Learning to Teach: Initial Teacher Education in South Asia

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in South Asia. It describes the nature and status of ITE, reviewing how adequately teachers are prepared to teach to provide quality education for all, particularly the marginalized. The chapter begins by situating the discussion in the broader regional and global debates as well as within the changing nature of ITE in the twenty-first century. Following a brief description of the ITE situation in each country context, the chapter then focuses on a number of thematic questions. (i) What is the ITE policy environment? This considers the macro context focusing on policies in the different country contexts, how they shape what prospective teachers learn, and how they address quality issues. (ii) Who becomes a teacher? This examines student teachers enrolled in teacher education, their motivations and aspirations, and what the system is able to offer them in terms of job prospects. (iii) Learning how to teach. This looks at the curriculum of ITE programs within the country contexts to examine the course content and learning expectations for prospective teachers. As teaching practicum is a core component of leaning to teach, specific attention is given to the nature and status of the teaching practicum and the nature of relationship to the schooling system, often referred to as “school-university partnership.” (iv) Who teaches the teachers? This section considers the academic and professional backgrounds of the teacher educators. The chapter concludes by drawing these themes together, examining possible policy and practice implications.

Appendices

Appendix One: Overview of Teacher Education in Countries in South Asia

Afghanistan

In the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, education was traditionally under the purview of mosques. The first modern secular school in Afghanistan was founded in 1904. By 1931, primary education had become free and compulsory by law for all children (UNESCO 1965). But the formal educational systems were all but wiped out by 2000 due to war and civil unrest. At the end of the twentieth century, Afghans were the largest refugee population in the world suffering from one of the lowest standards of living in the world (UNESCO 2000).

After a long period of strife, the first democratically elected Government of Afghanistan in 2004 identified education and teacher professional development as a critical part of rebuilding the country’s human capital and economy. The reconstituted Constitution of Afghanistan declared education the right of all children and the Government responsible for providing basic education up to Grade 9 to all children of Afghanistan (Spink et al. 2004). A number of policies and programs with international donors and the support of aid agencies that followed ensured increase in enrolment by more than 16% per year and a corresponding increase in number of teachers by 13% (UNESCO 2006).

The education development plan drafted in 2004 stipulated the minimum education standard for teachers as graduation from Grade 14. However, while figures vary, close to only 28% of teachers have completed 14 years of schooling. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has been making efforts to enhance the capacity of these teachers through short-term courses and recruiting them into in-service teacher education programs. The Teacher Education Department within MoE, located in Kabul, responsible for national teacher training policies and programs, manages and supports the teacher training colleges (TTC) in the provinces. There are currently 42 TTCs registered with the MoE. The TTCs in each province conduct a 2-year diploma in Teacher Education for senior secondary graduates, which is the same 2-year diploma as an in-service program for practicing teachers. TTCs also offer a 5-year diploma for junior secondary graduates (after Grade 9) (MoE, Government of Afghanistan 2012). While the TTCs in the provinces are largely supported by external grants, there are also multiple private agencies and donor-sponsored initiatives offering initial teacher education. These programs are recognized by the MoE, but they are not considered for awarding salary increments to teachers for earning a teacher education qualification (Nicholson 2013).

The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) is responsible for the institutes of higher education and the universities. Currently, Kabul Education University and three HEIs in the provinces offer a 4-year degree program in education. Graduates of this program gain employment as senior administrators and technical specialists in the area of education. Unfortunately, there is little coordination between the MoE and the MoHE (ibid).

Continuing unrest, internal political and ethnic divisions and poor communication systems continue to plague educational developmental efforts in Afghanistan.

Bangladesh

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh, an independent nation since 1971, is one of the world’s most densely populated countries. Despite initial political unrest, the country has managed sustained economic growth over the last three decades. The Government of Bangladesh has undertaken numerous initiatives to improve its education system to suit the national development objectives, efforts that have brought commendable growth in access with gender equity (World Bank 2002). About 85% of primary school teachers and 75.4% of secondary school teachers are professionally qualified (ADB 2017, p. 39). The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) is responsible for formulating policies and programs, monitoring and evaluation, and initiating legislative measures pertaining to primary and nonformal education, while secondary and higher education comes under the purview of the Ministry of Education (MoE). Despite commendable progress on enrolment and the presence of trained teachers, schooling continues to be plagued by regional inequities and poor quality as evidenced by low levels of learning attainment and high drop-out rates (Ahmed et al. 2007).

Preservice education for teachers in government primary schools is not mandated but is offered as in-service after their recruitment. Primary-level teachers are required to take part in the 1-year Certificate in Education (C-in-Ed) or a one-and-a-half-year Diploma in Education (DPEd) program offered by the Government Primary Teacher Training Institutes (PTI), programs designed as the foundation training for primary-level teachers (MoPME, Government of Bangladesh, 2017). For secondary-level teachers, the government teacher training colleges (TTCs) offer a 1-year-long Bachelor of Education (BEd) program. Additionally, some public and private universities offer 4-year BEd programs for secondary teachers.

The Department of Education runs 56 PTIs with the National Academy for Primary Education as the certifying authority. There are 15 TTCs and five higher secondary teacher training institutes governed by the MoE with the National University functioning as a statutory board with authority to issue degrees. There is also the Bangladesh Madrasah Teachers’ Training Institute which trains Madrasah teachers and offers degrees through the Islamic University. Apart from the publicly funded teacher training institutions, there are three private PTIs, two private universities, and 104 private TTCs. The primary teacher institutes are trialing an 18-month-long Diploma in Education program. Bangladesh Open University and the Institute of Educational Research are offering 4-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree for primary teachers. A few TTCs offer BEd (Honors) and MEd programs. Pre-primary grade has recently been integrated into primary education. As there are no formal institutions for the professional training of pre-primary teachers, the government is encouraging private sector participation in this area (Government of Bangladesh 2018).

Regional disparities, inadequate resources for teacher education, and “too much politicisation” are hampering Bangladesh from fully meeting its international commitments on education. Consequently, the Government is initiating measures to prepare an inclusive workforce to meet the learning needs of all children (MoE Bangladesh 2013, p. 48).

Bhutan

Bhutan had a well-established monastic system of education for centuries before setting up modern schools based on an Indo-Western model in the 1960s. The country transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy in 2008. The Constitution adopted provides for free education from pre-primary to Grade 10. Even while borrowing educational policies, initially from India, Bhutan made efforts to retain its unique cultural heritage and values. The ideology of Gross National Happiness (GNH) was introduced into the Bhutanese education system in 2010, through “Green schools for Green Bhutan” (Zangmo 2018).

Initially teachers were recruited from India. The first teacher education institution was established in Samtse, Southern Bhutan, in 1968 and a second college was started in Paro 7 years later. With the establishment of the Royal University of Bhutan in 2003, the two institutes were affiliated to the University as colleges of education. The colleges offer a 4-year BEd degree program for senior secondary graduates alongside an 18-month Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) for undergraduates. While prospective candidates for PGDE have to clear the Bhutan Civil Service Examination to be eligible for the program, graduates with a BEd are employed through a selection process by the Royal Civil Service Commission. One-third of the civil servants in Bhutan are teachers (MoE Bhutan 2018).

The country has made significant progress in the last six decades in terms of access to education, but the Government recognizes that more efforts are necessary to ensure equitable and quality education. Both public perception and empirical evidence indicate the quality of BEd graduates as inadequate to meet the current reform efforts in schools. To bolster teacher quality, the Government has initiated a series of steps for greater support to teachers and thus to uplift the quality of education, including setting up the Royal Education Council with its vision as “Innovation in Education” (MoE Bhutan 2018, p. 120). An education blue-print for 2014–24 was prepared with clear goals and targets after wide-ranging consultations that involved the general public as well (ibid).

India

India became an independent nation state in 1947. The largest and most populous country in South Asia, India is also the most diverse geographically and culturally. As with the rest of the subcontinent, India shares a long history of a highly evolved formalized education system (Mookerji 1989). Mass education was institutionalized during the colonial period but was marked by narrow spread of education and an unequal structure (Kumar et al. 2001). Post independence, commissions were constituted to suggest improvement across levels of education and two national education policy documents laid out a number of recommendations for equitable education of good quality (MHRD India 1968, 1986). However, as the policy statements were not accompanied by the required financial and organizational support, large numbers of India’s children remained out of school (UNESCO 1990).

To meet its Constitutional and International commitments to achieve education for all, the Indian Government was forced to accept foreign aid and loans. While the Indian education policy priorities managed to remain self-determined (Colclough and De 2010), inequities in provisioning were since exacerbated (Nambissan 2014). There has been an exponential rise in private schools over the past three decades. The right to free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 was legalized in 2009. Among other aspects to ensure that every child gets quality education, the legislation mandates an initial teacher professional qualification for every teacher, both for recruitment and those already in-service (about one-fifth of the nine million teachers currently employed are not professionally qualified) (GoI 2010).

Formal teacher education is a legacy of the colonial period; the structure has largely continued with little change into the post-independence period (Batra 2012). Multiple government committees constituted since independence noted the need for strengthening teacher education, making specific recommendations to improve teacher status and working conditions. In 1983, the Indian Government appointed the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) to regulate the teacher education sector. While NCTE managed to close the rising number of spurious programs of teacher education that were being offered in the distance mode, tighter regulations have not necessarily translated into improved quality in teacher preparation. In response to litigation, the Supreme Court of India set up a Commission on Teacher Education in 2012.

The Commission’s report was instrumental in bringing the issue of the decay of teacher education institutes into public discourse. It pointed to the rampant commercialization that has been detrimental to the quality of teacher education sector. While there were fewer than 2,000 teacher education institutes in the country in 1995, currently the number is nearly 17,000. The growth of private institutes that comprise 92% of all TEIs coincided with economic liberalization and privatization across sectors. Some of the self-financing private institutes, while catering to the enormous unmet demand, took advantage of corruption within the system to bypass regulations. Half of these institutes are stand-alone offering a 2-year Diploma in Education (for preparing elementary school teachers). The remaining 10,156 are affiliated to universities and offer a BEd degree for undergraduates, the duration of which was increased from 1 to 2 years in 2014. Very few of these institutes, including the four Regional Institutes of Education set up by the Government of India in 1963, offer the 4-year concurrent model of teacher preparation, integrating disciplinary and education studies.

The Commission recommended a shift away from stand-alone teacher education institutes to integrated programs located in the university space to offset the academic isolation from which they suffer (MHRD India 2012). This has been reiterated by the current Draft National Education Policy that not only recommends shifting preparation of teachers across all levels of schools, from pre-primary to senior secondary, to university-based teacher preparation programs, but also shutting down dysfunctional teacher education institutes (MHRD India 2019).

Some of the initiatives taken to address the concern of quality include mandating a Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) as a requirement for fresh recruitment of teachers, reviewing the National Curriculum Framework for teacher education to enact robust guidelines to qualitatively improve teacher education programs and strengthen teacher learning (NCTE 2009). A newly authorized National Mission on Teachers and Teaching was launched in 2014 to meet the demand for teachers across educational levels and ensure practicing teachers are supplied with continuing professional development opportunities and to the centrally sponsored scheme Samagraha Siksha Abhiyan, which seeks to synergize school and teacher education and extends monetary support to states to strengthen their education systems. Education is on India’s concurrent list, meaning that while the Government, through the Ministry of Human Resource Development, provides the policy framework and financial support in the form of centrally sponsored schemes and guidelines to ensure a national standard in education, it is the states (the equivalent of provinces in the rest of the region) which operationalize the policies and guidelines through implementation.

Maldives

This is a multi-island nation consisting of 1200 small coral islands of which around 200 are inhabited. The country was voluntarily under British protection until 1965 and became a republic 3 years later. The Republic of Maldives is one of the world’s most geographically dispersed nation-states and South Asia’s smallest by land area and population. Education in Maldives receives high priority, with its government spending 5.7% of its GDP on education. At 98%, the country’s functional literacy rate is one of the highest in South Asia. The net enrolment ratio in primary school is 96%. However, poor learning levels, completion rates and access to higher education is a concern, with only 59 out of 212 schools in the country offering higher secondary education. This renders it difficult for nearly half the adolescents to continue their education unless they migrate to another island. There is also a high dependence on expatriate teachers who constitute 41% of secondary teachers employed in the country (MoE Maldives 2019).

Formal teacher education in Maldives dates back to 1977 with the Educational Development Centre with support from UNICEF. The first specialized state teacher education institution, Institute of Teacher Education, was established in 1984. The duration of ITE programs was increased to 2 years in the 1980s to compensate for poor quality of general education. To offset shortage of trained teachers, distance education made teacher training accessible to a wider range of teachers in a shorter period of time (UNESCO 1990). In 2012, the government transformed the functions of the existing Education Development Centre into a National Institute of Education (NIE). The NIE, adhering to a mandate for organizing in-service teacher training, also developed an upgraded diploma program for untrained teachers. In 2009, private colleges began to provide teacher education for profit to cater to the rapid increase in social and national demand for qualified teachers, with the government’s approval.

Currently two public universities and four private colleges offer ECE, primary and secondary teacher preparation programs (Rasheed 2017). The number of untrained teachers has dropped from 23% in 2010 to 6% in 2018 but this average figure masks disparity between the capital Male and the atolls which have a much higher proportion. Teacher education has not been aligned with the new national curriculum for school education. The Teacher Resource Centres on the atolls are attempting to train teachers to implement the new curriculum. But many teachers continue to use rote methods, so the shift to pedagogies that promote active learning and development of higher order thinking that the curriculum stipulates is a struggle (MoE Maldives 2019).

The country has received substantial support from the World Bank and UNICEF to develop the education sector, and technical support from UNESCO in developing its education management information system and ICT policy. The Global Partnership for Education has funded the government for a comprehensive education sector analysis to take stock and plan for qualitative improvement. Among the recommendations pertaining to improving teacher quality that the report makes, the one germane to teacher preparation calls for continuing with teacher education to eliminate the reliance on untrained teachers and upgrade to a requirement for a Bachelor’s degree, thereby diminishing the reliance on expatriate teachers (MoE Maldives 2019, p. 216).

Nepal

Nepal is a small land-locked country in the Himalayas. The country, a monarchy throughout most of its history, became a republic in 2008. It is one of the poorest nations in the world with a very low income (Plecher 2018). Marred by armed conflicts, natural disasters, and a deep-rooted history of discrimination and disparity based on class, caste, gender, and location, the country hopes to cash in on its demographic dividend of a youthful population through urgent and drastic improvement in the quality of education. The country has seen a commendable increase in access to primary education with a net enrolment rate of 95.3% as of 2013. But despite a pool of over 90% teachers who are trained, more than 50% of Nepali students are not performing at grade level (NIRT 2016, p. 113).

The history of teacher training in Nepal dates back to 1948 when the first teacher training center was established to prepare primary school teachers for Basic schools. However, with the discontinuation of the Basic Education scheme which had been influenced by the Gandhian movement to reform the education system, the operation of this training center was terminated after a few years. A College of Education was established in 1956, as recommended by the Nepal National Education Planning Commission of 1954, to provide a 4-year BEd program for secondary school teachers. A 1-year BEd program was also offered. Simultaneously, mobile training institutes (termed normal schools) offered a 10-month training program to prepare primary school teachers.³ These normal schools morphed into permanent primary school teacher training centers by 1963 (UNESCO 1990).

The Government of Nepal brought in the School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) in 2009 with funding support from a pool of aid agencies and the Global Partnership for Education. Completion of a professional teacher education (ITE) was made mandatory prior to entering the teaching profession. The National Teacher Education Council (NCED), responsible for in-service teachers, offered a one-off certificate in teaching to train all untrained teachers (NCED 2009). At present, around 300 teacher education institutes, including six universities that provide ITE, exist in the public and private sectors to offer a variety of teacher education programs ranging from primary school certificate to a PhD in Education. Prospective teachers must have 12 years of education to be eligible to teach at elementary level and take the 10-month teacher education program. These are offered by training institutions at the higher secondary level, with NCED responsible overall for these courses. Secondary school teachers need a Bachelor’s degree (equivalent to 15 years of education) and must complete the 10-month teacher training course. Both these programs require completion of practicum training for one to one-and-a-half months. In addition, all applicants must pass a teacher licensing examination administered annually by the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) to be eligible for recruitment. These licenses are valid permanently. The TSC is responsible for licensing and selecting permanent teachers, with the district education offices (DEOs) playing a crucial role in recruiting, deploying, and redeploying teachers (NIRT 2016).

An evaluation of SSRP finds weak teacher professional development and lack of intrinsic motivation due to the low social value of the teaching profession. The large presence of temporary teachers leading to low performance, classroom practices that promote rote learning and strong political interference are not benefitting the sector in its efforts to reform (Poyck et al. 2016).

Pakistan

Pakistan, gaining independence in 1947, is currently a federation of four provinces, Sindh, Punjab, Northwest Frontier, Balochistan, and the Federally Administered Tribal areas. Education is a provincial matter under the provincial Departments of Education with the federal Ministry of Education acting as the policy-making and advisory authority. The UGC was replaced by the Higher Education Commission in 2002 to facilitate the development of the universities of Pakistan and improve their quality (UNESCO-IBE 2011).

Prior to 1976, primary and middle level teachers were trained in teacher training schools, a legacy of the colonial period. These institutions did not have the potential to train teachers to effectively meet the changing demands of schools. Therefore, it was decided that the status of these institutions should be elevated to Colleges of Elementary Education. As a result, all training schools were converted into Colleges of Elementary Education under a phased program. These colleges were provided with qualified staff, necessary equipment, and better libraries and buildings commensurate with requirements. These reforms were aimed at raising the standard of training at these institutions (UNESCO 1990).

Currently in Pakistan, primary and middle school teachers are trained by Government Colleges of Elementary Education (GCETs). Admission to the course requires 10 and 12 years of schooling leading to a Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC) and Certificate in Teaching (CT), respectively. Secondary school teachers are also trained for 1 year after graduation with a first degree by the Institutes of Education and Research (IERs) or Departments of Education within a university. The 270 teacher education institutes in Pakistan are under the administrative and academic jurisdiction of provincial Departments of Education. Each province has a distinct organizational structure for teacher education, with nomenclatures varying across provinces (UNESCO and USAID 2006).

The National Education Policy (2009) sought to bring uniformity in the sectors by doing away with certificate and diploma courses and introducing BEd for primary and elementary school teachers (MoFE and PT 2017). This has been implemented in the province of Punjab but not in other provinces. To improve teacher quality, Pakistan is committed to replacing traditional training methods such as lectures and seminars with those promoting practical skills and child-centered pedagogy (Westbrook et al. 2009). Many changes are taking place in the teacher preparation sector in the country, with a strong move toward school-based certification. Performance-based approaches to licensing and accreditations are being reconsidered and the National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (NACTE) has been established to ensure quality of teacher education programs. But these reform initiatives are not matched by resources. A survey of 21 public sector universities reveals that the majority of teacher preparation institutes are deficient in terms of infrastructure and human and knowledge resources to respond adequately to the proposed reforms (Mahmood 2014).

The current National Educational Policy notes that teacher education is imparted through various modes, that is, face-to-face, distance, and virtual. Since teacher education, in addition to knowledge transmission, involves development of skills and dispositions that can be learned best through face-to-face modes, the quality of teachers prepared through nonformal and distance modes is questionable. While analyzing the situation vis-à-vis the previous policy, the document points out that while initial certification of teachers was introduced as a policy, a system has not evolved to achieve this. The present policy recommends setting standards for teacher professional development and introducing the concurrent model of a 4-year BEd (Hons) to prepare teachers for elementary schools, a 5-year BEd (Hons) for secondary school teachers, an equivalent consecutive model of BA/BSc in a school subject, plus BEd. It further recommends linking the curriculum of these programs to the National Professional Standards for teachers. To attract better talent into the profession, which at present is “the last option” for students the policy makes provision for scholarships and free education to the top quartile of merit students by the public and private institutions (MoFE and PT 2017, pp. 61–66).

Sri Lanka

The small island nation of Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. Here, education across levels, including university, is free of charge. The literacy rate at 98.7% is the highest in South Asia. Emerging from a prolonged internal conflict, the country has adopted three mediums of instruction as its national policy for education: Sinhala, Tamil, and English. This means three different sets of schools and teacher education programs, each for a different medium of instruction. Of the 10,194 schools, 62% are Sinhala medium and 778 schools offer three or more subjects in English medium sprinkled throughout the island. There are, as well, a small number of fee-levying private schools (MoE Sri Lanka 2018).

The beginning of teacher education in Sri Lanka can be traced back to the Dutch who established a normal school for training teachers in 1747, followed by the British who started a similar school in 1842. The first government teacher training college was inaugurated in 1903, while the various denominational bodies that operated schools had their own mechanisms for teacher training. By the mid-1970s, despite a long history of teacher education, there remained a large number of untrained teachers in the school system (UNESCO 1990).

Currently there are 18 National Colleges of Education that offer diploma-level programs, and the National Institute of Education, established in 1986, offers degree and postgraduate programs. These two institutions fall under the governance of the MOE, not the university system. Apart from these institutions, the university systems, through their faculties of education or affiliate institutes, also provide preservice teacher education for primary and secondary teachers. The duration of the programs varies from a 2-year teacher training certificate, a 1-year diploma in teacher education (PGDE), and a 3/4-year Bachelor’s degree. All programs are fully funded by the government and free of charge for the participants. Of the 250,000 teachers employed now, about 97.9% of the teachers in government schools are either graduates or trained teachers (MoE Sri Lanka 2018).

A professional qualification is not compulsory for teacher recruitment in Sri Lanka. The physical and human resources available for teacher education are inadequate to provide solid quality programs to meet the diverse needs arising from the changing contexts. The new recruits also have to wait for many years to get registered for a PGDE program offered by the universities or by the NIE. Due to the lack of an accreditation system, the programs offered by various institutions are of differing standards. The lack of specialized programs for preparing teachers for the primary and secondary levels is yet another issue with which the country presently grapples (NEC 2016).

End Notes

• 1 The focus was largely on publications in the last three decades as the 1990s marked a turning point in the education systems of South Asia triggered by the EFA movement. Also research output on South Asia has been growing since this period, coinciding with the emergence of international funding for education in these countries. The secondary literature used for this chapter is neither exhaustive nor a rigorous review of literature. Research in teacher education is as yet emerging and the South Asian region is considered “ripe for researching the many innovative initiatives that have been adopted by the region’s countries” (Iyengar et al. 2014, p. 105).

• 2 Maldives was voluntarily under “British protection” for an extended period of time, from 1887 to 1965. It was independently ruled by the Sultan during this period and the British were involved only in defense and foreign affairs (Source: https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/maldives/history).

• 3 Historically the formal institutions set up for training teachers have been termed normal schools in Europe and America.