What are the skills required to do well in this career?
Making a career in the field of education and training warrants an unflinching passion to mentor, motivate, guide and assist. It calls for extreme empathy for the cause of serving the society, and preparing students/candidates to be ready to take up professional and societal challenges. An effective teacher/trainer understands the needs of the prospects really well, designs the learning outcomes accordingly and delivers teaching/training value accordingly. It is imperative to have good analytical, communication and interpersonal skills in this field. Overall ability to manage classrooms/audience segments, is also an advantage for doing well in this career.
What are the various professional paths in this career?
Education and training workers guide and train people. As a teacher/trainer, you could influence lives. You could work as a classroom teacher (school. College, university), or work as a professional trainer in organizations for skill development. For example, you could lead training to employees in a business.
Which are the courses to get into teaching?
Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.): is an undergraduate program of 2-year duration. The course specifically caters to the students who are interested in pursuing a career in teaching and related fields. It is a skill-based training program which imparts knowledge to students regarding all aspects of classroom teaching. NCERT is giving a chance to do B.Ed. after 12th just like engineering and medical education. This course will be of 4 years, students can apply online for CEE (Common Entrance Test). Students with minimum 60% marks are eligible for CEE.
Top Institutes for pursuing B.Ed.
Note: Annamalai University, Bangalore University, Maharishi Dayanand University and Patna University are some of the Top Universities offering B.Ed. through the distance education mode.
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.): A PhD is a postgraduate doctoral degree, awarded to students who complete an original thesis offering a significant new contribution to knowledge in their subject. PhD qualifications are available in all subjects and are normally the highest level of academic degree a person can achieve.
A typical PhD normally involves:
Carrying out a literature review (a survey of current scholarship in your field).
Conducting original research and collecting your results.
Producing a thesis that presents your conclusions.
Writing up your thesis and submitting it as a dissertation.
Defending your thesis in an oral viva voce exam.
What are the eligibility criteria for joining an institution as a teacher?
Classroom teaching requires Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) for school teaching, and Ph.D. for college/university teaching.
To become eligible for appointment as assistant professors in colleges and universities, clearing the National Eligibility Test (NET) was compulsory all this while. In 2016 University Grants Commission (UGC) amended its regulation on faculty recruitment and relaxed the minimum eligibility conditions for appointment of assistant professors. The HRD minister announced that scholars who completed a PhD would be eligible for lectureship without clearing the NET.
A PhD degree will be mandatory for teaching positions in Universities from July, 2021. Those aiming at Assistant Professorship in a College will, however be eligible with a PhD or even with a Master’s degree with NET.
What is National Eligibility Test (NET)?
On behalf of UGC, the National Eligibility Test (NET) is conducted for determining the eligibility of Indian nationals for the Eligibility for Assistant Professor only or Junior Research Fellowship & Eligibility for Assistant Professor Both in Indian Universities and Colleges. Till recently, the CBSE conducted the NET in 84 subjects at 91 selected Cities of spread across the country.
From Dec 2018 onwards, the UGC- NET (for Eligibility for Assistant Professor only or Junior Research Fellowship & Eligibility for Assistant Professor both), will be conducted by the NTA.
The award of JRF and Eligibility for Assistant Professor both OR Eligibility for Assistant Professor only depends on the performance of the candidate in both the papers of NET in aggregate. However, the candidates qualifying exclusively for Assistant Professor are not to be considered for award of JRF. Candidates who qualify the Test for eligibility for Assistant Professor are governed by the rules and regulations for recruitment of Assistant Professor of the concerned universities/colleges/state governments, as the case may be.
Are there any other prospects in this field apart from teaching?
It is possible to pursue non-teaching paths as well in the domain of education. Educational institutes are human organizations functioning in the academic arena. They also require administrative staff for supporting the various services being provided. At the highest echelon is the role of the director/principal, responsible for smooth functioning of the institute. Then there are various other roles which one can play in educational institutes in a non-teaching capacity. Larger institutes require fully fledged Marketing, Finance, IT and Human Resources departments, offering promising professional opportunities for career advancement. Certain institutes also staff professional counsellors to address personal and career advancement concerns.
I want to become a professional soft skills trainer. How do I go about it?
Soft skills training is a huge professional avenue these days. Soft skills trainers are responsible for developing soft skills – the skills related to attitude, behaviour and communication. Organizations look out for these trainers for training their employees to be more productive by leveraging effective soft skills. These programs typically relate to areas like Team Dynamics, Emotional Intelligence, Critical Reasoning, Presentation Skills, Leadership & Motivation etc. A formal qualification in management with thrust on Training & Development (T&D), may serve as a good path to get into this career domain. You may also enrol for certain certificate courses in T&D to explore opportunities in this area.
Can you give some useful links to explore this career in greater detail?
