AICTE Norms and Role of

Technical Staff in Higher Technical

Education
By rautsharad

AICTE Norms & Role of Technical Staff :

In Technical Education, practical training and developing expertise in application of the theoretical
knowledge has a great importance. Engineering is an art of applied sciences, more precisely, an
applied knowledge through practical, where the Technical Staff plays crucial job in the Computer
Centers /Laboratories/ Workshops etc.
As industries need engineers with sound practical back ground, Technical Staff plays a key role in
capacity building of the engineering graduates. Practical Training and Demonstration is a base of an
Engineering Education, where Technical Staff, also plays significant role in teaching process parallel
with the teachers. Such staff, apart from assisting in laboratory experimentation and workshop
practice, is also the ones who are primarily responsible for the maintenance of laboratory apparatus,
measuring instruments and workshop equipment.
The purpose of the Technical Staff in the Engineering institutes is to support the process of
transformation of technical skills among the students (Teachers role) and also to provide support to
the faculty, staff and any other constituents of the institutes. These services include supporting
classrooms, laboratories, offices, and any other technical services that are deemed necessary.
Present Status of Technical Staff : In the present education system, in schools, colleges, institutes
and universities only classroom teachers and students are at the centre of concentration of all. The
curtain raisers, human resource (other than teachers) serving in these institutes are overlooked all
the way, as if they are not essential part of the education system. The non-teaching supporting staff
includes both technical and administrative staff. Of these, it is the technical supporting staff which
has a more direct bearing on the quality of education.
Qualified Technical Staff working as a Lab. Assistants, Lab. Technicians, Technical Assistants,
Programmers, Computer operators, Instructors, demonstrators who train the students in a laboratory
have negligible importance in the vision of the colleges, universities, DTE, UGC & AICTE and
MHRD, and they are treated as Non-Teaching at par with administrative & others supporting staff.
The present practice for providing technical supporting staff is to specify that, the cost of hiring such
staff should be a certain percentage of the cost of hiring the teaching staff. Such artificial norms are
no longer adequate. Technical supporting staff should be provided on need-based norms.

At present there is short provision for training and development of technical staff under quality
improvement programme. With change in the instructional and developmental processes and the
utilization of more sophisticated and delicate instruments and equipment, the need to train and
develop this category of staff is being felt acutely.
Although laboratory work has a crucial and specific role to play in engineering education, so far not
much work has been done for the improvement of laboratory instruction. To meet diverse
requirements and challenges in the profession, a Technical Staff will have to be provided facilities for
his continuous education and for acquiring new competencies. Advanced technical courses would be
useful in this context. There is need for a change in the philosophy. The schemes for the training of
technical supporting staff, on the same lines as the QIP schemes for teachers, should be started
soon. No attempt at quality improvement would, therefore, be complete without giving due attention
to this category of staff.
By considering the significant role of Technical Staff in higher technical education, MHRD/AICTE
should lay down the norms and standards with prescribing their Pay Scales, Service Conditions and
Staff Pattern uniformly all over the country.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ACADEMIC ADVISOR

o

Assisting students to identify their academic values and goals in coordination with academic advisors

Clarifying pertinent information and discussing the implications toward students' academic success

Being accessible and available to students to respond to their questions and concerns

Clarifying academic policies, college regulations, program requirements, procedures, and other college
information

Maintaining professional integrity, confidentiality, respect, and sensitivity in advising

Helping students define and develop educational plans; assisting in the selection of appropriate course
work and opportunities to achieve student's goals

Respecting student's individual needs and diversity

Assisting students to independently monitor their progress toward achieving their educational and career
goals

Being knowledgeable about, promoting and referring students to appropriate campus and community
resources and services

Informing students of the roles and responsibilities of the advisor/student relationship

Maintaining currency in academic advising trends and techniques through professional development

Nola A., Senior English Instructor at Eton Institute, provides a useful insight into the roles
relevant to todays teaching.

The 7 Roles of a Teacher in the 21st Century:

Think about the type of lesson you normally teach:

In which roles are you often involved?

Are there any roles in which you have less experience?

Are there any new roles you might try in the future?
It is clear that the 21st century classroom needs are very different from the 20 th century ones.
In the 21st century classroom, teachers are facilitators of student learning and creators of
productive classroom environments, in which students can develop the skills they might
need at present or in future.
However, before we begin to understand the evolving role of an ESL teacher, lets outline
some of the most popular teacher roles. Harmer, J. states that it makes more sense to
describe different teacher roles and say what they are useful for, rather than make value
judgments about their effectiveness. So here are some of the most common teacher roles:
Teacher Roles:
Most teachers take on a variety of roles within the classroom, which role do you think most
defines your role in the ESL classroom?

The Controller: The teacher is in complete charge of the class, what students do,
what they say and how they say it. The teacher assumes this role when new language is
being introduced and accurate reproduction and drilling techniques are needed.
In this classroom, the teacher is mostly the centre of focus, the teacher may have the gift of
instruction, and can inspire through their own knowledge and expertise, but, does this role
really allow for enough student talk time? Is it really enjoyable for the learners? There is also
a perception that this role could have a lack of variety in its activities.

The Prompter: The teacher encourages students to participate and makes

suggestions about how students may proceed in an activity. The teacher should be
helping students only when necessary.
When learners are literally lost for words, the prompter can encourage by discreetly
nudging students. Students can sometimes lose the thread or become unsure how to
proceed; the prompter in this regard can prompt but always in a supportive way.

The Resource: The teacher is a kind of walking resource centre ready to offer help if
needed, or provide learners with whatever language they lack when performing
communicative activities. The teacher must make her/himself available so that learners
can consult her/him when (and only when) it is absolutely necessary.
As a resource the teacher can guide learners to use available resources such as the internet,
for themselves, it certainly isnt necessary to spoon-feed learners, as this might have the
down side of making learners reliant on the teacher.

The Assessor: The teacher assumes this role to see how well students are performing
or how well they performed. Feedback and correction is organized and carried out.
There are a variety of ways we can grade learners, the role of an assessor gives teachers an
opportunity to correct learners. However, if it is not communicated with sensitivity and
support it could prove counter-productive to a students self-esteem and confidence in
learning the target language.

The Organizer: Perhaps the most difficult and important role the teacher has to play.
The success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students
knowing exactly what they are to do next. Giving instructions is vital in this role as well as
setting up activities.
The organizer can also serve as a demonstrator, this role also allows a teacher to get
involved and engaged with learners. The teacher also serves to open and neatly close
activities and also give content feedback.

The Participant: This role improves the atmosphere in the class when the teacher
takes part in an activity. However, the teacher takes a
risk of dominating the activity when performing it.
Here the teacher can enliven a class; if a teacher is able to stand back and not become the
center of attention, it can be a great way to interact with learners without being too
overpowering.

The Tutor: The teacher acts as a coach when students are involved in project work or
self-study. The teacher provides advice and guidance and helps students clarify ideas and
limit tasks.
This role can be a great way to pay individual attention to a student. It can also allow a
teacher to tailor make a course to fit specific student needs. However, it can also lead to a
student becoming too dependent or even too comfortable with one teacher and one method
or style of teaching.
Now that weve had a chance to look at some of the variety of roles lets see how we can
adopt these into a real classroom activity/task:

ACTIVITY/TASK

HOW THE TEACHER SHOULD

BEHAVE

Team game

energetic, clear, fair, encouraging

Role Play

supportive, retiring, clear, encouraging

Teacher reading aloud

dramatic, interesting commanding

Whole class listing

efficient, clear, supportive

What we notice here is that the roles are often interchangeable. The teachers role is never
static. One activity could see an experienced teacher smoothly transition from one role to
another.
That said, the 21st century classroom is created on the premise that students experience
what they require to enter the 21 st century workplace and live in the global environment. The
characteristics of the 21st century classroom therefore sets it apart from the 20 th century
classroom.
Lectures on a single subject at a time where the norm in the past. Today, collaboration is the
thread for all student learning. For instance, the collaborative project-based approach
ensures that the curriculum used in this classroom develops:

Higher order thinking skills

Effective communication skills

Knowledge of technology that students will need for 21st century careers and the
increased globalized environment.
While there is certainly a place for teacher centered, lecture style learning, the evolving ESL
teacher must embrace new teaching strategies that are radically different from those
previously employed. The curriculum must become more relevant to what students will be
exposed to in the 21stcentury.
An interactive teacher is by definition one that is fully aware of the group dynamics of a
classroom. As Drnyei and Murphey (2003) explained, the success of classroom learning is
very much dependent on:

How students relate to each other and their teacher

What the classroom environment is

How effectively students cooperate and communicate with each other

The roles not only the teacher plays but the learners engage in
Brown, H. Douglas (2007) mentions that teachers can play many roles in the course of
teaching and this might facilitate learning. Their ability to carry these out effectively will
depend to a large extent on the rapport they establish with their students, and of course, on
their own level of knowledge and skills.
According to Harmer, J. (2007), the term facilitator is used by many authors to describe a
particular kind of teacher, one who is democratic (where the teacher shares some of the
leadership with the students) rather than autocratic (where the teacher is in control of
everything that goes on in the classroom), and one who fosters learner autonomy (where
students not only learn on their own, but also take responsibility for that learning) through
the use of group and pair work and by acting as more of a resource than a transmitter of
knowledge.
Facilitating learning is empowering for both the learner and the teacher and frees the
teacher from many of the burdens that having to be an expert might entail. It would
traditionally have been seen as a weakness for a teacher to say I dont know, lets find out
or I dont know, do any of you students know the answer? But, times have changed and so
must the role of the ELS teacher.

So heres hoping the next time you teach a class you consider how your role might affect
your studentslearning. Are your classes teacher centered, with you always at the center
controlling everything? Or are you able to let go, and allow students to take center stage?
Regardless of the roles they assume, teachers shape the culture of their classrooms,
improve student learning, and influence practice and production. Making the shift from
teacher as expert to facilitator is sometimes seen as diminishing a teachers power and
authority, but this should not be the case at all.

What Is the Role of Teachers in Education?

by Stacy Zeiger, Demand Media

Being a leader is one of many roles a teacher plays.

Related Articles

Roles & Responsibilities of Special Education Teachers

How Much Do Physical Education Teachers Make?
Role of Teachers in the Curriculum Process
The Role of a Special Ed Teacher in an Inclusion Classroom
How Much Do Special Education Teachers Make in Texas?
A teacher's role involves more than simply standing in front of a classroom and lecturing. In fact, even
though a teacher spends the majority of the day in the classroom, the actual teaching component is

only part of the job. An effective teacher understands that teaching involves wearing multiple hats to
ensure that the school day runs smoothly and all students receive a quality education.
Ads by Google

Six Sigma Training

Become a Certified Six Sigma PROF. from Recognized Institute. Enquire

careerplus.shine.com/Six-Sigma
Planning
At the planning stage, teachers play multiple roles. They are learners, constantly taking classes and
attending professional development sessions to learn the latest best practices and strategies for
effective teaching. Many teachers regularly collaborate with one another to gain new ideas for
teaching, planning grade-level instruction and combining subjects to enhance the learning experience.
They analyze test results and other data to help determine the course of their instruction and make
changes in their classrooms. Teachers also design lesson plans to teach the standards and provide
engaging activities, while taking into account each student's interests and instructional needs.

Instruction
Instead of just lecturing in the classroom, teachers are facilitators of learning, providing students with
the information and tools they need to master a subject. At times, teachers act like tutors, working
with small groups of students or individual students within the classroom or after class. Teachers also
play the role of evaluators, constantly assessing students' abilities through formal and informal
assessments, providing suggestions for improvement and assigning grades.
Related Reading: The Role of a School Board Member With Teachers

Student Interaction
Perhaps the most important roles teachers fill involve interacting with students. Teachers must be
leaders in the classroom and in the school, earning the respect of students and setting a positive
example. They must be disciplinarians, doling out fair and consistent punishments to students who
break the rules. At the same time, teachers must show care and concern for students. A teacher has
the power to build up or tear down a student's self-esteem and make a student's day or ruin it in an
instant. When interacting with students, a teacher must fill the role of a counselor, a surrogate parent,
a nutritionist and someone who has the best interests of every child at heart.

Other Professional Duties

Throughout the school day and over the course of the school year, teachers take on other roles, as
well. They are chaperones at school functions and coaches of school sports. They are monitors at lunch
and recess and serve as fundraisers for field trips and school supplies. Teachers also play the role of
interior designer, making sure their classrooms are set up to support learning and act as artists when
they update their bulletin boards and other displays.