The VMFT School Partnership Program for High School Teachers
New techniques and materials, limited pre service training, and social changes affecting learners make in-service training a necessary. VMFT is launching the second year of the “School Partnership Professional Development Program” for high school teachers in English and Mathematics, which is funded with a grant from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust(SRTT). Activity oriented child centred education is the core of the training programmes. An evaluation of the 2009 program (see accompanying article) revealed that teachers and HMs perceived some distinct advantages in this program, both in terms of its content and approach. A total of 16 schools and 44 English and Mathematics teachers participated in the program, which was mainly delivered by local resource persons. In 2010, the program in Mathematics will mainly be delivered by resource persons from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.As part of the mobilisation for the 2010 program, 18 schools in the Poonthura-Valiyathura area and Kazhakootam-Kaniyapuram area were visited in March by a team led by the Project Director. Students in these schools come from economically and socially disadvantaged sections.
There is considerable skepticism among high school teachers in Kerala about the government in-service training they receive. Teachers in aided and government schools are expected to attend training at the cluster level every Friday and Saturday. However, there are mixed opinions among teachers and Principals about the value of this mandatory training, as a team from VMFT found out on a recent visit to high schools in Trivandrum.
In the words of one Head Master (HM) of an aided high school, “teachers are not interested in any kind of training, because the government cluster level training is not so informative and beneficial to them…. Teachers feel it as a kind of get together than training”. This makes them reluctant to participate further, in any other professional development programmes. These kinds of negative attitudes towards inservice training are not a distinct phenomenon of our state only. Globally educational researchers characterized many of the training techniques as educational ‘side shows’ which are stealing the time and money (Valentine, xxxx). Hence the capability and commitment of trainers and organizers are of utmost important in providing in-service trainings. Partnership with internationally recognized organisations like Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Centre for British Training (CfBT) etc. will emancipate the VMFT training to achieve its desired goals.
Other HMs, particularly from unaided schools, were more positive as the teachers hardly exposed to such trainings. One HM from an unaided school was enthusiastic about the proposed VMFT training; especially for English teachers “because those engaged in teaching English have a graduate or postgraduate degree in another subject which may seriously affect their teaching in English.” Even though many other teachers were interested, most of them voiced the concern that they cannot compel teachers to attend voluntary training programs. HM from an aided school wondered about the relevance of the proposed training by reputed institutions, as her school was in the coastal area and the students are disadvantaged! The school level support on a continued basis would help to eliminate social and cultural differences if any, which is an added advantage of VMFT training.
The challenge of designing relevant teacher development programs
These mixed reactions reflect some of the difficulties of providing relevant training to high school teachers. India, like many other countries, is facing the challenge of how to upgrade the standards of teachers who have received their formal training several decades ago. Teachers need to improve their knowledge of subject content and, even more importantly, of innovative pedagogical methods. Like the Government of Kerala, many state governments have launched massive training programs. Although teachers in government funded schools are compelled to attend, the effectiveness of this training is not clear and many teachers resent giving up their free time for training that does not address the problems they face. Absence of need based training and attention to the individual needs of the each participating teacher or school make such awful remarks to the in-service training programmes.
Some also feel that teaching is not a profession, like medicine or engineering, where professionals have to keep abreast of developments in their field.
A new approach
The VMFT-SRTT School-Based Partnership Program tries a different approach based on:
- a partnership with schools to identify needs
- voluntary involvement of teachers
- training that increases their professional knowledge and is relevant to their classroom
- Eminent faculties from Internationally recognized organisations
The training focuses on deepening the understanding of teachers of
- selected curriculum topics, considered difficult by teachers
- use of teaching methods that are appropriate to the topic and the student and
- evidence from research and practice that is effective in improving teaching.
The program is delivered through a combination of workshops at VMFT and weekly follow up support in a cluster school by a team of resource persons. Schools and teachers register for the program and commit to attend about 35-40 hours of training over a 3-4 month period. The workshops are held on Saturdays and the school sessions for 1 hour after school, with flexibility to accommodate the schedule of the schools and teachers.
