical approach to a priority area of educational
concern, it gave a set-back to the whole movement of teacher preparation for various vocational
sectors as referred to above. No system can function in the absence of the availability of the right
quality of teachers and it is natural that vocational teacher preparation programmes suffered a
set-back in the past and, therefore, necessary course corrections in this regard must be worked
out for its success in the future.
The implementation of vocational teacher preparation would require serious thinking on the
part of the institutions which may have to be identified to provide the needed quality instructional
inputs in different vocational areas. The traditional colleges of education are perhaps not equipped
both in terms of infrastructure and physical and human resources to offer programmes in vocational
teacher preparation. A design will have to be worked out in consultation with professional
institutions dealing with engineering and technology, agriculture, health and paramedical, and
Technical Teacher Training Institututes (TTTIs) to undertake the responsibility not only of designing
but also offering such courses, based on the pedagogy of vocational education. This would entail
a separate exercise outside this Framework.
30.7.5 Vision of Teacher and Teacher Education
As we engage in the act of envisioning the role of the teacher and the shape of teacher education
unfolding in the coming years, it would do us well to take note of the movement of ideas,
globally, that have led to current thinking on teacher education. While the search for a philosophy
of teacher education that satisfies the needs of our times continues, we seem to be converging on
certain broad principles that should inform the enterprise. First, our thinking on teacher education
is integrative and eclectic. It is free from the hold of ‘schools’ of philosophy and psychology. We

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