Mehdi Shariatmadari

Academic Staff Development: the Case of Teachers In-service Training in Iran & India Mehdi Shariatmadari

Stepping in the new era of information technology imposes the need to redefine academic staff roles. The image of the academic staff as a specialist in a specific subject who stands alone in front of the class is not accepted any more. This perception of the role of teachers no longer matches the demands of teaching and the expectations that are made with regard to the education. The education all around the world is becoming increasingly diverse and changing. Thus, higher education systems that can manage teaching diversity and changes effectively, obtain their goals, quality and development. In such systems training in-service is a necessity through which they can achieve quality and development. The quality and development of education is directly related to the quality and development of instruction in the classrooms. It means that academic staff is considered the most significant factor in the entire education system; since they are major infrastructure of education and main implementers of all educational changes. This demands specialized training and qualifications, which, in turn, lead to changing the paradigms of pre-service and in-service academic staff training.