Teacher Development as the Future of Teacher Education

Teacher Development as the Future of Teacher Education Rama Mathew Delhi University, Delhi

Presentation • Part 1: Policy perspective • Part 2: What is happening around the world in TD • Part 3: What is happening in India • Part 4: Where we need to go 2

TT, TD and TE • Training: familiarising student teachers with techniques and skills to apply in the classroom • Education involves teachers in developing theories of teaching, understanding the nature of teacher decision making and strategies for self-awareness and selfevaluation. . . 3

TT, TE and TD • TD is seen to be a voluntary process, ongoing, bottom-up since the starting point is the teachers’ own experience where new information is sought, shared, reflected on, tried out, processed in terms of personal experience and finally ‘owned’ by the teachers • CPD refers to continuing professional development 4

Policy perspective: an overview 5

University Education Commission • ‘It is extraordinary that our school teachers learn whatever subject they teach before reaching 24 or 25 and that their further education is left to experience, which in most cases, is another name for stagnation. We must realize that experience needs to be supplemented by experiment before reaching its fullness and that for a teacher to keep alive and fresh he/she should become a learner from time to time. ’ 6

Kothari Commission (1964 -66) Concerns • Quality of teacher training institutions (TEIs) is mediocre or poor • TEIs are isolated from the mainstream academic life of universities and from schools • Facilities for training are inadequate • Provision for CPD of all teachers is inadequate 7

Recommendations • Comprehensive internship of student teachers with systematic collaboration between TEIs and schools • Opportunities for new teachers to learn from their experiences and through consultations and discussions with experienced teachers in the school. Principal and senior teachers to organize staff study circles and discussion groups, supported by Education Departments, TEIs and teacher organisations 8

Recommendations • CPD to be informed by research in education: Results of research to flow down to the classroom and classroom problems to climb up to research institutions for effective and practical solutions For Teachers in Higher Education • Newly appointed teachers to be encouraged to attend the lectures of senior colleagues, study their methods of teaching and after the lecture, both could discuss the methods and techniques 9

Other Committees • Organising on-site programmes within the school for their own identified needs, calling experts from outside and sharing successful practices as well as ineffective methodologies with a view to developing solutions to teachers’ problems (National Commission on Teachers 1983 -85) • Enabling trainees to acquire the ability for selflearning and independent thinking (Yashpal Committee 1993) 10

National Policy on Education (1986/92) • Providing on-site, continuous, needbased opportunities to the teacher through courses/seminars to enable teachers to experiment and to share their experience with colleagues to achieve self-learning and independent thinking. 11

National Council for Teacher Education(1998) • One of the objectives of in-service programmes is making teachers reflective; it also visualizes a continuum with programmes that are wholly non-school based at one end and wholly school-based at the other, and contends that programmes in India fall mostly at the left end of the continuum, with a few of the recent ones falling a little toward the mid-point. 12

National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2000) • Continuing education of in-service teachers needs attention because all their initial education and training may not remain relevant and effective because of the present rate of change in content and pedagogy in the national and world scenario. • Offering in-service education in a sustained manner, for which a cascade model of training is recommended 13

National Curriculum Framework (2005) • Focus Group on Teacher Education not only sees CPD as the most prominent measure for bridging the gap between preservice and in-service education of teachers through well designed preservice programmes and on-site support to teachers, but also the school-TEI collaboration in this enterprise as crucial. 14

National Knowledge Commission (2008) • A context that fosters an attitude of lifelong learning and greater freedom for teachers to choose courses that they would like to do, to increase their personal initiative and absorption of training • Incentivise short courses, by making attendance and completion of courses prerequisites to professional advancement • Peer feedback as a support for TD 15

National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education(2009) • Aim of CPD programmes: Teacher to ‘break out of intellectual isolation and share experiences and insights with others in the field, both teachers and academics …. ’. • Principles to be followed in designing these programmes: the principle of ‘creating spaces for sharing of experiences of communities of teachers among themselves’ is stressed. 16

Recommendations • To establish Teacher Learning Centres (TLCs) for teachers, teacher educators and trainees to come together within TEIs and share experiences, access resources and discuss and plan classroom-based action research • Stronger links between schools and the various institutions and bodies responsible for CPD and in-service and pre-service teacher training 17

Summary: Coming to terms with ‘terms’ • ‘Training’ and ‘Development’ in the documents are interchangeably used. • Terms/notions such as CPD, sharing of practice, need-based programmes, selflearning and independent thinking, reflective practice, action research are used. • ‘Training’, ‘reorientation of teachers’, ‘equipping’ (as opposed to ‘enabling’, see Prabhu 1987), focus on content enrichment as opposed to pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman 1987) are also used. 18

Summary/Critique • Earlier recommendations saw a need for CPD but did not articulate its ramifications clearly enough for implementation. • The more recent ones spell out more details that render CPD achievable in more concrete terms in school as well as TEI context. 19

Summary: Making CPD achievable • Creating a space for teachers to share experience with peers, with the locale of this activity being the school rather than the TEI, and with increased school-TEI partnership and collaboration • What is not suggested is how this space can be created in the teacher’s otherwise busy schedule • Policy statements do not find a corresponding provision in actual practice in schools • Schools and regulatory bodies do not mutually ensure that the policy provision is realised in actual practice 20

Status of CPD in Schools: What do teachers say? N= 30, 2 -20 years’ experience, primary to higher secondary, govt and private schools in Delhi (open ended questionnaires and interviews) Work they do: teaching, organizing and participating in a large number CCAs and endless correction work; it has now increased with the introduction of CCE In Govt. Schools: non-academic duties such as census work, election duty, which they cannot refuse 21

Their work over the years • About half of them found their work interesting and challenging in the first year but with the passing of time it had become boring and monotonous. Others find it a ‘routine’ and just ‘tolerate’ it. • Others: ‘Enthusiasm of students makes my work 100% interesting’ 22

Pressure of syllabus • Many of the things learnt during B. Ed. are not useful/helpful, as ‘one would take years to finish the volume of syllabus assigned for each class’. • What I do not like about my teaching is when I am forced to resort to the lecture method to be able to ‘finish’ the syllabus 23

Keeping themselves ‘uptodate’ • Feel the need to replenish/update themselves • Long for a forum and an outlet where they could express and share their experience with each other • Seminars and in-service workshops especially those conducted in the summer vacation by the Directorate of Education are monotonous and of little help: Only 10 % of the workshops have something new to offer; others are repetitive’ 24

Teacher development? Haven’t heard of that But have learnt to survive on their own in different ways 25

Some success stories 26

TE 21 • TE 21 (NIE, Singapore) • A framework which provides for a wellrounded professional: skills, knowledge and values along with a Teacher Growth Model (TGM) • TGM provides for six domain developmental areas: 27

The Teacher Growth Model • Want to power up? Popeye has his spinach: We have TGM. How can it help us stay strong till the finish? • TGM power-up flavours: Ethical educator Competent professional Collaborative learner Transformational leader Community builder 30

Professional Standards for Teachers (2007) Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) • Qualified Teacher Status • Core • Post Threshold • Excellent Teacher • Advanced Skills Teacher 31

The standards have been designed to set out a basic framework within which all teachers should operate from the point of initial qualification. Appropriate self evaluation, reflection and professional development activity is critical to improving teachers’ practice at all career stages. The standards set out clearly the key areas in which a teacher should be able to assess his or her own practice, and receive feedback from colleagues. As their careers progress, teachers will be expected to extend the depth and breadth of knowledge, skill and understanding that they demonstrate in meeting the standards, as is judged to be appropriate to the role they are fulfilling and the context in which they are working. 32

Stages in Professional Development (British Council) • • • Starting Newly Qualified Developing Proficient Advanced Specialist 33

Teacher Growth • • Multidimensional Based on prior learning Involves different forms of learning Implies cognitive and affective changes • Occurs in a range of contexts (Elliott and Calderhead 1995) 34

Cline of Experimentation Safe experimentation Autonomy in P D (reflection on experience) (sustainability of research attitude) [minimum risk involved] [maximum risk involved] 35

What is happening in India: Examples 36

CBSE-ELT Curriculum Implementation Study (1993 -1998) • Many teachers involved in monitoring the implementation of the English curriculum in a research-based way • Conducted need-based workshops to strengthen the curriculum • Teachers took on different roles: teacher as researcher, as resource person, materials writer, assessor, mentor 37

Philosophy underlying the project The Project was based on the premise that it is only when teachers confront commonly held beliefs and attitudes in actual teaching-learning contexts that they will change in ways that provide a basis for continued growth, that is, “self-sustaining, generative change” (Franke et al. 1998). According to these authors (p. 67): In order for change to become self-sustaining, teachers must begin to engage in practices that have built-in support for the changes they have made; otherwise, the changes are likely to erode over time…for change to become generative, teachers must engage in practices that serve as a basis for their continued learning. 38

When the project ended…. • It was clear that a top-down as well as a bottom-up approach to curriculum renewal is important to bring about change in schools. • The main recommendations that had emerged from the teacher-led project were not built on. • CBSE had to attend to other priorities… • Teachers had moved on… 39

Tracer Study: to evaluate its impact after 3 years • Main questions addressed: (i) the nature and extent to which the communicative curriculum introduced in 1993 continued to be communicative and learnercentered, taking into account the kind of support available in school; (ii) the nature and extent to which the teacherresearch approach to on-going curriculum renewal and professional development had been sustained. 40

Findings • Their task as Field Researchers of visiting different schools to observe classes and talk to teachers and students gave them a broader perspective on the curriculum in different contexts. Before the project, they merely taught the ‘lesson’, did the exercises, and conducted tests and they were happy. Now their work did not end with a class. They could observe colleagues’ classes in a nonjudgmental way and that it ‘worked wonders’ with colleagues. • Many of these teachers managed these on-going professional activities in spite of the school’s (unwritten) rules and conventions. 41

Conclusion • Clearly exam boards mandate what is to be done in schools and schools/teachers do not have much say in it. • There are teachers who carry out things that they feel need to be done, in spite of school constraints (silent innovators) • There is a need to build on existing structures to support the teacher in her ongoing professional development. 42

Case Study (6 teachers) The study explored the following questions: • How does the pedagogical understanding of teachers develop and change over time? • What personal and professional influences impact teachers’ pedagogical understanding? • What kind(s) of inputs are self-sustaining and generative? • How do teachers build on these inputs to become on-going learners? 43

Conclusions Four important themes that shape teacher development emerged from the case study: (i) Certain personality traits that enable the teacher to see teaching as a vocation (ii) A propensity for reflective thinking (iii) The need for on-going professional development activities, and (iv)The importance of school support. 44

Mentoring in Delhi Schools (11) (2008 -2010) Main aims: • Arrive at a workable model of mentoring • Create a community of teachers who support each other, keep growing and help bridge the gap between TEIs and schools. 45

What teachers did on the project • Observed each other’s classes using the observation schedule at least once in two weeks; • Discussed their class (co-analysis of practice); • Looked at colleague’s lesson plans, tests, worksheets, etc. ; • Wrote reflective journals on work done; • Did diary writing (general) at least once in two weeks 46

Tools used • Handbook on mentoring— a self-instructional pack • Classroom Observation Record • Questions to guide journal entries • Reading articles/papers in the area 47

What worked, didn’t and why • About 3 schools (Type A) did the work very well, benefitted from it, and went beyond the brief of the project • About 4 schools (Type B) saw the work as ‘extra’ and did it because they had agreed to do it. • 4 schools (Type C) were non-starters for various reasons. 48

What worked, didn’t and why • About 25 -30 out of the 80 teachers managed to do most of the things and saw value in it • About 25 of them gave it a try with different degrees of success • The rest were non-starters: not volunteers, inadequate school support, not motivated enough 49

Diary study with teachers • Voluntary • Wrote diaries and looked at each other’s and commented on them in a nonjudgmental but a critical way • Teachers saw meaning in diary writing and saw it as a tool for professional tool • Presentation in a seminar (TEC 12) and a subsequent publication was clearly a motivation 50

Stages of Reflection • Descriptive, factual writing: Not reflective • Descriptive reflection: Reflective, not only a description of events but some attempt to provide reason/justification for events but in a reportive way • Dialogic reflection: Demonstrates a 'stepping back' from the events/actions leading to a different level of mulling about, discourse with self and exploring the experience, events and actions using qualities of judgement and possible alternatives for explaining and hypothesising 51

Stages of reflection contd. • Critical reflection: Demonstrates an awareness that actions and events are not only located in, and explicable by, reference to multiple perspectives but are located in, and influenced by, multiple historical, and socio-political contexts. (Smith and Hatton 1992) 52

Conclusion • These teachers and many others wanted to do diary writing and contribute chapters to a book on teachers’ voices and professional development • Have started a project on involving young learners in research (in collaboration with Warwick University) 53

Some excerpts • Perhaps our government like in the ancient times (like the Maika system described in the Immortals of Meluha by Anish Tripathi) can start a school where children are allowed to study only what they are interested in? • The quiet and silence of the class when I was invigilating made me wonder - what is the use of exam and it made me question the purpose of education and the teachers’ role in it. 54

Where do we go from here? • Theory first and practice later X • Teacher theorising from the classroom ✔ • Teachers as legitimate knowers, as producers of legitimate knowledge, and as capable of constructing and sustaining their own professional development over time. ✔ 55

Challenges • Can we have a system of evaluation where teachers can be enabled to move from one stage to another? • Can we create the necessary cadres/support systems? 56

Thank you for your patience! 57