India has one of the largest student populations in the world; the quality of teaching is blamed for the poor performance by Indian students on internationally-comparative assessments. By analyzing various measures of teacher quality, this book provides a framework for policymakers to further improve teacher quality in India.

By drawing on quantitative data and qualitative analyses of five major national education policies implemented in India over the last 15 years, this comprehensive volume explores their impact on teacher quality and perceived effectiveness, explaining how this relates to variations in student performance. Responding to a national agenda to increase the quality of the Indian teacher workforce, Teacher Quality and Education Policy in India critically questions the application of human capital theory to Indian education policy. Chapters provide in-depth and strategically structured analyses of five national policies – including the recently approved National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 – to see how Indian policymakers use teacher quality as a driver and measurement of education and national economic development. Ultimately, the text offers evidence-based policy recommendations to improve teacher quality in India, suggesting that while all five policies have contributed significant frameworks and recommendations for teacher quality reform, they have failed to move beyond a symbolic function. Given its rigorous methodological approach, this book will be a valuable addition to the under-researched question of education policymaking in postcolonial contexts. It will be an indispensable resource not only for scholars working on policymaking in the Indian context, but also for those working at the intersection of education, teacher development, and policymaking in developing countries.

India has one of the largest student populations in the world; the quality of teaching is blamed for the poor performance by Indian students on internationally-comparative assessments. By analyzing various measures of teacher quality, this book provides a framework for policymakers to further improve teacher quality in India.

Highlights importance of teachers on influencing future generations, analyses several significant aspects of teacher education in India.

This volume shows how grassroots educational innovations and technology can be brought together in a fresh approach to human resource development in public social services. Based on a three-decade-long engagement with innovation in public education, this book provides an illustration of how teacher-driven innovations can be transformed into learning objects for technology-based professional development. It describes how innovations can be identified, screened and validated, and disseminated through two mechanisms—a clearinghouse-based approach and grassroots innovation “fairs.” It then demonstrates how these innovations can form the backbone of a “third space,” problem-based-learning curriculum, which can be delivered through a technology platform for large-scale professional development. The book offers guidance on practical ways of doing this, and on evaluating the curriculum’s impact, with case studies of programmes that covered thousands of teachers. This book will be of interest to teachers, students and professionals in education, teacher education, digital education, information technology, communication and media studies. It will also be useful to educationists, policymakers, teacher educators, educational institutions, online education centres, and practitioners involved in professional development, education and training in developing countries.

This book provides a focused and comprehensive overview of gradual development and reforms in teacher education in India. It discusses historical development, policy perspectives, quality concerns, current practices, and trends of teacher education in India. It highlights the prevailing social image of teachers and the teaching profession, as well as the emerging problems and issues faced in teacher development programs, indicating the need to focus upon the transformative changes. Each chapter provides an in-depth research-based analysis and reflects on a specific theme: education policies and commissions, curricular reforms, ICT integration, and the digital revolution. It offers alternative practices by drawing a comparison with developed nations. It is an indispensable resource for teacher educators, school administrators, curriculum designers, policymakers, and researchers in teacher education.

Gone are the days when teachers used to be in the centre of education but now the focus is on the students. Now; teachers cannot carry out punishments and act with extreme strictness. Today; there is no co-relation between age and knowledge. With the explosion of facts and information nobody can claim that by virtue of age or by the mere fact that they were born earlier; they know more. Now; the things will move with courtesy and humbleness. The present teacher cannot be student’s father. He should prepare himself to play the role of an elder brother/sister or of a friend who will facilitate and encourage the child. The knowledge acquired in this environment will travel long distance with the student. Teachers will develop shared understanding with which knowledge will be created. For the holistic development of a child; it is imperative to develop a book which not only deals with the principles and innovations but also throws light on the practical approach of teaching skills. Such a book should emphasise on the importance of learning skills rather than memorising by rote mechanism. If a child is unable to develop learning skills then we would have to reorient our teaching techniques. A complete book on how to impart quality education & knowledge to students.

Using administrative data from linked private schools from one of districts in India that matches 8,319 pupils to their subject specific teachers at the senior secondary level, we estimate the importance of individual teachers on student outcomes in the high-stake senior secondary exam (at the end of twelfth-grade). We control for prior achievement at the secondary level (at the end of tenth-grade) to estimate the value added of a teacher over a two year course, and define a good teacher as one who consistently gets higher achievement for students. In addition to the prior achievement, we exploit the fact that students took exams in multiple subjects during their senior secondary exam to control for pupil fixed effects. We find a considerable variability in teacher effectiveness over a two year course - a one standard deviation improvement in teacher quality adds 0.38 standard deviation points in students score. Furthermore, consistent with studies in the US, we find that although teacher quality matters, the observed characteristics explain little of the variability in teacher quality.

India's landmark Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009) guarantees education to all children aged 6-14 years. The Act mandates specific student-teacher ratios and emphasizes teacher quality. Writing this into legislation took seven years, but the seven years since has proven that ensuring effective teachers are recruited and placed in all schools in a time-bound manner is considerably more challenging. This report takes a detailed look at the complexity of the teacher management landscape in elementary and secondary schools in nine Indian states. On a daily basis, the administrative machinery of these states has to manage between 19,000 to nearly a million teachers in different types of schools and employment contracts, and cope with recruiting thousands more and distributing them equitably across schools. This report examines the following issues: official requirements for becoming a schoolteacher in India; policies and processes for teacher recruitment, deployment and transfers; salaries and benefits of teachers; professional growth of teachers; and grievance redressal mechanisms for teachers. For the first time in India, this report compares and contrasts stated policy with actual practice in teacher management in the country, using a combination of primary and secondary data. In so doing, the report reveals the hidden challenges and the nature of problems faced by administrators in attempting to build an effective teacher workforce which serves the needs of all of India’s 200 million school children. The report examines states with varying characteristics, thus generating knowledge and evidence likely to be of interest to policy makers and practitioners in a wide range of contexts.

This volume examines how the public and private domains in school education in India are informed and mediated by current market realities. It moves beyond the simplistic dichotomy of pro-state versus promarket factors that define most current debates in the formulations of educational reform agendas to underline how they need to be interpreted in the larger context. The chapters in the volume present a series of conceptual and empirical investigations to understand the growth of private schools in India; investigate the largely uncontested claims made by the private sector regarding provision of superior quality of education; and their ability to address the educational needs of the poor. Further, the book looks at how the private-public dichotomy has been extended to professional identity of teachers and teaching practices as well. Rich in primary data and supported by detailed case studies, this volume will be of interest to teachers, scholars and researchers dealing with education, educational policy, school education and public policy. It will also interest policy makers, think tanks and civil society organisations.