Vishal Pawar is an assistant professor and head of operations at the Tecnia Institute of Teacher Education, New Delhi. He holds a master's degree in Education on Special Hearing Impairment. Furthermore, he has six years of experience in the field of teaching.

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As a faculty member of the Education Department for Special Hearing Impairment, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

Activities performed at the Tecnia Institute of Teacher Education: Being a faculty member of the college, I teach various subjects related to education and one of my main responsibilities is teaching hearing-impaired students, planning learning activities, and controlling the classroom environment. I design and implement a clear and meaningful curriculum for my students and consult with teachers/educators on how to support my students who have special needs through sign language. To my students, I offer teaching advice and encouragement to foster academic and personal development. Moreover, I co-assist in developing IEPs with other teachers, parents, and/or specialists with the help of the students. A clear routine of the kind of assessment and feedback that will be given is also vital in monitoring progress while encouraging students to be their advocates and work towards independence.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

Since I am a faculty member preparing teachers for students with Special Hearing Impairment, I always ensure that I maintain good interpersonal relationships with the students by reporting any cases of abuse to prevent the endangerment of the involved students. Through working with students with disabilities, I establish proper communication with them using sign language as well as providing visual displays to give them a feeling of being esteemed. Stress honesty, attentiveness, and encouraging users’ engagement to foster trust and make people embrace the application. In resource management among colleagues, I share many resources, and recommendations on the best strategies and solutions that relate to special hearing impairment education. Cooperation in partnerships, conferences or seminars, and professional development in the faculty enhances the body’s goal to produce service-oriented and empathetic educators.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects and make it industry-oriented?

To ensure my students, as future educators of learners with Special Hearing impairments, are well-equipped to handle situations they are likely to face in their teaching practice, I incorporate the following approaches into the course delivery and learning-teaching process. This comprises the use of cases, role plays, classroom videotaping, and relevant actual teaching episodes to illustrate the key teaching practices. Corporations, including special education schools and centers, are helpful for students and give them a real view of the existing industry. Moreover, I also introduce existing and modern technologies and approaches used to enhance communication between a teacher and a learner in a future class, so that my students will be ready to apply the most effective methods when needed. Workshops and guest lectures are held every month, where subject experts from the industry help between, the academic and practical worlds.

What are the best practices offered by the department to the students that help them gain the necessary skills? 

In our department, we ensure that teachers of SHI students apply the best practices of preparation for handling students with the above condition. We provide demonstrated training experience in ASL and devices for the hearing impaired, besides providing IEP instruction. Internships based in specialized schools, and general seminars and meetings with other professionals in the related field provide practical application. We integrate interdisciplinary partnerships for inclusion where the students, together with other stakeholders such as families, therapists, and other teachers, seek support from each other and work hand in hand to support the students. The students are more in a position to improve their teaching approach since they are evaluated continuously and receive feedback from their peers. Such practice standards guarantee that the graduates of our institute are well-prepared, genuinely concerned, and capable professionals to teach Hearing-Impaired students.

How do you strategize the curriculum, and how often does it get updated to make it befitting for the students? 

The well-defined curriculum being implemented in our course makes it responsive to the changing demands of Special Hearing Impairment students and educators. These practices are aimed at including the current research and implementation of the best practices in special education. Foundational content knowledge, performance competencies or skill sets, and working knowledge are the domains of learning. The curriculum is reviewed periodically to replenish knowledge obtained from practicing professionals and students for higher efficiency. I have discussed how our content remains up to date through continuing professional development and consultation with special education schools/organizations[s]. This dynamic approach affords an assurance to the facilitators of our future teachers that they are equipped for the goal of educating the hearing-impaired.

How do you help your student cope with the competition being so high in the outside world? 

Since there is much competition outside our campus, to support our students, we advocate for a multi-faceted approach to the education of Special Hearing Impairment students. Specifically, we stress the expertise in developmental motor abnormalities, understanding sign language, and its practice, working with assistive technologies, and designing learning environments for gifted students with various learning disabilities. Academic experiences instead of actual classrooms and contacts with individuals in practice facilitate useful exposure. Moreover, we still provide consultations about preparations for vacancies and/or employment placement and constant professional growth to increase one’s demand and flexibility. In turn, as we continue to help our students cultivate these skills and obtain these tools, we enable them to achieve success in their professions as teachers of hearing-impaired students.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the skills of the students or expose them to real-world challenges?

Yes, we provide a range of Co-Curricular activities and programs that help to develop our students’ skills even further while at the same time providing practical issues or scenarios for educating SHI students. Some of these include the organization of parents’ workshops and seminars with professional guest speakers where the speakers share their expertise and professionalism in special education and assistive technologies. We arrange visits to special schools for children and learning centers so that students can participate in and observe inclusive practices. Furthermore, we promote voluntarism and internships as well, which give first-hand knowledge, and increase the students’ tolerance. The activities are an addition to the curricular provisions within our school as they respond to the student’s needs to prepare them to be future educators.

What are the challenges you faced/ are facing to uplift the quality of education in your department?

Among the most pressing concerns influencing the endeavor to enhance the quality of instruction directed towards preparing instructors for teaching students with Special Hearing Impairment, it is possible to identify the need to constantly update the information regarding new technologies and application techniques in the sphere of special education. There is a need to ensure the curriculum that is being offered is up-to-date and covers all areas in the field as new knowledge is produced and old practices are improved upon. Further, it may be difficult to ensure proper practice, particularly where it needs to be given in an adequate amount and specialized resources are available to the students. These issues require the commitment of time and teamwork with other industry professionals, the continuous improvement of faculty knowledge, and reliance on partnerships with other institutions that can help improve the education and success rate of our students.

What valuable advice would you like to give to the students for they to have a prosperous career ahead?

To the students aspiring to educate Special Hearing Impairment students, I offer this advice for a prosperous career ahead: Both empathy and patience are the foundational values and attitudes that you ought to observe as a teacher. Ensure you update yourself with signs used in sign language as well as technology to meet the needs of the students. Remain open-minded regarding the freshman year of teaching and continuously read up on special education for learners with disabilities as well as integrated teaching. Foster good working relations with all the stakeholders, including the parents, therapists, and other professionals, to foster a good network system. Finally, it emphasizes that it is always important not to underestimate yourself and that you must do all that you can to make a difference in your students’ lives, realizing that you have the golden opportunity of molding their future.