Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers: An Assessment of Language Teacher Education and its Relevance

Abstract

There is certainly a direct link between the labour market and education (QHE, 1994; Fagerlind and Kanaev, 1998). As the labour market changes, so does/should education to respond to the change. This is more so in higher education, which directly provides the work force to run the economy of a country (Dunne, 1999). Therefore, it is imperative for higher education to be mindful of the changes even outside of education, as these impact on the conduct of it (Nair, 2003). Some of the powerful technological and political forces, which include technology driven growth of information and communication and globalization, are changing the way the world economy operates. By offering new ways of communication, email and internet technology, for example, is rendering distance less of a problem. Undoubtedly, the impact of these forces is being seen in higher education (on line learning, computer aided instruction, global content, etc). If higher education is to be meaningfully relevant, these new developments should inform curriculum. A curriculum reform alone is not enough to deal with the problem, though. Teachers should try to keep abreast of the latest developments and accordingly upgrade their skills. This paper attempts to examine how these changes influence language learning now and in future and how teacher education programmes in private and government institutions at a degree level are addressing the issues. In particular, the paper tries to assess how relevant the current teacher education curriculum is in preparing the teachers for 'tomorrow'. Besides, whether or not teachers are aware of the issues has been assessed. The curriculum has been thoroughly studied and questionnaires were administered to teacher trainers, graduate and prospective teachers.