Planning for Pedagogical Improvement
The Process
1. As a prelude to begin the curriculum / text book development process, after obtaining permission from the State Government, DPEP conducted seminars in all districts under the leadership of District Panchayats of the 3 tier Panchayati Raj System in late 1996. The theme of the seminar was: Text books - Why ? How? and For Whom? The major suggestions of the seminars were to reduce the curriculum load, to develop the curriculum taking into consideration actual number of working days available for teacher pupil interaction, to develop text books which is relevant, joyful and child friendly, to involve actual working teachers in the development of curriculum and text books, to employ the pedagogy of 'doing and learning!
by the
child' (Child centred and activity based), and to train teachers and parents in the new pedagogy and related aspects.
2. DPEP wanted to collect the impressions about then existing curriculum from primary teachers also who were working in the field. Hence a survey was conducted covering 2213 primary teachers to identify teachers' opinions and ideas with regard to the existing text books and pedagogy. Their ideas were similar to those that emerged from the seminar.
3. A core team for curriculum and text book development had to be identified. Those teachers working in the field who are interested were required to undergo a rigorous selection process. As a result, 50 teachers were identified as potential curriculum developers / text book writers.
4. The above teachers were then given a 10 day thorough training in the activity based and child centred pedagogy and the techniques of developing curriculum and text books.
5. Before embarking on deve!
loping
curriculum and text books a clear cut vision on the new curriculum had to be developed. For this, assumptions about the teacher, learning process of the child, actual time available to children for learning in schools etc. were listed and a primary curriculum was developed integrating with it the ideas of child centred and activity based pedagogy.
6. Having developed the curriculum in I to IV classes, the core team members developed the text books for children and hand books for teachers. These 8 text books and 8 hand books (Class 1-1 book, Class 2-1 book, Class 3-3 books, Class 4-3 books) were developed for Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil medium students during 1996-1977.
7. Most textual contents and processes of the new text books and hand books were tried out in various schools of Kerala after which necessary changes were made in the books. Now, the whole of curriculum and the materials were field tested in six DPEP districts (Kasaragod, Wayanad, Malappuram, P!
alakkad,
Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram) of the State during the academic year 1997-98. Various criticisms were aired by many. A committee under the chairmanship of the then Director of SCERT reviewed the text books and suggested various changes. The text books and hand books were then revised and implemented in all schools in 14 districts of the State during the academic year 1998- 99 from 1 to 4 classes. When there were further criticisms during this year, another committee was also appointed to suggest changes (Prof. S.Guptan Nair Committee). This was also carried out and the text books and hand books were revised and implemented during the academic year 1999- 2000 in all districts.
8. Major features of the new curriculum and text books were :
u Child
centred and activity based learning style.
u Importance given to learning how to learn.
u Learning made a joyful activity for the child.
u The textual content and illustrations made child friendly.
u Actual working teachers involved in the development of curriculum and text books.
u Participatory and democratic teacher training strategies employed.
u Teachers being continuously monitored in schools after their training
u Teachers being given on site support in their classrooms.
uTeacher is accepted as a professional.
u Grading is implemented for of children evaluation.
u Continuous and comprehensive evaluati!
on
techniques implemented.
u Realistic and scientific unloading of content of various subjects.
u Curriculum made flexible as far as possible.
u Learning pace of the learner accepted and spiralling of curriculum undertaken.
u Accepting the fact that curriculum has to be one which evolves continuously.
u New role identified for parent in the curriculum.
9. Since new role has been identified for the parents, from the existing role to one who has a complementary role of helping teachers in exercising their professional responsibility, it was decided to develop a hand book for parents called 'Amma Ariyan' (For Mothers to Know)
10. As a part of professionalising classroom activities of the teacher , he / she must keep a
continuous track record of the child whenever the child attains certain skills. A Comprehensive record for the same has been developed called 'Ente Kuttikal' (My Children) and distributed among all children.
Implementation
1. Any process of implementation of new pedagogy involves the actual visioning of the goal to be achieved. The various of aspects / factors of the system has been visioned as given below:
We want to see our class rooms as learning centres where,
The child
u gains confidence in facing problematic situations.
u interacts freely, meaningfully and joyfully with his
classmates, teachers and the teaching learning
materials.
ushows interest in interacting with groups and makes
use of other resources for expanding her knowledge.
u compares events, things facts and findings and
arrives at logical conclusions.
u assesses her own progress in her work, identifies
errors and rectifies them with the help of peers,
teachers, parents.
u undertakes tasks on her own without any hesitation.
u recognizes the peer groups and gives due respect to
elders and behaves admirably.
We want to make our class rooms interactive centres where,
The teacher
u designs and implements activities taking into consideration the individual differences of the child.
u elicits regular feedback and changes accordingly.
u helps and guides the child as and where necessary.
u improves herself based on systematically recorded observations.
u keeps regular contact with the School Support Group (SSG) members in society and plans accordingly.
u takes part in team thinking and collective planning with her co-workers in the daily and weekly School Resource Group (SRG) meetings.
u holds academic discussions with colleagues.
umakes use of reference books and other resources to update knowledge.
u uses local resources fruitfully for planning and designing activities in the class.
u facilitates the activities as one among the group during class room interaction without any inhibition.
u proves herself a professional
researcher.
u prepares Teaching Manual (TM) as an indicator to daily planning.
u takes up class room problems for conducting action research.
u formulates innovative techniques and practices in the
class.
u sets clear tasks and gives instructions which are pitched at the precise learning capability of children.
We want schools to be enjoyable learning centres where
The head teacher
u proves herself as an academician.
u makes others feel that she is a leader to the teachers in all academic and related activities in the school.
u proves she is a good planner and encourages participatory planning exercise.
u conducts monitoring and supervision of the work of the school effectively.
u keeps good relationship with the society.
u keeps healthy relationship with the departmental machinery of the system.
We want the parents,
u to participate in planning, implementing and evaluating school activities.
u to perform a role complementary to that of the teacher.
u to take part in Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings and put forward practical suggestions.
We want our community
u to feel ownership of the school with Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) and other organisations.
u to actively participate in planning School Development. Plan along with PTA / MPTA and in the process of development of the school.
u to make use of local resources for the development of school in various aspects.
u to conduct effective monitoring of the school.
u to help the school authorities to get the children in the catchment area of the school admitted to that school itself.
u to help in the conduct of celebrations and developmental activities in the school.
u to provide supplementary materials to school as and when required, collecting from the local public.
u to consider school as a cultural centre and act likewise.
We want the support mechanisms of the system,
u to pr!
ovide
on-site support to teachers.
u to make available all the teaching learning materials in time.
uto make available teachers in all classes in time.
u to co-ordinate the academic activities.
u to make available grants and aids for proper functioning of the schools.
u to provide training to teachers periodically.
u to keep convergence with other departments.
We want an academic and healthy atmosphere in the!
school where,
u there is a relaxed and conducive environment.
u there is pure drinking water, urinals, play ground and other facilities available.
u there!
are
shady trees in the campus.
u there are sufficient teachers to facilitate the work.
u there is freedom and space to move about.
u the children enthusiastically take part in cultural and physical activities (Shavasa Camp).
We want to establish a monitoring system where,
u various structures like, Village Education Committee, Block Resource Centre and District Institute of Education and Training, Panchayat Raj Institutions and other department machineries converge.
u the required tools / indicators for effective monitoring is prepared within the system
itself.
We want the materials needed for students,
u to be locally specific and need - based.
u prepared and evolved by the children with proper help and guidance of the teacher and experts in the field and using local resources.
We want the materials needed for students,
u
to be locally available
u prepared and evolved by the children with proper help and guidance of eth teacher and experts in the field and using local resources.
2. In order to see that above vision of the school is realised in practice, five day teacher training was conducted in April - May 1997. From last year (2000-2001), the duration of teacher training during summer vacation has been in creased to six days. This training and the ensuing Pravesnotsavam day and Kinginikkoottam days have become inseparable part of the teacher training in Kerala. The agenda for all these are f!
ixed
comprehensively through an in-depth study of the status of the new pedagogy in the classroom in various districts, by which issues/ problems faced by teachers, headmasters, trainers, and the other personnel of the system in implementation of the new curriculum is obtained. This study is called Internal Academic Support Mission. Already five such missions has been operational and have provided the project with a host of data for further empowering the professional skills of teachers.
3. The CRC Co-ordinators are called BRC Trainers in Kerala. They are stationed in BRCs and not in CRCs. Each trainer is given charge of 5 schools in a particular Grama Panchayat. He / She provides On Site Support to these schools once in a week. Review and planning is conducted at the BRCs on week ends (Saturdays) wherein all trainers are participants. The BRC Co-ordinator (Academic) who is also a faculty member of DIET, conducts the review and planning session every week. This agai!
n is
monitored / reviewed by Principals of DIETs biweekly at DIETs. State Project Director in turn monitors it every month.
4. Apart from the monthly cluster level planning, the teachers meet classwise every day from 3.20 P.M. to 4.00 P.M and plan for the next day and write their Teaching Manuals. Once in a week the School Resource Group (SRG) meets and reviews the work of the week and plans for the next week. The Headmaster and the SRG Convenor (who is one of the good teachers of the school) conducts the SRG meeting.
5. School Support Group (SSG) also meets regularly in schools and supports and plans academic and related activities of the school. All these are monitored by Panchayat Monitoring Committee (PMC). Review is conducted by the Chairman of the PMC who is also the Chairperson of the local Grama Panchayat.
6. Most of the BRC trainers were identified from among primary teachers who were good teachers of old curriculum. This implies that they lacked the
expertise / experience of teaching the new curriculum. Hence all trainers were compulsorily attached to a primary school as a teacher for 15 days every year. During those days he / she was to work as a regular teacher and also as a academic leader who gives leadership to the school with the headmaster in making it a school as per the DPEP visioning. This programme of attachment of teachers to school is called ' Kalari'.
7. An attempt has now been undertaken to develop a curriculum for learning English under Second Language Acquisition Programme (SLAP). In Kerala, English is being learnt only from Std. IV. Hence DPEP has developed a child centred and activity based curriculum for this class and developed learning materials called Evolving Text Book (ETB) for children and a Teacher's Hand Book called English Teachers Companion (ETC). These materials were tried out in selected 60 schools of the project districts during 1999!
- 2000
and further extended to 1018 schools of the State during 2000 -2001. During this year (2001-2002) tryout is continueing in all the sample schools project districts. The feedback has been remarkable. Children did acquire language skills in English with far more quality than is found in other children of comparable class level.
8. Now, total school approaches in planning of all school activities has been taken up as a strong agenda by DPEP. The Teacher training this year (2001-2002) was conducted in most of the districts taking Grama Panchatyat as a unit of monitoring / planning and teachers were given training in developing Annual School Development Plans together with addressing their academic issues in classrooms.
How is the Class Now?
A sea change has happened in the classrooms of the State. This can be seen from the comments of various Joint Review Mission Reports and other studies as given below :
1. Classrooms with a Differe!
nce,
Kerala (Study by Ed.CIL, New Delhi)
Children
"A high degree of participation of children was observed in the classroom transaction. They were full of life and energy not at all afraid of their teachers".
Teacher
"............ they were very comfortable with the integrated theme based approach. They gave a lot of space to children, creating opportunities for them to express themselves. ............. most teachers feel that the new training, text books and academic resource support has led to a changed classroom transaction"
Teacher - Child Relationship
" The teachers and children appear to share a warm and loving relationship. The teachers encourage children to ask questions and also argue in support of their own views."
Tenth Joint Review Mission (November - December 1999)
School level change
" Kerala primary schools in the DPEP districts have evidently undergone what may be termed as almost a revolution i!
n terms
of classroom practices. ... the class environment was friendly and most of the children (at least 80%) are involved and actively participating and learning"
" Most of the activities were being conducted with children in small groups. The teachers appeared to have internalised the new pedagogy to a fair extent and were conceptually clear on the objectives of the activities.
Twelfth Joint Review Mission (November 2000)
School and Classrooms
The 10th JRM reported that Kerala primary schools had undergone 'almost a revolution' in their classroom practice. This mission agrees : at its best, the extent of pedagogical improvement now widely observable in the State is remarkable : teacher attendance is good, classrooms are well - resourced, lessons are carefully planned, the quality of state provided text books and reading materials is excellent, children's learning is fully and diagnostically assessed, and the teaching itself is as far removed from th!
e rote
learning which persists in many schools elsewhere as it is possible to imagine.
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