Life, Ideals and Learning(s) to be a ‘teacher’ in B.Ed. Interactions, Observations and Learning

Abstract

 The central concern of the paper is an analysis of the definitions and images of an ideal teacher that one gains while being trained in B.Ed. programmes in India. The study explores this theme with the help of numerous student-teacher interactions, interactions with faculty members as well as the textbooks and other study material through which the author traverses. These interactions between student-teachers and teacher educators look into their experiences in the classroom, hostel life, teaching practice and assignments. These aspects have been contextualised and woven along with the broader experiences and exposure that the author gained while working in the field of education prior to the programme and the disjuncture that has come to permeate the ideals in teacher education programme. The paper uses these narratives to critique the teacher education programme as well as to highlight its stagnation. The data for this study emerged through detailed documentation while the author was a student, as well as through further discussions after the completion of the programme. It also looks at a series of studies that emerge from teacher biographies, teacher educators' research, analysis and studies on teacher education programmes, along with a few discussions on the definitions of an ideal teacher.