Development and modification of curriculum for excellence in teacher education

Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol 2, No 9, 2011

Development and Modification of Curriculum for Excellence in
Teacher Education
Bandhana, Sr.Lecturer, KCS College of Education (Women), Jammu

E-mail:bandhana1@gmail.com
Abstract:
Today’s competitive world demands quality education. Therefore Quality teacher
education has become an enduring theme as we have to strive for better teachers for
better education of children. The quality of school education has direct links to the
knowledge, competence and skills of teachers and their initial training preparations. The
quality and coverage of any system of teacher education is always decided by the content
of teacher education curriculum and the operational modes used for its delivery by the
system. Curriculum cannot be stagnant or once for all process of education. It is an
evolutionary phase of education phase at all levels from KG to PG. It has to be in line
with the changing goals of education from time to time and therefore meet the needs of
the changing environment in which we have to live in future and compete for survival
and success. Curriculum development and modification has to be rational but not
emotional. Hence, for achieving excellence, it has to be in line with modern principles
and practices in education.

Keywords: Curriculum development, curriculum modification, excellence in education

Introduction
The quality and coverage of any system of teacher education will be decided by the
content of the teacher education curriculum and the operational modes used for its
delivery by the system. For determining the quality of teacher education curriculum, we
depend upon the general theories of curriculum development. We have to take note of the
fact that curriculum of an academic or professional programme developed a point of time
is likely to get outdated within a short period of time .Several new concepts and practices
come into the field.

The existing literature on curriculum development mostly concerns the principles
and practices relating to the school curriculum. The principle of governing curriculum
development for teacher education is an area which has not been properly studied.
Historically speaking the credit for determining the nature of curriculum for educating a
child goes to Rousseau, more than 200 years ago. Later on, Pestalozzi, Froebel and
Francis Parker set new traditions in curriculum theory .However, it was only at the
beginning of the last century 1902, and i.e. John Dewey in the USA theorized the issue of
curriculum in his treatise “The child and his curriculum”. There has been a long history
of experimentation, development and research in curriculum since then across the world
with the result the teachers now require definite answers to several questions before
planning a curriculum. The latest one has been the emergence of Modular Curriculum
(Pratt, 1980) and Local Specific Form of Curriculum (James Diaz, 1980).

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The curriculum, even the best available, will not be able to define all the expected
learning experiences, assuming that curriculum itself stands for a document which helps
an educational system to understand the different forms of learning experiences to be
provided to the learners for achieving all the expected educational outcomes .We
are forced to squeeze everything in a one year B.Ed course. The models used for defining
the curriculum of the conventional academic year will not work for teacher education
especially when we note that the main intension of the course is to develop teaching
competencies in a wide range of instructional solution.

The issue: how comprehensive is a curriculum remains mostly unanswered? What are the
components of modern teacher education curriculum? What are the core areas? Which
are the specialization areas to be included? Should there be a separate training in
communication? How can we accommodate all these to do full justice to them without
increasing the duration of course? All these questions have to be answered within the new
framework of educational expectations for the 21st Century Knowledge Society.

Vast changes are occurring in the concept of curriculum development .One such is the
use of Local Specific Curriculum and another well known work of Ivan Illich –the
“De-schooling society-exemplifies this new approach. He suggested popular theatre,
puppetry or mural newspapers and local radio broadcasts for communication especially
for communicating the the social messages.

In the history of curriculum-movement at least six different types of curriculum
organization content have been identified by experts viz., (i) curriculum based on
social content (ii)curriculum based on psychological content (iii)curriculum based on
vocational work (iv)curriculum based on disciplinary work (v) curriculum based on
environmental content and, (vi)curriculum based on the integrated or interdisciplinary
content.
Till now, the country followed independent programmes of teacher education which
varied from one system to another or from one university to the other university. The
advent of certain national open bodies for controlling the teacher education has helped to
achieve a certain degree of homogeneity. The NCERT, the NCTE, the UGC and the
general policy formulation on education system have contributed to the evolution of a
general consensus about objectives of teacher education.

Waters (2007) stresses that the curriculum should be treasured. There should be real
pride in curriculum-the learning that the nation has decided should set before its youth a
marvelous future. Teachers, parents, the wider education community, the media and the
public at large should all see the curriculum as something they embrace, support and
celebrate. Most of all young people should relish the opportunity for discovering and
achievement that curriculum offers to them.

Teacher education and school education have a symbiotic relationship. Developments in
both these sectors mutually reinforce the concerns for the qualitative improvement of the
entire spectrum of education.
The teacher must now be equipped not only to teach but also to understand the student
and the community so that children are regular in schools and interested to learn. The
NCF 2005 requires a teacher to be facilitator for children’s learning in a manner that child
is helped to construct his knowledge. The launch of the massive Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan
in 2002 and the recent financial commitment and education access to augment UEE
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mission have underscored the need to adequately prepare teachers to address the growing
demand for quality education. Unprecedented expansion of teacher education institutions
and programmes during the past few years characterizes the teacher education scenario of
today. The NCTE and NCERT over the past few decades have addressed the review of
teacher education curriculum in the light of changing educational scenario and brought
out a series of framework. These frameworks provide guidelines on the development of
teacher education programmes incorporating current concerns as well as national and
global developments. The pioneering effort of designing a curriculum framework for
teacher education was made by NCTE in 1978. This was reviewed in 1988, subsequently
it was followed by the development of a model curriculum by University Grants
Commission’s Curriculum Development Centre in 1990.When NCTE became a statutory
body in 1995,it brought out curriculum framework for quality teacher education
in1998.Another framework ,teacher education for future was brought out by NCERT
to support the NCF for school education (2000). Two attempts have been made by NCTE
to develop draft curriculum framework, the first in 2005 and the second in 2006 and two
more draft frameworks, one in 2007 and other in 2008 have since been added.
Several initiatives have been taken in the country during the recent past to enhance the
quality of teacher education curriculum for excellence .In the content of teacher education
a quality curriculum stands for its ability to develop professionally competent teachers
within the assigned time of its operation .The primary purpose of teacher
education curriculum in the country is to prepare teachers for the different levels.
A teacher working in a school has to perform a variety of roles .The “teacher role” should
be one of the bases for the development of teacher education curriculum.

The curriculum of different teacher education programmes are generally conceived in
terms of the broad components like, (i) Theory courses (ii) Content cum Methodology
courses (iii) Practical work (practice teaching) (iv) Practical work other than practice
training. Relevance and responsiveness are essential characteristics of a quality teacher
education curriculum. It is now widely recognized that teacher should pay greater
attention to the development of self learning skills rather than on the transmission of
information and memorization of facts. This shift has to be reflected in the teacher
education curriculum. UNESCO report called as Delars Commission (1996) has
elaborated the new perspectives for teachers are expected to function in the 21st century
classrooms. The four thrust areas of modern education spelt in report has to be reflected
in new teacher education curriculum learning to know, learning to do learning to live with
others, and to learning to be. Relevance and responsiveness are interrelated and inter-
dependent concepts. Even with highly satisfactory curriculum, there is always a scope for
improvement. Therefore, appropriate policies are to put in one place for timely revision
of curriculum document to make it up-to-date and in conformity to emerging new needs.
The changes have to be made on the basis of accepted professional practices i.e. (i)
Critical Review of the Present Curriculum (ii)Review of Teacher Roles and
Competencies (iii)Pedagogical Analysis (iv)Updating the Knowledge Base of Teacher
Education(v) Culture Specific Pedagogies(vi) and New Evaluation Practices.

Barnett, Parry and Coate (2001) propose a model of curriculum that involves three
domains- .knowledge, action and self. Parker (2003) argues for a transformational
curriculum suggesting that the Barnett et al model be expanded and concentrates on
interaction of three domains. Such a curriculum which would engage the student’s love of
knowledge and re-inspire the teachers would ultimately develop a mature critical self
nature.

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Conclusion
From the above discussion it is clear that change is the law of life and those who look
only to the past or to the present are likely to miss the future. Therefore, it is necessary to
handle the change due to globalization in a positive manner so that this change can be
productive agent in the developing countries. Hence, the creation of an educational
system capable of preparing people to live in the changing world is one of the crucial
tasks of modern society.

References
Barnett, R., G. Parry, & K.Coate (2001),”Conceptualizing Curriculum Change, Teaching
in Higher Education, 6(4), 435-449.
Diaz, Jaimes (1986), “Learning Through Action in a Violent Environment”: In Education
and Task for Peace Education. WCCI monograph
Howard, J. (2007), “ Curriculum Development, Centre for the Advancement of Teaching
and Learning”, Elon University.
NCTE (2009), “National Curriculum for Teacher Education”, New Delhi

Pratt, David (1980), “Curriculum Design and Development”, London: HBJ.

Parkar, J. (2003)’ “Reconceptualising the Curriculum: From Commodification to
Transformation”, Teaching in Higher Education, 8 (4), 529-543.

Saleem, K. (2010), “Dimensions of Curriculum Development in the Era of Globalisation,
Journal of Research and Reflections in Education, 4(1), 1-13.

UNESCO (1996), “Learning the Treasure Within”, Report to UNESCO of the
International Commission on Education for Twenty First Century, Paris: UNESCO.

Waters.(2007), “Shaping a Curriculum for the 21st Century, Curriculum Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority”, London: Croom Helm.

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