Need for professional learning

TEACHERS IN universities and colleges enter the profession usually with M.A./M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. qualifications. But, they usually do not have exposure to any teacher-education programme before they enter service. During the Seventh Plan, the University Grants Commission organised Academic Staff Colleges for university teacher education. There are 48 such colleges functioning today. They organise Orientation Training Programmes for teachers with less than eight years of experience. For experienced teachers, they organise Refresher Courses. Besides, they conduct seminars, conferences and workshops for faculty development. The coverage of these programmes is yet limited and their impact often not assessed at all.

Teacher competence

We need to design a systematic programme of ``professional learning'' for faculty members to ensure they serve competently. At the outset, we need to be clear about two terms - teacher competence and teacher effectiveness. `Teacher competence' is conceived of as a matter of degree and defined in terms of the ``repertoire'' of competencies that a teacher possesses. `Teacher competency' refers to any single knowledge, skill or professional value which a teacher is said to possess. On the other hand, `teacher effectiveness' refers to the effect that the teacher's performance has on his students. Effectiveness must be assessed in terms of the behaviour of students and the `student-outcomes' related to the under-graduate and post-graduate programmes in which they are engaged.

In the context of increasing participation of private enterprise in higher education and the growing disenchantment with the performance of the university/college teachers, there is an urgent need to improve professional standards. Above all, the National Accreditation Board wants institutions of higher education to voluntarily seek assessment, both of their institutions, and courses and programmes, and get accreditation from the Board.

Major concerns

When faculty development and continuing education programmes are designed, two major issues must be considered, viz. what are major the concerns of teachers in their institutions and what are the varied roles they perform for which they need to be trained.

The following are some of the major concerns: planning and management of instructional programmes; planning and management of co-curricular reform/innovations; planning and management of co-curricular programmes and student activities; planning and management of community development through curricular and extension schemes; institutional planning and management and management of faculty development programme and continuing education.

They need to apply themselves to these concerns and while doing so play a multiplicity of roles efficiently. To mention a few - in the classroom, a faculty member is expected to be a subject master, communicator, demonstrator, evaluator, manager, innovator and standard-bearer. Outside the classroom he is expected to be a good practitioner of his subject, organisation member, planner and team-mate. In the world of work, he is an experimenter, researcher and consultant directly or indirectly contributing to the nation's productivity. In the community at large, he should be a community-developer and nation-builder.

Consensus on the need

There is a broad consensus that faculty development and continuing education for university/college teachers of all categories becomes necessary for the following reasons: 1. The demand for professional standards in two spheres; (i) the subject of their specialisation; and (ii) teaching in university/college programmes; 2. changes in technology, particularly changes in communication and information technology; 3. changes in the educational system, philosophy, pedagogy and educational technology; 4. changes in students characteristics (clientele); 5. changes in the content of disciplines, emergence of new disciplines and inter-disciplinary studies; 6. changes in the context of university/higher education; 7. changes in planning, management and systems organisation; 8. changes in the life styles of man and society; 9. paradigm shift in the In-service Education of Teachers (INSET) and 10. futuristic orientation to University Educational Service.

Strategies

What strategies can be adopted for providing Faculty Development and Continuing Education to teachers?

* They may engage in ``Immersion Inquiry'', which means they learn the subjects they teach in the same manner as they expect their students to learn - professional learning following the same pattern of student learning.

* They could adopt ``Immersion in the world of work'' relating to their discipline and participate in intensive experience (eg. a management teacher in a business or manufacturing organisation as a management executive, a commerce teacher in a stock exchange or chamber of commerce, a language teacher as a communicator in a media organisation and so on).

* They could continue their education with respect to their subject curriculum by implementing the present curriculum with all the instructional tools and materials.

* They may undertake ``Action Research Projects'' relating to the classroom, laboratory, workshop or field and examine the teacher's work performance and students' learning experiences.

* They could take up ``Case Discussions'' - in which they could examine write-ups and video-tapes of classroom teaching and learning.

* The faculty members could work in ``Study Groups'' and engage in structure and collaborative interaction on problems that the groups identify.

* They might take up ``examining student work and student output'' in the form of test papers, seminar papers, project reports and designs submitted and scrutinise student-thinking and creative work.

* They could undertake ``coaching and mentoring'', which means working one-to-one with an equally or more experienced educator to improve the teaching and learning of their subject.

* They may set up ``partnerships'' with scientists, technologists and professionals in business, industry and universities and involve themselves in innovative endeavour.

* They could form ``professional networks'', linking in person or through electronic means with other faculty members in other institutions and discuss topics of mutual interest.

Major purposes

Some of the major purposes for Faculty Development and Continuing Education of university/collegiate teachers are developing awareness; building knowledge, practising teaching skills; conducting research, providing consultancy to industry, business, commerce and organisations; publishing material based on discussion, experimental work or research; enhancing institutional standards and professional reflection leading to new norms, standards and codes of ethics.

Programme Components

What could constitute the Programme Components of the Scheme of Professional Learning and Continuing Education for university teachers?

1. Awareness of linkage between society, environment, technology, development and education; 2. Philosophy of education, Indian education, Indian university education system and pedagogy; 3. Upgrading of subject experience through studies, research and appropriate field experience; 4. Management and development of students personally as well as teacher personality; 5. Learning to adopt distance education and open education mode for the non- formal categories of adult learners, who are dispersed far and wide; 6. Educational research related to one's discipline with scope for application and follow-up after implementation; 7. Consultancy service for institutions engaged in teaching, research and practice relating to one's discipline.

The UGC has several schemes for upgrading the professional competence of teachers. These are National Fellowships, Visiting Associateships, Visiting Professors/Fellows, Teacher Fellowships, Research Scientists, Emeritus Fellowships, Career Awards, Research Associateships, and major and minor research projects for teachers. However only a small fraction of the teaching community benefits from these schemes.

The Academic Staff Colleges have come to stay and are taking steps, even if small, in the correct direction. It is hoped that the UGC will revitalise this scheme, now that it has completed reviewing it. But what is needed is a perspective plan, a plan of action and regular structure and pattern for professional learning, leading to development, right through a teacher's career.

M. RAGHURAM SINGH

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