SHILLONG, APR 26: Vice Chancellor (VC) of NEHU PS Shukla today announced that the university decided to start a four year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) from the current academic session.
Speaking to media persons, Prof Shukla said that the duration and structure of ITEP is a four year full time course which consists of eight semesters.
Shukla said that it is a dual- major bachelor’s degree programme, with one major in Education and the other in a disciplinary/interdisciplinary branch of knowledge.
It is offered in NEHU for specialization at the secondary stage only. The secondary stage includes grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. It comprises “4 years of multidisciplinary study, building on the subject oriented pedagogical and curricular style of the middle stage, with greater depth, greater critical thinking, greater attention to life aspirants, and greater flexibility and student choice of subjects”.
In classes 9 and 10 students will engage with 8 curricular areas to ensure breadth of the study, building on learning achieved in the middle stage. The curriculum includes study of 3 languages, arts education, physical education, vocational education, social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinary areas, mathematics and computational thinking and sciences.
In classes 11 and 12 more subject choices are available and choice based courses are offered here. The different curricular areas in grades 11&12 are: languages, art education, physical education, vocational education, social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinary areas, mathematics and computational thinking and sciences.
Students will have the option to study subjects at two levels. Example-a student may opt for a mathematics course or an advanced mathematics course. Students will have the option to choose courses based on their interests and their plans either in the world of work or pursuing higher education.
The ITEP course shall be conducted in a semester system in 15-16 weeks of teaching, learning activities, excluding end semester examinations. A semester will consist of a minimum 96 working days excluding end semester examinations. Each working week will have a minimum of 40 hours of instructional/ contact time. Each academic year shall consist of 2( two) semesters.
The ITEP will consist of 2 units of B.A/B.Ed and B.Sc /B.Ed
B.A/B.Ed= 1 unit=50 students
B.Sc/B.Ed=1 unit=50 students
Objectives of the course: The four years integrated teacher education programme (ITEP) envisions the creation of passionate, motivated, qualified, professionally trained and well equipped teachers capable of designing and implementing developmentally appropriate learning experiences for students of different stages of school education. The ITEP seeks to ensure that the prospective teachers are given the highest quality education in content, pedagogy, values and practice.
Curricular components: ITEP comprises the following curricular components:
Student induction programme (To be organized by the university in the first two weeks of semester-1
Foundations of Education (30 credits)
Disciplinary/Interdisciplinary courses (64 credits)
Stage specific content-cum- pedagogy courses (16 credits)
Ability Enhancement and value added courses ( semester 1-8 ,28 credits).
School experience, including internship in teaching (20credits) Community Engagement and Service (2 credits)
The course structure and credits shall be as prescribed by NCTE and adopted/adapted by NEHU.
Eligibility for Admission: The eligibility criteria shall be Grade 12 (or equivalent) with a minimum of 50% marks in aggregate from a recognized university.
For admission to ITEP the candidate will have to appear for the National Common Entrance Test (NCET) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) which will be scheduled for every academic year.
Outcome of the course: The four years Integrated Teacher education programme (ITEP) envisions the creation of passionate, motivated, qualified, professionally trained, and well equipped teachers capable of designing and implementing developmentally appropriate learning experience for students at different stages of school education. The ITEP seeks to ensure that the prospective teachers are given the highest quality education in content, pedagogy, values and practice.
Conclusion: The ITEP is a well designed 4 year integrated dual major holistic B.Ed degree. Recognizing teachers will need training in high quality content as well as pedagogy. This is offered by NEHU so as to cater to all teaching aspirants and prepare competent teachers for high quality education in the state of Meghalaya.