B.

ED 1ST SEMESTER
P-404
TEACHER EDUCATION
UNIT-III IN-SERVICE TEACHER
EDUCATION PROGRAMMES
TOPIC: CONCEPTS, IMPORTANCE AND
OBJECTIVES OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER
EDUCATION
Concept of In-Service Teacher Education
• Education is a lifelong process. Life long learning should
be motto of every teacher. Rabindra Nath Tagore has
rightly remarked, “ A teacher can never truly teach
unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light
another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame.
The teacher, who has come to the end of his subject,
who has no living traffic with his knowledge, but merely
repeats his lessons to his students, can only load their
minds. He cannot quicken them. Truth not only must
inform but also inspire.”
• In order to improve the quality of teachers and educational
system, continues learning is essential because the strength
of an educational system largely depend upon the quality of
its teachers. They help in the development of the educational
system. The continuous learning is determined by the teacher
education programmes, that aims at providing knowledge,
understanding of theories, principles, laws, facts and others
regarding teaching activity. Many research studies have
supported the positive contribution of in-service teacher
education and its significant role in improving the quality of
education. Once, the teacher is initially settled down in
his/her job, the in-service teacher education programme
starts with the activities, that the teacher undertakes in order
to refresh the professional knowledge and competence.
Definitions of In-Service Teacher Education
• Bolam (1982) has defined in-service teacher education as
“the education and training activities engaged in by
primary and secondary school teachers and principals,
following their initial professional certification and
intended mainly or exclusively to improve their
professional knowledge, skills and attitudes in order that
they can educate children more effectively.”
• MB Bunch, a former director of the department of field
services, defined in-service teacher education as, “ a
programme activities aiming at the continuing growth of
teachers and educational personnel in-service.”
• Cane (1969) defined “In-Service Teacher Education as
primarily meant for regular serving teachers. It subjects the
serving teachers to such activities, which may enhance their
professional knowledge, interest and attitude, so that they
are able to maximise, their pupil’s learning and in turn derive
maximum inner satisfaction and sense of achievement.”
• Cane summed up the significant components of in-service
teacher education programmes as:
1) Professional knowledge
2) Skills
3) Attitude towards profession
4) A code of conduct on ethics of profession
5) Professional skills
6) Interest towards teaching profession
7)Activities such as seminars, workshops, discussions,
brainstorming etc help in development of professional
knowledge.
Therefore, in-service teacher education can be defined
as all those activities and courses, which aims at
enhancing and strengthening the professional
knowledge, interest and skills of serving teachers.
 IMPORTANCE OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER
EDUCATION
• In-service teacher education is important because it
contributes to the behavioural changes of teachers in
terms of acquisition of knowledge and development of
right attitude and interest.
• It not only helps teachers to absorb changes in the society,
but also stimulates them to contribute it, through
curriculum development and innovative approaches to
teaching.
• It is important because the present day teacher
preparation programmes can hardly keep pace with the all
round rapid changes.
• pre-service education and in-service education are
inseparable and integrated parts of the entire process
of teacher education.
• Teachers need to develop themselves personally and
professionally in order to help children in learning
joyfully and effectively.
• It makes the teacher more effective, sensible and
responsible.
• It inspires teachers and helps them in developing
positive attitude towards their profession.
• In-service teacher education provides adequate
professional training so as to make teaching learning
effective.
• It develops the skills and attitudes responsive to emerging
national development gaols and programmes.
• It makes the teachers aware of the problems of the
community and to develop the necessary skills and
attitudes enabling them to be effective change agents in
the community.
• In-service teacher education is indeed very important for
professional growth of the teachers. Every teacher must go
through it.
Objectives of In-Service Teacher Education

• On the basis of various reports on in-service teacher

education, submitted in various International
Conferences and workshops organised by
Commonwealth Secretariat, United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO) and its Asian programme for Educational
Innovation and Development, six objectives of in-
service teacher education in developing countries
of Asia including India have been developed. The
objectives are:
1) Providing professional training and
qualifications to untrained working teachers.
Although, majority of teachers are inducted
after obtaining a specified initial teacher
training, still there are some teachers in
certain states, who were appointed without
any prior training for teaching. For them, there
is a need for providing a first level in-service
teacher education training.
2) Upgrading the qualifications of serving
teachers, whose original qualification may
been rendered out of date due to the changes
and reforms. The process of improvement and
change in teacher preparation programmes is
continuous and therefore, in-service teacher
education programmes should focus on this
objective.
3) Arranging refresher courses to familiarise
teachers with modern practices being
encouraged in schools. Improvement in
competence of teachers in their subjects and
in practical teaching skills is important for
every school. The need to update teachers in
production of teaching materials, use of
audio-visual aid and application of evaluation
techniques.
4) Disseminating specific educational innovations such
as curriculum change, population education,
children from deprived section of society etc.
5) Ensuring quality management of educational
administration at all levels is an important goal of in-
service teacher education. This may involve
retraining teachers to enable them to take up new
responsibility outside the classroom for which their
earlier training or experience may not have
prepared them.
6) Improving the quality of teacher education. There is
growing emphasis on the needs for continuing training
of the teacher educators themselves.
The main purpose of in-service teacher education has
always been to enhance the professional as well as
personal development of teachers, so as to provide its
benefits to children they teach, classes they deal and
schools they serve. The ultimate goal is to improve
teaching-learning process and environment and to make
system absorb various changes that concern education.