For the last couple of years it has been repeatedly said that teacher education curriculum was too theoretical and there seemed to be hardly any relevance of studying foundation courses more specifically the philosophical and sociological foundations because such academic learning rarely connected with development of expertise in teaching. This undercurrent feeling has made the Foundation courses just ornamental within the framework of pre-service teacher education curriculum if not at theoretical level at least in practice. The present book provides enough arguments based on empirical evidence to contest the twin popular views of considering the teacher education curriculum as too theoretical and the foundation courses have little relevance. The book has tried to trace the relevance of philosophical and sociological foundations for teachers in the present scenario. It presents the consumer’ point of view about the role and relevance of foundation courses. In the last chapter of the book a conceptual model for vitalizing foundation courses is also proposed. It is hoped that this will be of special interest for those teacher educators who are teaching foundation courses. I am sure the book will be worth reading for any one who is interested in teacher education and expect that it will generate some heat among the teacher educators and curriculum designers to initiate a fresh discussion on the nature, structure and relevance of Foundation courses in teacher preparation programmes of the present as well as of future.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Aejaz Masih
Dr. Aejaz Masih (born in October 1962) started his career as a science student and obtained B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry and only then shifted to domain of Education. Subsequently he obtained his M. Ed. and Ph. D. (Education) from Jamia Millia Islamia. To widen his understanding about the very core of Education, as an applied discipline he obtained M.A. in Sociology.He started his professional career as a lecturer in Education from the Department of Foundations of Education (a post graduate department specially established to focus on teaching and research in the Foundational areas of Education). He also worked as a Head of the Department of Research and Evaluation). He also worked as a Head of the Department of Research and Evaluation in the State Institute of Educational Management and Training, Allahabad. At present he is working as a Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has published a number of research – based articles and presented papers in various national seminars. He had supervised about a dozen M.Phil, and Ph.D dissertations besides guiding about half a century masters level dissertations. Prof. Masih’s expertise in the area of Research Methodologies is well recognized and he has been the member of Research Advisory committees of SCERT, Delhi and of various DIET’s besides having the responsibility of Coordinator, Research in the department. Dr. Masih has completed five commissioned Research projects and currently working on a UGC sponsored major project on evaluation of Teacher Education Curriculum. Dr. Masih is also the member of a number of professional associations. He has a rare combination of academic specialization. His areas of special interest are: (i) Sociology of Education & Sociology of Science Education (ii) Curriculum Studies (iii) Research Methodology.
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