A CROSS – CONTEXT LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF EPISTEMOLOGICAL CONCEPTS AND TEACHING ATTITUDE AMONG PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS

Teacher education is not teaching the teacher how to teach. It is to kindle his initiative, to keep it alive, to minimize the evils of the “hit and miss” process and to save time, energy, money and trouble of the teacher and the taught. The necessity of the teacher to perceive that the course in Teacher Education would help him to minimize his trouble, and to appreciate that it would save the children from much of the painful process through which he has himself passed. Systematic and sincere efforts eventually lead a non competent teacher to enter into the privileged group of competent teachers. In this competitive world, a mere academic qualification does not generate any job opportunity in the educational institution Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community.