Emerging Trends in Teacher Education in India

A quality teacher education program is rational and streamlined to address specific pedagogical issues. It elucidates the ideas about what constitutes good teaching and the content and scope of course work and practical experiences. Teacher education courses are very much connected to practice as well as theory. High quality teacher training programs have students studying to be teachers (preservice teachers) and working continuously with expert master teachers. Teacher education programs focus to build teacher proficiency and competence; candidates are able to face new challenges in educating students. In today’s world, the demands on teachers are increasing. They must be able to create understanding with investigative minds; assimilating the required transformation and accommodating and responding to universal needs. The purpose of this paper is discuss significant changes that have incurred in teacher education in India and also provide how these national tends relate to global trends, reforms and innovations in teacher education. The need for teacher education programs to be innovative and encompass various approaches and practices is also discussed. It is recognized that teacher education programs should be structured and modified so that teacher candidates learn to respond dynamically to new problems and challenges in the field of education. With this knowledge and skills, future teachers can lead and guide the development of the country.