Teacher Educator Professionalism in India

Abstract

At the heart of educational work is the teacher; and, everybody in the society from parents to the federal government, school administrators, industry, policy-makers, teacher educators, and not-for-profit organizations carry certain notions about the practice of teaching and work of teachers. Each constituency desires to have able, committed, and qualified teachers to care for the young ones of their society. Developing quality teachers is intricately linked to the quality of teacher education. Teacher educator professionalism is central to the improvement of teacher education and therefore school learning, and needs greater emphasis in the context of India. This chapter begins by outlining the work of teacher educators in higher education-based initial teacher preparation programs. It then gives a brief overview of the changes in initial teacher education in the early twenty-first century. This chapter further analyses the various dimensions of teacher educators’ quality of practice as framed by educational documents to gather insights about their practice among the diverse contexts in India. This chapter makes a plea to teacher educators in India to come together as a collective and take responsibility for strengthening quality teaching in India. This chapter concludes with a proposal for a framework of professional practice of teacher educators.

Citation

Srinivasan, R. (2021), "Teacher Educator Professionalism in India", Wiseman, A.W. and Kumar, P. (Ed.) Building Teacher Quality in India: Examining Policy Frameworks and Implementation Outcomes (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-80. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920210000041004