Induction and In-Service/Post-Service Education
Enhancing Teacher Development for Quality Education
by Gagan Deep Kaur*,
- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540
Volume 4, Issue No. 8, Oct 2012, Pages 0 - 0 (0)
Published by: Ignited Minds Journals
ABSTRACT
In-service induction isobligatory on the part of the teachers who should be familiar with the modernmethods; approaches, techniques and other recent trends involving theapplication of educational principles. Despite having vast resources andmanpower, most of our teachers do not keep intellectually alert and there islittle, inducement for them to do. It is extraordinary that our schoolteacherslearn all that is necessary for the subject that they teach, before reachingthe age of 24 or 25, much future education is left to experience, which isanother name for stagnation. The in-service education that gears up teacher'spotential has to be organized in such a way that the teachers realize therelevance of the course material to their own classroom practice. It must include lectures,workshops, group discussions, tutorial, sessions, demonstrations and microteaching. Since an ounce of demonstration is worth a pound of theory, noteacher training course will be completed without demonstration and peerteaching sessions. By and large, teacher education would provide a strong basefor quality education in the future. If the nation wants to achieve itseducational objectives of developing human resource for the promotion of socialjustice, the thrust area in the sphere of education shall be teacher'sdevelopment. It will help the government that has a larger responsibility topromote excellence at all levels of the educational pyramid.
KEYWORD
induction, in-service education, post-service education, teachers, modern methods, educational principles, intellectual alertness, in-service training, course material, demonstrations
INTRODUCTION
The concept of training needs is considered at strategic level because it has become concern of proactive managers of modern organizations. Modern organizations have experienced a paradigm shift from training as an outcome of training needs assessment, which is further a response to a particular problem to training as an important business strategy that prepares the organization’s human resource to become compatible with unavoidable change and opportunity in technology, systems, structures and the nature of work itself . “Need is the gap between current and desired or required results, or stated another way the gap in results between “what is” and “what should be” and further endorsed by Watkins and Kaufman . According to them needs are three in number i.e. the gaps can be in outcome, in output, and in product, when results are defined at mega, macro and micro levels respectively. On the other hand “gaps in means”, means refer to methods / processes and resources /inputs, are called quasi needs, which are the best considered in terms of closing the gaps in results. Iqbal suggested, “Needs assessment is a process for identifying needs and placing them in priority order on the basis of what it costs to meet the need versus what it costs to ignore it”. Al-Khayyat who defines needs assessment as “an effort that analyzes and diagnoses the organization, task and person, to determine if a cure is necessary and what cure is most likely to produce the desired results”. A training need can be defined as the gap between the requirements for skills and knowledge inherent in the job and those possessed by the current jobholder. It is vital that this gap is adequately analyzed to establish exactly what training is required. It is misleading to imply that training needs analysis should take place only at the level of the job. It is misleading to imply that training needs analysis should take place only at the level of the job. A thorough analysis starts with an attempt to assess total organizational training needs in the context of:
- management's plans for the future of the organization.
- the current organization structure.
- current expectations about the use of employees.
Singh conducted a study on “A Critical Study of the Programs of the Pre-service and In-service Education of Teachers of Higher Education in India”. The objectives of the investigation were; (1) to study the needs of pre-service and In servicing education programs as felt by the university teachers.
2
(3) to study the pre-service and in-service programs in terms of their types, duration, syllabi and methods of teaching. (4) to seek the opinions of the participants regarding the evaluation of their performance in the programs and the usefulness of the programs. (5) to study the attitude of the teachers of universities towards pre-service and in-service programs (6) to develop a syllabus for training teachers of higher education. Having a look at the findings springing out from the study: (i) It was equally helpful for pre-service, in- service and un-trained teachers. (ii) Following aspects proved to be helpful to the teachers regarding their teaching learning process were techniques of teaching, students skills learning skills, confidence in teaching grip on the profession, knowledge of motivational factors and activities, basic know-how about Education Psychology and Evaluation techniques. (iii) The change in the attitude of teachers consequent upon the training was at O.D level. (iv) Regarding the opinion about the significance of the training programme, the pre-service & in-service groups were at the same frequency & direction, however untrained teachers responded quite differently as compared to the rest of two groups. (v) The pre-service program was liked and appreciated those teachers who underwent pre-service training while in service program was appreciated by those who underwent in-service training. (vi) It was suggested that the pre-service course needs to be that of a full academic year at regular timings while that of in-service needs to cover only a semester and also in the evening. (vii) Both the pre-service and in-service groups found the present syllabus quite acceptable. However there were certain observations about the delivery mechanism. The most liked method was that of a lecture followed by a question answer or general discussion session. The second liked method was multimedia approach, while the simple lecture method was rated third. (ix) It was suggested that there must be some orientation program before the performance of the participants are to be judged.
IMPORTANCE :
Giroux studied on “A Blueprint for Human Resource Development in the Third Decade of the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology: Executive Summary”. It was for the assessment of its human resource efforts; that the system was initiated in order to identify improvement possibilities and areas in the light of the futuristic directions. In this regard a population was consulted which comprised of staff, faculty, management and members of the board of governors of educational institutes and tried to find the traits of their perception regarding HRD programs. Similarly the practices of colleges of arts and technology were derived through various instruments. Most of the participants were of the opinion that their colleges based rather depended upon their talent, as in most of the colleges, there was a commitment to employment equity approaches, in the recruitment, development and employment of staff and they appreciated encouragement from managers which keeps there capabilities and skill up the mark and up-to-date. It was strongly felt that for revolutionary change, the drastic and dramatic improvements were required. The need of staff development for example was needed. If there was found any sort of innovation, it must openly be appreciated. Without managerial support no employee can achieve outstanding success. In service training for the improvement in the functioning of the faculty was a basic requirement. A Staff Development Needs Assessment Questionnaire, an eight-page instrument designed specifically for the study, was administered to the seven hundred and forty five full and part-time administrators, faculty and classified staff at colleges. The questionnaire asked about demographic information; opinions about the colleges organizational operating environment; willingness to participate in workshops focused on meeting changing institutional needs, developing academic-and technical knowledge and skills, and personal development. Study findings, based on five hundred and seventy seven responses, included the following: • In most of the cases the manager, faculty and staff did show their interest in having computer related information and skills .They were found also
Gagan Deep Kaur
• The percentage of the people /respondent who felt that the institution must take responsibility for the facilitation, development and continuous learning environment for the personnel was 91% only 44% were of the opinion that the districts were providing the required environment and related support. • The “problem solving” strategy based training workshops were highly appreciated by the managers including the areas of “Team Building” and “Priority Setting”. • It was obvious due to social environment that a vast majority of faculty and classified staff considered monetary benefit, as the most attractive factors of such training programs. They were 80%as compared to 58% of managers advocating such facility. Stockton conducted a study on “A Comparison of Levels of Satisfaction Regarding Human Resource Development among Employees of North Arkasnsas Community/Technical College”. For the comparison and the determination of an impact of institutional climate for HRD and to asses, whether any centralization of the resources at the campus has any positive or negative effect, a study was launched at two campuses. In this regard the research on HRD climate in college was examined and questionnaire was sent to all regular employees of the college through ordinary mail. An analysis of responses indicated the following: 1) Staff satisfaction with HRD climate was slightly higher at the south campus that at the North campus. 2) at the both campuses faculty showed the lowest level of satisfaction with their HRD climate: 3) The rate of satisfaction for North campus classified staff was lower than any other college employee sub group 4) No significant difference however was found between the HRD climate at the two campuses, which appears to indicate that increased organization size is not a major influence in personal practices. Reddick and Hopkins conducted “A Study of Competencies and Requirements of Master’s Degree Programs in Human Resource Training and Development”. While carrying out the study, the most important objective in mind was to survey the opinion of the program administrators of master’s degree to confirm whether the motivational force behind the option of having this degree was the perception of the graduates based upon the demands of the private without long term strategies geared to the market for HRD personnel. In every case HRD programs were the offshoots of a small cadre of creative facility who continue to be pioneers in this relatively new field of academe. HRD programs are not limited to large urban universities but are emerging in small rural colleges. However, the programs attract a homogeneous student body of white females over thirty. Most institutions rely on informal communication and receive little of no financial support from the private sector. HRD program graduates are for the most part all the employed at many levels in the HRD field. At the end of the studies, two of the most important findings were: Most of the participants of training were part time instructional personnel. The ‘Human Resource Development department had shown a prescribed level of innovation and creativity in cross departmental assignments. The analysis shows that there were less number of instructional personnel in HRD department having an effective intellectual level. As the retired faculty members are re employed in the same campus and department, the vision of the faculty remains limited. National standards regarding the curriculum requirement is nonexistent. Similarly the mastery in the HRD field, competent graduates have hardly any common features with respect to the professional know how. Johnson conducted a study on “Cities and School Districts: Maximizing Use of Capital and Human Resources”. The purpose of this study was to describe and examine how successful collaboration was conducted between three cities and their school districts as they attempted to maximize the use of their capital and human resources. The areas studied included: (i) Areas of collaboration (ii) Processes of collaboration (iii) Effects of collaboration. It was tried successfully to document numerous collaborations in the areas of services, facilities and programs for betterment of the community, maximum and optimum utilization of resources, improving public image about local governments, serving same population more cost effectively and becoming capable of solving apparently insoluble issues. At this stage three cities and school districts were observed to facilitate the collaboration, hence certain processes were followed. This collaboration was either hindered
4
(i) Benefiting all students (ii) Benefiting the community and general citizens (iii) Saving extra expenditures (iv) Engendered pride (v) Improvement of the public trust in government (vi) Effective use of available human resource. Thomas conducted a study on "The Rationales, Design, and Implementation of an In-service Training Programme and Direct Support System for Continuing Training of Teachers in the Human Development Programme". Under this research study, the in-service training and support system designed for continuous supplementation of the capacity building and capability enhancement of teachers is described, so that the human development programs are implemented effectively. It focuses on the development of a rationale for continuous in-service training, work shop experience. It also emphasizes on the development of a self reporting assessment instrument for work shop evaluation. It also describes the direct support system to develop the skill of communication in teachers as a part of the Human Resource Development Program. The description of each workshop includes: (1) a listing of the factors involved in planning. (2) a description of the physical environment. (3) specific session objectives. (4) a statement relative to the activity (5) a brief summary of the role of the trainer. (6) a description of the procedures used to implement each session. (7) a summary of what transpired during the workshop. (8) a summary of group observations following each workshop session. The description of the supervision and support structure included a discussion of the role of the programme trained in building a consultative relationship with principals of the three project schools and the trainer's role as field supervisor of project participants. The design for the initial training experience includes activities developed to teach the skills required 'for classroom implementation of the magic circle. related to Teacher Education Programs need assessment related to Mongolia’s State Pedagogical University (SPU). The reason behind this research was the socioeconomic situation emerging from the modern trends and influence from the development in the area of Science and Technology. The need of the pre service is the capacity of guiding the students to these modern changes. The second most important need is to prepare the teachers for developing latest possible resource materials, competitive to the new methodology. It needed to ensure that the specialization remains in accordance with the pedagogical content and concerns. Through the study a decline in the quality of students entering in SPU was also marked. Byrd conducted a study on "What Should Beginning Teachers know and be able to do following their Pre-Service Preparation?" Surveys were conducted in four universities to determine which competencies are needed to begin teaching, degree of proficiency, and where proficiencies were acquired, as perceived by beginning teachers. At the end of activity of need assessment was conceived that the most important need was that the skills of management and discipline. But the observations reflected that the instructors who were supposed to develop management skills in the trainees were, themselves, lacking in it.
REFERENCES
- Abernathy, V.C. (2000). A Descriptive Case Study of a Florida School of District’s Human Resource Management Development Plan; Preparing New Principals Programme, Dissertation Abstracts International, 61(6), December p.2111-A Ali, S. F. (1992). Impact of training on GMP and quality – study of a micro culture.
- Paper presented at the proceedings of 14th Asian congress of pharmaceutical sciences, Pakistan Pharmacist Association, Lahore.
- Ali, S.F. (1999). Development of human resource for pharmaceutical manufacturing: A training perspective. Paper presented at the proceedings of international workshop on total quality management of drugs.
- Al-Khamis, F.A. (2001). Human Resource Development in Saudi Arabia; The College of Technology, Role in Supplying Skilled Manpower to the Private Sector.
- Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(5) November, P.1814-A
Al-Khayyat, R. (1998). Training and development needs assessment: a practical model
Gagan Deep Kaur
- Al-Khayyat, R. M. and Elgamal, M. A. (1997). A macro model of training and development: validation. Journal of European Industrial Training, 21(3), 87–101. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from Emerald database.
- Anderson, G. (1994). A proactive model for training needs analysis. Journal of European Industrial Training, 18(3), 23–28. Retrieved January 30, 2006, from Andreas, R., Frese, M. and Utsch. A. (2005). Effects of Human Capital and Long Term Human Resources Development and Utilization on Employment Growth of Small-Scale Business: A Causal Analysis. J. Entrepreneur Theory and Practice.
- Arya P. and Tandon B.B. (1991). Human Resource Development New Delhi; Deep and Deep Publications.
- Ashton, D. and Sung, J. (2002) Supporting workplace learning for high performance working, Geneva, International Labour Organization (ILO).
- Asian Productivity Organization. (1993). Asian Dynamism through Human Resource Development, Tokyo.
- Azhar, S. and Batool, S. M. (2004). Education and the HR Challenge. Human Resource Development Network. Pp. 3-5.
- Badal, A (2000) A study Assessing the Effectiveness of a Performance Appraisal System for Elementary School Administrators. Dissertation Abstracts International, 61 (6), December, pp. 2372-A, 2374-A.
- Barbour, J.A. (1996) The Outcomes of Teacher Training Workshop on Parent Education Focusing on Reading with Children, Dissertation Abstracts International, 57(4), October,P.1566-A.
- Barmblett, P.C (2000) An Analysis of New Teacher Programmes, Dissertation Abstracts International, 60 (3), September, p.824-A.
- Bhatia, B.S, Verma, H.L., Garg, M.C. (1997) Studies in Human Resource Development, Emerging Dimensions of HRD Role and Orientation. New Delhi; Deep and Deep Publications.
- Bigham, G.D. (2000) Preferred Leadership Frames of Taxes and Appraisal System.
Dissertation Abstracts International, 60 (11), May, p.3848-A.