CTET Syllabus 2026: Paper-Wise Topics, Weightage, Paper 1 & 2 PDF Download Link

Child Development

• The concept of development and its relationship with learning.
• Principles of the development of children.
• Influence of Heredity & Environment.
• Socialization processes: Social world & children (Teacher, Parents, Peers).
• Piaget, Kohlberg, and Vygotsky: constructs and critical perspectives.
• Concepts of child-centred and progressive education.
• Critical perspective of the construct of Intelligence.
• Multi-Dimensional Intelligence.
• Language & Thought.
• Gender as a social construct; gender roles, gender-bias and educational practice.
• Individual differences among learners, understanding differences based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion etc.
• The distinction between Assessment for learning and assessment of learning; School-Based Assessment, Continuous & Comprehensive Evaluation: perspective and practice.
• Formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness levels of learners; for enhancing learning and critical thinking in the classroom and for assessing learner achievement.

A concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs

• Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including disadvantaged and deprived.
• Addressing the needs of children with learning difficulties, ‘impairment’ etc.
• Addressing the Talented, Creative, Specially abled Learners.

Learning and Pedagogy

• How children think and learn; how and why children ‘fail’ to achieve success in school performance.
• Basic processes of teaching and learning; children’s strategies for learning; learning as a social activity; social context of learning.
• Child as a problem solver and a ‘scientific investigator.’
• Alternative conceptions of learning in children, understanding children'serrors’ as significant steps in the learning process.
• Cognition & Emotions.
• Motivation and learning.
• Factors contributing to learning – personal & environmental.

Language Comprehension

• Reading unseen passages – two passages one prose or drama and one poem with questions on comprehension, inference, grammar and verbal ability (Prose passage may be literary, scientific, narrative or discursive).

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition.
• Principles of Language Teaching.
• Role of listening and speaking; the function of language and how children use it as a tool.
• A critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form.
• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders.
• Language Skills.
• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, a multilingual resource for the classroom.
• Remedial Teaching.

Comprehension

• Two unseen prose passages (discursive or literary or narrative or scientific) with a question on comprehension, grammar and verbal ability.

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition.
• Principles of Language Teaching.
• Role of listening and speaking; the function of language and how children use it as a tool.
• A critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form;
• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders.
• Language Skills.
• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, a multilingual resource for the classroom.
• Remedial Teaching.

Content

• Geometry
• Shapes & Spatial Understanding
• Solids around Us
• Numbers
• Addition and Subtraction
• Multiplication
• Division
• Measurement
• Weight
• Time
• Volume
• Data Handling
• Patterns
• Money

Pedagogical Issues

• Nature of Mathematics/Logical thinking; understanding children’s thinking and reasoning patterns and strategies for making meaning and learning.
• Place of Mathematics in Curriculum.
• The language of Mathematics.
• Community Mathematics.
• Evaluation through formal and informal methods.
• Problems of Teaching.
• Error analysis and related aspects of learning and teaching.
• Diagnostic and Remedial Teaching.

Child Development (Elementary School Child)

• The concept of development and its relationship with learning.
• Principles of the development of children.
• Influence of Heredity and Environment.
• Socialization processes: Social world and children (Teacher, Parents, Peers).
• Piaget, Kohlberg, and Vygotsky: constructs and critical perspectives.
• Concepts of child-centred and progressive education.
• Critical perspective of the construct of Intelligence.
• Multi-Dimensional Intelligence.
• Language and Thought.
• Gender as a social construct; gender roles, gender-bias and educational practice.
• Individual differences among learners, understanding differences based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion, etc.
• The distinction between Assessment for learning and assessment of learning; School-Based Assessment, Continuous & Comprehensive Evaluation: perspective and practice.

Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs

• Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including the disadvantaged and deprived.
• Addressing the needs of children with learning difficulties, ‘impairment’ etc.
• Addressing the Talented, Creative, Specially abled Learners.

Learning and Pedagogy

• How children think and learn; how and why children ‘fail’ to achieve success in school performance.
• Basic processes of teaching and learning; children’s strategies for learning; learning as a social activity; social context of learning.
• Child as a problem solver and a ‘scientific investigator.’
• Alternative conceptions of learning in children, understanding children'serrors’ as significant steps in the learning process.
• Cognition & Emotions.
• Motivation and learning.
• Factors contributing to learning – personal & environmental.

Language Comprehension

• Reading unseen passages – two passages one prose or drama and one poem with questions on comprehension, inference, grammar and verbal ability (Prose passage may be literary, scientific, narrative or discursive).

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition.
• Principles of Language Teaching.
• Role of listening and speaking; the function of language and how children use it as a tool.
• A critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form.
• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors, and disorders.
• Language Skills.
• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, a multilingual resource for the classroom.
• Remedial Teaching.

Comprehension

• Two unseen prose passages (discursive or literary or narrative or scientific) with a question on comprehension, grammar, and verbal ability.

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition.
• Principles of Language Teaching.
• Role of listening and speaking; the function of language and how children use it as a tool.
• A critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form;
• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders.
• Language Skills.
• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing.
• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, a multilingual resource for the classroom.
• Remedial Teaching.

Mathematics

• Number System: Knowing our Numbers, Playing with Numbers, Whole Numbers, Negative Numbers and Integers, Fractions.
• Algebra: Introduction to Algebra, Ratio and Proportion.
• Geometry: Basic geometrical ideas (2-D), Understanding Elementary Shapes (2-D and 3-D), Symmetry: (reflection), Construction (using Straight edge Scale, protractor, compasses).
• Mensuration
• Data handling

Science

• Food: Sources of food, Components of food, Cleaning food.
• Materials
• The World of the Living
• Moving Things People and Ideas
• How things work: Electric current and circuits, Magnets
• Natural Phenomena
• Natural Resources

History

• When, Where and How
• The Earliest Societies
• The First Farmers and Herders
• The First Cities
• Early States
• New Ideas
• The First Empire
• Contacts with Distant Lands
• Political Developments
• Culture and Science
• New Kings and Kingdoms
• Sultans of Delhi
• Architecture
• Creation of an Empire
• Social Change
• Regional Cultures
• The Establishment of Company Power
• Rural Life and Society
• Colonialism and Tribal Societies
• The Revolt of 1857-58
• Women and reform
• Challenging the Caste System
• The Nationalist Movement
• India After Independence

Geography

• Geography as a social study and as a science
• Planet: Earth in the solar system
• Globe
• Environment in its totality: natural and human environment
• Air
• Water
• Human Environment: settlement, transport, and communication
• Resources: Types-Natural and Human
• Agriculture

Social and Political Life

• Diversity
• Government
• Local Government
• Making a Living
• Democracy
• State Government
• Understanding Media
• Unpacking Gender
• The Constitution
• Parliamentary Government
• The Judiciary
• Social Justice and the Marginalised