A number of studies relating to evaluation of prescribed textbooks in different subjects have also been undertaken (Sneh Prabha, 1979; Patyal, 1980; Sharma, 1980; Kour, 1982; Sharma, 1982; Aggarwal, 1984; Rajeshwari, 1984; Gawari, 1985; Kaur, 1985; Dhanesekaran, 1985; Kulkarni, 1985; Padma, 1985; John, 1986; Joshi, 1986; Merchant. 1986; Nannar, 1986; Samal, 1987). Only one study pertains to evaluation of elementary school mathematics textbooks in relation to Piagetian development stages (Bajwa, 1986).
A perusal of the research studies conducted during
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the last 15 years in the area of curriculum at M.Phil. level indicates that very few relate to real issues and problems of curriculum development at school, college and university levels. There is hardly any study on the development of a need-based curriculum for the non- formal stream of education. Field experimentation and long-term follow-up studies with a focus on teaching methods and strategies and actual classroom processes have been practically ignored. Most of the studies relating to teaching methods have compared some innovative methods or models with the vaguely described conventional 'chalk and talk' method only to brand the former more effective, without going into the reasons for their efficacy. Moreover, the focus of the all these studies has been almost exclusively on secondary schools; there is hardly any study which pertains to teaching methods at college or university level. The studies in the area of textbook evaluation have been mostly conducted in isolation of curriculum research and actual classroom practices, experiences and needs.
Educational Technology The concept of educational technology has now broadened to include a spectrum of operations, strategies and formats pertaining to both formal and non-formal systems of education. The research studies in this area are not, therefore, confined to the theme of programmed in- struction but also to the use of hardware like radio, projectors, television, CCTV, and other instructional strategies and techniques in formal and non-formal settings. At the M.Phil. level, a good beginning in terms of the number of studies was made from the very beginning and progress though slow has remained steady throughout the periods 1972-83. Table 31.1 indicates that, in all, 51 studies in the area of educational technology have been undertaken during this period.
A perusal of the studies indicates that most of the studies were confined to the field of programmed learning. One category of such studies pertains to development and validation of different styles of programmed instructional material (Goyal, 1979; Joshi, 1979; Devi, 1980; Gupta, 1980; Dhanbir, 1984; Sahoo, 1984; Raj, 1984; Nayal, 1985). A second category includes the development of different styles of programmed instructional materials and the study of their effect on achievement in comparison with instruction through the conventional approach of teaching or textbook material presentation (Brahma, 1983; Parida, 1984, Thatte, 1984). A third category of studies is confined to the development of different types of programmed instructional material and a study of their effects on various psychological variables, viz., locus of control; academic achievement, creativity, intelligence, academic motivation, and personality characteristics (Arora, 1979; Gupta, 1980; Sharma, 1981; Rath, 1983; Senapati, 1986).
A few studies relate to effects of mastery learning strategies on certain variables. These include the effects of Bloom's mastery learning strategy on self-concept and achievement motivation (Singh, 1978), retention (Chand, 1981), attitudes (Sharma, 1983); comparison of the effectiveness of Bloom's strategy and Keller's Personalized system of instruction on achievement (Sethi, 1985; Guru, 1987).
The role of hardware, mass media and distance education has also been explored in few studies: the effect of instruction through a tape recorder on memorising ability and pronunciation of nursery children (Dhamija, 1981); relative effects of an ETV programme and conventional teaching on achievement and attitude in relation to socioeconomic status and intelligence (Mishra, 1983); the concept of secularism and the role of mass media in its dissemination (Rishi, 1984); orga- nization of school broadcast programmes and their utilization in education (Giri, 1986); the role of distance education in India and abroad (Sanghavi, 1986); attitude of students towards country-wide Doordarshan programmes (Chakravarty, 1987); and use of the computer as an instructional tool (Bhattacharya, 1987).
An examination of the studies conducted during the period 1973-87 at M.Phil. level shows that programmed learning has been the main focus of research in the area of educational technology. There is hardly any study of educational programmes broadcast by radio and TN., especially of those for the education of disadvantaged groups in rural and far flung hill areas of the country and the designing of self- instructional material specially for the use of children studying at non-formal centres and children of mobile tribes. There have been no studies on systems analysis and cybernetics; computer education; the use of educational technology in the universalization of education, vocationalization, mass literacy, open-learning, and higher forms of intellectual activities relating to decision-making processes, effective management.
Correlates of Achievement Academic achievement is considered mainly function
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of cognitive variables which include intelligence and aptitude, and a fairly large amount of achievement variance is attributed to these cognitive variables. But in recent years there has been a growing realization among the researchers that non-cognitive variables, viz., personality traits and adjustment, interests, values, needs, attitudes etc. must also be assessed in order to diminish the margin of error in the prediction of academic achievement. Hence, research in correlates of achievement assumed special significance with a view to deriving maximum benefit for curriculum development, effective instruction and better academic achievement. The number of studies pursuing this ob- jective at M.Phil. level in the decade 1973-82 was fairly low. However, it increased significantly during 1983-87.
Table 31.1 indicates that 64 studies in the area of correlates of achievement were undertaken in 1973-87. Most of these are descriptive and pertain to the relationship between academic achievement either with various personality characteristics and adjustment (Patel, 1978- Kaur, 1980; Chander, 1982; Kour, 1984; Kumari, 1984; Parmar, 1985; Saryu, 1985) or with some of the other psychological variables like intelligence, creativity, memory, achievement motivation, study habits, attitudes, values, interest and anxiety (Balachandran, 1977; Kalra, 1982; Kaur, 1983; Bisht, 1983; Sohe, 1983; Gajria, 1984; Kumar, 1984; Debi, 1984; Pattnaik, 1984; Kumari, 1985; Nesa, 1985; Rawat, 1985; Joshi, 1987).
The influence of variables relating to environment, school and family on academic achievement has been studied by a number of researchers. These variables include socioeconomic status, educational and cultural level of the family, family size, birth order, institutional climate and facilities, single teacher and multi- teacher schools and teacher behaviour (Sharotri, 1979; Kaur, 1980; Sahoo, 1981; Swain, 1981 Numuk, 1983; Das, 1983; Imchen, 1983; Chakraburti, 1984; Mathew, 1984; Misra, 1984; Shekhar, 1985; Shaiq, 1986; Kaur, 1987). A couple of studies pertain to factorial analysis of certain variables directly or indirectly related to academic achievement (Shishu, 1981; Kour, 1982).
The phenomenon of over- and under-achievement and scholastic backwardness has also been explored in some studies (Kaur, 1980; Dhillon, 1983, Mujawar, 1986; Gupta, 1986; Dhawan, 1987; Butt, 1987).
There has been hardly any research at M. Phil. level which pertains to effectiveness of instructional strategy, curriculum designing or evaluation procedures in relation to academic achievement. Moreover, studies involving in-depth experimentation or case study approaches for identifying under-achievement and sug- gesting, remedial measures have been practically ignored.
Teacher Education Teacher education refers to total educative process of preparing an individual for a teaching job. It includes various training and orientation programmes, both pre-service and in-service, offered by teacher's training institutions, universities and other organizations like the NCERT and SCERT. Research into the goals of teacher education and means of achieving them contribute significantly to qualitative improvement of education at various level.
Research in the area of teacher education at the M.Phil. level during the first quinquennium, 1973-77 made modest beginning. However, it received a significant impetus in the decade 1978-87. The total number of studies, in this area during the period 19,73-87, as indicated in Table 31.1 is 137. Most of the studies are descriptive and pertain to characteristics and various problems and issues, e.g. adjustment problems, attitudes, academic qualifications, morale, marital status, values, job satisfaction, achievement, self-concept, creativity, intelligence, professional growth and ethics, social sta- tus, role conflict, and mental health of different categories of pre- service and in-service teachers (Preneja, 1978; Kumari, 1978; Sharma, 1979; Bala, 1980; Sharma, 1980; Mehta, 1980; Dutta, 1980; Chandel, 1981; Safaya, 1981; Brehmbhett, 1981; Aruldoss, 1981; Kour, 1982; Kumari, 1982; Patel, 1983; Bhat, 1983; Patel, 1984; Bhatia, 1984; Sarangi, 1984; Kamble, 1984; Nanda, 1985; Amorn, 1986; Dhar, 1986; Milton, 1986; Maner, 1986; Shete, 1987; Balakrishna, 1987; Gupta, 1987).
Teacher effectiveness in relation to creativity, emotional maturity and self-acceptance (Patel, 1980); Psychological traits (Kumar, 1982); self-actualization (Kashyap, 1982); teaching skills (Chawla, 1982; Patel. 1983); life satisfaction (Kaur, 1984); schools showing good and poor results (Kumar, 1985); and attitude towards teaching and professional commitment (Thampan, 1987) have also been studied.
Some studies deal with teacher behaviour in the context of socio- economic status in the rural background (Solomon, 1977); teaching of languages and social studies (Kaushal, 1978; Thakur, 1980; Sharma, 1982):
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teaching aptitude (Kumari, 1982); general anxiety (Vasudev, 1979); teacher morale (Singh, 198 1); creativity (Behera, 1982; Kumar, 1986); lecturing at school and college levels (Mishra, 1983); and questioning (Kaur, 1985).
A few experimental studies pertain to the efficacy of variours teaching strategies and models in relation to the development of teaching competence and skills and student achievement. These include studies of the comparative effect of immediate and delayed feedback and sequence of skills on general teaching competence of pre-service teachers (Sharma, 1978); effect of modular instruction on the development of certain teaching skills among in-service teachers (Amirdhasagaram, 1979); effect of the Diode Model of Integration of Skills on general teaching competence of pre-service teachers (Naik, 1980); impact of micro-teaching training of inservice teachers on students' achievement (Behera, 1984); effectiveness of the Inquiry Training model on teaching competence of in-service teachers; and efficacy of micro-teaching on teaching competence in languages (Gupta, 1984; Mishra, 1984); effectiveness of training strategy in the learning concept attainment model at B.Ed. level (Bihari, 1986; Das, 1986); and relative effects of models like holist versus partist training strategies in the jurisprudential enquiry model, advance organizer model etc. (Mohanty, 1987; Patel, 1987; Satapathy, 1987).
Hardly any study on the effectiveness of integrated teacher- training programmes run by some institutions in the country composed to most existing teacher-training programmes has been undertaken at M.Phil. level. Also, no worthwhile attempt seems to have been made to study the impact of training teachers with various innovative teaching strategies and models on the learning, attitudes and other important characteristics of students. There are practically no studies of creative teaching" problems of teacher recruitment, service conditions of teachers of private aided schools, working conditions of women teachers, especially in rural and hill areas, and problems of single- teacher schools.
Educational Management and Administration Research relating to the problems and issues of educational management and administration has received very little attention at the M.Phil. level in the period 1973-77. However, research on these topics took great strides in the next quinquennium, 1978-82; and this progress continued with the same momentum during the later years, from 1983 to 1987. As noted in Table 31.1, 92 studies were reported during 1973-87 in the area of educational management and administration which may be classified in various categories.
One category includes studies that deal with problems and evaluation of administrative and organisational structures (Kalpana, 1979; Joseph, 1980; Kuppusamy, 1980; Shukla, 1982; Kumar, 1982; Puri, 1982; Wairji, 1982; Kadam, 1983; Sopechi, 1984; Gupta, 1984; Balich, 1985; George, 1985; Begam, 1985; Bhawe, 1985; Kotikela, 1985; Nayak, 1987). A second category of studies are concerned with issues of supervision, planning, finance, leadership behaviour, role perception, teaching, institutional activities, and educational needs and opportunities (Rani, 1980; Singh, 1980; Fehmeeda, 1980; Kokoty, 1981; Sudha, 1981; Baurai, 1982; Shinde, 1982; Chauhan, 1983; Rahek, 1984; Sawant, 1984; Deshmukh, 1984; Misra, 1984; Vaidya,'1985; Korde, 1986; Ahire, 1986; Kraeusing, 1987; Nair, 1987; Nayak, 1987).
The studies on the organizational, school and classroom climate in relation to various variables belong to third category (Gupta, 1980; Sharma, 1980; Aggarwal, 1981; Sharma, 1982; Santhapan, 1983; Murugesan, 1983; Puri, 1985; Pradhan, 1986; Jyoti, 1987; Chopra, 1987; Shah, 1987). A fourth category of studies investigates problems of wastage, stagnation, detention, dropouts and indiscipline (Sud, 1984; Sharad, 1984; Rawool, 1984; Thomas, 1985; Patil, 1985; Chontre, 1986; Masooda, 1987).
A fifth category of studies, pertains to. management and organization of special types of programmes and institutions. It include studies of balwadis Banu, 1980); balvikas programmes (Sambhi, 1980); the school complex system (Sharma, 1980); the system of education in maktabs and madarsas (Fahim, 1984); formal and informal processes of education in rural settings (Nazki, 1987).
The nature of the studies conducted in the area of educational management and administration indicates that no worthwhile endeavour has been made to study the implications of role conflict in educational institutions; factors influencing the universalization of education, non-enrolment and dropouts in the context of the children of deprived and disadvantaged communities; implications of various laws and acts relating to education; role of students' and teachers' unions; issues relating to a code of conduct for teachers; problems in development of leadership qualities among teachers and students; institutional viability in terms of curriculum
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content and offering; constraints in the effective administration and management of colleges and universities; problems in management of vocational courses in secondary schools; motivational characteristics relating to effective management at school, college and university levels; issues relating to management of distance education; role of universities in social and economic development; and 'the implications of students participation in decision-making bodies of colleges and universities.
Non-Formal Education Non-formal education programmes in the form of adult education, social education, lifelong education, extension education etc. have been in operation in India for many years. In recent years, it has attained a special significance in view of the current emphasis on universali- zation of education and mass literacy, but there have been very few research studies on this subject at M. Phil. level. In all, 29 studies in this area were reported during. 1973 and 1987. Reference to Table 31.1 will show that hardly any study in non-formal education was undertaken during 1973-77 and that the number of studies conducted during 1983-87 is more than double the number of those undertaken during 1978-82. These research studies are confined mostly to two distinct categories; adult education and non-formal education for children.
The studies in adult education mostly pertain to its growth and development in various parts of the country (Kaur, 1982; Gupta, 1983; Acharya, 1985; Kalia, 1985); evaluation of the working and functionality of adult education programmes in different states (Joshi, 1979; Multani, 1982; Paintal, 1986; Gill, 1987); objectives, learning experiences, value orientation and learning needs of adult learners (Krishan, 1980;,Mann, 1980; Mishra, 1983; Bahera, 1984); development of experience on using the metric system in teaching mathematics to neo-literates (Chopra, 1984); organizational problems faced by instructors in rural, urban and tribal adult education centres (Das, 1985); attitudes of participants and dropouts a comparative perspective (Tirpathi, 1985); construction of need-based curriculum for rural adults (Gill, 1980), and training programmes for adult education functionaries (Naik, 1979; Sahasrabudhe, 1984).
Studies on non-formal education of children are very few, in comparison to those on adult education. These studies are confined to comparison of interests and achievement of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe children with those of other children in non-formal education centres (Imrapur, 1987); evaluation of non-formal education centres in different parts of the country (Gupta, 1982; Satyanarayana, 1984); and future needs of non-formal education in Thailand from 1984 to 1994 (Nuancharean, 1985).
Hardly any worthwhile systematic effort has been made at M.Phil. level to study the philosophy and objectives of non-formal education in the Indian context; the needs, characteristics and interests of participants in non-formal education programmes; problems and issues pertaining to curriculum, learning materials, use of media, and instructional aids; development of need-based curricula for children and adults belonging to disadvantaged groups; management and administration of non-formal education programmes; training and orien- tation of functionaries of these programmes; efficacy of non-formal education programmes in terms of learning cutcomes and motivation of the learners through case-study and follow-up approaches; and development of interdisciplinary approaches and strategies for the successful implementation of non-formal education programmes.
Education of the Exceptional The area of education of the exceptional is confined to the education of the groups of children who are either handicapped in some way or are especially gifted, either generally or with regard to specific abilities. Children may be handicapped physically, mentally or socially. Gifted children are bright and exceptionally fast learners. They are high in intelligence, special abilities or creativity.