Connections between Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

1. Introduction: To produce world class teachers and empower them to educate generations of learners/scholar, the fundamental requirements have been clearly delineated in pedagogical subjects, there is need to train the prospective teachers with in-depth knowledge of pedagogical subject and training about how to practice theory (NPSTP, 2009). Classical approaches to teacher education curriculum have increasingly been critiqued because of their limited link with student teachers needs and being for away from the approaches which are practised in schools. These approaches have limited impact on practice. There is need to introduced new and effective pedagogical approaches in teacher education in which theory and practice are linked together. The purpose of this study was to point out the gaps between the theory and practice in teacher education programme of Department of Education, International Islamic University. Pedagogical knowledge is very important in order to perform high quality teaching. Pedagogical knowledge and new teaching methods are emerging and it is very important that future teacher is fully equipped with latest information and teaching techniques whereas actual practices need to be strongly connected with these new changes. All teacher-education institutions impart both theoretical and practical information to prospective teachers before coming to the field. Even then it has been observed that a big gap exists between what is being taught in the teacher education institutions and what actually is happening in the schools as real practices. The purpose of this study was to explore the gap between theory and practices in teacher education in Pakistan. Teacher education plays a very important role in reforming and strengthening the education system of any country. Pre-service teacher education provides knowledge and skills to the student teachers that are necessary for the teaching profession.The key element of teacher Education institutions is the right coherence between theory and practice. It is also needed to ensure proper combination between theory and practice for better teaching practice in schools, as teaching practice is an important element of teacher training institutions. Teaching practice is key element of formal education programmes and during teaching practice there must be proper combination of theory and practice (ETUCE - European Teacher education policy paper, 2008). Gap between theory and practice in teacher Education is extensively discussed all over the world including Pakistan. Student teachers during their teaching practices experience gap between theory and practice and bridging this gap is widespread endeavour in pre-service teacher education institutions (Westbury et al., 2005). It is need of time to create a linkage between the theory and practice in teacher education institutions, so that student teacher get rid of the state of anxiety and implement their learnt strategies in their practice classes (Parker & Leinhardt,1995). The problem of theory and practice in teacher education has increased day by day and over the last decades this problem has become common interest. Gap between theory and practice was highlighted in particular by Dewey (1933). Dewey created a difference between reflective action and routine action of student teachers. In 1980s through the work of Schon (1983) interest for this topic was transformed. The ideas and conceptions of Schon are not only concerned with teachers and teacher educators to contribute in research but are also for teacher educators to apply theory into their practice. A teacher makes decisions on the basis of situations and applies theory into practice. Knowledge of theory and insight do play a part, but they do not unambiguously determine the behaviour of the teacher, as teacher decides its implementation according to situation during class (Schon, 1983). Although the literature on teacher education and on linkage of theory and practice in teacher education is enormous, however, among these studies very few have focused on pedagogical preparation and teaching practice in pre-service training. …