Role of NAAC for Quality Expansion in Teacher Education

 

Mehraj Ud Din Sheikh¹* and Qamar Jahan²

 

¹Research Scholar, Dept. of Education, AMU, Aligarh

 

ABSTRACT:                                      

Teachers play a pivotal role in educational process. As the quality of teachers so is the quality of education with in turn determines the quality of citizens and ultimately the well being of nation. To achieve the outcome of enhanced quality at all levels of education, different govt. organizations and agencies have been focusing their attention on quality assurance in teacher education. They provide adequate guidelines for formulating quality assurance policies as well as for adopting systems and procedures within teacher education institutions for enhancing the quality of the processes involved in teacher development. They have the specific purpose of preparing teachers who are effective in a cultural context. Teaching being a profession and teacher being a professional, the system of assessment and accreditation of teacher education institutions by an independent body such as National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is being made an effective instrument for rising of quality of teacher education programmes and for enabling institutions in using their physical and instructional infrastructure optimally and professionally. The scheme of assessment and accreditation will help institutions to carry out their strength, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis, and in making their programmes more attractive to the students and to their potential employers. The aim of the present paper was to highlight the role of NAAC in the quality expansion of teacher education.

 

 

Education consists of learning and teaching. The former is acquiring knowledge and the latter is imparting knowledge. To impart knowledge is not a simple task. ‘What makes a good teacher’ is a question that has intrigued and challenged philosophers, researchers, policy-makers and teachers for many centuries. It is also a question that has generated diverse answers, varying in their nature and degree of specificity in different countries and across different periods in history. Educational thinkers and writers have variously emphasized different aspects of the teacher’s role— the teacher as expert in their subject; the teacher as facilitator of learning; the teacher as a motivator and source of inspiration; the teacher as upholder of moral standards. How would we conceptualize the work of teachers inevitably influences how would we think about their professional preparation, and ultimately shapes suggestions for the further improvement of teacher education.

 

History of Teacher Education:

In India, teaching has a long history. It was a natural duty of certain classes of people called Brahmins who perform it, not for earning money, but for discharging their social obligation. Teachers enjoyed a respectable position in the society. The teacher treated his students like his own sons and they lived him like other member of his family.

During this period no formal training was given to become a trained teacher, teachers followed the methods of their own teachers. Teaching techniques and several other qualities such as patience and impartiality handed down from one generation of teachers to another (Chauhan, 2007).

 

The formal system of education was given only after the advent of British system of education. Till the first decade of the nineteenth century hardly any teacher training programe was in vogue. The indigenous monitoring system however had certain advantages (Shrivastava, 1997).  The Danish missionaries made the formal beginning of teacher education, by setting up a Normal School at Serampore (Bengal) in 1793. In the beginning, the missionaries were interested in elementary education, but later on became enthusiastic about secondary education also. The first institution to train the secondary school teachers was opened at Madras (now Chennai) in 1856. The second was set up at Lahore in 1880. The Mysore University was the first to have a Faculty of Education (1925). In 1932, 13 universities had departments of education, and Bombay University was the first to launch M. Ed. programme in 1936 (Chauhan, 2007). The development of teacher education in India has not shown any sustained growth except for the quantitative expansion of teacher training colleges. After independence many education commissions like the University Education Commission (1948-49), Secondary Education Commission (1952-53), Indian Education Commission (1964-66), National Commission on teachers-1 n(1983-85), National Commission on Teachers-2 (1988), have vociferously declared that the quality of teacher education is of prime importance in determining the quality of school education. The Indian Education Commission (1964-66) has very rightly put its fingers on teacher education and has expressed concerns over it. It suggested that teacher education being a vital programme should be given priority in educational reconstruction of the country in the post-independence era (Vasishtha, 1979). During the period of about two decades from the publication of the Education Commission Report in 1966 and launching of the NPE-1986, the progress of teacher education was rather slow. When the NPE-1986 was launched, the matter attracted the attention of the policy makers again and the role of teachers in social transformation was emphasized. The NPE-1986 made several proposals to create new bodies/institutions to act as monitoring and coordinating mechanisms at national as well as state levels. During this period several new developments have taken place, the most notable being the creation of DIET, CTE, IASE and the NCTE.

 

Role of NAAC:

“To make quality the defining element of higher education in India through a combination of self and external quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance initiatives” (NAAC).

 

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC), has been entrusted with the responsibility of Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in India. like the HEQC (Higher Education Quality Committee) in South Africa, LAN (Lembaga Akreditasi Negara) in Malaysia, AUQA (Australian Universities Quality Agency) in Australia, TTA (Teacher Training Agency) in UK and so on (Laksmi, T.K.S & Rama,k., 2007). National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 has been given the gigantic task of assuring the quality of the third largest higher education system in the world after USA and China.

 

Quality Assessment: refers to a number of measures of effectiveness and efficiency while as

 

Quality Assurance: refers to the process of maintaining standards reliably and consistently by applying criteria of success in a course, programme or institution (M. Sayjaya, 2006).The National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) as adopted by the Parliament and the Programme of Action (PoA) document that followed argued the need for setting up a council for ensuring and enhancing quality. The NPE and the POA recommended that “excellence of institutions of higher education is a function of many aspects: self-evaluation and self-improvement are important. If a mechanism is set up which will encourage self-assessment in institutions and also assessment and accreditation by a council…the quality process, participation, achievements, etc. will be constantly monitored and improved”.  The UGC, in July 1994, constituted a committee to finalize rules and regulations, and finally, in September 1994, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) came into existence with its headquarters at Bangalore (NAAC Document, 1995). In order to achieve its objectives, the NAAC will:

·        To arrange for periodic assessment and accreditation of institutions of higher education or units thereof, or specific academic programmes or projects;

·        To stimulate the academic environment for promotion of quality of teaching learning and research in higher education institutions;

·        To encourage self-evaluation, accountability, autonomy and innovations in higher education;

·        To undertake quality-related research studies, consultancy and training programmes, and

·        To collaborate with other stakeholders of higher education for quality evaluation, promotion and sustenance.

 

In order to augmentate the quality of teacher education, The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 5^th Nov, 2004 to collaborate and work jointly towards Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The collaborative activities as mentioned in the MOU are as follows:

·        Compilation and dissemination of best practices and innovations in various higher education institutions including those offering teacher education courses by alternate modes.

·        Collection and publication of best practices and innovations in teacher training programs and professional development of teachers.

·        Evolving process based quality indicators for different modes of higher education programs.

·        Networking of Quality Assurance Agencies and Higher Education Institutions.

·        Facilitating capacity building in quality assurance and flexible forms of higher education.

·        Facilitating promotion of quality enhancement and institutional excellence in higher education institutions.

·        Providing a forum for dissemination and sharing of innovations and Best Practices.

·        Collaborating with other nodal agencies for liberal as well as professional education with a view to undertake various joint activities (S. Sumriti, 2008).

 

To improve the quality of its Assessment & Accreditation process, the NAAC has redesigned its on-going methodology of Assessment and Accreditation, based on its own field experience, its shared knowledge with other International Quality Assurance Agencies and the quality imperatives in the changing context of world-wide higher education scenario. After several consultative meetings with academia and educational experts, feedback responses from various stakeholders and due approval by the competent Authorities of the NAAC, it has prepared the present NAAC Methodology of Assessment and Accreditation of HEIs. The present Methodology has come into effect from 1st April 2007 (NAAC, 2011). NAAC has declared the year 2007 as the year for promoting Internal Quality Assurance Systems.

 

At the instance of NAAC many HEIs have established the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) as a post accreditation quality sustenance activity. The experience of NAAC reveals that the IQAC in these institutions are proactive and functioning in a healthy way. Based on this success story, from 1st April 2007 onwards NAAC is propagating to have such a mechanism created prior to the accreditation in all the HEIs which would help establishing quality culture in them. The UGC has recognized this initiative and it has taken a policy decision to direct all HEIs to establish IQACs for which it has decided to provide seed financial assistance (XI Plan Guidelines, 2007-2012).

 

CONCLUSION:

NAAC plays important role in improving the quality of our institutions, phenomenal efforts have been taken in accreditation process which helps the institution to know its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities through an informed review. There is need for the SLQACs to act positively and motivate all the accredited institutions in their respective states to establish the Internal Quality Assurance Cells. Ultimately, it will necessary for every accredited institution to rely more on internal quality assurance mechanisms than external quality assessment and evaluation mechanisms. In order to ensure enhancement in the culture of quality assurance within the institution Higher Education Institutions both those which are accredited would reaslise the significance of internalizing and institutionalizing the quality assurance mechanisms and respond positively so that quality runs in the very arteries of the Institutions as a Quality Culture.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Chauhan, C.P.S. (2007). Modern Indian Education Policies, Progress and Problems, Kanishka Publishers, Distributors, New Delhi-110 002

2.       Laksmi, T.K.S & Rama,k. (2007). Quality Assurance Toolkit for Teacher Education Institutions (QATTEI): Guidelines, NAAC. Retrieved from http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/PUB_QATTEI_Guidelines.pdf

3.       M. Sanjaya (2006). Quality Assurance in Higher Education: An Introduction. Retrieved From http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/PUB_QAHE_Intro.pdf

4.       NAAC (2011). NAAC Methodology of Assessment and Accreditation. Retrieved from 

5.       S.Smriti (2008). Evaluation of joint COL-NAAC work in Quality Assurance in Teacher Education, NAAC-COL Partnership Evaluation Report C08-295, Retrieved from http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/EDU_AU_C08-295_NAAC-COL_Final%20Report.pdf

6.       Shrivastava, R.C. (1997). Teacher Education in India, Issues and Perspectives. Regency Publications, 20/36-G, Old Market, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi

7.       UGC (2007) “Guidelines for the Establishment and Monitoring of the Internal Quality Assurance Cells (IQACs) in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) Retrieved from   http://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/xiplanpdf/IQACguidelines.pdf

8.       Vasishtha, K.K. (1979). Teacher Education in India. Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi-110015