Over the last two years, over 130 Mathematics and English teachers from 60 High Schools in Trivandrum district participated in one or more professional development programs organized by VMFT. These programs were organized under the project, “Strengthening and Expanding a Program on Professional Development of High School Teachers’’ which was funded by the Sir Ratan Tata Foundation and closed in June 2011. In 2010 and 2011, the programs were delivered by Dr. Krishnan (Chairman of the Kerala State Textbook Committee for Mathematics) and Resource Persons from the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and the Centre for British Teachers (Hyderabad).
The project’s approach to teacher professional development was new in Kerala. State governments in India regularly organize teacher training programs for government school teachers, particularly when syllabi are revised and new textbooks introduced. The Kerala school syllabus is undergoing a major revision and teachers regularly attend cluster level workshops and training sessions to enhance their knowledge.
A new approach
The new approach was based on lessons from research in India: that effective professional development for teachers must be focused on what they have to teach, deepen their understanding of the theoretical basis for new teaching strategies, provide opportunities to practice what they have learnt, encourage them to reflect on their own teaching, to use resources independently, to provide feedback and to be mentored.
Three inter-linked modalities were adopted:
(i) A partnership with selected schools: Each year, about 10 schools were selected, and Head Masters nominated teachers from Mathematics and English (subjects identified as priority by HMs) to attend 50 hours of training spread over several months. The program included centre-based training, followed up with continuing support in the school/or , and follow-up centre-based training. HMs were also expected to follow up on how teachers improved teaching practice in the classroom
(ii) Week-long professional development programs: Under this modality, individual teachers (Maths and English) from different schools registered for the 35 hour program, which was delivered in one week during the summer holidays.
(iii) Teacher Resource Centre: A TRC was established at the VMFT, to create a storehouse of educational materials, teaching aids and reference materials which teachers could consult to prepare for lessons, projects, assessments etc. The TRC would also organize workshops / seminars on specific topics, such as IT training, or project-based learning.
The specific objectives were to enable teachers to improve their mastery of subject content, their pedagogical skills and their knowledge of adolescent learning and thereby improve their teaching practice and student achievement. Teachers were also familiarized with new technologies and new resource materials. As part of the needs assessment done to develop the content, teachers strongly expressed the need to focus the program on the Kerala syllabus and specific topics/ lessons that they found difficult. Teachers from government, aided and unaided schools were eligible to participate.
Challenges
The challenges were many. The first obstacle was the self-perception of teachers. Many did not view themselves as professionals, in the same way as engineers or doctors are viewed. Many could not explain the specific professional knowledge that distinguishes a high school physics teacher from a person who works as a physicist. The second was that many teachers simply do not have the tools or skills to develop themselves as professionals. In a needs assessment survey done for an earlier pilot project, no teacher reported reading any additional materials related to their subject (other than the textbook), using any reference materials (such as encyclopaedias, resource books), using the internet or any computer technology etc.
Teachers are currently bombarded with new terms such as “activity-based learning” “ child-centred approaches”, “problem-solving approaches”, but they lack a deep understanding of what needs to change in their practice (and why). And they often lack the confidence to speak openly about what they do not understand.
The first year of the project was a learning year. Activities were focused on developing the partnership with schools, a new concept for schools and teachers. The active involvement of HMs in facilitating and following up on teachers’ professional development is rare, especially in government and aided schools – this is often left to the centralized teacher training programs which are the same for all schools and teachers. Further, the content of the training did not focus on the issues and materials of direct relevance to teachers.
Successes and Limitations
The second year (2010) marked a turn around in the school partnership program. Learning from experience, VMFT with inputs from SRTT, changed the content of the program. High quality Resource Persons made a critical difference to the quality of the program and the interactions with teachers. Teachers were given an orientation course in using basic computer skills. Additional reading materials were provided and teachers were encouraged to use self-evaluation forms. Unlike the first year, attendance was very high in all the sessions. There were three follow-up visits to the schools.
This led to the successful holding of the week long professional development programs in May 2011. Both the Mathematics and English programs were oversubscribed. Teachers who had participated in the school partnership program recommended the summer program to their colleagues. As a result, many teachers became members of the Teacher Resource Centre.
Although the project set up a rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework, which allowed adjustments to take place in the content of the program, the implementation period was too short to observe any impact on classroom teaching. Many teachers and HMs are still reluctant to introduce observation of classroom teaching, by peers, as an integral part of professional development. The project did not envisage or finance testing of students. As a result, the project team had to rely on self-reported feedback by teachers and HMs on what they had learnt and/or implemented.
This is the first in a series of articles on this Project. VMFT will continue to publish further articles on this.
