TEACHER EDUCATORS' OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATION IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN JAMMU CITY

Abstract

Occupational aspiration are the desires and intentions to pursue an occupation or a particular position within an occupation. There is a dire need of occupational aspirations among teachers as it will help them to pursue their passion and to explore the different opportunities, additional courses to have a great career advancement. Teacher educators also have occupational aspirations in their life as they aspire to enhance their quality learning to work for the benefit of the student teachers and to make the future better. Also, teaching aspirations can provide insight and enhance the commitment and performance of teacher educators which will ultimately impact the quality of education provided to students. Research on occupational aspirations of teacher educators can aid in workforce planning, helping educational institutions as well as colleges and policymakers anticipate teacher supply and demand. Research highlights the need of teacher educators to gain research and analytical skills which will contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of education which improve the quality of teacher education programmes. Such research can shed light in finding the aspirations of teachers and organising different educational programs and workshops which will lead in preparing better teacher educators. Teachers' motivations, aspirations and early career development have increasingly been the focus of research attention in the climate of escalating teacher quality. Occupational aspiration of teacher educators can provide insights into the evolving demands and challenges in the same field. The present study is an attempt to analyse the different occupational aspirations of teacher educators of Colleges of Education. Sample was selected through random sampling technique and accordingly 75 teachers from private colleges of Education were taken. The investigator administered Teachers’ Occupational Aspiration Questionnaire by Nasrin and Anees (2010) for collection of data. The data collected was analysed using percentage and t- test. The findings of the study revealed that 80% of the teacher educators have extremely high level of occupational aspirations while 17.33% of the teacher educators have above average level of occupational aspirations and 2.72% have below average level of occupational aspirations. No significant difference in the occupational aspirations of teacher educators in relation to their residential background. There is no significant difference in occupational aspiration of teacher educators in relation to their teaching experience. Also, no significant difference was found in the occupational aspiration of teacher educators in relation to their age.