Innovative practices in teacher education in india

The teacher training in India was first started in Vedic period. In that period the senior students among the Brahmins were given the chance to teach junior students and thus were trained in teaching. The modern teacher training in India was first started by European missionaries. In the beginning they trained the students in teaching different subjects but later on they also started to develop in the trainees some basic concepts regarding education and teaching. Teacher education system is an important vehicle to improve the quality of school education. The revitalization and strengthening of the teacher education system is a powerful means for the upliftment of educational standards in the country. There are many issues that need urgent attention for improving the quality of teacher education programme. One of them is the need of innovations in teacher education programme. Innovativeness means the ability to think beyond the boundaries and create something which is different from that which already exists. Without innovations, no progress is possible. Teachers have to be innovative and their grooming has to start from their training institutions. Innovations in teacher education include IT literacy, interactive teleconferencing etc. NPE (1986) stated “The existing system of teacher education needs to be overhauled or revamped.” Unfortunately, the secondary teacher education institutions in India are stated to be largely not innovative. There are some resisting factors in our education system which prevents the teacher education institution from being innovative such as lack of physical facilities and funds, lack of diffusion of innovations among teacher educators, rigid framework, lack of research orientation etc. This paper provides an overview of Assessment in teacher education in India. It traces the development of India’s assessment system in education and the legislative policies aimed at reform of examination focusing on the progressive changes in the policies for betterment of assessment/evaluation.