INNOVATIVE PRACTICES IN CURRICULUM TRANSACTIONS CONCERNS TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Quality of any educational system depends to a great extent on curriculum that is transacted. Curriculum and Textbooks have been considered important for improving quality and standard of education. In-fact the crux of the entire process of education lies in its curricular design, structure, organization and transaction modes. The world today seems to be ruled by the cyber world, which besides offering an ocean of knowledge has thrown up may a challenge including displacing the teacher. The teacher, who was the ultimate then, is today treated more as a service provider than a second parent. Education has become a business transaction driven by market principles where student-teacher and the community are the ‘stakeholders' and classroom interaction, the delivery of ‘goods'. Should the trend continue, what we will produce will be mere commodities without souls. For education to be meaningful, not only is the choice of curriculum with its thrust on essential areas, important but the manner in which it is imported. In today's context, mere classroom delivery will not suffice. The means is as important as the end. During the last few decades teacher education curricula has come under severe criticism and their weakness have been highlighted. Some educationists feel that they do not fully address the needs of contemporary Indian Schools and society and they do not prepare teachers who can import quality education in schools. Effective curriculum frameworks for initial teacher education aimed at developing professionalism in pre-service teachers are expected to have their base in well-defined standards for various levels of school teachers.