Are the future teachers apt for teaching



Are the future teachers apt for teaching?

…a study in Haryana & Uttar Pradesh

Divyanshi Chugh

for

Centre for Civil Society

2012

Abstract

Contents

Abstract

Section A:

Background Research

Introducing the Problem: Need and Significance of the Study

Basic Concepts

20 Aptitude: Definition

21 Aptitude Vs. Intelligence Vs. Achievement Vs. Skills Vs. Proficiency

22 Aptitude Testing:

Trends

24 Types

25 Teaching Aptitude

Review of Literature on teaching aptitude

Teachers in India, with special focus on Haryana and Uttar Pradesh

28 Teacher Education

Policy Analysis

Structure

District Institutes of Education and Training

32 Quality of Teaching in India

33 Effect of teaching: Learning Outcomes

34 Factors Affecting Effective teaching

Absenteeism

Administrative hassles

Training and Education

Teachers’ Unions

Culture

Students

Teaching Aptitude

Tests for Pupil Teachers in India

43 Achievement Tests

44 Eligibility Tests

Contents

Section B:

Primary Research

Objectives

Hypotheses

Sample

Methodology

Testing Instrument

Selection Procedure

History and Development of the instrument

Objective,

Standardization,

Reliability,

Validity,

Norms

Uses

Limitations

References

Qualitative Data

Observations

Interviews

Administration of the Test

Data Analysis

Results and Discussions

Limitations of the Study

Future Directions

Conclusion

References

Annexure

“Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.” 

~Bob Talbert

Section A

Background Research

Introduction

All human effort strives to achieve better. This quest for going a step higher and achieving quality has been a marked feature of human evolution. Educational programs that strive to innovate and revitalize the existing systems often find it difficult to achieve the desired results because the teachers are often incompetent and ill-suited to doing their tasks effectively. Therefore, no matter how much money or resources, teachers remain critical to the success of such programs. Teacher Quality which is closely associated with Teaching Aptitude is then at the very heart of all educational advancements.

Teachers are the ones who nurture young minds and therefore shape our very future. It is in classrooms, that the ideas to improve and make our world a better place to live are disseminated. Teaching is the mother of all professions. Therefore Teaching Aptitude and effective teachers remain critical to making this world full of enlightened brains and rich thought.

Basic Concepts

Due to subtle differences between the various psychological constructs, a cobweb of misconceptions has developed about the self-explanatory construct: “aptitude”. Often it is used as synonymous to intelligence, personality, capability and innate ability, even among the educated class. Clarification of the concept, and elimination of deviously different but incorrect definitions is vital at the onset. Warren's Dictionary of Psychology provides the most apt elucidation of the concept of aptitude.

APTITUDE: “a condition or set of characteristics regarded as symptomatic of an individual’s ability to acquire to acquire training in some (usually specified) knowledge, skill, or set of responses such as the ability to speak a language, to produce music etc.” 

The precision and specificity of the definition helps eliminate misconceptions, and form a complete understanding of the concept. Characteristics of aptitude, as highlighted by the definition are:

Firstly, there is no assumption that aptitude is necessarily innate. It defines aptitude as “the ability” to acquire, which itself might be acquired or inherent. Aptitude is anything that predisposes a person to be apt in some specified domain, given training. The postulation that aptitude is hereditary is a dangerous fallacy, prevalent even among the learnt and reliable sources of information. Aptitude reflects the cumulative influence of the multiplicity of experience in everyday life. Essentially, it is the result of heredity and environment

Secondly, the definition is broad. It embraces any characteristic that predisposes to learning, which might include personality, intelligence, knowledge, capability. But the important point is, it is not same as any one of these. Simply defined, it is the potential to acquire, which could be for a specific skill or something with a broader connotation. Aptitude is not knowledge, understanding, learned or acquired abilities (skills) or attitude. But can include any of these. Thus, definitions like, “Talents or aptitudes are unlearned abilities--gut-level and non-conscious ways of operating. Some people call them knacks. Aptitudes have a major impact not just on performance, but on our individual and unique states of being.”[1] by Hank Pfeffer shouldn’t be used to interpret the results of the study.

Aptitude Vs. Intelligence

Intelligence refers to a more global capacity to act purposefully, think rationally and deal effectively with the environment (Wechsler), whereas aptitude is a combination of characteristics indicative of a capacity to acquire. Intelligence tests attempt to have a higher inter-correlation and are used for the prediction of academic achievement scores, whereas aptitude test aim at the opposite and are used to predict aptness for specific job.

Aptitude Vs. Achievement

Achievement tests measure a relatively standardized set of experience. It is the terminal evaluation of individual’s status on completion of training. Aptitude, on the other hand serves to predict subsequent performance. Aptitude tests are employed to estimate the extent to which the individual will profit from the specified course of training, or to forecast the quality of his/her achievement in a new situation.

Skill Vs. Proficiency Vs. Aptitude

Skill refers to the ability to perform a given act with ease and precision, proficiency is a comprehensive term including not just manual or motor skills, but also higher level competencies. And put simply, aptitude is the ability to acquire under appropriate conditions.

Review of literature on teaching aptitude

Reviewing the previous studies conducted both inside and outside India, it was found that the studies related to Teacher Aptitude are very few in number. The following are the summary of major findings of the studies on teaching aptitude:

|Author |Year |Major findings |

|Sharma |1971 |Teaching aptitude is a significant predictor of|

| | |teacher effectiveness |

|Sharma |1971 |Teaching aptitude, academic grades, |

| | |socio-economic status, teaching experience and |

| | |age to be sound predictors of teacher |

| | |effectiveness. |

|Vashistha |1973 |Academic grades, teaching aptitude, and |

| | |attitude towards teaching are the best |

| | |predictors of teacher effectiveness. |

|Ekstorm |1974 |The major components which affect student |

| | |achievement are, teacher knowledge and teacher |

| | |aptitude |

|Ekstorm |1978 |Cognitive style and one aptitude component are |

| | |found consistently related. |

|Mutha |1980 |Teacher aptitude is a predictor of effective |

| | |teaching |

|Vyas |1982 |A positive and significant relationship between|

| | |teaching aptitude and teaching effectiveness, |

| | |but no relationship between teaching success |

| | |and teaching aptitude. |

| | | |

|Ken and Kleine |1984 |Teacher competency factors are significantly |

| | |correlated with aptitude variables. |

|Kukreti |1990 |Positive relationship between aptitude and |

| | |success in teaching |

|Feezel and Jerry |1993 |Preparing student teachers through creativity |

| | |games by stirring up their thinking and |

| | |encouraging them to explore new paths |

|Beena |1995 |Teaching aptitude is a significant predictor of|

| | |teaching effectiveness. |

|Sajan |1999 |A significant difference in teaching aptitude |

| | |between male and female. The level of |

| | |achievement in degree exam has no influence in |

| | |predicting teaching aptitude |

Review of related studies indicates the importance of Teacher Aptitude and the variables that affect teacher aptitude. Some of the studies show gender difference in Teacher Aptitude, but some show no gender difference. Reviewed studies revealed that attitude towards teaching (Vashishta, 1973), teacher effectiveness (Mutha, 1980; Sharma, 1971; Singh, 1987; Beena, 1995), teaching success (Vyas, 1982), general intelligence (Banerjy, 1956; Thakkur, 1977), etc. are significantly related to Teacher Aptitude. Teacher Aptitude is based on practice teaching and theoretical studies. The related studies reviewed, give a better understanding of the nature of Teacher Aptitude and the related variables and the relationship between them.[2]

Teacher education

The National Council for Teacher Education has defined teacher education as – A programme of education, research and training of persons to teach from pre-primary to higher education level.

According to the Goods Dictionary of Education, Teacher education means, ― all the formal and non-formal activities and experiences that help to qualify a person to assume responsibilities of a member of the educational profession or to discharge his responsibilities more effectively.

According to the International Encyclopedia of Teaching and Teacher education (1987). ― Teacher education can be considered in three phases: Pre-service, Induction and In-service. The three phases are considered as parts of a continuous process.

In the early till about the mid-20th century, teacher preparation was called teacher training. It had narrower goals with its focus being only on skill training. The perspective of teacher education was therefore very narrow and its scope was limited.

Modern Teacher education evolved with National Policy of Education ’86, a Centrally sponsored Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganization of Teacher Education, coming into place. It sought to base itself on the fact that ―Teachers are made, not born. The NPE and POA established a third-district level-tier to the support system in the shape of District institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). With this, expectation was of wider quantitative coverage as well as qualitatively better support as these Institutes would be closer to the field, and therefore more alive to its problems and needs. The State Government/UT Administration exercises its supervisory functions through the State Council of Education and Research Training (SCERT) and SRC (State Resource Center). The immediate accountability of the DIET will be to the District Board of Education (DBE), which, according to the NPE, is to be created to manage education up to the higher secondary level. Till October 1989, Central assistance had been sanctioned under the Scheme for setting up a total of 216 DIETs in the country.

The Present Study is concentrated to three District Institutes of Education and Training, namely DIET, Gurgaon, DIET, Mewat and DIET, Meerut.

Teacher Education: Goals

Since teaching is considered an art as well as a science, the teacher not only has to acquire not only knowledge, but also skills. It is ever-evolving and dynamic. In order to prepare teachers who are competent to face the challenges of the dynamic society, Teacher education has to keep abreast of recent developments and trends. Therefore a constant evaluation of the curriculum, design, structure, organization and transaction modes, as well as the extent of its appropriateness remains crucial to its effectiveness.

Prepared under the principles laid down in the RTE Act, 2009 While articulating the vision of teacher education, the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education 2009 Framework has some important dimensions of the new approach to teacher education, as under.

1. Reflective practice to be the central aim of teacher education

2. Student-teachers should be provided opportunities for self-learning, reflection, assimilation and articulation of new ideas;

3. Developing capacities for self-directed learning and ability to think, be critical and to work in groups.

4. Providing opportunities to student-teachers to observe and engage with children, communicate with and relate to children.

The Framework has highlighted the focus, specific objectives, broad areas of study in terms of theoretical and practical learnings, and curricular transaction and assessment strategies for the various initial teacher education programmes. The draft also outlines the basic issues that should guide formulation of all programmes of these courses.

The Framework has made several recommendations on the approach and methodology of in-service teacher training programmes and has also outlined a strategy for implementation of the Framework.

As a natural corollary to the NCFTE, the NCTE has also developed ‘model’ syllabi for various teacher education courses.[?]

Teacher Education and Teaching Aptitude

Teacher Education is intricately related to students’ learning outcomes. Today’s students become tomorrow’s teachers. Today’s teachings develop teaching aptitudes, and generate learning outcomes. Teachers’ Education adds to the teacher-making process. Teachers teach, and produce learning outcomes.

Students’ Outcomes ( Student Teachers ( Teachers ( Students’ Outcomes

^ ^

| |

Teachers’ Aptitudes Teachers’ Education

As defined previously in the paper, teaching aptitude is a broad term, encompassing any characteristic that predisposes to learn. The student outcomes in relevant areas as well as teacher education therefore itself forms a part of teacher aptitude.

Section B

Primary Research

Objectives:

1. To measure the teaching aptitude of teachers of District Institutes of Education and Training, Mewat (Haryana), Gurgaon (Haryana) and Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) in general and with respect to its five sub dimensions: Mental Ability, Professional Information, Adaptability, interest in profession and Attitude towards Children

2. To compare Teaching Aptitudes of

a. Students of Rural and Urban DIETS, using samples from Mewat and Gurgaon (Haryana)

b. DIETS in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon, Haryana

c. Males and Females in DIETS, Meerut, Mewat and Gurgaon

3. To find correlation between Aptitude and Achievement

Hypotheses:

1. Student teachers have low teaching aptitude.

2.

a. Students of Rural DIET have lower teaching aptitude than student teachers of Urban DIETs.

b. Teaching Aptitude of Students teachers of Haryana will differ from those of Uttar Pradesh

The female students have more teaching aptitude than their male counter parts.

3. There exists a positive correlation between marks obtained in achievement score of last semester of D. Ed. and aptitude in teaching.

Sample:

Using random sampling, student teachers undergoing D. Ed. course in one urban and one rural DIET of Haryana, and one Urban DIET of Uttar Pradesh were selected for the study. The sample consisted of __ male and __ female student teachers

Methodology

Testing Instrument

Selection Procedure

Test selection is not simple and many factors (ranging from technical considerations, to past use, to should tests be used at all) must be weighed. I started exploring the potentially useful instruments for the study from an entirely neutral standpoint so as to maintain the objectivity of the research project. As I went about searching google scholar, scribed, subnet, Academia. edu, jstor etc., Ctrl F+ Aptitude became my favorite combination. I visited the NCERT Library, and I begin by recording the essential purpose and the details of the test: reliability, validity, standardization sample, normative population. I also focused on the clarity of instructions and the scoring and interpretation of the tests.

The next step was to gather references for the tests shortlisted by the method of elimination.

At times, the dispersion of information was saddening. At other times, even a little piece of information made me overjoyed. With an open mind, I've attempted to review as many 'apt' aptitude tests, with references for the test my first priority and availability the last. I reviewed thirteen tests, both general aptitude tests, as well as teaching aptitude test. While choosing the most appropriate tool, there emerged a fundamental conflict: Specialized Vs. General. Whether do I choose a specific teaching aptitude test, or a general aptitude test? General Aptitude Test would have enriched the research output, by producing an analysis specifying the percentage of human resource that is ‘apt’ for some other profession, say mechanical, that has been channelized to teaching, in addition to the ‘presence/absence’ of aptitude in the teachers. On the other hand, selecting a teaching aptitude test would yield the most accurate and detailed answer to the research question we were aiming to answer.

Table 1.1 gives a list of teaching aptitude tests, developed in our country:

1. Teaching Aptitude Test Battery: This test aims to measure the aptitude in the teaching profession through 80 items related to 8 areas (Shamin Karim & Ashok Kumar Dixit).

2. Teaching Aptitude Test: This test measures aptitude for the teaching profession (Jaiprakash and R.P. Srivastava).

3. Teaching Aptitude Test Battery : It has 120 items and is designed to select students for teacher training courses (R.P. Singh and S.N. Sharma)

4. Teaching Aptitude Scale by Psy-Com Services tests the dimensions: Communication, Intelligence, Perceptive, Persistence, receptive, social warmth & teaching interest

Two major general aptitude tests, which survived the shortlisting procedure were: Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Scale 3rd ed. (OASIS-3, Parker, 2002) and Aptitude Tests for Occupations Wesley S. Roeder and Herbert B. Graham (1971)

The Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Schedule-3 (OASIS-3:AS) includes an aptitude survey and an interest schedule and is intended for students grades 8-12 and adults. The aptitude survey measures six factors that are directly related to skills and abilities required in more than 20,000 jobs listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles: general ability, verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude, spatial aptitude, perceptual aptitude, and manual dexterity. The Aptitude Tests for Occupations series consists of six test booklets: The Personal-Social, General Sales tests, Mechanical test, Clerical Routine, The Computational test and the Scientific.

Aptitude Tests for Occupations would have been the most apt test for the study, had the final output been in the form of ‘channelization of human resource’ into inapt professions for student teachers for it provides interpretation in the form of clearly stated ‘occupations’ where one has aptitude in. But because there hasn’t been a restandardization of the test ever since 1971, and nor is there an Indian adaptation, this couldn’t be adopted. Furthermore, according to American Psychological Association’s critical review[?], there is no evidence that they measure "aptitude" as distinguished from achievement, and the magical word is likely to deceive the unwary.

Despite the wide usage in past researches, high reliability and validity, there has been rare cross-cultural use of the instrument, Occupational Aptitude Survey and Interest Schedule-3, and the interpretations can be relatively vague, for it caters to aptitudes required in 19,999 professions other than teaching.

Teaching aptitude test battery for Elementary School Teachers (1998) by R.P. Singh and S.N. Sharma was decided to be used because this specific aptitude test would yield comprehensive results, communicating the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher trainees.

Teaching Aptitude Test Battery (1998)[?] by R.P. Singh and S.N. Sharma of Patna University, Bihar has been published by National Psychological Corporation. It can be employed with the Hindi speaking testees. It has been standardized on a sample of 1000 teacher trainees reading in Primary Teacher Training Institutes in Bihar. Its objective is to test the teaching aptitude of teachers working in elementary schools or those who’ll become elementary school teachers in near future.

The Teaching Aptitude Test Battery (T A T B) developed by Singh and Sharma (1998) was administered to the above sample in the start of the second semester of the annual academic year. The tool consists of the following five dimensions

(1) Mental ability

(2) Attitude towards children

(3) Adaptability

(4) Professional information and

(5) Professional interest.

These dimensions are presented as five-sub tests respectively. Sub Test I contains 32 questions to test the mental ability. Sub test II contains 20 questions that measure the attitude towards children. Sub Test III contains 28 questions to measure the adaptability. Sub test IV contains 28 questions that are used to measure the professional information, and sub test V contains 12 questions to measure the interest in profession. All these questions are objective type items of different forms.

The reliability co-efficient estimates to be .98 by split-half method, and .97 by test-retest method. The scores on the total test have been validated against the rating of the instructors of teacher training institutions. The value of co-efficient of correlation has been found to be .42. Norms are available in standard score, T scores and percentiles.

Qualitative Data

Visit to DIET, Gurgaon

June 20, 2012

Naturalistic Observations:

The atmosphere was lively. As I went in, I was offered water by a student. I observed three other girls were also serving water to almost everyone around. There were four boys, standing next to a bike, and few boys in the garden chit-chatting. There was a buzz around the water-cooler. That seemed like a girls’ place! I found out from a first year girl who was serving water that students are divided into three sadans (Houses): Nehru, Subhash and Gandhi, and every month, there is one house on duty and students of that house take care of the campus. I asked her, how often she has to miss classes for serving water. She said once a month. Fair enough! I liked the system. Further, I went to the water cooler, and impelled a conversation. Girls were cheerful. They told me that there are 275 students pursuing D. Ed. in the college, talked about semesterization, and that they’d like to be teachers in future.

On conversing with the boys: Jai, Somvir, and Nimish, who were bunking the class on the pretext of photostats requested by the teacher, I figured out the functioning of the DIET, the quality of teaching in their perception, the future prospects of D.Ed., and their reasons for choosing to make a career in primary education.

Nimish was having severe headache. A girl brought him Glucon D. I advised him to go to the medical room, which he told didn’t exist. And the following conversation followed:

Nimish: It’s like one of the students on duty takes care of the First Aid.

I: In that case, It is sunny here. You must go inside.

NImish: It is hot inside.

I: Aren’t there fans?

Nimish: In some rooms there are, in some there aren’t working.

I: SCERT Building is getting renovated, you must ask your Principal to get the fans repaired as well.

Jai: Government ke kaam toh dheele hi hote hain

Somvir: Aur kuch bache shaitaan bhi toh hote hain!

*Everybody laughs*

Students have to study same ten subjects throughout the different semesters: English, Hindi, Maths, Social Science, Psychology, Education Psychology, Elementary Education and Planning and Management and Teacher Function, Perspectives in Primary Education… Redefining the same topics of the subject every semester makes them bored, and so do the month long exams! Teaching is just fine in their perception, and Hindi teacher and the Principal are bahot ache. There are more female teachers, than male. They have had field visits to primary schools where they enjoyed the Mid-day meals with the kids, and prepared personality reports of the kids. Saturdays are half-days, and students play sports.

Jai chose to do D Ed, forgoing B Com at MDU for his parents wanted him to because abundance of job opportunities, where as Somvir completed his graduation as well as B Ed., had cleared CTET and NET and still chose to do a diploma in education due to the same reason. Somvir further said, “Education mein Base strong banana zaroori hota hai; kya faayeda badhe bachoan ko padha kar do dhang ke hi na ho” Nimish had put his head down by then.

They were proud to have gotten through DIET, Gurgaon on merit basis, with cut off being 80%. The DIET, Gurgaon Campus is surrounded by the SCERT, Haryana Office, a court, a primary school, District Commissioner’s Place, and these boys loved their central location.

I thanked them for spending time and sharing with me about their life and experiences, and went to the water cooler.

My eyes landed on a teacher talking to a fellow student with a kadhaai in her hand in a tone of ‘elucidation’. She then headed towards the guy washing utensils outside the Boys’ washroom. I started to approach the teacher, but before I could talk to her, she had left.

I turned back. There was a swarm of girls, giggling around the water cooler.

Data Analysis

(will write the compiled version in the end)

TET in News

1. 93% aspirants fail CTET



2. 86% flunk teacher eligibility test



3. Centre relaxes teacher norms- Move will make lakhs eligible for test



3. Teacher test results show abysmal pass percentage: Kapil Sibal

Published: Friday, Apr 27, 2012



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[1] The Too Many Aptitudes Problem (Condensed from Danger: High Voltage) by Hank Pfeffer

[2] Review of Literature, MB Ushakumar shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/.../09_chapter%202.pdf

[3] Reforming Teacher Education -

[4] Teaching Aptitude Test Battery Manual

[i] psycnet.journals/ccp/15/6/515d.pdf

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