ITEP AS A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH FOR PREPARING TEACHERS ALIGNED WITH NEP 2020 LEARNING OUTCOMES

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) revolutionizes the teacher education in India, emphasizing learning outcomes, professional competences, and holistic development. The Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) is at the heart of this reform. It is a four-year multidisciplinary course designed to prepare teachers in a more effective way, aligning their training with the outcome-focused vision of NEP-2020. The present paper explores how ITEP contributes to achieving the learning outcomes envisioned by NEP-2020, with particular focus on pedagogical understanding, competency based teaching skills, assessment literacy, ethical responsibility, and reflective professional practice. Using a qualitative research approach, the study demonstrates that NEP-2020 reshapes teacher education by moving it away from qualification-based training toward outcome-oriented professional development. Teachers are envisioned as facilitators of learning, reflective practitioners, and socially responsible professionals rather than mere transmitter of content. Also the findings indicate that ITEP plays an important role in achieving this vision through its integration of content knowledge and pedagogy, early and continuous school exposure, emphasis on competency based assessment practices, development of professional ethics and values, reflective and lifelong learning orientation, focus on digital technology, and fostering 21st century teaching skills. By systematically linking theory with practice, ITEP supports the development of teacher identity aligned with NEP-2020 learning outcomes. The study comes to the conclusion that effective implementation of ITEP has strong opportunity to minimizing the gap between policy intent and classroom practice, thereby strengthening teacher education as a cornerstone for sustainable educational transformation in India. Keywords: ITEP, NEP-2020, Teacher Education, Pedagogical Understanding