Volume-1 (2024) Issue-1

UNESCO defines peace education as the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behaviour changes that will enable children, youth and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and structural; to resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to peace, whether at an intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, national or international level. UNESCO has taken a commendable initiative in promoting peace education. It has generated some important literature and educational documents on peace education. Just like that ‘Peace education framework for teacher education’ is a remarkable work of UNESCO’s. This design is a very important in incorporating the concept of peace education into teacher education programme. The study has been designed to analyse peace education in the curriculum of teacher education programme with the context of UNESCO’s document of ‘Peace Education framework for Teacher Education’. The study delimited to the fourth semester’s three Courses such as Health and Physical Education, Yoga Education, Peace & Value Education of the curriculum of two-year B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) Program. The Program consisting of four semesters approved by higher education department government of West Bengal. The purpose of this study is to explore answers to two specific research questions- 1. what is the status of peace education conceptions in the prescribed document ‘Peace Education framework for Teacher Education’ of UNESCO’s? 2. to what extent peace education is reflected in the curriculum of B.Ed. program in the context of ‘Peace Education framework for Teacher Education’ of UNESCO’s? For this purpose, qualitative content analysis procedure is used to achieve above research questions.

Teacher education needs to be aware of the present changing and curtail circumstances so that it can prepare the future teachers who are ready to abide by the regulation, but also critically reflective of the context for their student’s development. In teacher education, the studies on reflective practice are increasingly getting more and more attention at least in the last 2 decades. Now, Reflective practice is a systematic process that enhances teaching, learning and understanding; and it plays a central role in teachers’ professional development. Reflection permits teachers to think back on and learn from their own experiences, constructing new knowledge and applying that knowledge to new situations. In such a way, the process of reflective activities could be thought of as nearly synonymous with the process of education. The student teachers can grow professionally in their own by constantly looking into their selfactions and experiences. In this study, the researchers conducted a qualitative study to see the effectiveness of reflective practices in the development of student teachers in teacher education program. The study examines how the teacher educators create opportunities for student teachers to develop their reflective practices during their practice teaching sessions. The paper also attempts to establish that reflective practice is a tool for student teachers to explore themselves and thereby leading to their professional development.

The current educational climate is essentially driven by an overriding interest in preparing students to become effective teachers. Therefore, some teacher education programmes have been developed in order to enhance this process. These programmes explore the possible approaches which could encourage student-teachers towards learning focused teaching activities. Most of the researchers shared three common views. Subsequently these concepts attained worldwide critical acclamation as teaching models. The latest models of teacher education have been put forward by Michael J. Wallace in 1991.Wallace moulded his models after the existing concepts of his precursors, but in a more convenient or transparent way.

• The applied science model: This is the traditional and perhaps still the most provident model underlying most teacher education programme. The model derives its authority from the achievements of empirical science.
• The Craft model: This is the oldest form of professional education and is still used today in teacher education. Its conceptual basis is widely utilized in practicum courses in which students work with classroom teachers often called cooperating teachers. Teacher education cannot be regarded as a model for an entire programme.
• The Reflective model: It has become a dominant paradigm in language teacher education, research and programmes worldwide. But it is not an innovation in teaching. It has its roots in the work of a number of educational theorists and practitioners. Most definitions on reflective Thinking found in the literature of teacher education are based on Dewey’s inquiry-oriented concepts.

Models of Teacher Education and Professional Knowledge Development. In order to find relationships between the professional knowledge of teachers and the structure of training institutions, a comparative study is carried out between the pre-service training models that occurred in India between the second half of the 19th century and the
second half of the 20th century. Institutionalization forms, hierarchies and institutional relations with other educational organizations are discussed. Focusing essentially on the professional knowledge of teachers who teach mathematics, we study how it occurs within each of the models.

In contemporary educational landscapes, the integration of technology into teacher education has become imperative to prepare educators for the demands of a rapidly evolving digital world. This paper explores the significance of educational technology within teacher education programs in the modern context. It delves into how the effective utilization of educational technology not only enhances teaching and learning experiences but also equips future educators with essential skills and competencies to thrive in 21st-century classrooms. Through a comprehensive review of the literature and empirical evidence, this paper highlights the multifaceted benefits of integrating educational technology in teacher education, including promoting active and engaging pedagogies, fostering collaboration and communication, facilitating personalized learning experiences, and addressing diverse learning needs. Moreover, it examines the challenges and considerations associated with integrating educational technology into teacher education programs and offers insights into effective strategies for overcoming these challenges.

In contemporary society, Information and communications technology capture the pivot area of the teaching-learning process in the realm of formal and non-formal education systems throughout the world. Today, ICT makes education more attractive and well-equipped. Skilful uses of ICT in the classroom helps the teachers engage the student in an
energetic, attractive, and interactive manner. When we are talking about the inclusive education system and education for all then use of ICT is the only way to overcome the barriers behind its shortcomings. The Attitude of a teacher toward ICT is very necessary in this contemporary education system. If a person wants to choose teaching as a profession, then a positive attitude buildup toward ICT should be one of the main criteria. In this study, researchers investigated the attitude of student-teachers toward the use of ICT in Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur districts. They found that gender and living location-wise no difference was there but student-teachers have high attitudes toward ICT according to their year of study of the B.Ed. Program.

Reflective practice is the ability to reflect on what we have done or, learnt or, performed or, experienced for our personal learning and self-improvement. Through reflective practices, in the field of education, students of secondary level could be deliberately engaged themselves in the process of critical thinking related to their learnt concepts or
done actions. Students as reflective practitioners look back, think critically and learn from experiences and construct knowledge of their own. Reflective practices draw attention, engage students in the course of study for longer time, draw out innate interest, fostering creative thoughts and hence, they are beneficial for building-up good study habits.
In spite of having required intelligence, many students could not be able to bring expected academic achievements due to poor study habits. On the contrary, students with good study habits could be able to bring proportionate academic achievement for themselves. Reflective practices are helpful in promoting effective study habits and effective study habits expectedly bring excellent academic achievements. Through this paper the researcher deliberately endeavours to derive some suggestions for parents, teachers, stakeholders and curriculum designers with the purpose of motivating students for exercising the reflective practices as much as possible with the expectation that these practices promote the degree of their study habits in a satisfactory level, which in turn, bring expected academic achievements for the practitioners.

Teacher education programs play a pivotal role in preparing future educators to excel in the complex and dynamic field of education. However, there has long been a recognized gap between the theoretical knowledge provided in teacher education curriculum and the practical skills needed for effective teaching. This research paper deals with the multifaceted nature of this gap, examining its origins, consequences, and potential solutions. Their main objective is to find out the theoretical parts of B.Ed. curriculum in West Bengal, which needs to use in practice and exploring its scope in the procedure of curriculum transactions. By investigating the interplay between theory and practice in teacher education, aiming to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on how to best prepare teachers for the diverse and ever-evolving demands of the modern classroom.