Digital platforms have reshaped how education is delivered. What remains unsettled is how much of that move teacher education can absorb without thinning out the human core of teaching.
This thought formed the core of a recent Voices of Clarity podcast conversation between Dr Rashee Singh, HoD at School of Education and Humanities, Manav Rachna University (MRU), and Ms. Rashima V. Varma, Dean, Education at MRU.As Dr. Singh rightly puts it: “If we strip away the noise, the real challenge us how to integrate technology into the human core of teaching and how do we future-proof teacher education without losing its soul.”
Rather than making sweeping claims about technology’s promise,the discussion looked at how educators are being prepared to deal with the complexities of modern classrooms.
What gets lost in the EdTech rush?
For Ms. Varma, the concern is not access or efficiency, but erosion. “What is truly getting lost in all this noise of edtech and technology and AI is the human touch,” she says. “We are social beings. We do well when we are in contact with other human beings, and this technology cannot replace a human.”
Teaching, she says, is not reducible to content delivery. “Whether we are looking at a teacher who will inspire, who will push, who will empathise, it is a teacher that is required,” she further adds.
{{/usCountry}}Teaching, she says, is not reducible to content delivery. “Whether we are looking at a teacher who will inspire, who will push, who will empathise, it is a teacher that is required,” she further adds.
{{/usCountry}}Singh notes that this view is already shaping how teacher education programmes are structured. Courses such as Understanding the Self are designed to help future teachers reflect on their own identities and emotional responses alongside understanding learners. The emphasis, she says, is not technical efficiency alone, but becoming “empathetic and reflective practitioners”.
Why blended learning is becoming unavoidable?
Blended learning is often framed as a solution in search of a problem. In this conversation, it is treated as a practical outcome of how education systems now operate. “The way of teaching and pedagogies will change with the way society evolves,” Ms. Varma says. “It has become very important that we are able to reach a larger audience without wanting their physical presence. Hence blended learning is the future.”
Singh points out that with universities increasingly offering online formats, blended learning is no longer experimental. It is fast becoming the default approach.
AI in the classroom: tool, not teacher
Both speakers are clear that artificial intelligence is here to stay. “AI tools are great tools,” Ms. Varma says, “as long as we use them as something that supports teaching and learning.” While such tools allow for personalisation and efficiency, she stresses that knowledge itself continues to be built through human interaction.
Dr. Singh adds that teacher education programmes have begun introducing dedicated AI courses to equip future educators with relevant skills. The aim, she says, is not to replace teachers, but to empower them by integrating these tools into pedagogy without surrendering judgement.
Ms. Varma repeatedly returns to the issue of voice. Heavy reliance on AI, she warns, often flattens expression. “Extensive use of AI gives you a very generic voice and what people connect with is an authentic voice,” she says. “If your voice is the same as everybody else’s, you get lost in the crowd.”
Authenticity, bias and the limits of automation
The discussion sharpens when it turns to bias. Ms. Varma points out that AI systems carry inbuilt assumptions shaped by the data they are trained on. “If you ask an AI tool to create an image of a university classroom with a teacher,” she says, “it will show you a Caucasian man, always. That is an inbuilt bias.”
Teachers, she argues, must be trained not only to use AI, but to question it. Without that awareness, such tools risk reinforcing stereotypes rather than challenging them. To make the point, she draws an analogy from agriculture. “Think about AI as one of the tools that will make it easier for us to do the things that we want to do,” she says, adding that while tools became more specialised over the years, but they never replaced human agency. AI, she suggests, should be understood the same way, as an aid, not a substitute.
Ensuring quality through global standards
To future-proof the profession, the speakers emphasise the need for global benchmarks. Ms. Varma highlights that Manav Rachna’s B.Ed programs are accredited by the International Baccalaureate (IB). “The purpose is not just to have a fancy credential but to guarantee that the pedagogies we use and the courses we teach are globally relevant,” she explains. This global exposure is balanced with local grounding, ensuring teachers are prepared for both the National Education Policy (NEP) standards and international classrooms.
Bridging the generational skills gap
The conversation also touches on a widening divide within the profession. “Earlier, a teacher could go 20 or 30 years without upskilling. That is no longer possible,” Ms. Varma says.
Continuous professional development, she argues, has become essential to understand how today’s learners think and engage. Programs like the PG Diploma in International Education and Leadership are offered in blended formats to accommodate working professionals. Master’s programmes, postgraduate diplomas and short-term certifications are increasingly offered in blended formats to accommodate working professionals.
Teacher education, she adds, now has to serve two groups at once, those entering the profession and those already in it.
Beyond the classroom
Teacher education is also shedding narrow career definitions. “Traditionally, BEd degrees have been seen to be attached to the teachers,” Ms. Varma says, but that it now opens doors to a “600 billion dollar industry.” While teaching remains central, education degrees now lead to roles in curriculum design, instructional development, EdTech, research, professional training and consulting.
Ms. Varma describes this expanding scope as one of the strengths of contemporary education programmes, particularly at a moment when education itself is being reimagined across sectors.
What must change, and what must not
In a rapid closing exchange, Ms. Varma returns to fundamentals. She notes that “compassion and emotional intelligence” remain among the most undervalued qualities in teachers today. Technology can enhance learning when used well, but it can just as easily distract. “Teacher education should looking at theory and practical as two different components,” she says, calling for more “hands-on, experiential learning” from the outset.
Asked to define the future of teacher education in one word, Ms. Varma chooses “Innovation”. Singh offers a brief summation of her own: “Staying human in a digital world”.
As education continues to evolve, the conversation offers a restrained reminder. The challenge is not whether technology belongs in the classroom, but whether it can be adopted without eroding the essence of empathetic and reflective practitioners that make teaching matter.
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