New test for teacher recruitment

At a time when there is an ongoing debate about the urgent need to restructure the teacher education programmes in the country, would-be teachers in schools will now have to write an eligibility test conducted by either the Centre or the State governments before getting an appointment letter.

Called the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) this examination is external and additional to any other qualification that an aspiring teacher would have. According to a National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) document (this can be accessed at the web site www.ncte-india.org) the rationale for the TET is

It would bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process.

It would induce teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards

It would send a positive signal to all stakeholders that the government lays special emphasis on teacher quality.

The TET would be conducted by a “suitable professional body” designated by the government concerned. All questions would in the MCQ mode, and each will fetch one mark. There would be four alternatives given out of which one would be the correct answer. There would be no negative marking in TET.

Those wishing to get appointed as teachers for Classes I -V would have to appear only for paper one of TET. This one-and-a-half-hour examination would have 30 questions each on Child Development and Pedagogy, language-1, language-2, mathematics and environmental studies.

Questions in Child Development and Pedagogy would be all about the “educational psychology of teaching and learning relevant to the age group 6-11 years,” the NCTE document notes, “They will focus on understanding the characteristics and needs of diverse learners, interaction with learners and the attributes and qualities of a good facilitator of learning.”

The ‘language-1' questions would focus on the proficiencies related to the medium of instruction in each State.

Language-2 will have questions from among the list of languages prescribed in the application form.

The questions on mathematics and environmental studies would give emphasis on the “concepts, problems solving abilities and pedagogical understanding of the subjects.” The questions would be evenly distributed over the syllabi prescribed by the respective governments.

For those wishing to get appointed as teachers in classes six to eight TET paper-2 is the examination to take. Here, it is compulsory to answer the questions on child development and on the two language options. For the math and science teacher there would be sixty MCQs of one mark each, for the social sciences teacher there would be sixty MCQs of one mark each. Other teachers can answer either the mathematics set or the social sciences set. The question papers shall be bilingual; in English and in a language decided by the State government.

Those who wish to be considered for appointment to any class from one to eight would have to appear for both paper one and two of the TET.

Minimum marks

Only a person who scored 60 per cent or more would be deemed to have passed the TET. Though weight should be given to TET scores during the recruitment process, the NCTE document also makes it clear that passing the TET is only an eligibility criteria and that it does not imply a right to get appointed.

The NCTE has recommended that TET be conducted at least once a year. Each government can decide the validity of a TET; in any case this should not exceed seven years.

Certificate

Each successful candidate shall be given a TET certificate which would incorporate adequate security features and would be electronically generated.

The current thinking is to make TET optional for serving teachers. However, they would be encouraged to write TET just to see where they stand on the skills scale.

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/03/08/stories/2011030850120300.htm

NCTE lays down minimum qualification for person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in schools

 The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has laid down the minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in schools in its Notification. One of the essential qualifications specified in the Notification is that a person has to pass a Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). The TET will be conducted by the appropriate Government (Central Government and State Government) in accordance with guidelines framed by the NCTE for the purpose.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in the Lok Sabha today.

source:http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/Showlatest.asp?newsid=7955

Sibal moots institutional framework between NCERT and SCERTs

New Delhi: Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal has mooted the framework for an institution that will be set up constituting of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs).

This framework could include the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as invitees, and would be a mechanism for coordination, continuous flow of information and dialogue.

Speaking at a meeting of the Central and State Regulatory Institutions for School Education, the minister said that the focus of the framework institution would be on improving the quality of education throughout the country.

He also underlined that the effort of the educational administrators and curriculum developers should be to maximize standards rather than settling for minimum standards. He was speaking at a meeting of Central and State Regulatory Institutions for School Education, here today.

The minister stated that as per the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) teacher qualification norms under the Right to Education Act, Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) will be an essential qualification.

He said that while the NCTE is developing the standards and benchmarks for this Teacher Eligibility Test, state governments would be responsible for administering these tests and it is the responsibility of the state governments to ensure that these tests conform to high standards.

He further added that the institutional mechanism between NCERT and SCERTs should work towards developing question banks which could be used by states for their Teacher Eligibility Test.

The minister also talked about the development of the National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF). He said that "the government has begun a process of series of consultations with different industry groups to facilitate development of vocational curriculum as demanded by the needs/job requirements of these industry groups."

He called upon the state governments to identify skills specific to their states and develop curriculum for these skills.

The NCERT in its presentation, among other things, stated that the government is proposing to set up a 24x7 channel for teaching through information and communications technology (ICT).

The NCERT would be the nodal agency for this channel and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) would be the collaborating agencies.

The target audience for this channel would be school students in the 5-18 years age group, open education students and neo adult literates.

source: http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/Sibal_moots_institutional_framework_between_NCERT_and_SCERTs_13384/