Quality education for all is essential for ensuring the quality of life of the people. Teachar is the key to quality education. Despite repeated recommendations of various Commissions and Committees to reform teacher education to produce effective teachers, the situation in respect of teacher education is far from satisfactory.
In the present book the authors have evolved an innovative training approach based on active involvement of the learners, intergroup interacting role play etc and in this training approach every learner takes responsibility for his or her learning. The root cause lies in the conspicuous absence of process reforms in our teacher training institutions. The authors in this book have success-fully experimented and given a shape to the design of the Cooperative Learning Based Training for teacher education reforms.
The book shall prove useful and indispensable to teacher educators and research workers and the efforts of the authors would be amply rewarded if the professionals in teacher training institutions could give a try to the Cooperetive Learning Based Training approach.
Dr. N.K. Jangira, a professor in the Department of Teacher Education, Special Education and Extension Services at the National Council of Educational Research and Training, is an eminent educationist in his own right. Besides a number of positions in the Indian education system, he is consultant to several programmes of the UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO. His association with work in developed and developing countries like USA, UK, Japan, Belgium, France, Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Zimbahwe, Mauritius, Vietnam, Maldive, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan has enriched his repertoire of experience. His significant contributions are: core Teaching Skills: Microteaching Approach, Teacher Training and Teacher Effectiveness: An Experiment in Teacher Behaviour, Technology of Classroom Questioning, Professional Enculturation, Dynamics of Social Stagnation, Mastery Learning, Special Education Scenario in Britain and India, Integrated Education for Visually Handicapped Children with seeing Problems: Focus on Remaining Sight, and Functional Assessment Guide. Besides books, he has published over 80 papers on different aspects of education in India and abroad and produced a number of educational video programmes for teachers and parents.
Anupam Abuja, and expert in child development and special education, is on the faculty of the National Institute of Education at the National Council of Educational Research and Training. An innovative teacher and teacher educator, she is associated with UNESCO programmes on special needs. Her significant books are: Use of Educational Toys for Disabled Children and Handbook on Learning Disability, besides coauthoring Functional Assessment Guide and Education of Children with Seeing Problems. She has also published a number of papers in different journals on education.
We are teachers by professional birth, innovators by practice and writers by the urge to share. Our working with a variety of teachers and other professionals has enriched our experiences. As we always kept our search on for new ways to effective teaching in schools, so we did for new ways of training as teacher educators. The search has found expression in our several books.
The seeds of the present book were sown in our mind at Harare last year. The hazy outline got clearer each day after our return as we reflected and interacted with inservice teachers, preservice teachers in the making, and teacher educators. We kept our Saturdays and Sundays occupied one after the other to give shape to the design of the Cooperative Learning Based Training. We experimented and refined it as we felt encouraged by the responsiveness of a variety of beneficiaries.
We strongly agree with all those who feel dissatisfied with the prevalent teaching and training. We diagnosed the root cause which lies in the conspicuous absence of process reforms in our teacher training institutions. We decided to share the process oriented Cooperative Learning Based Training approach with professional fraternity. The present book is the result of this year long effort.
The book has been divided into two sections. The first section comprising three chapters provide the conceptual frame. The introductory chapter outlines the challenge facing teacher education today and the need for a change in reform priorities. From cosmetic structural and curriculum changes, the focus should shift to process reforms, if the new challenge of teacher education responsive to Quality Education for All Initiative (QEFAI) is to be met. The second chapter extends the use of cooperative learning procedures tried in school learning to teacher training. It operationalises the Cooperative Learning Based Training approach for practice. It lays stress on the transfer of training gains to actual practice in workplace improving effectiveness of teaching. The course material design forms the content of the third chapter.
The second section describes three experiments using the Cooperative Learning Based Training. The first experiment included in chapter five was conducted with inservice teachers. Preservice teachers formed subjects in the second experiment outlined in chapter six. The third experiment was conducted with teacher educators. The penultimate chapter reports study in attitude change. The concluding chapter underlines messages from the experiments for practitioners in teacher training and food for thought and research for those who wish to challenge and improve.
We will consider our efforts fruitful, if our professional colleagues in teacher training institutions could give a try to the Cooperative Learning Based Training approach. Comments and observations will be most welcome.
In completing this book several persons have extended intellectual help at different stages. Mel Ainscow and Lena Saleh stimulated right from the seeding stage to its fruition. Our other international friends at Harare encouraged us through their intellectual association. At home scores of teachers and teacher educators sharpened our input in the book. Indu Sharma helped us with the manuscript in several ways. Anil Bahl provided admirable secretarial support. To all we owe a deep sense of gratitude.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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