Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Comparison of Pedagogical Knowledge and Practices of Prospective Teachers in Distance and Formal Learning

In Pakistan, a large number of prospective teachers are being trained frequently from formal and distance mode of education. The recent focus of the research was on pedagogical knowledge and practices of prospective teachers in distance and formal learning system of education.The purposed study was aimed to find out the comparison of pedagogical knowledge and practices of the prospective teachers in distance and formal education programs. The main objectives of the study were to explore the theoretical knowledgeand to examine the pedagogical practices of prospective teachers in both mode of education. The study wasquantitative and descriptive in nature. A survey was conducted through knowledge based test which was drawn from Higher Education Commission courses outline of B.Ed (Hons) and ADE programs on (233) prospective teachers. Check list andself-developed observation sheet was used to measure the pedagogical practices of top ten percent(10%) and bottom ten percent (10%) of prospective teachers in the actual classrooms. The collected data integrated to give a comprehensive view of the level of difference in knowledge and practices of prospective teachers in both systems. Moreover, it was concluded that distance learners have lower scores in knowledge and practices than formal learners.