RECONCEPTUALISING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF NEP 2020: AN INTEGRATED MULTIDIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Abstract

Teacher professional competence is one of the major issues in present reform efforts in education in relation to the National Education Policy 2020. Existing models of teacher competency have thereby failed to recognize the complex, contextual, and changing nature of teaching in diverse and under-resourced and technologicalized settings, even though they attempt to uphold the importance of pedagogical and content knowledge. Building competencies becomes further challenging because of structural differences. In this paper, the described limitation is addressed through the proposal of the Integrated Multidimensional Teacher Professional Competence Framework (IMTPCF). The paper, with theoretical underpinnings of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Competency paradigm, policy design and empirical threads from India, reconceptualises teacher competence as a dynamic interplay of six domains: pedagogical content, contextual and inclusive, assessment and reflective, professional ethics & values, transformative & leadership, and psychological competence. Interestingly, psychological competence, including self-efficacy, resilience and goal directedness, emerges as the primitive domain, switching on and integrating the other five domains to engage in the processes of teacher competence (Bandura, 1997; Zakariya & Adegoke, 2024). The model offers conceptual and practical meaning to teacher education and training in the NEP2020 era, aligning with the new National Professional Standards for Teachers.