Introduction

The Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University, has been producing qualified and trained teachers and teacher educators in Nepal for more than five decades. Among its various programs, the Bachelor’s degree in education (B.Ed.) aims to produce qualified and trained teachers for school education. The Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), organized and certified by the Faculty of Education (FoE) at Tribhuvan University (TU), has undergone changes over time to meet the evolving needs and demands of the country. Prior to 1996, a Two-Year B.Ed. program with a single area specialization was in practice for several years. In response to feedback regarding the perceived inadequacy of pedagogical knowledge and skills among graduates from the two-year B.Ed. program in terms of content mastery, the program's duration was extended to three years with a single area specialization starting from 1996.

Since 2016, a Four-Year B.Ed. program with a two-area specialization has been implemented, aligning with the requirements of schools and the Ministry of Education. This four-year B.Ed. initiative represents an integrated undergraduate program that encompasses theoretical courses across various subject areas, including English, Nepali, Science, Mathematics, History, Political Science, Economics, Geography, Population, Social Studies, Health, Physical Education, Special Needs Education and Bachelor in Information and Communication Technology Education (BICTE). Additionally, this program incorporates core professional courses that include teaching practicum.

In retrospect, the Faculty of Education introduced a 12-month Bachelor of Education (One-Year B.Ed.) Program through the College of Education, established by the Government in 1956 to pioneer teacher education and training programs for the country. The students with a bachelor’s degree in any discipline were eligible for enrollment in the One-Year B.Ed. Program. Over the past two decades, the One-Year B.Ed. Program faced widespread criticism from various sectors due to deficiencies in its implementation process, including ineffectively organized practicum component. The program struggled to produce trained teachers, fostering essential pedagogical skills among the graduates.

In response, the Faculty of Education, under the decision of the Academic Council of Tribhuvan University, terminated the One-Year B.Ed. Program in 2021. Subsequently, an eighteen-month

(Three-Semester) Post-Graduate Diploma in Education has been developed and introduced in 2023 as a replacement for the traditional one-year B.Ed. program.

Rationale for Postgraduate Diploma in Education

Teaching is a dynamic profession that requires a specialized teacher preparation program. Teacher education is designed and revised for a process of professional preparation of teachers to move candidate along a path of acquiring knowledge of human development, learning theories related to classroom instruction, curriculum development and assessment on the top of the subject specific content knowledge. Professional preparation requires a long period of academic training and rigorous professional training in tandem with hands-on practical experiences in schools as well as a code of professional ethics. However, traditional one-year B.Ed. program seems to have outlived it relevance due to its inadequacy for effective student-centered and practical approaches to preparing teachers.

With the proliferation of the affiliated Campuses throughout the country, quality of teacher education program, including the one-year B. Ed, has been gradually declined and the programs have been criticized for inadequately addressing the needs of learners and curricula and not preparing professional teachers to make teaching student-centered, relevant and practical. The one-year program is criticized for effectively organized lessons in a regular basis with teaching practice in schools as a formality only. This conventional model largely criticized for the transmission of textbook knowledge and information from teachers to students. Consequently, the emphasis on teaching practice aims to familiarize future educators with this conventional approach, which prioritizes the dissemination of information through textbooks as a fundamental method of imparting knowledge to students. Existing B.Ed. program have become weak both in theory and practice. Education campuses/colleges have been criticized for being grounds of academic stagnation and resistance to change. In this context, there is a dire need to critically review the existing teacher education programs under FoE and revise traditional (one-year) B.Ed. Program.

The Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) is a renewed and revised teacher education program for various subject tracks that is required to complete in three semesters (18 months). This program has replaced the earlier 12-month traditional one-year B.Ed. Program. Upon completion of theorical and practical courses of PGDE in campus, student teachers will

participate in internship in the selected schools for at least six months. In this way, the PGDE program is designed to meet the professional development needs of teachers in upper Basic and Secondary Schools by employing critical and participatory pedagogy, engaging students in hands-on practical activities and utilizing digital technologies.

The PGDE program intends to provide pedagogical training for students who hold educational qualification of bachelor’s degree or equivalent and who are teaching at the basic and secondary level. This is a basic teacher training that sensitizes and orients teachers/prospective teachers to the fundamentals of their profession. It emphasizes on professional educational practices with a solid theoretical base in the foundation disciplines, curriculum, instructional design and methodology. It is also expected that prospective teachers will improve their skills in the specific content relevant to teaching in their subject areas and that administrators would increase their ability to manage their schools as an educational institution of quality.

Teaching is a dynamic profession that requires specialized courses and programs to prepare qualified and trained teachers. Teacher education programs are devised and revised to professionally prepare teachers, guiding candidates in acquiring knowledge concerning human development, learning theories relevant to classroom instruction, curriculum development, assessment techniques, and subject-specific content knowledge. Professional preparation demands extensive academic training, rigorous professional development alongside practical experiences in schools, and adherence to a code of professional ethics.

The one-year B.Ed. program appears to have lowered its relevance, as it requires to adapt to the evolving demands of professional preparation. Along with the proliferation of affiliated campuses across the country, the quality of teacher education programs, including the one-year B.Ed. programs, started to decline gradually. These programs faced criticism for their inadequacy to meet the needs of school curricula and their inability to prepare teachers capable of delivering quality education. The programs are often criticized for being teacher-centric and transmitting bookish knowledge to students. In addition, the one-year B.Ed. programs have been criticized for being deficient in both theory and practice, fostering academic stagnation and resistance to change within education campuses and colleges.

In this context, there exists a pressing need to critically evaluate the existing teacher education programs under the Faculty of Education (FoE) and revise the one-year B.Ed. Program. To respond to this need, the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) is prepared as a revised teacher education program, addressing the existing learning needs of diverse students.

The duration of new PGDE program is 18 months, replacing the earlier 12-month one-year B.Ed. Program. Upon completion of theoretical and practical coursework of PGDE programs at the campus, the prospective teachers will engage in a teaching internship at selected schools for a minimum of four months as part of the PGDE Program. This program is crafted to address the professional development requirements of teachers in upper Basic and Secondary Schools, involving prospective teachers in practical activities, and helping them to employ critical and participatory pedagogy, and integrating digital technologies.

The PGDE program aims to provide pedagogical training to individuals holding a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, prospective teachers and currently teaching at the basic and secondary levels. The program serves as fundamental teacher training, sensitizing and orienting teachers/prospective teachers to the core aspects of their profession. Emphasis is placed on professional educational practices grounded in foundational disciplines, curriculum, instructional design, and methodology. The program also aims to enhance the specific content skills relevant to teaching within subject areas and to improve the managerial capabilities of administrators in running high-quality educational institutions.

Program goals and objectives

The main goal of PGDE is to produce qualified teachers for schools in Nepal, with professional training and hands-on experience of teaching in schools. With pedagogical skills, the graduates are expected to grow professionally with creativity, imagination and the pursuit of professional and personal development. The goal of the program is to equip graduates with pedagogical knowledge and skills, with expertise of at least two subjects as subject specialist who could cater the learning and assessment needs of students at the school level. This expertise consists of effective strategies for the planning, conducting and evaluating of teaching students of the given school subjects, and plan and conduct continuous and periodic assessment of learning of the students. In addition, the teacher will continuously grow as a professional by doing action research and contributing to school education by both transmitting and producing knowledge.