The project envisaged three modes of providing support to teachers: (i) training provided at the VMFT centre by Resource Persons, focusing on subject content, teaching aids and IT training (ii) monthly meetings with teachers by the Facilitator and Resource Persons to provide support for classroom teaching and (iii) visits to schools by the Facilitator to check up on progress of implementation, provide on-site support through observation and discussion. The project also aimed at creating a Resource Centre at VMFT for use by teachers in the district.

Summary Results:

17 schools participated in the program at one stage or another, above the original target of about 8-10 schools. Of these, 11 were unaided, 5 government and one aided. The original aim was to get an equal distribution of schools across these three categories. About 40 schools were invited to participate in the program through personal visits and discussions with headmasters.

In all, 17 chemistry teachers and 21 geography teachers attended the lectures and monthly meetings. Attendance at the monthly meetings fluctuated considerably. The majority of teachers attended about 4-5 meetings, about four teachers attended 10- 12 meetings, and a few attended just one or two meetings. The state government’s announcement to hold monthly cluster meetings on Saturdays, which was made compulsory for teachers in government and aided schools, affected participation to a great degree.

While the Facilitator regularly visited the schools, providing in-school support through observation and follow-up in classrooms proved difficult.  Many teachers were resistant to the idea of an outsider observing their class.

A Resource Centre was set up and equipped with materials (books and electronic materials, teaching aid). Computers were provided by VMFT and were used by teachers for IT training or development of materials. The Resource Centre was used by teachers intermittently, although few teachers from other schools visited the Centre.

The impact of the project could not be rigorously evaluated. VMFT actually sought proposals for evaluation internationally from graduate students interested in doing research and in fact, two students from Columbia University Teachers’ College submitted evaluation proposals. Neither student could mobilize funding and as the project did not have funds for this purpose, evaluation at the desired level could not be conducted.

Nevertheless, certain qualitative assessments can be made based on the progress of individual teachers, the presentations made by some of them at the last workshop, and discussions with students and headmasters. The SRTT review of the pilot project also provides information.

• Teachers who attended the most of the lectures and monthly classes felt that they gained from the program, mainly through exposure to new materials, web resources, and IT training.
• Geography teachers benefited from subject content training to a greater extent; this may be partially due to the fact that many of those teaching geography do not have graduate/ masters level education in this subject.
• Unaided schools with limited resources and working mainly with children from lower socio-economic background were more receptive to the program.  Their teachers are not offered state government training programs and have few other programs. Some teachers from these schools consistently attended all the monthly meetings. Government school teachers expressed interest but were unable to come due to these constraints. Aided schools, in general, did not feel that they would benefit from the program.
• The program was most successful where the headmaster was supportive and encouraged teachers to participate
• Teachers who attended regularly showed some progress in using new methods, such as power points and using models, which encouraged greater interest amongst their students. However, the change to inquiry-based teaching-learning is a gradual change that requires fundamental changes in teacher attitudes and beliefs.
• While no information is available on the impact on student learning, discussions in some schools indicate that students perceived that their classes had become more interesting.

In addition, some teacher training colleges requested that their B.Ed. students be allowed to attend the lectures and TRC materials.

The pilot project also provided information on the obstacles and difficulties in creating change. These can be grouped under four broad heads:

Teacher Factors:

-          teachers teach mainly for the exams, especially the secondary school certificate exam. A program that does not address their immediate needs to improve student performance is not likely to attract their interest. In particular, they look for quick solutions (eg drills, examples of projects, homework assignments, tests)

-          while they are aware that they need more training , they are not able to assess what they lack in terms of content knowledge, pedagogical skills or IT skills. They lack the confidence to express their needs in front of “experts”.  Hence, needs assessment cannot be done easily through questionnaires, as was done in the pilot project, but has to be elicited through discussions (with teachers and heads) and observation over a period of time.

-          Teachers do not express the need to understand learner development or motivation. An understanding of the cognitive, psychological and emotional development of young adolescents of a variety of backgrounds in the Indian context is relatively limited. Teaching strategies need to be adapted to these needs.

-          The main instrument for improving teaching is the lesson plan. Teachers need to be supported and guided in self-study and development of materials to improve their lesson plans. Very few have use reference books or resources.

-          Science teachers face difficulties in mastering the mathematics required for teaching science; while students do not learn enough mathematics skills to learn scientific concepts and apply them to solve problems.

-          Teachers do not have the skills to use IT or even access web resources and  lack confidence in using IT in classrooms

-          They lack good oral and presentation skills; deficiency of English  language skills often inhibit them from accessing other resources. Writing skills are extremely poor

-          teachers do not get any time for investing in additional professional development, given the government mandated cluster meetings on week-ends, extra classes and participation in many other activities. The better off unaided schools, on the other hand, do not create any incentives for training. It is difficult for teachers to attend even monthly meetings on weekends at the resource centre, for extended periods. Given this situation, it is necessary to combine in-school training with resource-centre based training. The commitment from the school head and teacher is a necessary pre-condition and there must be perceptible benefits in terms of improved classroom teaching.

Availability of resource persons and materials

-          While it is possible to get subject specialist from the universities, very few of them have experience in school teaching and are not able to adapt the material for effective classroom teaching

-          Most resource persons themselves use lecture-based approaches and are not familiar with inquiry-based approaches that are appropriate for secondary schools. They need training in these methods and IT enabled teaching. Many are not familiar with the typical classroom situation and the range of students, with varying backgrounds, that are faced by teachers.

-          While a large number of materials were procured, they need to be made “classroom ready” and adapted to the needs of teachers in Kerala, who face students with widely varying needs. Web resources, in particular, need to be organized for easy access.

-          Specific materials, such as handbooks, sample assessments, experiments, lesson plans, etc need to be developed. 

The Environment

-          teachers are unable to introduce changes in their classroom instruction unless the school head is supportive

-          such changes must also be supported by the community and government, generally.

-          In order to sustain teacher motivation, schools and government must recognize and reward teachers as valuable professionals, interested in developing their knowledge and skills in teaching, and create practical opportunities for them to do so.

Design of the Program

-          the amount of time required to build relationships with the schools and with the government authorities was underestimated; the continually changing orders issued by the state government created great difficulty in implementation as schools that had agreed earlier to participate later withdrew

-          no time was provided for training of the resource persons or for developing the overall program

-          the program was seriously understaffed with only one full time person (the facilitiator) who had to do many things. The training period for the Facilitator was also inadequate.

-          getting people from outside the state to provide support to the Facilitator and resource persons proved difficult, mainly due to inadequate time for this purpose and the need to get people who were conversant with the state education system.

-          Some cost items were underestimated, including remuneration of staff; the payment of travel costs to teachers was not included in the original proposal, although subsequently nominal payments were made through adjustments to other heads.

-          Many schools expressed a more urgent need for training in English and Maths. This could not be accommodated, as the choice of chemistry and geography had already been made, given VMFT’s prior programs and availability of resource persons.

Overall, despite the difficulties and constraints, the results are positive. The pilot project confirmed that it is necessary to move teachers away from the teacher-centred, passive instructional modes of teaching to more student-centred active modes of learning. Changes are required in the professional development of teachers in order to:

(i)                  Equip teachers with the latest developments in subject knowledge to develop their mastery over the content and gain confidence in teaching.

(ii)                Provide teachers with a variety of student-centred classroom strategies and approaches, including the effective use of  technology to enrich the learning experience and motivate students

(iii)               Change teacher beliefs and attitudes regarding the use of new instructional methods