Parul Sharma: The real test for teachers

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), a statutory body for regulating the standards of teacher education in India, has proposed a draft Curriculum Framework on Teacher Education (CFTE) 2005. The 64-page document cites the prevailing problems in training teachers and proposes solutions to tackle them.

The litmus test of pedagogic skills must be a teacher's ability to endow students with world-class, marketable skills. Even though the CFTE 2005 chalks out an ambitious agenda for teachers like "promoting secular consciousness", "developing awareness about human rights" and "building a strong bulwark against sectarian practices", it does not propose an effective method of imparting essential pedagogic skills to future school teachers.

The draft CFTE 2005 retains the overall framework for training teachers through the prevailing system of teacher certification (Elementary Teacher Training Certificates until the primary level and the Bachelor of Education degree for the middle level and above). This system ought to be changed.

To improve the quality of teachers in schools the NCTE ought to focus on creating a cadre of teachers capable of imparting "skill centred teaching" by devising standardised tests for potential teachers.

These standardised tests should be along the lines of all other standardised, competitive tests that constitute systems of accreditation for other professions such as chartered accountancy.

Further, the market for training teachers ought to be liberalised. In such a scenario, anyone wanting to become a teacher would have to qualify the test for the particular cadre and subject into which entry is sought.

At the same time the requisite training to pass the test could be availed of through any channel, be it private coaching, correspondence courses or formal training at an accredited institution.

In this respect, regulatory bodies like the NCTE ought to focus on designing and administering tests that can accurately gauge the skills of teachers rather than on controlling the growth of private teacher training institutes.

Within the prevailing system of education itself we can draw a parallel to the recommended system of accreditation of school teachers. Thus, in order to be eligible for lectureship in any university in India, an individual must have passed the National Eligibility Test (NET), which is conducted by the National Educational Testing Bureau of the University Grants Commission and for science-related subjects, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) jointly with the UGC conducts the UGC-CSIR NET.

Both the UGC and the CSIR are statutory, autonomous bodies charged with the task of maintaining standards of quality in higher education and scientific research and development, respectively. This system replicates the system for the accreditation of school teachers that this article recommends.

Lectureship is not contingent on having spent a certain prescribed number of hours training and teaching in the classroom. Instead, it is contingent on passing the NET that gauges the essential skills required for a lectureship and that is administered by accredited agencies.

Standardised, accredited tests rather than a draft curriculum for training teachers that assigns them lofty responsibilities such as eliminating caste-based discrimination would render a strong assessment system for school teachers. Coupled with functional systems of accountability, this system of school teacher accreditation promises to create a cadre of teachers that imparts skills-based, quality education.

The author is a Research Assistant with the Centre for Civil Society.