Introduction:

“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”.

In India, education has always been viewed as a moral and teaching has been valued for its transformative impact on learners. Transformative, because it transforms the learner as well as the teacher in a deep, mysterious and abiding manner. A teacher’s work requires mastery over a body of knowledge to be taught as well as the development of personal knowledge about what is worth teaching and which ways are relatively more effective. The pre-service teacher education programme formally teaches them the technique of teaching. But most of what experienced teachers learn about teaching, is learnt on-the-job, by making sense of one’s day to day experiences. And it needs to be constantly restructured in the light of subsequent experiences.

For a school, the most important asset is its teaching force. And, the most important investment a school management, administrators, and parents can make in a school system is to ensure that teachers continue to learn. Continuous, high-quality professional development of teachers is essential not only for a school, but also for the nation’s goal of high standards of learning for every child.

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