voices of teachers and teacher educators final june...

Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators

Volume II Issue 2 June 2013

Published by:

National Council for Teacher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development,Government of India, New DelhiPreparation of the publication at Vidya Bhawan Society, Udaipur.

Cover Design: Preeti Misra and Rajesh SenLayout Design: Preeti Misra and Rajesh Sen

About the publication

The launch of the journal 'Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators' is an initiative of

the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to highlight the vital role of

teacher education in India, as the country is poised to provide quality education to all

its children, irrespective of gender, caste, creed, religion and geographies under the

Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RtE), 2009. The large influx

of teachers necessitated under RtE represents the biggest opportunity to bring fresh

life into schools for decades to come. The challenge is to enhance the role of teachers in

shaping the social transformation India is witnessing, as well as have a long lasting

impact on the quality of education, also making it significantly more equitable. Teachers

and all those in the system need to recognize that their ownership and voices are

important and that they can and do learn not only from their own experiences but also

from each other through collective reflection and analysis. The publication attempts

to lend voice to teachers, their educators, researchers, administrators and policy makers

in the varied institutions: Schools, CRCs, BRCs, DIETs, IASEs, CTEs, SCERTs etc., and

make visible their engagement in accomplishing extraordinarily complex and diverse

tasks that they are expected to perform. Contributions are welcome both in English

and Hindi and there are plans to produce the journal in a multilingual format in the

near future.

Call for contributions

This publication is for all of us: teachers, teacher educators, administrators, researchersand policy makers. It is to provide a platform and also to build a network for ourvoices, ideas and reflections. Since the idea is to make this journal reflect all ourvoices it would only fulfill its purpose, if we contribute to it in as many ways as wecan. We look forward to all of you contributing with your experiences, questions,suggestions, perspectives as well as critical comments on different aspects of teachereducation and schooling. This could also be through comments and reflections on thecurrent issue. Your contribution could be in the form of articles, reports documents,pictures, cartoons or any other forms of presentation that can be printed. We lookforward to your inputs to make this journal truly reflective of our voices. It is proposedthat this be a quarterly publication. We would like to receive contributions for thenext issue by 31st August, 2013. We also look forward to comments and suggestionsfor improvements of the publication to make this a participative endeavor and improveits quality.

Editorial Team

Dr. Janaki Rajan is Professor of Education at Jamia Millia Islamia. She was Director, State Councilof Educational Research and Training, Delhi from 2000-2006. She holds Master’s degrees in EnglishLiterature, Psychology and Education. Her research, publications, teaching and activist interests lie in theareas of gender, inclusive education, curriculum and cultural studies, women and child rights.

Hriday Kant Dewan is Education Advisor, Vidya Bhawan Society, Udaipur, Rajasthan. He has a Ph.D. inPhysics from Delhi University. He is involved in strengthening SCERTs and DIETs, textbook development,teacher and teacher educator training and research and dissemination in education.

Dr. Manish Jain is Assistant Professor, School of Education Studies, Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Delhi(AUD). He has previously taught at Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai and has been a school teacherfor a decade. A recipient of Shastri Indo-Canadian Doctoral Studies Fellowship and CSDS doctoralfellowship, he has been part of textbook development teams at SCERT Delhi and NCERT. His researchinterests and publications are at the intersections of history, sociology and politics of education and alsoinclude education policies, comparative education, gender and social science education.

Chief Editorial Coordinator: Dr. Amarjit Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development,Government of India.

Publication Coordinator: Ms. Anamika Singh, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government ofIndia.

Contributors

Amarjit Singh, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.Rajni Dwivedi, Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre, Udaipur, RajasthanThomas P. Thomas, Zyxware Technologies, Trivandrum, Kerala.Manish Jain, School of Education Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi.H.K. Dewan, Vidya Bhawan Society, Udaipur, RajasthanNidhi Gulati, Department of Elementary Education, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi.Rakhi Banerjee, School of Education Studies, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi.Saurav Shome, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science education (TIFR), Mumbai.Parul K., PhD student, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.Vinod Kumar Shrivastav, DIET Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Illustrations and Photographs1. Dr. Bhagwati Ahir, Vidya Bhawan STC College, Udaipur, Rajasthan.2. Prashant Soni, Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre, Udaipur, Rajasthan.3. Teacher Education - Ministry of Human Resource Development.4. Dr. Lalita Pradeep, Principal, DIET Lucknow.

Contents

Editorial

Special feature: Joint Review Missions

1. Teacher education in India: Some recent developmentsAmarjit Singh

2. Highlights from some JRM reportsa. Madhya Pradeshb. Chhattisgarhc. West Bengald. Odisha

3. Challenges for revitalizing teacher education in India: JRMs andbeyond

Manish Jain

4. The Joint Review Missions: Some observations and thoughtsH.K. Dewan

5. Summary of JRM recommendations

Regular features

Section I: Inside the classrooms - Experiences of teachers, trainees andteacher educators

6. Becoming a teacher: Voices from graduates of a professional teachereducation programmeNidhi Gulati

Section II: From practitioners, researchers, policy makers7. Teaching and learning of mathematics: Issues and challenges

Rakhi Banerjee

8. When objects fail to move despite force being exerted!Saurav Shome

Section III: DIETs, BRCs and CRCs: Reflection on issues, challenges,effective practices

9. Getting into the shoes of BRPs and CRPsParul K.

Section IV: Reports of conferences, seminars, workshops

10. National seminar on teacher education in Chhattisgarh – School andteacher education reform programmes

Section V: Teachers’ Contributions

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Editorial

This issue of Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators presents diverse voices from distinct institutionalpositions and locations that include bureaucrats, academics, young researchers and school teachers.Concerned about the state of teacher education and teachers in India, these contributors highlight variedissues and efforts for us, the readers.

The first section of this issue is devoted to the recent MHRD initiatives to map, revitalize and reformteacher education system in India through constitution of Joint Review Missions (JRMs). Various papershave focused on this initiative and issues emanating from this exercise. Dr. Amarjit Singh provides asuccinct overview of recent developments in the field of teacher education in India. After laying out therevision of teacher education scheme, JRMs, recommendations of Justice Verma commission, the keychallenges as perceived by state are discussed. This overview along with a summary of the keyrecommendations of JRMs may be of interest to any observer studying changing contours of teachereducation in India.Essays by Hardy and Manish use different modes to reflect on their experiences and reports of JRM.Amidst glaring concerns one finds stories of initiatives, enthusiasm and hope. Inertia, vision, motivation,empowerment, role clarity, struggles, hurdles and flux signify what is right and wrong with our teachereducation institutions and what may be a possible roadmap to re-envision them.

Nidhi Gulati takes us to the underlying conceptions of teachers that guide professional teacher educationprogramme and how both these notions and the experience of being a student of such a programmeintersect and shape teacher’s own views about themselves as a professional. What is of significance is thequestion posed by Nidhi about the perception of teacher being a mother teacher that draws on patriarchalnotions of gendered roles and reproduces those to define professional selves. How and why the idea of amodern professional distances itself from aspects of care and sensitivity makes us think about the place ofhuman touch in a profession and relationship designated as teacher and the nuances and meanings ofbeing guru that do not get captured by the idea of teacher.

What happens when an institution and role designed with a particular view and purpose fails to fulfillthat role as the assumptions underlying it do not match with the everyday lived reality of that role? Parulraises some critical questions about BRPs and CRPs. How immediacy and urgency come to dominate ourinstitutions and lead to deviation from their desired roles, is a concern that gets raised in more than onepaper.

Rakhi, Saurav and Vinod draw our attention to curricular and pedagogic issues in the areas of Mathematicsand Physics. While Saurav explores the sources of misconceptions of a concept, Vinod elaborates onidentifying squares and cubes. Rakhi poses a distinct set of questions. She asks that if our conceptionsabout subject and learners, about assessment and its purposes do not undergo any significant change,then what would we achieve. She points to the dissonance between the progressive discourse as expressedthrough NCF 2005 and the post NCF 2005 textbooks and the disquiet among teachers. The way outproposed by Rakhi calls for a deeper engagement and route.

That a variety of concerns and questions can be raised about teacher education: programmes, curriculum,trainings, resources, recruitment and conceptions only reiterates the truth we know, the way out is noteasy. But as Hindi poet Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena said,

yhd ij os pysa ftudspj.k nqcZy vkSj gkjs gSagesa rks tks gekjh ;k=k ls cus,sls vfufeZr iUFk I;kjs gSa


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Amarjit Singh

Teacher education in India: Some recent developments

BackgroundThe focus of Government of India for the last fewyears has been on expansion of access to schoolquality education. These efforts have borne fruitto an extent; the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER)for primary education has gone up and the NERis at more than 99. The various schemesundertaken by the Government for promotion ofthe girl child education have ensured aconsiderable improvement in the gender parityindex and the literacy gap between males andfemales has come down from 25 to about 16.Similarly, there is a considerable improvement inthe enrollment of the marginalized groups suchas SCs, STs and minorities in schools. Indianefforts in this regard have been appreciated bythe global community.

While we have made a difference to access, theresults of various assessments carried out by ASERand NCERT have shown that although anincreasing number of children are attendingschool, the quality of learning outcomes is still amajor cause for concern.

One of the major reasons for the same is the largenumber of untrained teachers. This is more so inthe eastern part of the country where there is amaximum backlog of untrained teachers, at thesame time the capacity to train teachers is verylimited. The quality of any schooling system restsprimarily on its teachers. The quality of teachers,in turn, rests largely on the quality of institutionseducating and supporting them professionally.In addition, the evidence shows that trained head-teachers can make a major contribution to thequality of learning outcomes in the schools.

The issue of training of untrained teachers hasacquired increasing urgency in view of theprovisions of the RtE. Under Section 23 of the RtEAct, it has become mandatory that all teachersare trained before March, 2015. This has focusedState attention on the teacher education systemand the urgent need to upgrade the same.

Challenges in teacher educationThe key challenges for the States are to ensurethat young talent enters the elementary schoolteaching profession; and that teachers areprofessionally prepared, academically supportedand sustained in the profession via appropriatecareer development and occupational mobilityoptions. These challenges could be furthercategorized as follows:

Teacher Recruitment Challenges: We need to putin place institutional mechanisms to overcomeshortfall of professionally qualified teacherswithout compromising long-term goals of asustained cadre of professionally qualifiedteachers.

Strategies need to be put in place to recruit teacherswho are socially closer to children and who areprofessionally prepared to teach for diversity.

Pre-service Teacher Education: There is a needfor reform of the curriculum and process foreducating teachers through robust programmesof pre-service teacher education with the aim toprepare teachers for diverse environments (rural,remote and conflict areas) and for diversity in theclassroom (children from disadvantaged socialand economic groups).

Continuing Teacher Professional Developmentand Support: The States need to ensure that;• In-service teachers have adequate access to

subject-specific education through regularrefresher courses, as well as deep engagementwith child-friendly pedagogies andcontinuous and comprehensive assessmentof children’s learning.

• Periodic in-service education iscomplimented with sustained on-siteacademic support to teachers via diversemethods, including research and academicexchange programmes.

• In-service education programmes have to


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address the specificities of teacher needs andclassroom concerns while also ensuring that‘in service training’ does not in any waynegate teacher autonomy.

• The capacities of the growing number ofprivate school teachers and schools is alsobuilt, sustained and monitored through state-led institutional mechanisms of professionalsupport and accountability.

Teacher Cadre and Career Management: To ensuremotivation of teachers, the States need to ensure;• An effective elementary school teacher cadre

and career management system thatfacilitates and enhances teacher quality,motivation and accountability.

• A system that enables teachers to upgradetheir professional qualifications and plan foroccupational mobility.

School Leadership, Academic and AdministrativeSupport: Similarly, we need to develop a supportsystem at the school level that fosters teacherautonomy alongside need-based academic andadministrative support that provides feedback toteachers on a continuing basis so that they feelequipped and confident to respond toprofessional challenges and concerns. The Statesalso need to ensure that State and local democraticpolitical institutions such as panchayats work intandem with school leadership to provideinstitutional support to teachers.

Justice Verma Commission recommendationsIn the meantime two other developments havetaken place that have affected the teachereducation system greatly. In a case against NCTE,the Supreme Court of India set up the Justice VermaCommission to review the teacher educationsystem in the country. The findings of the JusticeVerma Commission cover the following four mainaspects:i) Pre-service teacher educationii) In-service teacher educationiii) Norms and standards for teachersiv) Reorganization of NCTE

The teacher education bureau and NCTE havedrawn up detailed plans for implementation ofthe recommendations of the Justice VermaCommission in the short, medium and the long

term.

The second major development has beenreconstitution of the NCTE. Some of the leadingexperts in teacher education are now members ofthe NCTE. The newly appointed experts havetaken up their role towards regulation anddevelopment of teacher education system in thecountry in accordance with the NCTE Act.

Scheme for strengthening of teacher educationThe MHRD had been working on a proposal forstrengthening of teacher education and aproposal was sent to the Expenditure FinanceCommittee in the year 2007. The proposal wasreturned back by the Planning Commission withan observation that the scheme of TeacherEducation needs to be reviewed. The Scheme forTeacher Education was accordingly reviewed byNCERT during 2007-09. It brought out thefollowing;

i. The existing institutions of DIETs should bestrengthened in several ways, includingproviding them an extended mandate ofimparting in-service training to secondaryand senior secondary school teachers,improving their infrastructure andreorganizing their organizational structure.

ii. A small percentage of DIETs (10%) could beconsidered, in the short run, for up-gradationso as to perform additional functions ofsecondary level pre-service training, 4-yearintegrated Elementary Teacher Educationprogramme and pre-school teacher educationcourse. DIETs should have linkages withuniversities, colleges and well establishedprivate institutions and support should beprovided to these institutions.

iii. Existing CTEs and IASEs should bestrengthened and more such institutionscould be established depending on thespecific needs of the States.

iv. Establishment of Block Institutes of TeacherEducation (BITEs) in 196 identified districtswith Minority/SC/ST concentration. BITEswould provide in-service training to SC/ST/Minority teachers. The existing BRCs wouldget subsumed in the BITEs.

v. The SCERTs need to be re-vitalised as leadstate-level academic institutions and should


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develop links with Universities. All existingState Institutes of Education (SIEs) to beupgraded as SCERT.

vi. Curriculum and syllabus of pre-serviceteacher education courses should be revisedin the light of NCF 2005. Programmes ofTeacher Education Institutions (TEIs) shouldfocus on education of children with specialneeds.

vii. For attracting good professionals, pay scalesof the faculty of the TEIs should be upwardlyrevised; salary and pay scales of UGC couldbe followed for the academic positions. Theposts of the TEIs should be encadred. CareerAdvancement Scheme should be provided forinternal upward mobility.

viii. The Scheme should have a sharing pattern of75:25 between Centre and States (90:10 forNE States). Funding procedure should factorin regional variations and provide extrafunds to meet local necessities. Central fundsshould be routed directly to State EducationSecretaries, then to the SCERTs for onwarddisbursement to the IASEs, CTEs and DIETs.State budget heads should factor in the state’sshare and Central assistance.

The TE scheme was accordingly revised inaccordance with the above and approved by theGovernment in April, 2011, with a total outlay ofRs.6308 Crores, for the 12th Five year Plan. Themain components of the scheme were asfollowing:• Establishment of a DIET in all districts which

had been created up to 31.03.2011;• Establishment of BITEs in 196 SC/ST/

Minority concentration districts;• Up-gradation of 30 Government Secondary

Teacher Education institutions into CTEs;• Up-gradation of Departments of Education

in Universities to IASEs;• Involvement of institutions of higher

education in teacher education; 50 leadinstitutions to provide refresher courses toteacher educators;

• Promotion of ICT in TE;• Change in funding patterns;• Enabling SCERTs and DIETs to enter into PPP

for pre-service training, teaching learningmaterial development, etc.;

• Development of a monitoring mechanism,

with performance indicators for theinstitutions.

Thereafter, zonal meetings were held with theState officials and leading teacher educationexperts of the country to prepare the revisedguidelines. The revised guidelines were preparedin August, 2011 and the States were asked to sendtheir proposals for strengthening of their teachereducation plans to the Central Government forfunding support. To assist them in this work, theannual work plan and budget template wasprepared and circulated to the States.

These discussions were further enriched by thepresentations at the 4th International Task Forceon teachers for EFA education. It was held inIndia from 29th to 31st May, 2012. The followingmain themes were discussed:• Professional development of teachers• Decentralization: Challenges and steps

forward• Gender issues in the teaching force• Public-private partnerships to address the

teacher gap• Inclusive education: Teachers for children

with special needs• Monitoring & Evaluation of teacher policy

reforms.

All the States and UTs participated in the meeting.India was elected as a Co-chair of the Task Forceduring this meeting.

Joint review missionsThe discussions with the States and the visits tosome of the States showed that there wasconsiderable lack of clarity on what needs to bedone to strengthen the teacher education systemin the States. It was, therefore, proposed that theleading teacher education experts in the countryshould visit the States as a part of the Joint ReviewMissions to guide the States on the steps requiredto be taken to revamp teacher education.

A meeting was held in this regard with the leadersof some of the JRMs and the terms of reference forreview missions were drawn. The reviewmissions have visited 11 States i.e. Jammu &Kashmir, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, WestBengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya


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Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in the first five

months of 2013 and visits to more states are on

the agenda. The report of the review missions was

presented to the States Secretaries by each of the

JRMs. Thereafter, they were sent to them officially

for follow up action by the MHRD.

The reports of the JRMs are available on the

website of the Bureau i.e. www.teindia.nic.in. The

States have found the reports and discussions

with the JRM experts very useful and necessary

follow up action is being taken by the States onthe reports. For wider dissemination of the

reports, State level meetings are being held where

the heads and leaders of various teacher

education institutions such as the CTEs, IASE,

DIETs, and SCERT are invited and the findings

of the JRM are presented in detail. Theobservations of the State level experts to revamp

teacher education are also taken into account. So

far, this process has been completed in Assam,

Mizoram and Jammu & Kashmir. Thereafter, the

other States will be covered.

The States have been asked to take action on the

findings of the JRMs and incorporate the main

suggestions in their Annual Work Plan & Budget

proposals for the year 2013-14. The GoI funding

is being provided for the same. A number of the

States have involved some of the experts in theJRMs to help them in revamping teacher education

in the respective States.

Need for a holistic planThe States need to develop a holistic plan forstrengthening teacher education, which would:i. Address both the horizontal and vertical

linkages across institutions, informed by acommon goal of quality improvement, acrossinstitutions.

ii. Identify and redefine the role of eachinstitution down to the NPRC level, as a linkin the chain of resource support to the schools.The focus would be particularly on a veryactive chain of support and feedback loopbetween DIETs-BITES-BRC-NPRCs to informboth school quality and provide feedback ontraining.

iii. Suggest an institutional development plan foreach institution in the above context, as anautonomous institution (within rules), witha clear road map for the state, using thepresent status as the baseline.

iv. Recommend effective use of technology tooptimize the envisaged inter-linkages.

v. Suggest professional development needs andmodalities for academic and non academicstaff at all levels in the context of the envisagedrole redefinitions and formulate acomprehensive professional developmentprogramme.

The task seems to be huge, but we are blessedwith some excellent teacher educators who arewilling to spare their valuable time andknowledge for revamping teacher education inthe country. As they say, together, we shallovercome!

This article is based on the JRM reports and other notes submitted by the distinguished teacher education experts suchas Dr. Venita Kaul and Prof. Poonam Batra, who have so kindly given of their time and ideas for this noble mission


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Madhya Pradesh

The Joint Review Mission – Madhya Pradeshvisited the state from February 25 to March 1, 2013.The mission consisted of the following members:Dr Padma Sarangapani, Dean, School ofEducation, TISS, Mission Leader; Dr. B. SeshuKumari, Additional Director, Model Schools, A.P.;Mr J. Inbaraj ,Reader, SCERT, Tamil Nadu; Mr.Utpal Chakravarthy, SCERT, Chhattisgarh; Dr.Mr Gurubachan Singh, Azim Premji Foundation,Bhopal, M.P; Dr. Bharat Poorey, Retd. Principal,MP; Dr. K. Ravikanth Rao, Academic MonitoringOfficer, Model Schools, A.P ; Mr F A Jami,Education Specialist, UNICEF; and Mr GopalMidha, Reseach Associate, School of Education,TISS.

The team divided into three separate subgroupswhich then visited the Jabalpur region, theGwalior region and the Malwa regionrespectively. As part of review process, the JRMvisited and interacted with a cross section ofinstitutions involved with teacher education:the SCERT, 3 IASEs, 3 CTE, 8 DIETs, the StateInstitute of Science Education (SISE) and the Pre-Primary Teacher Training Institute, UniversityDepartments of Education and also helddiscussions with the Cluster Resource Persons,school teachers and Principals, faculty of aprivate B.Ed college, 7 NGOs working in thearea of teacher education, the Regional Instituteof Education (RIE) at Bhopal, and representativesof Rajya Shisksha Kendra (RSK). The RegionalChapter of the NCTE and the PU Board MP wasalso visited. Discussions were held with theSecretary and additional secretary in charge ofthe RSK, and Secretary, Department of ElementaryEducation, Government of MP.

Key observations from Madhya Pradesh1

A key issue in the State of MP is the Panchayatappointed teachers who are at lower salary scales,and who constitute the major teacher body in

the State. A large number of these teachers wereappointed without the relevant professionalqualification. Further, a large proportion of themare also frustrated with their service conditions.

In response to the lack of professional training,since 2010 a massive effort has been institutedto qualify these teachers. All pre-service teachereducation seats in government institutions (B.Ed.and D.Ed. in CTEs, IASEs and DIETs) aretaken up by these teachers. Additionally, a largescale distance education D.Ed. programme hasalso been launched. With governmentinstitutions all dedicated to such a large scale oftraining of effectively ‘in-service’ teachers, theentire pre-service teacher education is beingcurrently provided only by the private sector.

The State has been conducting a CommonEntrance Test (CET) for teachers since the pastfew years. The result under the 2011-12 CETare being assessed as they comprise both trainedas well as untrained teachers. Of the 17 lakhapplicants, around 30% (5.2 lakh) passed the CET.However, only 13% of these 5.2 lakh applicantsare qualified applicants with a D.Ed. or B.Ed. TheD.Ed. curriculum was revised in 2007, and asmall exercise has been just initiated to reviewthe D.Ed. curriculum in the light of the NCFTE2009.

A large number of positions in the DIETs areunfilled. In the 14 districts, there are only 2 to 8positions that are filled. The state has approved acadre for Teacher Educators and recruitmentunder this is to be shortly announced throughthe state public service commission.

The enrollment ratio in the schools (at Primaryand Upper Primary levels) is over 97% while thetransition rates at Upper Primary level is over 90%.A very comprehensive online information

1 The complete JRM report, including recommendations and detailed discussion on the status of SCERTs, DIETs andother TEIs in the state of Madhya Pradesh, can be accessed at http://www.teindia.nic.in/jrm.aspx


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management system is in place for the entirestate, covering all schools and educationalinstitutions. The state has also begun the practiceof student evaluation through ‘Pratibha Parv’.More than half the students from grades I to VIIIare at ‘level C’. The state also has a significantnumber of children of tribal communities whoare first generation school-goers and whosemother tongue is not Hindi. Several newprogramme of intervention such as creating aschool vision, Activity Based Learning (ABL)and Active Learning Methods (ALM) are beingimplemented across the state in select schools,with a view to prepare the ground for upscaling.

All the teacher support institutions at the districtand sub-district levels, the DIETs, BACs and

ABL TrainingDIET Indore has well-resourced training hall for ABL training and the faculty is also veryenthusiastic. The ABL trainings were conducted each year for new teachers and refresher for olderteachers. The in-charge of such training showed high motivation and commitment towards ABLand was eager to display all the materials linked to ABL and the various recommendations receivedby her. There was thorough documentation of the ABL trainings conducted so far and feedbackfrom teachers.

However, some aspects of the ABL need to be critically evaluated so that they can bestrengthened. The design of ABL is based on competency ladders which are often simplisticallylinked to written exercises in the workbooks. The conceptualization of only physical movementas “activity” does not construe deep and reflective thinking as an activity. ABL requires extensivepreparation of teachers in a completely new methodology and does not always build on the existingconceptual frameworks of teacher knowledge.

In Shivpuri, the training programme on ABL is conducted in different subjects. But training classrooms are overcrowded with strength more than 80, which is not conducive for conductingABL trainings. A training that does not match in approach with the methodology being propagatedand large training class size tends to reduce the entire effort to ‘check the box’ activity. At times,the same module with minimal changes is used in training year after year, and teachers donot find it useful.

CACs are all involved in monitoring the schoolsand follow the same format prescribed by RajyaShiksha Kendra. Even in DIETs where academicstaffs members are very few, 20 schools arevisited by them every month.

The State has some unique resource institutionssuch as the RIE (NCERT) in Bhopal and the StateInstitute for Science Education (SISE) in Jabalpur.It also has some historically importantinstitutions such as the IASE in Jabalpur andthe Pre-primary Teacher Training Institute inJabalpur which may be considered heritageinstitutions, both from the point of view oftheir unique establishment and as part of theearly efforts of the state in teacher education.


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Chhattisgarh

1 For complete report of the JRM’s review of the status of TEIs in Chhattisgarh, please see http://www.teindia.nic.in/

jrm.aspx

The JRM team to Chhattisgarh comprised of eight members drawn from government educationorganizations, and civil society organizations. The team, after desk study of documents, visitedChhattisgarh in the period 24 February to 2 March, 2013. The field trip included visit to the stateSCERT, CTE, IASE, DIETs - Ambikapur, Korea, Kanker, Bemetara, Nagari, Mahasamund - BRCs,CRCs, schools, two private colleges of teacher education and Interactions with the SecretaryEducation, State Project Director SSA, RMSA, Director DPI, SCERT and DIET Faculty.

The reflections of two of the members of the JRM team, highlighting what they felt was remarkable inthe state, are presented.1

During the course of the JRM team’s visit to DIETs in Ambikapur, Korea and St.Xavier’s College (private Teacher Training college), we had the opportunity tointeract with the faculty and students of these institutions. Among the manydiscussions we had with the Faculty, they frequently mentioned the experience ofconducting a Shodh Yatra. The Shodh Yatra is a guided research undertaken bystudents of the D.Ed. programme. The students are divided in pairs and they visit avillage and study the functioning of the school over a period of a week or so. TheFaculty eagerly showed us the documentation undertaken by the students. Theywere rich in detail about the organization and functioning of the school, the socialcontext of the school and their recording of the conversations with the childrenand teachers. For the students this was a new way of looking at a school. It providesthem with a strong foundation for their subsequent classroom sessions on variedtopics like school organization, sociology of education, child psychology andphilosophy of education.

In our later discussions with students, we could see that the experiences of the ShodhYatra had contributed significantly to the students engaging deeply with schooling.For example, we had a rather interesting discussion with D.Ed. students on the roleof work in education of children. The D.Ed. students had observed that the teacherswere asking children to engage in cleaning the school premises, digging out tubersfrom nearby fields, cooking of mid day meals etc. The D.Ed. students were of the viewthat since these were tasks which the children were anyway doing at home, therewas no new learning to be had and this was a waste of time. Also, the perspectivebehind this allocation of work by teachers was also challenged by the students. Wefelt that these observations could create a fertile ground for discussion on topics likeWork and Education. The spirit of questioning and the depth of engagement shownby the students were extremely encouraging. Many of the Faculty also seemed to besupportive of this.

Thomas P. Thomas


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One of the key ideas that strikes me from my visit as part of the JRM is the lack of anycommunication and interaction between Government institutions for teacherdevelopment and those that are managed privately. It is even difficult for mostinstitutions to recognize the need to have a relationship of academic sharing. Theonly thing that the Government institutions do, and that too rarely, is to go andinspect the institutions. The programmes that the government runs also seem tohave very little engagement, involvement and inputs from the faculty of privateinstitutions of Teacher Training Colleges. There seems to be no avenue for anycapacity building for these institutions.

The other concern is that the entire education system in the State knows that thereare not enough Faculty in the DIETs and even the SCERT is not adequately populated.In-spite of this knowledge and efforts at various levels, appointments in DIETs orSCERT have not become possible over the last two years in most States. The fact thatthere is a need that is acknowledged yet the system cannot overcome the hurdles isworrying.

The concept of BRC and CRC seems to be regularly in flux in most States. Theirreporting structure, as well as concrete responsibilities assigned and tracked, keepschanging between different offices and different dimensions. In fact, even the cadreof who will be BRC and CRC and what they will be called also has kept changing.This is a matter of concern that a structure visualized to reach out to schools andscaffold their effort, is not able to define itself and its responsibility clearly.

Another concern is the lack of role specificity of institutions. This arises fromsystematic confusions and historical distribution of responsibilities and from a lackof understanding and vision within the institutions as well as the entire systemincluding of education. There is in-sufficient understanding among other thingsof education and how it should contribute to and transform society. The absence ofclarity in the system also affects the administrative capability of the educationfunctionaries and their confidence to take decision.

It is also felt that the revenue and administrative authorities appear to be in-chargeand the education departments are too influenced and determined by the choicesof these officers that the system does not appear to be working in a coherent andconsistent manner. The DIETs at many places do not seem to be confident of dealingwith so many issues that are paramount to their role and existence.

There are many positive features of my visit and these are underlined by theenthusiasm of some of the people in DIETs and in the schools. The fact that the underheavy odds they continue to look for ways to make things happen, gives me confidencethat it is possible to do things well and make a change. There were some programsled by a few of the SCERTs that were functioning well and indicated a serious attempt.These needed and got extra impetus and continued attention. The discourses ineducation although far from the expectations in the NCF 2005 and the RTE 2009appeared to be more aware and not simply revolving around words.

Rajni DwivediRajni DwivediRajni DwivediRajni DwivediRajni Dwivedi


9

West Bengal

1 This is an excerpt from the report. The complete report can be accessed at http://www.teindia.nic.in/jrm.aspx.

The JRM to West Bengal had team members with a wide range of expertise and were drawn frommultiple sectors-government, private, NGOs. All have had long-term engagement with variousprocesses in school and teacher education; inclusion, organizational leadership, and classroompractices. The team comprised of eight Members drawn from universities, DIETs, civil societyorganizations and NGOs. The members were: Prof. Janaki Rajan, Jamia Millia Islamia; Dr. HridayKant Dewan, Vidya Bhawan Society; Ms. Annie Namala, Director, Centre for Equity and Social Inclusion;Dr. Farah Farooqui, Jamia Millia Islamia; Dr. Sarwat Ali, Jamia Millia Islamia; Ms. Lalita Pradeep,Principal, DIET, Lucknow; Dr. Sarada Kumari, DIET, RK Puram, New Delhi; and Dr. Amrita Sengupta,UNICEF, Kolkatta. Field visits included TEIs and schools in Interactions were held with Minster ofEducation, senior administrators, SCERT, DIET Faculty and civil society organizations.

Multiple Structures and Perception of PowerMultiple Structures and Perception of PowerMultiple Structures and Perception of PowerMultiple Structures and Perception of PowerMultiple Structures and Perception of Power 11111

Teacher education institutions and associated individuals are accountable to multiplepower structures. DIETs, for example, are linked to the sub–structures of: SSA from wherethey receive funding for many of their programmes; West Bengal Board of Primary Educationwhich is their administrative body; SCERT which extends academic support at times. SSAand the WBBPE are only administrative bodies which do not extend academic scaffolding.Moreover, DIETs do not have their own PAC for planning, and thereby countering the powerand the pressure of multiple bodies. This creates a feeling of disempowerment and lack ofcontrol over situations in the functionaries who have to comply with orders without theirparticipation in the decision making process. Some bodies like DPSC has MLA’s or peoplefrom Panchayats as members and the chairperson is nominated by the government,resultantly these are perceived as political entities which are “powerful” and not democraticenough. Engaging with multiple bodies without adequate planning and participation;academic and geographical isolation; lack of coordination between different agencies,creates distrust and de - motivates teachers. Both, functional autonomy and hand holdingare needed for DIETs to improve in their functioning. Moreover there is no cadre for teachereducators, which again is a cause of their frustration! Filling up of existing vacant positionsand a stable career progression will ease the burden off teachers.

The SCERT in West Bengal was formed in 1980 and, without the recent mandate, was quitedisempowered if not dysfunctional. It goes to their credit that they tried to provide supportto DIETS, brought out a few publications and conducted achievement surveys etc. Thepublications, however, do not reflect a deep understanding of problems and issues ofeducation. Their document on school development plan is a collation of RTE act, few pro-forma including instructions to schools, and has not been field tested. Similarly, thedocument on action research does not reflect a mature understanding of issues and thesocial reality has been simplistically represented. This suggests the need for furthering thecapacity and qualification of the current SCERT personnel and filling up of vacant positions.It needs to be ensured that the faculty if recruited through Public Service commission hasthe required qualifications to provide academic leadership.

The CTEs, which we visited, appeared to have a more open relationship with the WBBHE.They shared that they were supported in their endeavours by the board. It is important tomake the governance and administrative structures more democratic. Now with themandate for academic and administrative leadership of DIET’s going to SCERT, it isimportant to have participatory planning and implementation process. There is a need tohave coordinated structure, which is free from political interference and have functionalautonomy. The roles and responsibilities of all stake holders need to be fixed and normsdeveloped for smoother functioning.


10

Odisha

The JRM in Odisha was conducted from March 10 to March 16, 2013. The mission consisted of thefollowing members: Prof. Pranati Panda, NUEPA, New Delhi (Team Leader); Prof. Sadhna Saxsena,Delhi University; Dr. Renu Singh, Save the Children/ Young Lives; Dr. S. Vincent De Paul, SCERT,Chennai; Dr. Ali Imam, Retd. Principal, DIET Patna; Mr. Ajay Batra, Azim Premji Foundation, NewDelhi and Dr. Lalita Patnaik, Specialist, UNICEF.

Odisha is one of the few states to roll out the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Teacher EducationInstitutions in the initial years of the scheme (1988-89) and expanded the same in subsequentplan periods to achieve its targets. Currently Odisha has 30 DIETs, 10 CTEs and 2 IASEs and underthe administrative control of Directorate of Teacher Education and SCERT. An excerpt from the chapteron status of DIETs is presented below.

DIETS and DRCs1

The District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) were established in three phases duringdifferent plan period by upgrading Secondary Training Schools (ST) in the state. The DIETs wereexpected to serve as decentralised institution to transform the elementary education and provideacademic leadership to the districts. Currently there are 30 DIETs for the 30 revenue districts of thestate.

1 The complete report can be accessed at http://www.teindia.nic.in/jrm.aspx.


11

The DIETs which were upgraded in the early phase have severe infrastructural deficit-classrooms, hostels, libraries and other facilities. Girls’ hostels, in particular, are lacking incapacity and quality at most places.


12

In the context of legislative, policy andprogrammatic efforts for universalization ofelementary education undertaken in India in thelast decade, teacher education is being rightly seenby Indian policy makers as an area that demandsconcerted attention. This interest has manifesteditself in various arenas of teacher educationranging from budgetary provisions1 , planning2 ,evaluations of existing programmes of teachereducation and development of a curriculumframework on teacher education3 . Judiciary toohas evinced interest in this area by constituting acommittee and monitoring implementation of itsrecommendations4 .

Constitution of Joint Review Missions (JRMs) byMHRD to undertake comprehensive review of theprogress of Centrally Sponsored Scheme onTeacher Education in different states is an instancewhere policy initiatives are expected to beinformed by ground level realities andrecommendations emerging from dialogue withpeople and institutions concerned5 . Availabilityof these JRM reports in the public domain may beseen as an opportunity to engage with andparticipate in this ongoing process ofunderstanding the variety and magnitude ofchallenges involved in revitalizing teachereducation in India.

Some papers in this issue of Voices of Teachersand Teacher Educators draw our attention tocertain common themes and concerns that emergefrom these JRM reports. These reports and theirrecommendations may be read and approachedfrom a variety of angles. This essay argues thatwe may be in a better position to appreciate themif we take note of the wider discourses, contextsand contestations on education policies andteacher education. Such an attention may alsohelp us to take a nuanced view of the specificitiesof different states, their challenges and specific

solutions. This perspective takes a critical viewof the policy responses that are premised on anabstract vacuous social and institutional spacedevoid of operation of power. Instead, awarenessof the wider contexts of inequality and presenceof power may help us to understand that a simply‘rational’ and ‘well-intentioned’ policy may panout an altogether different impact on the groundthan the one envisaged at the policyconceptualization stage. And prior toconceptualizing a multiple-site intervention in theexisting conundrum of teacher education, it isimportant that we achieve better clarity about thepurposes of education and teacher education andthe functions they serve or should not serve.

Two discourses on teachers‘Teacher quality’ has emerged as a key concernin the recent international policy discourse andinitiatives6 . The dominant discourse about teacherquality has attributed low ‘standards’ andstudent ‘outcomes’ to quality of teachers.Combined with calls for greater ‘efficiency’,‘accountability’, ‘effectiveness’ and bettermanagement practices, this discourse paints adeficit model of teachers and is shapingcommonsensical understanding about teachersand teachers work. This perspective attributes‘underperformance’ or ‘failure’ of students toschools and teachers alone. With its focus onschool-based factors, it constructs any referenceto wider contextual issues as an evasivemechanism and excuses for poor performance. Inseveral western countries, education reformsfocusing on teachers have led to teaching fortesting situations.

Critical educators representing an alternativeperspective have argued that these new regimesof teacher surveillance have reduced teacher’sautonomy and control over their work andcurriculum. Drawing on human capital theories,

Manish Jain

Challenges for revitalizing teacher education in India:JRMs and beyond


13

these narrow re-definitions of teacher’s work andprofessional development have led to deskillingof teachers. Now their productivity is beingmeasured in increasingly quantifiable terms suchas the learning achievement of students. Analternative perspective has questioned the modelof ‘development’ and critiqued an exclusive focuson ‘economic growth’. Instead of treating humanbeings as means to such an end, it demands that‘human beings be seen as ends and objects ofrespect in and for themselves’7 and values ofdemocracy, equality and justice be given primacy.It questions posing students and teachers inantagonistic binary terms. And argues that incontrast to bureaucratic control and mistrust ofteachers, ‘flexibility’ and ‘autonomy’ to teachersis the route through which a child’s right toeducation can be ensured along with teachers’‘right to teach and be teacher professionals’8 .

Message for teacher education

These two distinct perspectives on teachersvisualize teacher education in two distinct ways.In the first perspective, teacher education isexpected to develop a skill proficiency in teaching.In this conception, the role of the teacher is to‘deliver’ and ‘transact’ the received knowledge9 .As one JRM report points out, ‘teaching is notunderstood as professional practice, but moresimilar to a ‘skill’ and do not emphasize ondeveloping as an academic. As a result, studentsdo not ‘critically look at school/field basedrealities’ to understand and locate links betweeneducation and society10 . The second perspectivequestions dichotomization of knowledge andskills11 . It visualizes teachers and teachereducators not just as transmitters of receivedknowledge but also creative human beings andintellectuals who both engage with knowledgeand create knowledge. Developing understandingof disparity, marginalization and diversity alongwith awareness of debates in the area of childdevelopment, pedagogies and assessment isconsidered essential along with sufficient time inschool situation for teacher preparation. WhileNCFTE 2009 and various JRM reports articulatethis second perspective, the first perspective isnot totally absent even in NCFTE 2009 or JusticeVerma Commission’s report.

JRM reports have pointed out that a large numberof faculty members across teacher educationinstitutions in different states have ‘superficial’understanding of NCF 2005, NCFTE 2009 andthe underlying perspectives that guide theseframeworks. The issue to ponder over is: Whatlanguage may be used except of a ‘lack’ tounderstand this ‘absence’? What does this‘absence’ signify about limited reach ofeducational reform discourse and the small sizeof civil society that attempts to substitutebehaviouristic paradigm? How is a perspectiveintroduced, developed and sustained whendocuments like NCFTE and research journals arenot available in the regional languages and thereare no sustained networks?

Challenges of teacher training and professional

developmentLarge number of vacant positions of teachers anda huge backlog of untrained teachers serving inschools are two major challenges in the arena ofteacher education in India. Given the paucity ofteacher training institutions in several states,significant number of states are using OpenDistance Learning (ODL) mode to train theiruntrained teachers. The ODL mode of clearingthe backlog of untrained teachers raises three setof concerns. Firstly, availability of sufficientnumber of study centers, finding suitable facultyand ensuring quality feedback on student’sassignments is in itself an onerous task. Secondly,if the faculty for ODL programs is largely drawnfrom the Faculty of DIETs and IASE, and theyfulfill this responsibility in addition to their duties,then it will harm the quality of their teaching andfeedback on assignments submitted by students.Such a situation defeats the purpose of thistraining exercise. Thirdly, non-availability of goodreading material in printed form in certainsituation raises question on the quality ofteaching and learning of the distance educationprogrammes. Together, these concerns lead to abigger question - does ODL mode meet the realpurpose of teacher training? We also need torethink should we re-imagine the ‘pre-service’kind of teacher training programmes and modulesfor untrained teachers who are ‘students’ withlong experience of teaching12 .


14

Some JRM reports have also highlighted the needfor a small number of participants in the trainingsand continuity of batches to foster sense ofcommunity, networking, peer-learning andsupport from subject specific groups13 . In thespirit of NCF 2005 and NCFTE 2009, the resourcepersons are expected to not only have disciplinaryand pedagogic command but be a willing andflexible partner who interacts and learns withparticipants and engages with their problems.

Several JRMs have rued absence of planning forfaculty development based on the interests,experience and needs identified by faculty. Sucha professional development may take form ofrefresher and orientation courses in disciplinarysubjects and foundation courses in the area ofteacher education. A credit based inductionprogramme for senior functionaries has also beensuggested14 .

The recommendations of JRMs for suchprovisions can only see light if a large number ofhigher education institutions offer rigoroustrainings and courses in these areas. Such anexpectation places a new set of demands over theexisting capacities of the academic staff collegesof these institutions and may also requiredesigning of new set of programmes. Universitiesmay also need to revise and/or relax rules forworking school teachers and teacher educatorsto join research programmes withoutcompromising on the rigour. One question thatstill begs answer is, if a large number of faculty ison contract (more so in private teacher educationinstitutions), then can robust researchprogrammes may even be offered and what maybe the long term consequences of such anarrangement for developing a possible pool ofteacher educators15 .

Availability of resource materialsAbsence of good reading material is a crucialconcern addressed by all the JRM reports. ThoughJRMs have recommended development andprocurement of readings, classics and reflectivejournals, the issue is compounded by very littleavailability of such material in regional languagesin contrast to the omnipresence and use of guidesin Indian languages. At present about 40% of allstudents enrolled in higher education come from

non-metropolitan India while English continuesto dominate. This ‘enormous linguistic dividewithin Indian higher education…has severeconsequences for occupational, economic andsocial mobility, and the quality of life, of non-metropolitan students’16 . Niranjana (2013) hassuggested a range of initiatives to address thisdivide and generate knowledge which can beequally enriching for teacher education.

This question of development of good readingmaterial and resources acquires a differentconnotation in the context of significant rise andavailability of companies selling “educationalproducts” and newer alliances between statebodies and private companies. Unlike USA whereeven universities have started commercialdevelopment and exploitation of online education

raising concerns about ‘commercial, pedagogical,

and ethical implications of online educational

technology’17 , in India at present, such a

phenomenon is absent. Since colonial period,

private publishers have published guidebooks

and the need and demand for reading materials

in various Indian languages presents ‘exciting

prospects’ for these and emerging private players.

With increasing clamour for public-private

partnerships, it is quite possible that this job is

entrusted to private players. But the limited

experience of an entry of a major multinational

player in the educational products and testing

market does not generate confidence of a break in

the existing practices18 . Further, such an exercise

is bound to intensify privatization of teacher

education.


15

Another possible solution to availability of sucha material is in the form of e-resources, a form forwhich intensive lobbying and advocacy is also atwork. Besides corporate interests, there have alsobeen proposals for open access learning that donot operate with profit motive and may avail theseresources in the public domain free of cost. Butdoes ICT provision mean a necessary diminishingof reading and library in teacher education or forthat matter in any educational institution andprogramme. We need to ask, is library just acollection of books or is it also a space, where yousit quietly amidst thousands of books. A spacethat creates its own ethos and whereby access toa book is not just an access to a specific materialbut also participation in larger ethos as an aspectof learning19 .

Developing researchQuestion of research is an issue that has beendeliberated considerably in the report of theNational Knowledge Commission, Yashpalcommittee Report on Higher Education andreports to restructure ICSSR and other institutions.Though these reports have different vantagepoints to deliberate on this question, issue ofresearch in teacher education cannot bedeliberated in complete isolation from theseongoing debates.

Limited capacities to undertake relevant researchin the context of non-availability of resources,absence of planning and emphasis on actionresearch as the dominant mode of research emergeas serious lacunae. JRMs have recommended thatexposure visits, trainings in researchmethodology, and opportunities for sharing anddissemination of research should be instituted inteacher education institutions.

Besides the above suggestions, it is important thatnew mechanisms to enrich libraries as a resourcecentre for faculty research be explored. This woulddefinitely include procuring recent work invarious areas and subscription of researchjournals and magazines. Special provisions toenable access of SCERTs, IASE and DIETs to e-resources (INFLIBNET) through UGC may bemade. D-Space may be created to access goodresearch dissertations done in Indian and foreignuniversities. Networking between institutions

and formation of teaching and research interestgroups may be other avenues to forge peer-supportsystems to initiate, sustain and disseminateresearches. To promote research journals inregional languages, initial seed money, grants andsubsidy such as one received by ContemporaryEducation Dialogue in its initial years from ICICIfoundation and SRTT may be explored.

While suggestions given above by JRMs andmyself focus on the modalities of generatingresources and networks to undertake research,questions about nature and purpose of researchby teacher educators still need to be debated. Oneset of concerns relate to whether research itselfbecomes a handmaiden to power expressedthrough institutions, discourses, practices,reforms, structures, state and market or does itdisrupt them by asking uncomfortable questions.Later possibility is premised on the assumptionsof autonomy of the teacher educators to undertakeresearches based on their interest with space fordissenting voices. Such a view rejects viewingteachers as objects of research or as ‘simplytranslators or interpreters of educational researchdone elsewhere’ or confining them to actionresearches. Instead it encourages teachers to gobeyond the accepted definitions and models ofresearch and develop and share their own critiqueand approaches20 . Obviously, this view does notrestrict research to skills and promotes a differentconceptualization of teacher education.

Linkages with higher education institutions andnetworkingDeveloping linkages of SCERTs, IASEs and DIETswith universities as the site of both disciplinaryand interdisciplinary inquiry and research isconsidered crucial by JRMs for revitalization ofthese institutions and to develop their capacities.Besides the willingness of these institutions toseek such an institutional collaboration with theuniversities and departments of educationlocated within universities, another necessarycondition is the readiness of the later to forgethese relationships. It is possible that certainuniversities and departments of education maybe more willing than others for such apartnership. MHRD, state governments andinstitutions like UGC may consider a set ofschemes and incentives to promote such


16

collaboration through extra recruitments,deputations, resources to develop readers andother resource materials for teacher educators andteacher pupils, to undertake collaborativeresearch and develop training programmes21 . Inthe hierarchy of work considered significant forpromotion in the universities, such anengagement may also be given a place to motivateuniversity faculties to join in.

Marginalization and teacher educationWith arrival of a large number of first generationlearners from poor families in school, the class,caste and gender composition of classrooms hasbecome more diverse. In this context, both NCFTE2009 and JRMs have underscored the necessityto give necessary space to questions of inclusionin both the theoretical and practical componentsof teacher education programmes. Thisheterogeneous composition is also evident in theprofile of students of teacher educationprogrammes and school teachers. In this context,reconceptualization of teacher educationprogrammes from the perspective of gender orother marginalized social groups needs carefulconsideration to question dominance. In NorthAmerica, there are distinct teacher trainingprogrammes aimed at Indigenous students.Studying such programmes may help us conceivequestion of quality in conjunction with equality.With such a focus, we may ask does the teachereducation curriculum adequately prepare studentteachers to understand the complex issuesconcerning education of tribal children and doesit prepare tribal students to be teachers22 .Similarly, gender question needs to be understoodmore than numbers of girls pursuing a course orfaculty members. That this question is notseparately probed in some detail in most JRMreports, is only an evidence of its largermarginalization in the teacher educationdiscourse that demands correction.

References1. Central government has revised the Centrally

Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education under XIIth

plan with an approved outlay of Rs. 6,308 for theplan period in a Centre-State sharing ration of 75:25(90:10 for North East Region).

2. MHRD (2011). Report of the Working Group on Teacher

Education for the 12th Five Year Plan. New Delhi:Department of School Education and Literacy,

Ministry of Human Resource Development,Government of India, October.

3. NCTE (2009). National Curriculum Framework for

Teacher Education: Towards Preparing Professional and

Humane Teacher. New Delhi: National Council forTeacher Education.

4. Verma, J. S. (2012). Vision of Teacher Education in India:

Quality and Regulatory Perspective. Report of the High

Powered Commission on Teacher EducationConstituted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. NewDelhi: Department of School Education and Literacy,Ministry of Human Resource Development,Government of India, August.

5. This review is expected to be undertaken along a

range of parameters from financial, ICT andinfrastructure to curriculum, processes andpedagogic practices, qualifications and resourcematerials, research and governance.

6. See, UNESCO (1998). World Education Report 1998:Teachers and Teaching in a Changing World. Paris:UNESCO. World Bank has initiated several projectsto improve teacher education in various countries.For teacher education reforms focusing on teachersin Australia and New Zealand, see Thomas, Sue(2011). ‘Teachers and Public Engagement: AnArgument for Rethinking Teacher Professionalism toChallenge Deficit Discourses in the Public Sphere’.Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education,Vol. 32, No. 3, pp: 371-382; Thrupp, Martin (2009).‘Teachers, Social Contexts and the Politics of Blame’.QTU Professional Magazine, November, pp: 6-12.

7. Miri, Mrinal (2012). Some Points Arising out ofProfessor Sharma’s Observations on “RevampingTeacher Education”. In, Verma, J. S. (2012). Vision ofTeacher Education in India: Quality and RegulatoryPerspective. Report of the High Powered Commissionon Teacher Education Constituted by the Hon’bleSupreme Court. Vol. 3, Annexure 3 (ii), pp: 24. NewDelhi: Department of School Education and Literacy,Ministry of Human Resource Development,Government of India, August.

8. Sinha, Shanta and Reddy, Anugula N. (2011). ‘SchoolDropouts or Pushouts’? Overcoming Barriers for theRight to Education. In R. Govinda (ed.) Who Goes toSchool? Exploring Exclusion in Indian Education. NewDelhi: Oxford University Press, pp: 166-204, pg. 194.

9. NCF 2005 has also noted that ‘transmission ofinformation’ has been the mainstay of teacherprogrammes in India.

10. See Report of the JRM on Teacher Education,Jharkhand, pp: 16. JRM report on Jammu andKashmir (pp: 13) has also noted the perfunctorytreatment to sociology and social issues that are‘crucial to the understanding of education in Indiaand its many complex regional variations’.

11. Kumar, Krishna (2013). The Silent War over EducationReforms. The Hindu, Lead Opinion article, 2 April.

12. I am grateful to Prof. Sadhna Saxena for drawing myattention to this aspect. Similar point is also made inthe Report of the JRM on Teacher Education, MadhyaPradesh.

13. See Report of the JRM on Teacher Education, Madhya


17

Pradesh.14. See Report of the JRM on Teacher Education, Uttar

Pradesh, pp: 10.15. The regional dimension of uneven development of

teacher education institutions had been noted byearlier studies that pointed to better development ofDIETs in the educationally advanced southern statesof the country. Future JRMs can help us understandthe causes of these regional trajectories.

16. Kumar, Krishna (2012). Pedagogy Market: The CBSE-Pearson Tie-up. Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 47,No 48, 1 December, pp 18-20.

17. Noble, David F. (1998). Digital Diploma Mills: TheAutomation of Higher Education. First Monday,Volume 3, Number 1 - 5 January, http://f i r s t m o n d a y . o r g / h t b i n / c g i w r a p / b i n / o j s /index.php/fm/article/view/569/490, Accessed 14April 2013. I am grateful to Prof. Krishna Kumar fordirecting me to this article.

18. Niranjana, Tejaswini (2013). Indian Languages inIndian Higher Education. Economic & Political Weekly,Vol. 48, No. 12, March 23, pp: 14-19

19. Prof. Krishna Kumar opened this new dimension oflibrary to me and the above paragraph draws ondiscussion with him.

20. Here I have drawn upon Lingard and Renshaw whoare cited in Hardy (2010: 716). Ian Hardy (2010):Teacher Learning: A Call to Complexity. Discourse:Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Vol. 31,No. 5, pp: 713-723.

21. UGC supported deputation of university facultiesto the HSTP programme serves as an instructivemodel and precedent to explore and designpossibilities of collaboration today.

22. Similar point is also made in the Report of the JRM onTeacher Education, Madhya Pradesh.


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H.K. Dewan

The Joint Review Missions: Some observationand thoughts

IntroductionTeachers are central to the enterprise of education.Teachers’ preparation and development is asignificant contributor to efforts to equitablyimprove access to quality education. TheGovernment of India has identified the need forbuilding institutional capability in the area ofteacher education and preparation and hasincreased the investment outlay in this area inrecent 12th Five year Plan.

In order to facilitate use of this additional fund,the Central Government has also devised waysof supporting the States in developing their plansaccording to their strengths as well as inimplementing these plans. The CentralGovernment has developed a CentrallySponsored Scheme (CSS) for teacher educationand the guidelines under the revised scheme havecareful directions involving all stakeholders aswell as those who have been engaged with teachereducation reform for many decades in thecountry. The State Governments have beenunanimous in their agreement to go ahead withimplementation of the recommendations.

The Central Government, having felt the need tosupport the State Governments’ effort to developtheir annual work plans and to implement them,has constituted Joint Review Mission teams. TheJRM team members, along with a team leader,have been carefully selected from a pool ofacknowledged experts in the field of teachereducation. The purpose of the JRM is to provideleadership in the implementation of teachereducation scheme in the different states. The JRMwould be expected to analyze carefully the statusof education in the State and deliberate with theState Government about the possibility of stepsthat can be taken for quality improvement. TheJRM is expected to support the State inunderstanding the need for curriculum reform andhelp in aligning their teacher education

programmes to the philosophy of NCFTE 2009and NCF 2005. The JRM visit is expected to helpin facilitating changes and not be an inspectionor fire-fighter exercise. The idea is for the JRMteam to engage with the State on a long-term basisand bring out long-term improvements. On thebasis of these broad principles, the JRMs wereconstituted with membership from a variety ofinstitutions. Each of the JRM visited the State theywere responsible for, for a period of 7-10 daysand interacted with all stakeholders by visiting asample of teacher education institutions. Theatmosphere of these visits was extremely positiveeverywhere and the JRM were able to havedialogue with all the senior functionariesconcerned with the teacher education.

Observations from the early visitsA quick perusal of the first set of JRM reports andconversations with members of different JRMteams has brought out certain commonobservations. There are some encouragingfeatures in all states but many moredisappointments. Among the positives is theattitude of the States towards the JRM team; theteam was given deference and the suggestionsfrom the members listened to carefully. In eachState, in the many DIETs, CTEs and IASEs as wellas in some of the private institutions, there areenthusiastic persons who are keen to make theirinstitution properly functional. There areexamples of interesting interventions and roledefinitions that institutions and individuals haveevolved. For example, DIET (Jorhat, Titabor) inAssam is evolving pedagogical and assessmentpractices based on teacher abilities. In several places,effective and purposeful functioning of key Stateand district institution structures is being madepossible by specific pockets of encouragementand initiative. In Jammu and Kashmir, in-serviceteachers who do not have the requiredprofessional degree are encouraged to enter theB.Ed. programme and 200 seats in the Govt.


19

college in Kashmir college and 150 in Jammu arereserved for in-service teachers. Attending B.Edcourse in these colleges is treated as deputation.From each of the States we can pick upenthusiasm of people initiating activities andprograms that could have promise and meaning.Of course, there are some States which have moreexamples and others who are hampered byabsence of any organizational structure tocoordinate and lead the effort.

Pursuit of the goals of RtE. Many of the States areconscious of the need to train those teachersalready in schools who do not have the requiredteaching certificate. The states have adopteddifferent strategies and the effort in many Stateshas begun. In at least one of them, Bihar, thereseems to be a desire to benefit from the experienceof other States to ensure that the process is notperfunctory. The task of providing facilities foruntrained teachers in schools to get their teachingcertificate has been used by Chhattisgarh toinitiate a dialogue with them on major areas raisedin NCF 2005 and RTE 2009. They have alsoincluded senior secondary schools and plan tohave them function as Centers for learningsubsequently as well. The fact that many of theStates including Chhattisgarh, have developedtheir own ways of setting up Centers for trainingindicates the recognition of the need and if theycan be made to function as Centers to scaffoldand support learning it would be extremelymeaningful. In many States evidence of dialogueto improve the D.Ed. and B.Ed. syllabus and alsofor the modification of the assessment processesexists but there are no mechanisms to make iteffective and purposeful.

Many States have been able to streamline theprocesses of selection, placements andadmissions to the D.Ed. and the B.Ed courses. Insome States, an effort to increase dialogueamongst teachers and amongst DIET facultyseems to be actively pursued. The overallimpression is that whatever the situation be atthe present there is some energy available toattempt improvements.

It was clear during the visits of JRM to the Statesthat some key aspects of RtE 2009 were beingengaged with. States with large backlog of

untrained teachers in the schools were makingefforts to ensure all of them have teachingcertificate. The States are also showing positiveefforts to further deployment of teachers in orderto meet the people-teacher ratio suggested. Thereseems to be a consensus of the other majorimplications of the RtE on the system at somelevels. However, in most of the States where someof these things were being attempted, thestructures of education seem to be excluded fromthe processes. Their experience notwithstanding,the conventional structures like the DIETs andSCERTs do not have the flexibility to carry outaccelerated curriculum and syllabusdevelopment to meet the demands of RtE. In mostStates all these processes were managed throughad hoc institutions.

SCERTs, DIETs and other structures. Some of theStates have not constituted the SCERT and amongthe many which have, the mandate for it has notbeen spelt out. There appears to be a gap in themanner in which the SCERT and its role isunderstood. Barring a few SCERTs, most of theothers had not even thought about their role asthe academic authority in the State. Even theStates that were aware of this role had no directionor strategy that they would appropriately follow.The hierarchy of the SCERT Director, vis-a-vis theother educational and administrative systems,needs to be carefully studied and examined. TheSCERT Director at the moment has aninappropriate status in the hierarchy.

In some of the SCERTs and DIETs there is apositive energy and in many of these it emanatesfrom the incumbent head of the institutions. It,however, does not appear that any of the Stateshas very effective capacity development processesthat could lead to institutionalization of thisenergy and its promotion. The only States thatseem to be making some effort in this directionappear to be Chhattisgarh and Bihar. Even inthese States, however, no clear direction ofcapacity building, adequate space and resourcesfor this process and clarity about the content,process and resource institutions/persons wasavailable.

The SCERT, therefore, in many States appear tobe still far being the academic authority


20

responsible for developing and consolidatingquality. There is a variety in the people manningthe SCERT and at present there is no State whichhas a well defined cadre for its SCERTs. MostStates do not have an effective capacity buildingand visioning possibilities for the SCERT. TheSCERT Director comes from differentbackgrounds in different States. In some Stateseven though the SCERT is functioning well thereseems to be a disconnect between the SCERTDirector and the faculty. The SCERT Directors,however, generally remained low in the hierarchyof the educational administrators. Their voicesin planning and development are subservient tothe other functionaries of the educationdepartment.

The larger education system in the Statescontinues to be gripped by heavy inertia. Theseinstitutions lack resources but more that that theylack a sense of collective vision and collectivemotivation. The lack of resources includes not justinadequate finances but also includes the non-availability of sufficient faculty members in theDIETs and in the SCERTs. Many StateGovernments have made attempts to place qualitypeople in the SCERTs. These have, however, notworked due to various reasons. The DIETplacements are not attractive and the criteria forplacement are unclear and uncertain. ManyStates are also struggling with internal rules andregulations that make placement in the DIETsdifficult.

In spite of enthusiasm at the individual levelamong some of the team members, the teachereducation institutes as well as the SCERTsappear to be collectively disempowered. Thevacancies and uncertainty in the purpose andtenure of placement in the SCERT and DIETs doesnot add to self belief or motivation. In the absenceof a clear policy regarding the role of theseinstitutions and the kind of persons that arerequired, they seem to be adrift. The large areaand scope under the purview of these institutions,inadequate resources, lack of real authority orautonomy leads to substantial subservience tonon-educational issues.

In most States there is a lack of awareness of theimportance of institutional visions and lack of

ability to develop a coordinated vision. There areno long-term plans to make the faculty feelempowered for their role. These institutionscontinue to work without a clear purpose andvision required for informed decision making.The institutions have a varied infrastructure,quality going from acceptable to really inadequateor bad. Apart from the fact that many of thebuildings are old and therefore small, they alsoare poorly maintained. There are neither effectiveprocesses of keeping the institutions clean norany resources for it. The way the rules are framedit is difficult for an institution to collect sufficientrevenue to maintain itself, leave alone developnewer facilities.

Teacher Education. There are many stakeholdersresponsible for teachers and teacher education.These include the Director/Commissioner ofEducation office, the SSA office, SCERT, thePrimary and/or Elementary teachers ofeducation, the Tribal Department Office and alsothe SCERT. In many States there is also a textbookprinting distribution unit which in some Statesis also responsible for getting the book developedand finalized. There are no systemic processesavailable to ensure communication and supportamong various bodies engaged with school andteacher education. It appears that there is a needfor clearer understanding of responsibility,allocation and processes that ensure mutualsupport rather than animosity struggles of powerand authority. There is a lack of clarity inresponsibility allocation and inter-linkages,including the reporting structures, among thedifferent institutes.

The teacher education is delivered by the D.Ed.Colleges, the DIETs and the B.Ed. colleges. TheB.Ed. colleges include the CTEs and the IASEs.The condition of the CTEs and IASEs in all theStates was dismal. At best, there were no betterthan good colleges of education. In many, the roleof IASE and CTE was not clear and there did notseem to be understanding that the IASE or CTE isnot a small unit within the institutions but theinstitution itself. The understanding of the facultyabout research, about the relationship with theDIETs, with the schools was extremely sketchyand in many places they were unaware of theprinciples expressed in the NCF 2005 and


21

NCFTE. In fact, it did not seem that theinstitutions had considered these documentscarefully and tried to understand and thinkdeeply about the principles and processespresented in them or the reason why these werebeing brought forward. In most CTEs and IASEs,the infrastructure development had also not takenplace and like the DIETs the facilities for teachersduring training were severely inadequate both interms of appropriateness as well as in terms ofnumbers.

One of the key factors, emphasized during theformation of the JRM, was the fact that 80% of theteachers going into the system are learning atprivate colleges. The JRM teams’ visits to some ofthese colleges in different States to see the waythese colleges function showed a mixed bag.Many were new but had extremely goodinfrastructure and adequate faculty with signs ofgood quality scholars and teaching. Some of theseseem to better handle problems than the CTEsand IASEs that were part of the State educationsystem. It makes sense, therefore, to set upprocesses of sharing between these institutionsand the State in order to facilitate cross-fertilization and mutual enrichment. Needless tosay, such private institutions are not very largein number. There are many private institutionswhich are average and have ensured reasonableengagement with students and their learning. Onthe other hand, some of the teacher trainingcolleges seem to be far below the expectedrequirements. In many of these while theinfrastructure was reasonable, faculty and theirstatus seem to be very tentative. In some even theinfrastructure was inadequate. What, however,is also remarkable that in none of the institutionsthe glimpse of principles of educationemphasized in NCFTE could be seen.

ConclusionNot just in private colleges, but overall there wascomparative unawareness and lack ofunderstanding of the details of the NCF 2005 andthe NCFTE 2009 principles. These documents arereferred to but in the abstract and do not seemedto have been carefully perused and analyzed. Thediscourse is full of terms emanating from thesedocuments and includes other generic terms thathave been in vogue over the past few decades. An

effort to unpack these terms and articulate theinter-linkages between these terms and what theymean in today’s context however are not in thehorizon in any of the State. The systems seem tobe happy to use these terms without an effort toeven develop a shared understanding of these.The institutional structures are paralyzed by lackof decision making. The sanctioning anddisbursement processes are perhaps wellintentioned but lead to endless delays. Thereseems to be a difficulty in coordinated action andeffective systems of review and planning. Thesystem and the institutions in it aresimultaneously engaging with many concernsand priorities leaving them insufficiently engagedwith a specific action plan and follow up.The key factors that stunt the investments andthe efforts include the lack of sufficient teammembers in the institutions, low motivation dueto various reasons mentioned above and a lack ofability in innovating and building new ideas. Theinstitution faculty remains entrapped in whatthey read as new ideas in education. Most of thesehave been long displaced.

The JRMs have a mandate to support and scaffoldthe Teacher Development effort for the State thatit has been designated. For the teacherdevelopment programme to be become effectiveand meaningful, it is important that the JRM visitsand interacts with the State team at various levelsperiodically. There also needs to be a mechanismby which the JRM can develop a relationshipbetween State teams and the institutions so thatthey can seek support of JRM directly. It will, ofcourse, depend on the initiative at the State level.The JRM team needs to interact and also developtheir understanding of the State as well asprocesses of education better. The scope andmandate of the JRM will keep getting modifiedand defined as they interact with more with theState Government systems as well as amongthemselves.


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1. Vision development: There should a collective Vision and Outcomes based plan for each TeacherEducation Institution (TEI) and this must be developed through a consultative visioning processwith all TEIs and other key education stakeholders in the state.

2. Link with school education: Teacher Education system must be integrally linked with schooleducation for experimentation, teacher training, material development, research and documen-tation and link TEI with SSA

3. Develop system for linkages between institutions: communication and understanding of eachother’s work is not consistent or deep enough and horizontal and vertical linkages between theinstitutions

4. Enhance Autonomy: Need to enhance the autonomy of teacher education/resource institutionsat all levels from the State to the District level

5. Curriculum revision: Pre-service teacher education revision includes the NCFTE 2009 guide-lines and suggestions and sprit of RTE and NCF 2005.

6. Quality Assurance: There is need of quality assurance system for all TEI, irrespective of whetherthey are private or government.

7. Strong separate Cadre: Create a strong separate cadre for teacher educators, with career mobil-ity between school-BRC-DIET-SCERT based on demonstrated good performance based on pre-identified standards

8. Filing vacancy: Expedite the process of filling the huge vacancies in teacher educator cadre9. Strengthening SCERT : The structure and capacity of SCERT must be increased and strength-

ened as its role as Academic Authority under RTE, including setting up an Academic AuthorityCell to advise SCERT on this role, involving some of the best minds from within and outside thestate from diverse disciplines

10. Facilities: Ensure availability of infrastructure, labs, ICT facilities and library as per norms11. Professional empowerment of teacher educators: Capacity building around issues of quality

and inclusion as per RTE leadership, change in mind set and attitude towards marginalizedgroups, beliefs about children, learning, hierarchy, professional commitment, etc.

12. Capacity Development of Teachers as Professionals: scientific assessment of needs of eachteacher, focus on enhancement of classroom learning, use of , use of constructivist methods intraining1 instead of routine training, create forums for a Learning Community of teachers andeducators

13. Contextual issues: Include contextual issues of children from SC, ST, Muslim communities andother marginalized children in teacher education curriculum and training modules both at preand in-service levels.

14. Tracking performance: Develop a system of performance standards for tracking performance ofall teachers and teacher support systems/ TEIs, which are linked to career progression andincrements

15. Role of state in teacher education: State should not depend on CSS16. Use of ICT: MIS of TEI, teacher profile, academic and professional development

Summary of the recommendations of JRM

1. Group work, discussions, analytical reading and reflection, journal writing, case studies, problem-solving, role play,debate, microteaching, demonstrations, presentations, film/book reviews, use of videos with reflective discussions


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Nidhi Gulati

Becoming a teacher: Voices from graduates of a

Professional teacher education programme1

Abstract

Does a professional teacher education programme interface with the development of identities of a teacher? Thisis the question that this paper considers worthy of asking. In doing so, it attempts to unravel some of the complexissues that have to do with the preparation of a teacher in professional ways. The paper is based on a study thatattempted to capture the life-spaces of the alumna of a professional undergraduate teacher education programmerun in select colleges in Delhi University. The interviews of the alumna reveal their experiences in the course, theirprofessional socialization, and the tensions inherent in their own professional identities. In this context, twodiscourses are discussed at length – the teacher mother discourse and the professional teacher.The discussion is organized along the identity dimensions of the professional self. We begin discussing how thealumnae articulate their self as a teacher, and move on to how they value this aspect of their identity. Theillustrative narratives reveal how teachers see children as continuous with their own selves and their own identitiesas distinct and non-aligned with the teacher mother discourse. Nuances of their complex professional identities areunraveled as gendered. Teacher professionalism is seen to be drawn from patriarchal values and is thereforeconfining. The paper also debates the issue of how to view professionalism in the context of teacher education – informs of tenets of professional occupation, or seeing the teacher in instrumental ways of addressing state goals, oras contributing towards the personal and professional development of their ‘selves’.

IntroductionWho is a teacher? The question of who a teacheris evokes many complex riddles. Some puzzlingdimensions engage with whether the questionrefers to the imagination of a teacher in policyand programmes, or her position in society, orher position in her class vis-à-vis her students, ormore importantly how do the children she teachessee her. There is yet another important dimensionfrom which to view this question: How does ateacher see herself? How does she see her work?There is very little research in our context to tellus about the teacher’s articulation of her ownidentity in relation to her work2.

Other riddles are woven around how the teacherwould be prepared. Or what would be thestructures and processes of teacher preparation?A popular perception is that teachers are born,not made. Teaching comes naturally to people,and is an extension of their natural selves. Thesenotions imply that a teacher is someone who has

a natural inclination in working with children. Adistinct and contrary view believes that teacherscan be prepared and this view dominates teachereducation programme and policies. The basicpremise of teacher education is that the teachercan learn her craft/ her skills, and/or herknowledge- content and pedagogic, and engagewith children and issues. In this context, Moore(2004) argues that three views dominate thediscourse on good teacher - ‘Made in Heaven –charismatic subjects’(metaphor usually found inpopular culture, e.g. in films in the western context–Hollywood for instance); ‘The training discourse– competent craft persons’ ( a model that thegovernment prefers); and ‘The appeal of reason –reflective practitioners’(popular in Universities).

There are also several metaphors3 evoked aboutwho a teacher is. Is the teacher a guru? Or is she afunctionary or an instrument to serve the purposeof the state? Is the teacher like the midwife4 whoassists in delivering knowledge? Is the teacher

1 This paper is based on 2 years of study as part of project-University School Resource Network undertaken withfinancial support from Sir Ratan Tata Trust

2 For detailed discussions on teacher’s view of her work, see Sriprakash, A. 2011. Being a teacher in contexts of change:classroom reforms and the repositioning of teachers’ work. Contemporary Educational Dialogue 8(1), 5-31.

3 The term metaphor is used here. It can be argued that these metaphors are prevalent discourses about a teacher.Notions, opinions, patterns of understanding and thinking among members of a particular social group, which areconstantly changing constitute what is called a discourse.

4 For details see Wharton. K. 2010. The Teacher as Mother or Midwife? A Comparison of Brahmanical and SocraticMethods of Education. The Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement No. 66


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like the mother? Is she a professional? Few of these metaphors have more contextual relevance thanothers. Over the last century, there has been a transition from the teacher being a guru to the teacherbeing a state functionary. This transition can be attributed to the shift in the school system during thecolonial period, a shift that has continued even in the post-colonial times. The contexts have determinedteacher’s roles and expectations. She is being viewed completely differently in the context of theglobalization. These metaphors interact in complex ways, impacting how a teacher sees herself andhow she is viewed in the discourse of Education.

Table: A collation of brief descriptions of the metaphors evoked in reference to teachers

Metaphor Select Reference

work

Context where the metaphor emerges

Teacher roles and responsibilities

Teacher as Guru (Sarangpani)

Kale P, 1970

The notion is linked to the Brahminical tradition of the guru, where the guru is the teacher in pedagogic sense, spiritual guide and mentor. There were also gurus for the teaching of silpas (art and craft) Maulvis as spiritual gurus in Maktabs. Teaching came as ‘entitlement’ from being born a Brahmin.

Close personal contact with students. Oral transmission of knowledge. Not paid, but token of gratitude and respect. Gurus were Brahmins/ shilpkars/ maulvis.Qualities of sacrifice, devotion and disinterested approach to material wealth. The guru image persists in folk notions about teachers, and among teachers themselves.

Teacher as a mid-wife

Wharton, K 2010

The origin of the midwifery metaphor for teacher-pupil relationship emerges from

Socrates dialogue with his pupil, Theaetetus.

In the midwife metaphor Socrates teaches his pupils to

give birth to their own truth by exercising their freedom to

question, examine and diagnose or judge for themselves.

The teacher, as the midwife watches over the student as he defines and styles his own identity. It is also the teacher’s

duty to diagnose false pregnancy, or abort student’s malformed ideas.

Teacher as an instrument of the state

Khan, F (2008), Kumar, K (1991), Batra, P (2005).

In the early stages of development of education in eighteenth and early nineteenth century, teacher training was largely in the hands of voluntary agencies. The idea and practice of state control over teacher training, certification, recruitment and control over their work emerged from various educational reforms, acts and laws enacted since late nineteenth century in western countries as an aspect of the development of the educational state. In the context of colonial India, teacher education

emerged and was shaped. The discourse in which this emerged

was that of the teacher delivering efficiently and effectively what the British expected them to do.

Role to play in preparing clerks who were well versed in reading, writing and arithmetic. Krishna Kumar in Political agenda of Education has contested if a utilitarian aspect may be described as the aim of colonial education. Since the education, position and salary of teachers was far lower than clerks, I wonder whether school teachers were expected to play the role to prepare clerks. The purpose of teaching was the ‘creation of the colonial citizen’ along with ‘modernizing impact of English education’. Curricula, syllabi and assessment were decided not be teachers but by administrators. Teacher

accountable to several administrative officers.

Batra argues that this legacy persists and teachers continue to be ‘mere implementers’ and lack ‘agency’ and ‘voice’.


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5 See Kothari Commission Report (1964-66), NPE 1986, Yashpal Committee Report, NCF 2005, NCFTE 2009 on how teacher as professional isapproached and construed

6 For a further discussion on professionalism, see Khora S. 2011. Education and Teacher Professionalism. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. The approachto professionalism developed for other occupations and then extended to Education is an extension of the taxonomic approach. He citesNoordegraaf’s 2007 hybridized approach, where a professional is a reflective practitioner, their links with the outside world are part ofprofessionalism; they form a social category/class. page 35

7 See Krishna K Teaching and the Neo-Liberal State. Economic and Political Weekly. May 21 2011. Vol XLVI, No. 21 for a persuasive argument onredefined teacher roles in the context of the Neo-Liberal state.

Teacher as the mother

Acker, S Wharton K, Casey K, Walkerdine V (1990)

According to Indian cultural origins, it is during late Vedic era, which is the time of composition of Dharamshastras that this metaphor emerges in context of the Brahminical

initiation ritual of Upanayana. The teacher is presented as becoming pregnant with the student. The Arthvaveda states that the teacher leads the student towards himself, makes

him an embryo within; he bears him in his belly three nights. In this ritual action, the teacher becomes the mother of the pupil.(Wharton K, ibid) In contrast, Casey’s work focuses ‘on women teachers’ concerns for care and connectedness

There is no distance, no boundary between the teacher and pupil. The student bonds with the teacher as a child held in the womb.

The student and teacher unite in the construction / sharing of knowledge. The metaphor has a gendered basis. According to Acker, the idea of

women teachers coalesced with that of the family role of the mother.

Teacher as a professional

Committee recommen

dations on curricular and pedagogic reforms5

Khan, F. Khora, S.6

This conception corresponded with the idea of the ‘reflective practitioner’ in

the Australian context, and ‘critical pedagogue’ and thinking intellectual in the American context, and gained popularity in the 1970’s (Connell, 2009). The reference towards

professionalism comes from varied sources. The NPE 1986 posits professionalism as driven from robust pre-service and continuous in-service teacher education programmes. Continuity of training whilst in-service may refer to being professional. It may also refer to certain enduring traits in thought and attitudes of teachers. The Yashpal Committee (1993) (among other recommendations) emphasized on self-learning and independent thinking in teacher preparation. The NCF 2005 and NCFTE 2009 see the teacher as a liberal, reflective, humane professional, responsive to demands of inclusive education.

The term ‘professional’ is applied rather loosely and

appears to refer to a large ambit of traits/ practice. Characteristic of or befitting a profession refers to conduct, ethics and standards,

performance. Focus on standards, ethics in practice. Also refers to status, when talking of position and respect in society. The NCFTE sees professionalism developing from reflection, engagement with teachers, students, classrooms and pedagogic activities. Sarangapani argues that accountability and reduced social distance from parents are dimensions of professionalism of teachers.

Teacher as the service-provider

Kumar, K7 Emerges in the neo-liberal discourse where the teacher has the largest burden of outcome-oriented institutional culture, his/her professional worth is in terms of predictability and measurability of outcomes of his/ her effort. The teacher is regarded as a resource to be continuously developed with further training, not someone who has her own agency and capacity to learn from experience. The discourse used to legitimize is that of ‘quality’ and ‘efficiency’, a well oiled machinery.

Teachers are to spend substantial time in formally planning, describing, justifying and assessing their own activities. Works on scripted curriculum, pre-designed outcomes. According to Kumar 2011, ‘there exists a contrast between a teacher’s caste, class and gender identity, which plays out differently in familial and professional roles.’ Familiar with ‘pedagogic modernism’,


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The question is then reframed as ‘Am I a goodteacher?’ In everyday discussions, the notion ofthe good teacher draws from both rational andsensitive underpinnings. The conception ofmodernist ‘professional teacher’ emerges in thecontext of both attempts at professionalization ofteaching and emphasis on compulsory schoolingin the modern welfare state. Increasingly, fewresearches are looking at the larger social rolesthat teachers play outside of the ambit of theinstitutions where they teach. It so seems thatteacher’s work is being located more and morewithin institutions, and also increased de-skillingof her work. Most of the times, she is not decidingwhat to teach, how to assess her students but thesedecisions are taken elsewhere (Majumdar 2011).

Teacher as a professionalThe discourses regarding teacher’sprofessionalism create conflicting notions ofteachers’ work- as the caring woman or as aproductive academician. In a modernist sense,the productive individual takes precedenceover the caring one. In India, the teachermother and the guru teacher have beenenmeshed as valid and legitimate identitiesfor the teacher (Kale 1970). More recently,the idea of ‘agency’ of the teacher brings innotions of teacher’s role as transformative,and her work as ‘professional’ (Kumar 2002,Batra 2005, and NCFTE 2009). Batra (2011)discusses two opposing strands in whichthinking about education is changing – “theneo-liberal frame of standardization, teacheraccountability and learning outcomes thatregards education as an enterprise of efficientdelivery especially in the context of Right toEducation. This is in contrast to the academic-led perspective on school education – NCF2005 and the proposed preparation ofteachers –NCTE, 2009 that re-affirm thecentral role of teachers as agents of socialtransformation.”8

The various facets of this identity are seen inhow the students express changes indimensions of their ‘personal self’ and ascribe

a positive value to this narration. Dillabough(1999) argues that “the dominant notion of‘professional identity’ appears to be premised ona rather simplistic and instrumental model ofteacher development. This abstract model ofprofessionalism characterizes teachers asindividuals who do not make meaningfulconnections with students or otherprofessionals.” There emerges the definition ofthe teacher as a professional and this is drawnfrom their work.

‘Professional’ thrusts in teacher educationThrough independent India’s history, teachereducation programmes have not variedsubstantively in their stances towards teacherpreparation. Scholars have argued for thedominant model of Teacher Education in India“remaining unchanged from the colonial origins.The design and practice of teacher education inIndia is based on a series of assumptions, encodedin archaic institutional structures anddisincentives which have effectively impeded thegrowth of ideas and the professional andpersonal growth of generations ofschoolteachers.”(Batra 2005).

Historically, it is only at the end of the 19th centurythat a few occupations (for instance, medicine,dentistry), began to be seen as professional. Beforethe 1900’s, higher education or college graduationwas not considered necessary to practice any ofthese - law, engineering, or medicine. The basicpreparation for these fields took place on the fielditself- as apprenticeship arrangements. Forinstance, someone who became a dentist thusspent a lot of time learning about the tools of thetrade on the job, by attaching himself/herself to apracticing dentist. The notion of professionaleducation got defined between the 1880’s – 1930’sin the context of American higher education. Itwas considered important to have specificknowledge and expertise in a few specificoccupations which were related to applied fieldsdirectly. As a consequence, professional schoolsin law, medicine, business, engineering,education, social work, nursing and dentistrywere set up9 . An occupation became a profession

8 See Batra, P. 2011. Teacher Education and Classroom Practice in India: A Critique and Propositions. Paper presentedat epiSTEME -4 Conference, 5-9 January 2011.

9 For further discussion on the history of professionalization, see Labaree D. (2006) Mutual Subversion: A Short Historyof the Liberal and Professional in Higher Education. History of Education Quarterly, Vol.46 No.1 Spring 2006.


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when it was clearly established in highereducation.

There were several consequences to this. Prior toprofessionalization of certain fields, a personcould intersperse work and attending lectures.Gradually it became increasingly important tospend extended years in schooling beforeprofessional training could be undertaken. Asequential pattern was established – firstschooling, then college, and then to professionaloccupation. Also, school based knowledge gainedmore importance over work based knowledge.This also led to college education / highereducation become more and more the realm of the‘experts’ and not intended to reach everyone, andtherefore, elusive and esoteric.

There are several entry points of TeacherEducation that engage with it being termed as a‘profession’. The notions of professionalism infields of study including teacher educationincluded pertinent features – having selectionprocedures (as everyone could not become asprofessional), admission standards, increasingstandardization in terms of course requirementsand assessments, certification and licensingexamination and research specific to the field. Animportant aspect of the profession would be theknowledge in the field, which is the realm of the‘experts’ and not intended to reach everyone, andtherefore, elusive and esoteric.

In India, over the years there have been severalcommittees and their recommendations whichhave brought Teacher Education programmes toaccept these basic tenets of professional courses.Contemporarily there are a few courses of

Education (that may/may not engage with teacher

preparation) that lay the claim to be professional10

– Masters courses in Education/Education

studies offered by Tata Institute of Social Sciences,

Azim Premji University, Ambedkar University,

B.Sc.Ed./M.Sc.Ed. courses offered by Regional

Institutes of Education, four year B.El.Ed11 .

program offered by Delhi University. A cursory

comparison across the courses reveals that the

underlying focus is to build a systemic, critical

and conceptual understanding of issues in

Education; engage with field realities through

apprenticeships and research, engage with

content and pedagogy, build back into theory, look

for theory-praxis connections. A few of these

courses attempt to provide reflective thought as a

lens with which to view processes of education.

The worldview espoused in these courses is based

in socially sensitivity and humanitarianism. It has

been argued that Education as a discipline is

increasingly focusing on teacher preparation

rather than engaging with wider issues and

concerns, some of which have been mentioned

above. At the same time, very little has actually

changed on the field that contributes to the

personal and professional growth of the teachers.

Do these professional thrusts of teaching as a

profession itself contribute to development of

professional identities among teachers? In this

context, this article also focuses on the inextricable

link between teacher’s identities – of how they

define themselves in relation to their work and

their preparation (training). Does teacher

preparation contribute to the development of

professional identity?

10 The other elementary teacher preparation courses are DIET – two years elementary teacher training programme of theSCERT’s, BITES and PTTC’s. The University courses run by Departments of Education in various states - B.Ed. andthe M.Ed. also attempt to establish the notion of the teacher as a professional. The present study does not includethese- as course structures and duration do not sufficiently create apprenticeships of long duration, and their claimto the knowledge base is not rooted in being esoteric. The study also does not in any way attempts to compare thecourses.

11 B.El.Ed is a teacher education program that was initiated by the University of Delhi in 1994 with the aim of enhancingthe professional knowledge and expertise of elementary teachers. It also attempts to address the professional needsand demands of elementary teaching, and thereby strengthen the elementary education of the country. The B.El.Edprogram aims at preparing the teacher as a reflective practitioner. The structure of the B.El.Ed course includes allareas for the teaching knowledge base: scholarship in content disciplines, the materials and settings of the institu-tionalized educational process, research on schooling, social organization, human learning, teaching and develop-ment, and the other social and cultural phenomena that affect what teachers can do.


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Situating the studyGiven this backdrop, the question that isconsidered worthy of examination is how do wesee the Teacher Education course (with its goals,ethos, perspective, curriculum and pedagogy)impacting the making of the teacher? Since theambit of this may be too wide and far-reaching,this paper posits itself at the interface betweenteacher’s identity and their training/preparation,and only in the context of the undergraduateB.El.Ed. program. These questions are discussedthrough detailed in depth interviews withB.El.Ed. graduates, over two years undertakenduring a research project. B.El.Ed. as a TeacherEducation course was chosen for the studybecause it is the only undergraduate programmethat explicitly addresses the professionaldevelopment of the elementary teacher.

A total of 46 ex-students representing variouscolleges offering the program were included inthe study. Semi-structured detailed in depthinterviews were used. The interview wasfreewheeled in some instances to maintain theflexibility to pursue information in a variety ofdirections as determined by the respondent, aswell as focus on the key elements. The interviewwas intensive and attempted to cover all aspectsof their professional work. The interview wasprepared in order to help unravel some of thecomplexities of teacher’s work and their identities.Interviews provided a window into the worlds ofthe alumna – from eventful accounts of theirjourneys from being student teachers to movingon in their lives. Subsequently, the recordingswere transcribed.

At the time of the study, the respondents wereplaced in different fields. The fields of work andlife spaces of the ex –students were varied at thetime of study. The ex- students were working asteacher educators, or pursuing studies, workingas teachers and research associates or workingin government organizations. About 16 of therespondents were working in schools at the timeof the interview, 11 in privately run schools, and5 in government schools. 4 respondents hadspecialized in different fields affiliated to

Education and were working as TeacherEducators. Most of the respondents were pursuinghigher studies. A few were also employed inresearch projects, either with non-governmentalorganizations or with research projects situatedin Universities.

‘I am a teacher’The interviews reveal that someone who has beena student teacher in the past- which means shehas received professional training in educationnarrates herself essentially as a teacher. This wasseen across respondents, even though she maybe not working directly as a teacher, but as aresearcher, as a teacher educator, or in non-governmental organizations or elsewhere. Mostex -students express their pre-dominant identityas that of a teacher, which is a unique revelation.

Significantly, almost all the respondents did notwant to be a teacher (more than 90%) but wereeither forced by their parents (‘it was already decidedby them’), or had no choice (couldn’t get intoengineering/architecture/medicine etc.’), or wantedthe label of a good college (‘who wouldn’t want togo to LSR, even if to be a teacher’). This comes throughrepeatedly in their narrations about how reluctantthey were initially to be teachers, but how happythey were later engaging with and listening totheir students.

I had no idea of joining teaching. I have never thoughtthat I am into teaching. I don’t have the patience andall which are the… ‘qualities’ of a teacher that theteacher should be very soft spoken and she should bevery patient. I am not that kind of girl actually... (R32, 2003- 2007) 12.

‘Who is a good teacher’The above excerpt reveals popular constructionof the teacher. First, this belief underlies that thereare qualities which a teacher should have, andsecond that these are tied to the personality of theperson. People who have inherent qualities ofbeing patient, of being soft-spoken wouldnecessarily make a good teacher. There are certain‘kinds’ of people who have these qualities, andthere are others that do not have these (‘I am not

12 Codes have been used throughout the paper. R 32 refers to a particular respondent. C 2003-07 refers to her cohort, ofthe years when she was a student of B.El.Ed.


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that kind of girl actually’). These attributes are alsoinextricably linked to the construction of thematernal. Therefore, in the responses, themetaphor that is evoked is that of the teacher asthe mother.

A pervasive and provocative imagination sees theteacher as a mother, a construction proposed byCasey (1990) and Walkerdine (1990). The teachermother discourse brings in the maternaldimension in women teacher’s thoughts aboutthemselves and their teaching; an aspect whichis rarely taken seriously in thinking about theformation of teacher’s selves. The teacher andmother both are seen in nurturing roles and thecapacity to nurture is an extension of ‘naturalizedfemininity’. The teacher becomes a facilitator forknowing, rather than the producer of knowledge.The care and nurturance associated withwomen’s roles makes their teaching as derivedfrom natural and instinctive ways.

Placing the child at the centreThe responses indicate that the alignment of theteacher to the child is more central than heralignment to the institution (for instance: I wouldnever dream of establishing contact with the schoolswhere children were being mistreated). The

respondents feel what children think about themas a teacher is more important and of significance.So, it is not the State, or the administrator, or theschool leadership that recognizes your worth, itis your students. The articulation of how she feelsvalued by children in her class is an importantrevelation.

Most of the respondents identify themselves withthe children and construct a notion of the teacher-student dyad. This is interesting as sensitivity tochildren and the understanding of children’s livesbecomes a part of their own identity, and centralto how they see and define themselves. They feel‘comfortable with children’, felt strongly aboutinvesting ‘time and energy’ on their students. Theverbalizations of the necessity of the ‘bondingbetween teacher and student’ clearly reflect that theyessentially see the teacher as someone who listensto children and establishes meaningfulrelationships with them. One of the respondentsstill felt and expressed anger towards the attitudeof regular school teacher, who was biased towardsher students (see R35’s quote here below).

Most of the alumnae express that the socialdistance between themselves and their studentsdoes not influence their interactions, rather theyrespond sensitively. This is pertinent in thebackdrop of the context where there is a clearclass difference between the teachers andchildren, more so in the government school. Forinstance, one respondent states that ‘I have taughtchildren who come from slums. They come in verybad states, parents (especially fathers) have no concernabout anything regarding the child. Many boys roamabout the whole day without coming to school. Manygirls stay back from school, to help mothers or takingcare of siblings.’ (R13, C1994-1998) This is linkedto Kumar’s redefinition of teacher’s role in thecontext of government school classrooms today,where ‘there exists a contrast between a teacher’scaste, class and gender identity, which plays outdifferently in familial and professional roles(2011).’ Our respondents express this awareness,and the tensions inherent in this.

It comes across from their responses that this isso because of their training in being sensitive,humane, and being responsive to children’sneeds as essential and un-comprisable. It isimportant to emphasize that here children are


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treated as individuals who have their dignity,voice and space. We hear voices that have learntto listen to children, and to be consciously (asopposed to instinctively) sensitive to children. The‘bonding with a child’ is central to definingthemselves.

……It’s interesting when you realize that you mean alot to so many children and when you see themdeveloping by virtue of your teaching, when you knowthat they understand and appreciate your efforts evenif the rest of the world doesn’t. (R 13, C 1994-97)

……We tried to but their class teachers always kept ontelling us (in front of the students)—“these kids areuseless, no need to spend so much time and energy onthese people” … I would never even think ofestablishing the link with those schools. (R35, C 2003-2007)

…teaching is about …, it’s about interaction, it’s aboutlearning to interaction, and it’s about more of bondingbetween teacher and student. (R 14, C 1999-2003)

The second important marker to definingthemselves as teachers comes from discourse ofcritical pedagogy and strong theory-praxisconnections. They raise critical questions aboutpedagogical aspects in their responses(‘understanding is important’, ‘I mean where is thechild’s comfort with the concept is all this’, ‘realizethat discussion is important for children’). They areaware that translating theory into praxis is notsimple but challenging in many ways (‘it’s noteasy’ ,’one thing to know it and talk about it, anotherto actually do it in the classroom’, ‘according to me itwas a brilliant idea, but with kids it failed’). She isable to see the facets of the curriculum:developmental (‘flowing from children’s needs’,‘from child’s point of view’), from contentknowledge (‘language is learnt really informally’)and pedagogic (‘constructivist’, ‘how to teachoperations’, ‘how to teach numbers’, ‘how is languagebest learnt’, ‘diversity in how my students express’)

……..B.El.Ed students are familiar with theory. Thereis nothing, which is very new for them. For instance, ifyou talk about constructivism, if you talk about childcentered education, if you talk about content relatedpedagogy, they are comfortable. Let’s say if I am aMath person then if you talk about content related

pedagogy like how to teach operations, how to teachnumbers…theoretically they are very sound. They stillhave their doubts about how they are going to go aboutin the classroom but theoretically they are very soundas compared to other course students. (R28, C1999-2003)

……..notion used to be like that… “Understanding isimportant.” So let children come up with what theyare thinking and let children be directed to whateverwe are teaching. And let them come up with the things,and let them discover things for themselves. But withteacher it used to be like, “why don’t you tell themsimply”… (R42, C2003-2007)

……….I mean, it is hardly any attempt which is beingmade to contextualize learning as such…and alsorelating things with child’s environment, which isbasically, I mean, the philosophy of school of NCF.(R28, C1999-2003)

Teacher’s workIn the narrations, there is a central focus on the‘teacher’- who she is, what is her space and howis it defined. They do not see the teaching as easy-there are struggles (‘it is so difficult dealing withchildren’, ‘I was feeling completely lost’, ‘how doesone deal with each child?’, ‘where is the space for theteacher in the government school classroom?’. Theability to ‘deal with children’ and ‘make sense’ comesfrom being ‘prepared’, ‘knowing your content’ andalso ‘comes from experience’.

A teacher is fraught with many activities, whichare similar to the ‘work like a clerk’ –‘mid-day meal’,‘filling up registers’, ‘keeping records’ and‘assignment of non-teaching work to teachers’. whichthey voice being unhappy about. They feelstrongly about being ‘accountable to others’ andpreciously guard their spaces about deciding‘what to teach, how to teach and when to teach’. Theclassroom is their space- which they cherish andwant, instead of ‘being given stupid things to dorather than spend time in the classroom’. They refuseto be seen as instruments serving a purpose, andraise critical questions about their work.

…I was completely lost during that time (the respondentis referring to her teaching experiences here). I felt - wehave studied so many theories…. But when you are in


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the classroom… when you see 30 children in front ofyou … somewhere really I was not in control of things.It’s not easy to really pick that all…those theories inthe classroom. It comes with experience. Now I can sayall that because I have gone through lot of other kind ofexperiences after B.El.Ed. So now I can see…now I canwork out those things very well, when I am into theclassroom. But during that time I was literallycompletely lost… (R 41, C1997-2001)

…..From 10:20am to 12:20pm the entire time that wassupposed to be utilized in the classroom I was sittingand doing mid day meal… it is something every nowand then; you are given with so many stupid thingsthat you cannot really spend time in the classroom. (R14, C 1999-2003)

But what was…what was the expectation was…thatok; what are you doing in the classroom? So you areaccountable for that and not in terms of doing someclerical work or filling up the diary. (R 19, C 2000-2004, describing her experience of internship)

………The dullest part of the elementary schoolteacher’s life- the label of a ‘mere’ teacher outside theschool. (R 13, C 1994-97)It is widely held that teachers are the instrumentto carry forward the agenda of the state.Challenging these has been central to ourrespondents’ definition of themselves as teachers.They are not ‘clerks’ or ‘mere teachers’ doing ‘stupidthings’. Also, there is a clear unhappiness withthe contemporary social –political position of theteacher. Some of them do not voice it in so manywords; a few expressed that they did not want tobe ‘mere teacher’, ‘feel I can do more for education, forsociety’. They felt their role is much more, and soreductive.

Being an intern teacherA respondent recollects that the primary schoolteachers where she did her internship were ‘happybecause they won’t have to teach’ and ‘a compromiseor adjustment’ had to be made with them so that‘they let us teach in our own ways.’ Another alumnaclaims that the primary teachers in the school shewent for her internship were not at all supportiveand referred to them as ‘our helpers’. Duringinternship the identity of the intern is nebulousand vulnerable. She is expected to take on the

entire gamut of experience of being a teacher whilebeing an intern. This sometimes creates problemsin their interactions with the regular teachers ofthe schools, where the interns are seen in rolessupportive to a teacher (by some of the regularteachers). The interns are trapped betweenidentities- that of a fully responsible accountableperson who is in control when interacting withher students, accountable to her teacher educatorsfor her planning and pedagogy, and expectationsof subservience to the regular school teacherswhere they are novice or trainees.

The second different thing about internship is thatthere is ‘no pressure’ and ‘you can experiment’,‘do different things’. This is opposed to teachingas a regular teacher, where you are ‘accountable’.

Defining oneself through ‘difference’Difference is a normative construct in feministcritical theory. By imagining myself as different


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from the others in my profession, I explain how Iidentify myself and others. Therefore, to identifyand reflect on their position in the profession, thealumnae clearly differentiate themselves fromother teachers. The construction of differencerecognizes the ‘value of particularity’ in their livesand brings in a fresh understanding of teaching.They attribute the difference emerges from theirtraining. The alumnae bring in constructions oftheir teaching selves as ‘different teachers.’

…….. A very important strength of this program isthat all 4 yrs we are made to realize the fact that we arenot regular teacher but this is a different program andwe have to be different teachers. (R 42, C 2003-07)

This difference is significant because ex studentsdo not accept the blame for the failure of schoolingand education. The self is preserved and savedfrom being scape-goated.

The course contributed to this differenceThe respondents express that the course hascontributed to their own understanding ofthemselves- urged them to look within themselvesand examine their own beliefs. Most of thealumnae expressed that the Self-DevelopmentWorkshops held in the second year of the programhave been revealing and helpful in unravelingtheir own personalities and ways of thinking. Thealumnae articulate clearly how the course hastransformed how they think, and view the world.They articulate that going through the course hasmade them ‘introspective’, analytical,independent in their thinking and more open.These excerpts clearly exemplify this:

………The course helped me understand myself better.It puts you into meditation, it puts you intointrospection. … Now I talk more like a teacher in myfamily … (I have) internalized that I’m a teacher…start analyzing things. (R31, C 2004-2008)

…………I became more self-reliant, more independent,I started introspecting a bit … I became a rebel for them(family) (R 42, C 2003-07)

……..It was of course made me more extrovert. It haslike I would say many people would say I was like bud,I came to B.El.Ed. Now I am flower. Instead I used tosay I was cub then, now I am tigress. (R 7, C 1994-98)

Students feel empowered by the program inchanging their own life circumstances and alsobringing about a change in the status of education.They are aware of their agency and are veryexpressive about it. We see in their narratives, asense of being perceived as worthy, andrecognition of their ‘agency and voice’13 . Thisworthiness stems from the notion of the goodteacher.

Since the discursive identity of both the teachermother and the professional teacher arechallenged, the conception of the teacher becomesopen. This difference from one’s teachingcommunity has been linked to ‘teacher isolationand burn-out’ in research. We see a kind ofisolation in how they view themselves, which isboth relative and constructed. The isolation issometimes defended as a precious and guardedautonomy. This is significant because in duecourse of time, the effect of the building up of thediscourse of the teacher as a professional maybring about substantive changes to the fieldrealities of school education and the discipline ofeducation.

Tensions in professional identities of theteachersWe see how the identity of the teacher is tenuous.The primary tension in the identities is that ofcontemporary conceptions of teacherprofessionalism being drawn from the “rationalman” and the public sphere14.

Feminists for long have critiqued this idea ofrational man and the associated binaries.Walkerdine argues, ‘the rationality of the cogitois taken to be a kind of a rebirth of the rational self… without the intervention of a woman. Therational self was in this sense a profoundlymasculine one from which the woman was

13 See Batra, Poonam. (2005). Voice and Agency of Teachers: A missing link in the National CurriculumFramework. Economic and Political Weekly 1-7, 4357-4356

14 The relegation of women and women’s issues, her work to the domestic or the private sphere and men’s work to publicsphere has been problematized by feminists.


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excluded, her powers being not only inferior butalso subservient. The thinking subject wasmale….” Taking this further, the product ofEnlightenment was the rational man, who wouldbe procreated and provided support by the‘emotional’ woman.

The complete rejection of the private emotionaland irrational in informing the professional actionis problematized by our respondents. They see‘care for children’, being ‘sensitive’ and ‘responsive’to them and consider it important to ‘listen to

children’ as central to defining who they are.Walkerdine takes the argument further by arguingthat

Walkerdine (1990) discusses how “the two conceptsof the child that is taken to develop within a facilitating

environment form a couple- the child and theenvironment.… the mother and the teacher both- becomepart of the environment. They are defined by the veryqualities that are opposite to those of the child, who isactive, and inquiring, and whose activity leads to realunderstanding. The teacher and the mother by contrast

are not necessary to instruct but to watch, observe,monitor, and facilitate development. The teacher andthe mother are defined as passive in relation to thechild’s active. They are nurturing, facilitating,sensitive, and supportive and they know when tointervene but not to interfere.”

The teacher and the mother are therefore, passivein opposition to the active, inquiring child.However, this binary of the active –child and thepassive child also does not play out so clearly inthe responses.

According to them, both listening and accordinga central position to the child are important forpedagogy. This does not however undermine theagency of the teacher, who can ‘teach forunderstanding’ and ‘ask questions’ or beemphatic to the child, being fully aware that theseare her decisions as a teacher. She is not justfacilitating, but leading the child and also makingdecisions. The teacher child emerge as dyadsplaying out the active roles. The passive,emotional of the teacher mother are denounced,and the sensitive, empathic notions corroborated.

In this sense, we see that the respondents in thestudy accord to themselves a conception of beingprofessional, yet dismissive of the patriarchalclaims, and also responsive and responsible forchildren’s needs and learning. It may thus beconsidered pertinent that professionalsocialization of teachers is one where there areopportunities for critical reflection, not only uponpersonal practice but also upon ways in whichstate policy impinges upon it. This reifies theirrejection of patriarchal values in construction oftheir professional identities. In complex ways, ourstudy shows that for our respondents, the teachermother and the professional teacher coalesce inunique ways. Both these metaphors emerge notas polar opposites to each other but in morecomplex, nuanced and dynamic ways. Theirbeliefs about who they are, what are their roles,beliefs about children and how they relate to themlead to this dynamism.

ConclusionThe study shows that teachers talk aboutthemselves and their work in complex ways. Thispoints us towards the complex ways in whichprofessional identity can be understood. Theunraveling of professional identities impliesinclusion of not just basic tenets of work ethics,but also accounts of teacher’s perceptions ofthemselves, their work. This also extends tobrining in gendered and political understandingof both their work and their identities. The widearray of responses illustrates their developmentfrom students to teachers, from a state of expertiseas learners through an initiate as teachers. Theteachers’ voices include aspects oftransformations of their personal selves. Theirresponses also describe and emphasize theprofessional aspects of teaching- complex bodiesof knowledge and pedagogic skill that they mustmaster to function effectively as a teacher inaddition to reflecting on these and raising criticalquestions about nature of knowledge, content andpedagogy. We hear teachers raising pertinentquestions about teaching and their work. Thepolitical and intellectual engagements areregarded by the alumna as pertinent in definingthemselves.

We see in the narrations an alignment to theirposition as a teacher, and simultaneously an


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awareness of the social political marginalizationof the teacher in society. Echoing the larger socialperceptions and the status of the teacher, therespondents also see the teachers as non-significant in the scheme of things, and as anextension of the caring motherThey struggle toresist and also to get beyond this status, andtherefore are fraught with tensions of identity.They do not accept the thrust of the blame onteachers for the failure of education to achieve itsgoals in the country over the years. Thecomplexity of professional notions as genderedand drawing from patriarchal underpinningsbrings another dimension to looking at identities.

ReferencesBatra P. 2009 Teacher Empowerment: The Education

Entitlement-Social Transformation Traverse.Contemporary Education Dialogue. Volume 6:2, Spring2009.

Batra P. 2006 Building on the National CurriculumFramework to enable the agency of teachers.Contemporary Education Dialogue. Volume 4:1Monsoon 2006.

Batra P. 2005 Voice and Agency of Teachers: A missinglink in the National Curriculum Framework, Economicand Political Weekly, October 1-7.

Bullough R. V. 1997 Practicing theory and theorizingpractice. In J. Loughran, & T. Russell (Eds.), Purpose,passion and pedagogy in teacher education (pp. 13–31).London, Washington DC: Falmer Press.

Butler J. 1990 Gender Trouble: feminism and the subversion ofidentity. New York, Routledge.

Casey K. 1990 Teacher as mother: Curriculum theorizingin the life histories of contemporary women teachers.Cambridge Journal of Education, 20, 301-320.

Connell R. (2009): Good teachers on dangerous ground:towards a new view of teacher quality andprofessionalism, Critical Studies in Education, 50:3,213-229

Dillabough J. 1999 Gender Politics and Conceptions of theModern Teacher: Women, Identity andProfessionalism. British Journal of Sociology ofEducation, 20(3), 373-392

Dillabough J. 2003 Gender, Education, and Society: TheLimits and Possibilities of Feminist ReproductionTheory. Sociology of Education, 76 (4), 376-379.

Galea S. 2005 Teachers as Mothers: Practices of Subversion.Journal of Maltese Education Research. vol. 3, no 1.Accessed online: http://www.um.edu.mt/educ/about/publications/mrer/files/JMERN3I1P2.pdf on10 December 2012

Ginsburg M. B. & Chaturvedi V. 1988 Teachers and theIdeology of professionalism in India and England: Acomparison of cases in colonial/peripheral andmetropolitan/central societies. Comparative EducationReview. Vol. 32, No. 4, Oct 1988

Kale, P. (1970) The guru and the professional: the dilemmaof the secondary school teacher in Poona. ComparativeEducation Review. Vol. 14, No. 3, Oct 1970

Khan F. 2008. A Time for Change, Seminar: The NeglectedTeacher, December, Vol. No. 592, December, pp. 49-53.

Kumar, K. 1991/2005. Political Agenda of Education.New Delhi: Sage.

Kumar K. 2005 “Meek dictator: the paradox of the teacher’spersonality” Political agenda of education, 2nd ed NewDelhi: Sage. Extracts: pp 73-94

Majumdar M. 2011 Politicians, Civil Servants orProfessionals? Teacher’s voices on their work andworth. Contemporary Education Dialogue. January2011. 8: 33-65

Moore A. 2004. The good teacher: Dominant discourses inteaching and teacher education. Routledge: London

NCTE 2009 National Curriculum Framework for TeacherEducation: Towards preparing a Professional andHumane Teacher, New Delhi: NCTE.

Sarangpani P. Constructing School Knowledge Anethnography of learning in an Indian village. NewDelhi: Sage for a discussion on the differentrelationships between the Teacher and the Taught-Parent-Child, Guru-Shishya, Teacher as Patriot,Patron Protégé. Pages 11-117

Shulman L. S. 1987 Knowledge and teaching: Foundationsof the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1-22

Walkerdine V. 1990. School Girl Fictions. London: VorsoWalkerdine, V. Femininity as Performance. Feminism/

Postmodernism, 1990. New York: Routledge. LindaJ Nicholson (ed.)


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Rakhi Banerjee

Teaching and learning of mathematics: Issues

and challenges

Abstract

In the recent years, we have seen many a debates and initiatives of various kinds around the issue of teaching andlearning of mathematics. Most of us have accepted the worth of teaching compulsory mathematics till class 10 inthis country. Yet, again and again we see numerous children developing fear and anxiety for the subject and arebranded as ‘failures’ by the end of primary or secondary schooling. This has consequences for their later lives –either these children drop out of schooling or are not able to compete for seats in higher and professional education.This situation may not change much with the suggested changes in examination policies (like grades and notmarks, no compulsory board examination, CCE), changes in curriculum framework (NCF-2005) and textbooks.This is probably because what we as teachers understand by teaching and learning of mathematics, what beliefs wehold about the subject and the students studying it, what we understand about assessment and its purposes, arenot changing. Hardly any systematic initiative has been taken to address this issue, other than a few efforts at anindividual level. Moreover, the spirit with which these practices and policies are implemented (or not implemented)in the government and the private schools are a matter of further investigation. This piece aims to raise certainissues pertinent to the teaching and learning of mathematics in the context of curriculum reforms and other policydecisions taken in the recent past in order to improve the situation.

Vision of teaching and learning of mathematicsOne of the main purposes of teaching andlearning of mathematics, according to NCF-2005,is to develop abilities to think mathematically andhelp them mathematize the world. We thus haveto understand what it means to thinkmathematically or to mathematize and what is itthat we need to do to achieve these ideals.Thinking mathematically includes ability to thinkabout relations between quantities, numbers,thinking about space and patterns, ability togeneralize, mathematically reason/ justifypropositions, solve problems as they arise in thecontext of mathematics and in the world out. Someeffort in this direction has been made in the newNCERT textbooks. There is a marked departurein the presentation of concepts and ideas at theprimary school level. The middle schoolmathematics textbooks also look different,although the change is not as radical as seen inthe primary grades.

The textbook reformA closer look at the primary grade textbooksshows the complexity of the content andorganization of the books. At one level, the booksare lucid, colourful, with many interestingquestions and activities, inviting the children toparticipate in the process of knowledgeconstruction. At another level, the textbooksconstantly try to engage the imaginations of young

children while situating mathematics in theeveryday lives of many in the country, raisingimportant questions of justice, power relations,equity. They thus try to give a sense thatmathematics is all around, used by people ofvaried social and economic backgrounds in theirday-to-day living, and is not just an esoteric bodyof knowledge with a particular language andsymbols. We have all been largely trained withthe thought that mathematics is a specific domainof knowledge, abstract, symbolic, enhancinglogical reasoning and problem solving skills butnot-utilitarian and neutral with respect to itsrelation with the world outside. The constantfailure of a certain section of children and adults(on the basis of caste, socio-economic class,gender, parental education etc.) in this subjectdomain led us to question this ‘neutrality’ andother beliefs. This also formed the basis for thechange in policy and practice as reflected in theNCF-2005 and the NCERT textbooks.

The above seems to be the motivation behind thevaried contexts and situations within whichmathematical concepts and ideas have beenintroduced to the children in the primary grades.We therefore see many ideas being introduced inthe primary grades which were earlier not part ofthe primary level curriculum, like perspective,symmetry, patterns and the more routine conceptsare also introduced differently. These contexts are


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expected to give the students a sense of ownershipin knowledge generation, simultaneouslyalleviating the difference/ hierarchy betweenmind/ intellect and physical labour. I see nojustification in denying the usefulness ofaddressing these core issues of human life fromthe beginning, if we are to hope for a better,humane and just society in the future. Educationmust play this crucial role and so must a subjectlike mathematics. What we now have tounderstand is the extent to which these textbooksmeet the larger vision of NCF-2005 with regard toteaching and learning of mathematics and howfar they enable the children to develop ability tothink mathematically and mathematize the world.What we also want to develop among all childrengoing to school, irrespective of their background,a capacity in mathematics which will enablethem, if they choose to do so, to compete for spacesin higher academic and professional degrees. Thisstatement itself may sound contrary to the spiritof the change and is often argued against byeducators – all learning is not to be geared towardsthe future of the child, killing the child’s curiosityand interest in the very beginning. However, in asociety so unequal as ours, we cannot completelybe ignorant of the choices they will be able to makelater in their lives.

The challengesA first sense of doubt emerges due to the fact thatnot many teachers and administrators, entrustedwith the responsibility of transacting thiscurriculum and ensuring the implementation ofthe new policies and practices respectively, sharethe broad vision and the motivation behind thechange and the spirit of the proposed change.Thus, informal conversations with teachers indifferent parts of the country reveal that childrenin the primary grades are after all not learningtoo much, they are worse than before both in theirunderstanding of concepts and computationsand that the CCE and the new scheme of gradingmany a times removes the ‘pressure’ on the childto learn and show that learning during a end-of-the-year test. In this statement of complete negationof the new initiatives, one gets a glimpse of thefact that many do not share the purpose of thechange. It is indeed the case that we do not wantto load our children in the primary grades withtoo much content that they are unable to cope with

it. All the same, we do want them to develop aholistic understanding of the subject, whichdemands the inclusion of various dimensions ofthe subject. We do not want to repeatedly test themin a paper-and-pencil situation which threatenstheir self-esteem or causes anxiety and distastefor the subject. But we do actually want them todevelop some comfort and confidence with thesubject and the whole new approach in thetextbooks is in order to achieve this. And therefore,we had to also make efforts to change theevaluation/ assessment system. We know it toowell that we are often guided in our teaching bywhat would be assessed.

However, we have to perhaps recognize that thereis some element of discomfort among a largenumber of teachers and educationists about thefallouts of the new textbooks, CCE and otherpolicies. Although, a very progressive discoursehas entered the education scenario in India withNCF-2005 and the textbooks written after it, wehave a long way to go. The initial discomfort arisesfrom comparing the new textbooks with what wehave studied or taught for many years. By bringingin various contexts in which mathematics seemto arise and different voices of children withregard to their strategies for solving problems orunderstanding of concepts, the new textbooks giveup the ideas of “one correct method” or “onecorrect answer”. It needs some preparation on thepart of teachers to reorient themselves and look atmathematics not as a set of isolated factsand end products but as a set of processes(like, generalization, pattern recognition,argumentation, justification, abstraction) leadingto some results. It is these processes that teachingand learning of mathematics must highlight.Moreover, our own ideas of what must be taughtand how it must be taught seeps into our dailypractice, influencing the choice of concepts,topics, tasks and methods which we focus in theclassroom and which we ignore.

The earlier textbooks were dominated by aformalistic approach to teaching and learning,focusing on formulas, rules and properties,assuming that the teachers and children willautomatically participate in the processesunderlying these. Thus, even though the booksmaintained a logical sequence of ideas,


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systematically built up over a period of time, itwas hard to read the text, make the connectionsand see the relevance. Some teachers and few ofus involved in understanding issues of teachingand learning of mathematics feel that the neweffort, on the other hand, while highlighting theprocesses and the contexts, do not adequatelyconsolidate the products of the processes. This isalso equally important, keeping in mind thatearlier concepts feed into the understanding ofthe more complex concepts encountered later andtherefore there must be some closure of the ideasstudied in each grade. Children and teachers aremany times caught in the stories in the textbooksand the complex issues they may lead to,relegating the mathematical ideas in thebackground. Concepts and ideas in mathematicsneed sufficient time to build up, with a sequenceof tasks, activities and discussions acrossdifferent grade levels. Simply because we use thelanguage of fractions or big number names inmany of our conversations and actions or cancarry out mental computation, it does not meanthat their mathematical significance, their specificmathematical meaning, their representationalnature, and operations on them are also amenableto our common sense. The lack of consensusamong the educationists and teachers about whatis important to be taught and learnt inmathematics, together with inadequate teacherpreparation for bringing about any actual changein the classroom, leads us to the situation we facetoday.

As the children move to the middle grades, theteachers teaching these grades begin to complainthat the children know too little to cope with the

curriculum. The textbooks also look very differentcompared to the primary grades textbooks, withan emphasis on mathematical representation/symbols and manipulating these symbols. Thegrade 6 textbook is almost a revision of ideas donein the earlier grades, simultaneously introducingthem to appropriate use of mathematical symbolsplus ideas/ concepts that must be introduced ingrade 6. Suddenly, the child’s world changes fromthe colourful activity sheets (with space for lot ofinformal mathematics), to a much more formalform of mathematics. In a small study I conductedon this transition phase, I found both the childrenand the teachers are at a loss. There is notadequate preparation on the part of the studentsto learn and actively participate in making senseof this kind of mathematics. The discussion inthe mathematics classroom therefore, many atimes, revolves around peripheral issues ratherthan mathematical ideas. After a while, the oncebuzzing classroom with children’s voices andideas, becomes a quiet place; the ideas, conceptsgrowing in abstraction and symbols taking thelead role in communications. It is now difficult toassert whether the middle school curriculummust be so designed that it is in continuum withthe primary grades or the primary schoolcurriculum must be designed to fit the needs ofmiddle school. The NCF-2005 used a very criticalterm of ‘mathematization’ to describe its vision,and probably we may gain by relooking at themeaning of this word (which is borrowed fromthe Dutch philosophy of teaching and learningmathematics, known as the Realistic MathematicsEducation) and then we may perhaps be in a betterposition to use it for guiding our curriculumdevelopment through the elementary grades.


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Saurav Shome

When objects fail to move despite force being exerted!

Abstract

The textbook is the only teaching learning material used by both, teachers and students in most elementary Indianclassrooms. Therefore, it is important to ensure that these textbooks represent conceptually correct content andideas. In this paper, I discuss an incorrect sentence found in a science textbook: “When force is applied to astationary object it moves” and how this sentence is interpreted by teachers, teacher educators, and educationalresearchers. While interpreting the sentence, participants articulated several alternative conceptions about force.The paper elaborates each of their alternative conceptions and presents expert views corresponding to each of themwith familiar examples.

When objects fail to move despite force being exerted!

IntroductionLike several other countries, textbooks act as thesole authoritative teaching-learning material inIndia, and their authority remains largelyunquestioned in Indian classrooms (Kumar, 1988;NCERT, 2005). However, they do not alwaysrepresent conceptually correct content andsometimes become a source of alternativeconceptions (Gunstone and Watts, 1985; Kaur,2013). It is not possible to frequently change thetextbooks. However, an empowered and willingteacher can take the role of a moderator to presentthe textbook content with caution and adequatecare (Krishna, 2012).

NCF 2005 (NCERT, 2005) and the National FocusGroup Position paper on Teaching of Science(NCERT, 2006) delineated six validity criteria foran ideal science curriculum. This paper is basedon a study which is guided by one of these sixcriteria viz. content validity. The position paperstates “Content validity requires that the curriculummust convey significant and correct scientific content.Simplification of content, which is necessary to adaptthe curriculum to the cognitive level of the learner,must not be so trivialized as to convey somethingbasically flawed and/or meaningless.” (NCERT,2006; pp. 3)

As part of a larger study to develop a set of ProjectBased Learning (PBL) modules for Indian middleand high school students (Shome and Natarajan,2010), the researcher had to analyse the textbooks(both NCERT and State Board textbook) withrespect to the criteria delineated by NCF 2005. Inthis exercise, while reading a science textbook ofClass VI, it was seen that the chapter on “motionand types of motion”, begins with the statement:

“When force is applied to a stationary object itmoves.” Researchers found this statementincorrect, thus proving that this particularpresentation of the force concept in textbookviolates the criteria of content validity.

Now it is important to know how teachers andteacher educators interpret this incorrect content.It is assumed that if they have conceptual clarityabout force, they would be able to communicate acorrect concept. Otherwise, the incorrect sentencegiven in the textbook would go unwarranted andreinforce students’ alternative conceptionsfurther.

Relevant literatures on concepts of forceThere is abundant literature on studies ofstudents’ and teachers’ concepts of force (a listcan be accessed from the blog link given at theend of this paper). It is reported that students andteachers alike hold several conceptions aboutforce, not aligned with expert conceptions (Driveret al., 1994). These non-expert conceptions aretermed as misconceptions, alternativeconceptions, common sense concepts, children’sconceptions etc. In this study, the researcher hasviewed these conceptions as alternativeconceptions.

From personal experiences, individuals try toconstruct meanings and form theories which canexplain these experiences. These experiencesinclude sensory experiences with the naturalworld, conversations with other individuals(parents, people, teachers, peers etc.), watchingand reading print and non-print media contentlike newspapers, books, textbooks, television


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programmes and movies, etc. These theories canexplain several experiences and therefore, cannotbe discarded on the basis of their explanatorypower. Some of the explanations individuals holdhave remarkable resemblance with the evolutionof particular concepts in the history of scienceitself (Halloun and Hestenes, 1985). Individualsuse everyday terms to explain phenomena whichare inconsistent with the correct scientificterminology. For example, in explaining projectilemotion, an individual can consistently equateforce with momentum and mechanical energy,and use the term “force” with different meaningsfor different problems at hand.

These personal constructs are consistent inthemselves and therefore alternative to the expertconcepts, and not necessarily a set of wrongconcepts (or misconceptions) or common sense.They are found in both children and adults, andcan hence not be considered as just children’sconcepts. They are so robust that even after formaltraining in a discipline (like in physics), learnersretain them. Fortunately, they are limited innumber and have a universal pattern. Therefore,it is possible to address these alternativeconceptions with an adequate teaching-learningplan within an appropriate context (Driver et al.,1994).

There are reported research literatures, in theIndian context, on students’ and teachers’conceptions of force and direction of motion,velocity and acceleration (Saxena, 1996; Kumar,1997; Rampal, 1998). It is acknowledged in thesereports that the alternative conceptions held bystudents are so robust that these cannot beeliminated by mere pointing out the mistakes andmentioning the correct response. It would beeffective to explore students understanding, andthen provide them a situation to experience acognitive conflict. That would eventually leadtowards expert understanding (Saxena, 1996).

Importance of developing concepts of forceDeveloping the concept of force is a precursor forconstructing a sound understanding inelementary physics. This section discusses someimportant aspects and also mentions some of theprevalent alternative concepts about force whilediscussing its importance.

Elementary physics taught at Indian schoolsprepares students for understanding Galilean andNewtonian mechanics in higher class. Theconceptual framework of force in Newtonianmechanics sometimes appear contradictory andconflicting to the “common sense belief” oreveryday experiences (Halloun and Hestenes,1985) or alternative ideas (Reynoso et al., 1985). Ifstudents’ conflicts are not addressed whileteaching, students could get disinterested inphysics. For example, from everyday experiencesit is observed that when ball or marble is rolledand no more force is applied on them, theyeventually come to at rest. From this common senseobservation, it is absurd to consider Newton’s firstlaw of motion as a valid law.

Now, in some cases students would be able tosolve problems based on textbook concepts, andat the same time hold the alternative ideas. Forexample, a student could successfully solve aproblem of projectile motion using appropriateformula, and still hold the view that there are twoforces constantly act on the moving object duringits flight. One force is due to the earth’s gravityand the other force is imparted by the agent in thebody. And this hybrid understanding preventsthe development of other concepts in physics likemomentum and energy. This hybridunderstanding can lead students to infersomething which is not consistent with laws ofphysics (like conservation laws). These also posedifficulties for students to tackle problems in non-trivial and novel contexts.

Finally, the state of motion or rest of the objects inthe physical world can be conceptualizedthrough the understanding of four fundamentalforces. Understanding force demystifies the“natural place” idea in the Aristotelian worldview and provides a single explanatoryframework for motion of both, the celestial andterrestrial objects.

The paper reports a study on teachers’, teachereducators’, and science education researchers’interpretation of a middle school sciencetextbook’s statement about force. Here, attempthas been made to construct conceptual pattern inthe responses given by individual participantsand classify the patterns. The paper also cites


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some examples in order to challenge thealternative conceptions held by the participants.This exercise would help us to structure adequateteaching-learning strategies to address thecorresponding conceptual pattern.

MethodologyObjective: The objective of the study is to find outhow teachers, teacher educators, and educationalresearchers interpret the particular sentence,“when force is applied to a stationary object itmoves” and what views they hold about forceand its role in motion. The views expressed bythe participants would help the researcher to findout the participants’ ways of conceptualisingforce. Familiarity with the participants’ existingconcepts would help the researcher to developadequate teaching learning module appropriatefor both teachers and students.

Research Design: The study begins with readingthe textbook with the intention of analyzingvalidity of the content represented in the textbook.Once an incorrect content is detected, theresearcher explores how teachers, teachereducators, and science education researchersinterpret the sentence (refer to earlier section);what ideas they hold about force; as well as caseswhere motion occurs due to the application of netnon-zero force. Discussion between the researcherand participants is conducted in an individualsemi-structured interview format. The discussionstarts with introducing the textbook andcommunicating the intention behind conductingthe interview.

The researcher first asks participants to read outthe sentence and explain what they understandfrom the sentence and to elaborate the sentence inthe context of daily observations. They are alsoasked to infer whether this sentence representcorrect concepts. The responses given byparticipants are taken as a cue for asking probingquestions and extending discussions to explorebroader conceptual frameworks. Attempts aremade to enhance both, the researcher’s andparticipants’ understanding about force andmotion during and after the discussion.Interestingly, each interview provides a richinsight for conducting the next interview.

Participants: Twenty one participants voluntarilytook part in the study (10 teachers, 4 teachereducators, and 7 science education researchers).They all hold a masters degree in the discipline ofscience or mathematics and are in the 25 to 35year old age group. The researcher was personallyacquainted with all participants. The researcherwas interested in finding out the participants’interpretations and their conceptual structure onforce, irrespective of their professional status andfiner academic qualifications. Therefore, noattempt was made to correlate the participants’response pattern and their teaching professionand academic profile.

Data collection and analysis: The researcher tookextensive notes during individual interviews.After each interview, notes were checked andelaborated if required. Each of the detailed noteswere checked for constructing a conceptualpattern and compared with successive interviewnotes.

Findings and discussion: All the participantsreworded the sentence in the form: “applicationof force results in motion of objects.” When askedwhether this sentence is true for all cases, it washeartening that all the respondents said that thesentence is either incomplete or wrong. They alsomentioned that to move an object there must benon-zero resultant force. They expressed that thetextbook statement is true only if we read the word“force” as “net or resultant force”.

From daily experiences we observe that in somecases an object moves when we apply a force andsometimes it does not move even after applying aforce. For example, when we lift something, wedo apply force vertically upward against the forceof gravity. The ease of lifting depends on theweight of the objects. We can easily lift objects oflesser weight like paper, book, pen, pebble, smallluggage etc. For a healthy adult, it would bedifficult to lift heavy luggage say, weighing 40kg. For a 10 year old child, it would not be possibleto lift luggage even after applying force. Let usconsider another situation. What happens whenwe apply force by pushing a concrete wall?Children as well as healthy adults cannot movethe wall by applying a force through hand-push.


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What does it mean? Does applying forcenecessarily lead to motion in the object? Can wethink about some more examples?

For example, when we pull a heavy object, say acupboard full of books, we exert a force on it. Butthis is not the only force acting on the cupboard.The cupboard and the earth attract each otherwith an equal magnitude of force all the time.Force exerted by the Earth on the cupboard isequal to the weight of the cupboard. The weightis exerted on the surface of earth or floor. And thesurface exerts a reaction force on the cupboard’slegs. Now, when we exert a force to pull thecupboard, frictional force develops between thepair of surfaces at contact. The frictional force isnumerically equal to the product of reaction forceand co-efficient of friction. There would be someother forces in other situations. If we want to movethe cupboard, horizontal to the surface, we musthave to pull with a force which is at least of equalmagnitude to the force of friction. Although, weare applying only one force, there are other forcesacting on the body. And these forces are invisibleto us.

Let us take another example. Consider, a stonethrown, vertically upward. At its highest position

of flight, the stone will cease its motion,momentarily. During its flight, ideally the stoneexperiences only gravitational force, actingvertically downward. During its upward motionit moves opposite to the direction of gravitationalforce. At its highest point, the stone comes at rest,even when total force acting on it is non-zero.However, the object can no longer be at rest,because a force acting on it will pull the stonedownward.

The participants were also asked to elaborate theirresponse in the context of moving a heavy objectby applying a force on a concrete floor or road. Itis interesting that, although, everyone correctlyidentified the inadequacy of the textbookstatement, the explanation they have mentionedto elucidate the given context are varied.

Applied force has to overcome inertia and weightof the bodySome participants thought that the applied forcehave to overcome the “inertia” and “weight” ofthe body. On a positive note, some of them couldcorrectly state inertia as something different fromweight and not a force but the remaining werenot able to distinguish between these two.Interestingly, all the participants in this categorybecame confused while explaining how appliedforce had to overcome “inertia” and “weight”.They failed to bring friction in this context. Theyalso failed to take into account component of forcesin explaining the state of motion or rest in thebody.

Considering inertia, weight and force asqualitatively the same quantity is a very old andpersistent idea in the history of science. This ideahas its historical root in Aristotelian physics.Although some of the participants found inertiaand weight as qualitatively different, they stillheld the view that force has to overcome inertia. Itis noteworthy that Newton himselfconceptualized inertia as a mixture of the old andthe modern idea of force (Gunstone and Watts,1985).

Theoretically, any amount of force sets into motionan object of any amount of mass. The accelerationproduced in the body can be calculated fromNewton’s second law of motion. Therefore, if a


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small magnitude of force acts on a massive body,the acceleration due to the force will beappreciably small and we can safely say that theobject does not move. One nice example is when abig ripe jackfruit detaches from its branch andfalls towards the earth, the earth and the jackfruitboth exert an equal force upon each other.However, due to the relatively very small mass,the acceleration produced in the jack fruitbecomes much higher than that produced in theearth. As a result, the jack fruit reaches the earth’ssurface much faster than the earth makes anyappreciable change in its position within the sametime interval. Here, we can see that the jackfruit isin motion while the earth is at rest.

The idea of overcoming inertia by a force is tosome extent, misleading. Inertia is the property ofthe body due to its mass and is not even a physicalquantity, but force is a vector quantity and not theproperty of the body itself. Therefore, thequantities are not commensurable at all. Therespondents failed to take in account of thisaspect.

Applied force has to overcome weight of thebody and frictionSome participants said that the applied force hasto overcome both weight and friction. However,they exhibited no proficiency or attempt to explainthe motion of the object in connection withdirection of weight and frictional force.

According to most of the respondents, the forcehad to overcome weight. This idea is also a resultof an incomplete understanding of the origin offriction and how frictional force works. Considerthe case when we want to lift a rectangular objectof weight 10 N. To lift the object we must apply aforce greater than 10 N, say 11 N. Now,acceleration produced in the object will be due to1 N force and not due to 11 N. However, if wewant to slide the same object on a concrete floor,we need to overcome the frictional force actingbetween the surfaces of the object and floor. Andthis force is equal to the product of weight andcoefficient of friction (say ì) between the surfaces.In most cases the magnitude of ì is less than 1 andtherefore, the product is less than weight of theobject. Now we can modify frictional force bychanging the properties of the surface and thuschanging the magnitude of ì.

Applied force has to overcome force of frictiononlyThe last category of respondents stated that“applied force has to overcome force of frictiononly”. In the above case, applied force actuallydoes not overcome weight, it overcomes friction(ignoring other possible obstructions). While weslide an object on a surface, weight of the bodyremains unchanged. Moreover, in the object’smotion along horizontal direction, the weight actsin perpendicular direction and has nocontribution along horizontal direction. The forcewe apply along horizontal direction is toovercome frictional force acting horizontally butin the opposite direction.

Implications in teachingHere we have found that the textbook statementis inadequate to construct the correct conceptualbase on force. At the same time, we haveencountered that even teachers, teacher educators,and educational researchers find it difficult toexplain the action of force on the state of motionor rest in an object. But the question that arises iswhat should we do in the classroom? Should wegive some standard definition of force to students?Or as Rampal (1995) suggested, provide themmultiple situations similar to those discussed inthis article? Should we allow students toexperience force and its action through variousactivities designed by teachers and students,where their existing views will be challenged(Gunstone and Watts, 1985)?

Kumar (1997), in his paper “Pitfalls in elementaryphysics” elaborated the reasons of thesealternative conceptions about force. He attributesthese alternative conceptions as product ofimproper understanding of Newton’s second lawof motion. According to Kumar, we tend to ignorethe idea of locality in Newtonian force. Ignoringthis important characteristic gives rise to severalalternative conceptions about force.

We educators need to improve our understanding.We could read some existing research literatureon concepts of force and discuss among ourselves.We could come up with real-life situations whereour existing ideas can be probed and learners(both teachers and students) can face cognitiveconflicts. If we educators are clear about theconcepts and its associated pedagogy, we would


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be better equipped to handle students’ alternativeconceptions during our classroom teaching.Interested readers are requested to initiatediscussion on online platforms. The web-links ofsome online platforms are given below.

Resources for teachers and teacher educators:Some research literature on concepts of forcepublished in national and international journalscan be accessed by visitng:http://continuinglearning2teach. wordpress.com/e-r/articles/r-l-s-o-f-c/Discussions on concepts of force can be accessedby visiting the following page:http://continuinglearning2teach. wordpress.com/e-r/d-p/on-force-concepts/

Acknowledgements: I thank Rossi D’Souza andMinakshi Bhattacharya for editing the earlierdrafts of the paper, and Manish Jain for givingcritical inputs on the submitted article. I alsothank all the teachers, teacher educators, andscience education researchers to take part in thestudy.

References1. Driver, R., Squires, A., Rushworth, P., and Wood-

Robinson, V. (1994). Making sense of secondaryscience: Research into children’s ideas. London andNew York: Routledge Falmer.

2. Gunstone, R. and Watts, M. (1985). Force and motion.In Driver, R., Guesne, E., and Tiberghien, A. (Eds.),Children’s ideas in science (pp. 85-104). UK: OpenUniversity Press.

3. Halloun, I. A. and Hestenes, D. (1985). Commonsense concepts about motion. American Journal ofPhysics; 53 (11), 1056-1065.

4. Krishna, K. (2012). Dealing with misconceptions in

science. Teacher Plus, 10 (8), 6-8.

5. Kaur, G. (2013). Textbook representations as

reinforces of (mis)understandings : The case of ray

diagrams in optics. Voices of Teachers and Teacher

Educators, 2 (1), 13-17.

6. Kumar, A. (1997). Pitfalls in elementary physics.

Resonance, 2 (7), 75-81.

7. Kumar, K. (1988). Origins of India’s “Textbook

Culture”. Comparative Education Review, 32(4),

452-464.

8. NCERT (2005). National Curriculum Framework

2005. New Delhi: National Council of Educational

Research and Training.

9. NCERT (2006). Position paper: National Focus

Group on Teaching of Science. New Delhi: National

Council of Educational Research and Training.

10. Rampal, A. (1995). Were the force is absent.

Sandarbh, pp. 19-33. Accessed online on December

8, 2012 from www.eklavya.in/pdfs/

Sandarbh_03/19-33_Where_the_

Force_is_Absent.pdf .

11. Rampal, A. (1998). Can We Disbelieve Newton.

Sandarbh, 24-25, pp. 28-36. Accessed online on

March 22, 2013 from www.eklavya.in/pdfs/

Sandarbh_24-25/28-36_Should_We_Dont_Trust_

Newton.pdf .

12. Reynoso, E. et al. (1985). The alternative frameworks

presented by Mexican students and teachers

concerning the free fall of bodies. International Journal

of Science Education; 15 (2), 127-138.

13. Saxena, A. B. (1996). It is Necessary to Know the

Preliminary Understanding. Sandarbh, 11, pp. 34-

38. Accessed online on March 22, 2013 from http:/

/www.eklavya.in/pdfs/Sandarbh_11/34-

38_Necessary_to_Know_

Preliminary_Understanding.pdf .

14. Shome, S. and Natarajan C. (2010). HBCSE

Guidebook on Project Based Learning. Technical

Report; December 2010. Mumbai: HBCSE.


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Introduction

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan which is known for it’s‘quality reforms’ in India has created the BlockResource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster ResourceCentres (CRCs) at different levels of educationsystem. The BRCs and CRCs have been visualizedas an alternative to the inspection systemprevalent in the education department. These newstructures were aimed at shifting focus from‘monitoring’ to ‘support’ to the teachers in termsof mentoring, providing resources, in-servicetraining and school based follow-up. All thisnecessitates an understanding of the nature ofthe work at the ground level.

I am basing this write-up on my experience as aresearch assistant in a project for the Sarva SikshaAbhiyan to formulate guidelines to strengthen theBlock and Cluster Resource centres. These Blockand Cluster resource centres appoints ‘ResourcePersons’ at block and cluster level namely BRPsand CRPs. In this project, I studied 3 BlockResource Centres in three states: Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra and Delhi. In these three states, therewere differences in how the BRC and CRCinstitutions were created and implemented, interms of profile, salary, recruitment, assignmentsassigned and ways of execution. Hence, theconceptualization of their work differed from stateto state. For this reflection I will discuss the caseof one of the three state i.e. Tamil Nadu.

SSA in Tamil NaduIn Tamil Nadu, SSA reforms were introduced interms of change in pedagogic approach and a newapproach known as Activity Based Learning wasinjected into the school system. This approachwas adopted from Rishi Valley Organization,Bangalore which is based on the educationalphilosophy of J. Krishnamurthy. Activity basedlearning (ABL) is an approach followed inelementary schools run by corporation andPanchayat Union in Tamil Nadu. It is known as“Joyful Learning” and presented as an innovativeapproach to attract out-of-school children toschools. It was started in selected schools in 2003and in 2004 it was implemented in Chennaicorporation schools and after that in PanchayatUnion1 . The approach is different from the usualclassroom structure which exists in school. Thereis a vertical grouping of classes-1, 2, 3 and 4 andclassrooms are multi-grade consisting of 10children of each grade. It is not expected thatstudents will be on the same level in all thesubjects. Students can be at different levels fordifferent subjects, but for each subject there is a“ladder” which is an achievement chart on whichlearner’s levels are marked.

Location of studyKayathar, which was chosen for the study, is arevenue Block of Thoothukudi District. It is locatedin the southern part of Chennai and isapproximately 127 km away from Madurai. It

Parul K.

Getting into the Shoes of BRPs and CRPs: A reflection onthe nature of work of resource persons at block

and cluster level

Abstract

This small piece of paper is a reflection on the research work done undertaken as a part of a project whichrevisited the guidelines for strengthening of Block and Cluster Resource Centres. As a research assistant, Ivisited three states- Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and New Delhi - to understand the working of Block andCluster Resource Centres. In this paper, I will throw light on the nature of work of BRPs and CRPs specificallyin context of Tamil Nadu.

1 In Tamil Nadu development administration in a district is coordinated by the Panchayat Unions (also called asBlocks) for the rural areas. Panchayat Unions consist of group of Panchayat Villages.


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consists of 47 Panchayat villages. The mainlanguage of the block is Tamil. Total populationof Kayathar block is 99,366 and sex ratio is 1000male: 998.6 female. Total school age populationis 13,760 with numbers of boys being 7065 and6695 girls. Of these children, 31.2 per cent belongto the SC, 2.4% belongs to Muslim minority and0.4 per cent belong to ST. There are 74 Primaryschools, 9 middle schools, 6 high schools and 4Higher Secondary School. Panchayat Union isresponsible for construction and maintenance ofPrimary and middle school.

Profile of BRPs and CRPsIn Tamil Nadu, the BRPs are known as BlockResource Teacher Educators (BRTEs) and CRPsas Cluster Resource Teacher Educator (CRTEs).The structure of BRC comprises of 1 Supervisor, 5BRTEs and 8 CRTEs. In the block resource centrewhich I visited there was no difference in the workprofile of CRTEs and BRTEs. Schools were equallydivided among BRTEs and CRTEs and they wereexpected perform same jobs.

Recruitment and Qualification: BRTEs andCRTEs are directly recruited through anexamination conducted by Teacher RecruitmentBoard. The qualification requirement is equivalentto TGT, that is, they have a teacher educationdegree but do not necessarily have any experience.After recruitment, the BRTEs and CRTEs gothrough induction training in which they areintroduced to various programmes and schemesrun by the SSA. This also includes trainings onteaching by ABL system and project methodapproach. The BRTEs and CRTEs are expectedto monitor teachers’ work and also conductstudent achievement assessments and monitoringlearning levels.

Tenure: BRTEs and CRTEs are appointed aspermanent employees. Later on, if there is avacancy then they can be absorbed as teachers ingovernment schools. This has become animportant way to gain government school teacheremployment.

Salary and Allowance: Currently, the pay bandof BRTEs and CRTEs is 9300-34800 Grade pay-4600. When I visited the block in 2010, they werepaid fixed amount, Rs 14000 consolidated per

month. Apart from this they are paid Rs 1000 astravelling allowance. No allowance like medicalor any other benefits were given to them.

Nature of work: The nature of work can beunderstood in the following heads-1. Training - BRTEs and CRTEs do not train

teachers themselves. Rather they areresponsible for organizing trainings at blocklevel. Organizing training here meansfollowing orders which are sent by the SSAfor training. Training needs are identifiedbased on reports on student achievement atblock level. However, the design of trainingis decided at the state level and implementedin all Blocks. BRTEs and CRTEs are supposedto provide names of teachers attending thesetrainings also and find master trainers whocan conduct the trainings. Occasionally otheragencies may be given the responsibility oftraining, for example, the British Council forEnglish improvement. All infrastructural andlogistics related to training such as rooms,photocopying and refreshment are handledby the BRTEs and CRTEs. For instance, in myinteractions, the Supervisor of BRC informedthat the students level in Reading and writingskills of English Language is a concernshared by teachers and observed by BRTEsand CRTEs in student achievement levelchart. Same are shared with supervisor ofBRC in monthly meeting held. Observationformats filled by BRTEs and CRTEs alsoinform about whether there is animprovement in the reading skills or not.During my visit, a training of teachers by theBritish Council was arranged in a block sothat there is an improvement in reading and

Profile at glance

Structure of BRC 1 Supervisor + 5 BRTEs and 8 CRTEs

Recruitment Through Exams conducted by Teacher Recruitment Board

Avg. age 30-40 years

Work profile - Organising Training at the Block level

- Monitoring teachers and student achievement levels

- Data collection and compilation - Supporting teachers

Remuneration 14000

Travel Allowance

1000 pm


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writing skills of students.One needs to really reflect on the questions ofrelevance and meaning of these trainings. Arethese really useful? Or do these training reallyhelp in improving the achievement level? Doteachers also find them helpful or do theyreally address the pedagogic issues?A brief interaction with teachers generatedmixed responses - some of the teachers foundit relevant because it informs about newmethods but on the other side teachers sharedsome practical issues which cannot be dealtby the training where they think training doesnot help them. Training does not help inaddressing the issues of students who needextra attention; sometimes methodssuggested in training are not workable intheir situation. A teacher shared that teachingthrough stories does not work because it takesa lot of time and she is supposed to handlealone multi-levels. Each teacher faces specificproblems which cannot be addressed intraining because nature of training is samefor all. Here, I mean to say that there can beteachers who need help on contentknowledge and there can be teachers whoneed help on methods of teaching orpedagogical knowledge. But, if the trainingis centralized then needs of the teachers

cannot be catered through this type oftraining. Hence, the goal of providingteachers a support by providing trainingremains unfulfilled.

2. Monitoring - All BRTEs and CRTEs aretrained to understand the ABL approach andthey are supposed to go for school visitsregularly. They observe classrooms and checkstudent achievement levels in everyclassroom, against the ladder chart on whichthe students’ progress is tracked. BRTEs andCRTEs are supposed to check whether thestudents are moving on the ladder or not. Ifnot then teachers are consulted on theirperformance and reasons are asked from theteacher. BRTEs and CRTEs specifically sitwith the students who are at the lower levelof ladders. Being Resource Persons they aresupposed to do remedial teaching. They arealso provided an observation format usingwhich they check various aspect whichincludes infrastructural aspects - schoolsbasic facilities (Sanitation, water andplayground); organization of classrooms(sitting arrangement, bags and belongings ofchildren); skills like reading and writing andalso the record maintenance of differentactivities like computer activities andprograms shown, usage of TLM material. No

Parameters of Activity Based Learning Supervision by BRTE or a CRTE in Tamil Nadu

School Basic FacilitiesPlayground Good/Ok/Needs ImprovementWater Good / Ok /Need ImprovementSanitation Good / Ok /Need ImprovementAre Slippers and Bags arranged in order ? Good/Needs ImprovementAre Children working in groups ? Yes/NoAre they studying using Separate Cards? Yes/NoAre they able to tell/say the Class, Symbol andNumber of the card ? Yes/NoAre they able to show card on the ladder Yes/NoTamil reading Skills Good/Ok/ImprovementEnglish reading skills Good/ok/ImprovementAre students using Notebooks properly ? Good/Ok/ImprovementRecords- Computer Activities Record Available/Not Available- Programmes shown on television record Available/Not Available- Usage of Books from Library Record Available/Not Available- Usage of SLM material for mathematics record Available/Not Available


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descriptive or open ended comments areexpected from on above mentioned aspectsof BRTEs and CRTEs.BRTEs and CRTEs are also expected to givefeedback on pedagogic issues and resolvethose issues faced by teachers. A CRTEprovided me with some examples of the typeof support she has given. Teachers faceproblems in pronouncing some Englishwords and if they don’t know thesethemselves then children will not be able toimprove their reading skills. In this case theCRTE herself knew the pronunciation andhelped the teacher. If she didn’t know them,then the CRTE would be expected to consultan English resource person to tell/help theteacher. CRTEs are expected to be mentorsfor giving feedback and supporting them forvarious pedagogic issues. This automaticallyraises the question of whether, given theireducation and experience profiles, BRTEsand CRTEs are in fact qualified enough togive feedback to teachers and resolve theirpedagogic issues of classroom. Furthermore,is it fair to have such expectations from BRTEsand CRTEs? For dealing with learning andteaching related issue one needs to havestrong knowledge base of discipline.However the recruitment process is notgeared to identifying such persons. Thereforein practice many BRTEs and CRTEs do notquite engage with teachers in supporting theircapabilities, although they may more likelywork directly with children themselves.

3. Data collection and compilation - Of all thework that the CRTEs and BRTEs do, this isthe one that is the most time consumingassignment, by their own assessment. OftenBRTEs and CRTEs are asked to collect datafrom the schools allotted to them. It can be aDISE, Children with Special Needs, mid-daymeal, household survey etc., for which theyare supposed to travel to district level officeand bring the format as well as informationabout the order and then visit each school todistribute that information or formats. In thiscase they also train teachers after schoolhours on how to fill the formats or particular

information. After this they compile data foreach school and submit to the supervisor atBRC. It is not an easy task because it has nofixed schedule and many times they areexpected to leave their school visits in betweenand run to the office.

4. Maintaining Records - This is another non-academic area that consumes considerabletime. BRTEs and CRTEs are expected tomaintain record of amount spent in the formof receipts, balance sheets of various grantslike contingency grants, Building fund, Boysfund, tour fund, schemes girl child education,Village Education Committee, Mid day meal,District Information of System of Education,Children With Special Needs, Anganwaadi,training, Drop outs, Cohort Study etc. Theserecords are supposed to be maintained in aparticular way, and require signatures fromsupervisor, principal also.

ReflectionsThere are some concerns raised by the resourcepersons and these issues emerged from the fieldobservation1. Immediacy and urgency- A day in the life of a

BRP and CRP seems to be a relay racecompetition in which there is a lot of runningaround and handing over of data from onelocation to another. Apart from this managingPTA, NGOs, teacher observations are alsogoing on. In such a situation, one finds itimpossible to focus even on one task due toimmediacy and urgency attached to the non-academic work.

2. Allowances and working conditions- Theyfind that travel allowance is very less andthey have to spend from their pockets if theyvisit schools often for various reasons.Visiting schools which are located in interiorvillages is not easy and absence of publictransport in these areas compounds thechallenges involved in such visits.

3. Academic vs. non-academic- The vision ofproviding support to teachers takes back seatdue to the time consumed in the non-academicassignments. Although the term BRTE andCRTE suggests that there is an academic valueattached to this role and position but still itdoes not form a significant/major part of their


48

jobs. Handling logistics, for example, evenprocuring books/TLM from district officebecomes a painful experience and consumesan entire day due to reimbursement policiesof government. Ensuring the distribution ofbooks and TLMs in each school andmaintaining records does not allow them togo for observation and attend teachers.

4. Capability/capacity required for performingall kinds of assignments – A wide range ofactivities is expected from them, clerical,delivery and collection, mentoring, datahandling, computing, supervision,administration, liaising and problem solving,and requires a range of skills. But we reallyneed to think whether it is reasonable to havesuch expectations from a single person. LikeI have mentioned above, the expectation ofbeing mentor and resolve pedagogy issueswhich they are not qualified to handle. Notevery BRP and CRP has the appropriatecomputer knowledge required to maintainrecords and data compilation which makesthe situation more complex.

In spite of all these constraints resource personsdevelop strategies such as taking turns to go todistrict office, help by collecting data on each otherbehalf’s, using their own vehicle, distributingtasks or heads of record maintenance among eachother equally as per their skills. But the visionwith which block resource centres wereestablished remains far from being achieved. TheQuality reform which we were aiming at does notget the attention it requires.

Rethinking focus and expectationsIt is very important to think over the questions ofwhat kind of jobs are we expecting from this group,and what does it take to perform these jobs? Weneed to also derive an understanding of ‘whatshould/cannot be expected’ from them. This willhelp us in understanding what is not possiblegiven their existing position and capacities. Thisappropriately defined understanding of role willhelp us direct our efforts in a more focused mannerand will prove a more suitable support for theschools. For example, if primacy or focus is to begiven to them being data gatherers andadministrators then they should not be assignedtasks like mentoring and monitoring. Each kind

of job requires skills, time and proficiency.Monitoring, providing academic support,community social worker, and administrator canbe different and distinctive models of working inthe system. Expecting one person to perform allthese roles will not enable us to progress on theroad to reform, and may in fact make the situationworse. The ‘check’ on the work of BRP and CRP’salso come as to show how meticulously they areable to manage their records of each assignmentgiven to them.

Position does matterThe position of the primary participant or agentalso does matter in policy implementation,because how the “position” is placed in thesystem of education has its own implications.Whether the placement allows the participant totake such decision or does he/she have theautonomy to take decisions? In case of BRPs andCRPs, they are supposed to follow what is beinginstructed to them; in Tamil Nadu BRPs and CRPsare supposed to follow a particular approach i.e.ABL, in a particular manner. BRPs and CRPs arenot in a position where they can take or givedecisions in terms of providing support toteachers or resolving pedagogic issues.Furthermore, there are also question which ariseswhether the resource persons have the“capacities/capabilities” required to perform thejob of that particular position. Understanding thenature of position in which BRPs and CRPs areplaced will give us insights to understandwhether expected tasks can be entrusted to them.

This “positioning” of the participant also leadsus to understand the manifestation of inter-linkages of the system. The BRPs and CRPs arevisualized and recognized as the “support” tothe teachers in classrooms, but they ultimatelyturn out to be acting as ‘messengers’ in the wholesystem. If this ‘immediate’ and so calledsupportive link fails than automatically it willhave a trickledown effect in classrooms for whichwe have established this resource support.

We have observed how policy of BRCestablishment loses its purpose of support andrelevance of making it a ‘localized’ effort. Due tothe processes involved and no role clarity on thepositioning of Resource Persons, it turns out to be


49

more of managing paper work. For making it more aligned with its purpose it is important to reflect onthe above raised issues.

With these reflections I would like to conclude that a deep engagement is required to understandprocesses and to design practices that are consistent with them. For example, what does it involve ormean to do a task and what kinds of skills are required for it are essential considerations which mustbe the basis of planning these institutions.


50

Report of the

National seminar on teacher education:

School and teacher education reform programmes

Abstract

Different States in India are faced with the task of recruitment of new teachers and training of in-serviceteachers to meet the RtE 2009 requirements. The following report describes a seminar organized in Raipur,Chhattisgarh from 21st – 23rd May 2013, to share the experiences of those States that have initiated programmesto provide training to otherwise qualified but untrained teachers teaching in the schools. The seminar wasorganized jointly by IFIG (ICICI foundation for inclusive growth) and SCERT, Chhattisgarh

BackgroundThe Right to Education Act 2009 mandates thatall teachers teaching in schools are certified to doso in accordance with the norms of NCTE andthe responsibility of ensuring this has beendelegated to the State Governments. Given thelarge number of untrained teachers in many ofthe States and the difficulty of withdrawing themfrom the school for long periods to undergo theregular pre-service certificate training programme,it became important to develop meaningfulprogrammes that could be held during vacationsand be equivalent to those that offer trainingcertificates. For the States it is important to ensurethat these programmes are in no way inferior tothe regular pre-service programmes and engagethe persons being trained intensely in learning. Itis important to point out in favour of theprogramme for untrained teachers that manyeducators have advocated that trainingprogrammes should be provided only after aperson starts teaching. They assert that the qualityof the programme and its impact can be muchmore when practicing teachers are trained.

The number of teachers in each State in India isdifferent and the situation and contexts availablealso different. This has lead to many differentstrategies and processes emerging in differentStates. It was thus important to organize anational seminar so that the work done in thisarea could be shared.

In the last three – four years, the states where thenumber of untrained teachers is ostensibly more,the government has struggled towards finding

ways and means to train these in-serviceuntrained teachers. Different ways have beenthought and devised so that the necessaryconditions of training are fulfilled and at the sametime the trainees take full advantage of the practiceand theory provided through the training and self-reading materials. For this purpose, differentacademic organizations have also been roped in.The main objectives of this seminar were todiscuss the curricular aspects, the methods ofworking and the way training has been organized.This would initiate a discussion on the work doneby different states, choices made and the specialaspect of the programme in each State. Theywould further be able to discuss training strategy,implementation process, assessment,examination, and certification and understandthe challenges and struggle in regard to distancemode of training.

It was expected that the seminar would enableeach state to assess the state policy, curricularmaterials (content and process) of in-service andpre-service teacher training programmes in thecountry and to see that NCFTE 2009 wasfollowed. Presentations from the state were askedto focus on the following aspects and outcomes:• Adoption of strategies devised to meet the

training need of untrained teachers;• Explore how the teacher education

evaluation can be undertaken breaking theconventional system of evaluation;

• Map if the RtE 2009 criteria of providingtrained and qualitative teacher education hasever been met by any state;


51

• Map the quality of teacher educationmaterials and to examine its relevance;

• Know if the pre-service training content isrequired to be changed depending on newpedagogical philosophy;

• Create a synergy between the states to arriveat a national consensus on the quality ofteacher education for a sustainable qualityfocus.

Discussion points of the seminarThe states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya and Orissa wererepresented. The D.Ed./D.El.Ed. course structureof different states were discussed in detail. Thefocus area of the course, the period when it wasdeveloped, principles of teacher preparationfollowed, criteria of selection of subjects andspecial principles of the programme for trainedexperienced teachers were presented. Specialattention was given to the faculty for the courseand their preparation, describing the schoolexperience programme and its nature, andfeedback and assignment correction mechanisms.While setting the backdrop to the seminar, Dr.Dewan (Vidhya Bhawan Society) said that for last15 years teacher education has emerged as asignificant area of intervention in the field ofelementary education. The participation ofstudents in the classroom and their learningcapacity were some of the issues requiring specialcare. Building teacher’s competence in developingstudy material and its utilization were otherchallenges mentioned in the field of teachereducation.

The views of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindra NathTagore and Paulo Freire on teacher educationwere presented. The relevance of Gandhi’s visionwhich states that “if a person is able to think , he/she needs no teacher” was discussed. This wascompared with Tagore’s opinion that “educationdoesn’t give only information , it also gives us thedirection to our lives and guide us to live in co-existence.” The shift in identity from teachers toeducational workers was mentioned as was theshift in the ethics of teaching to course completion.

Academic principles and strategiesThrough discussion, the areas of training

syllabus which must be covered were finalized.These include: What is education? Why we neededucation? Students learning and how they learn;Knowledge of the subject and practicing the basicassumption.

Expectations from the teacher were articulated.To give care and affection to the students; Tounderstand the children in terms of social,cultural, and political aspects; To understand themethods of learning; favourable conditions oflearning, types of learning, and understand theindividual differences of students; to identify thepersonal expectations, capacities, and interest ofchild etc. were some of the points mentioned.

It was said that the materials used as self-learningmaterial has to be simple and lucid. It must useexamples appropriately and should not beoverloaded with definitions and information. Thestrategies and classroom process should be suchthat they motivate the teachers to be curious andconfident to learn, experience new philosophyand way of teaching and learning including theimportance of group discussion in the class room.Since untrained teachers and several of those whoundergo distance mode of training havesubstantial experience in teaching and learningin the classroom and also experience in schoolmanagement, it has to be captured in the schoolexperience programmes. This programme needsto help them understand the role of teacher andtheir learning challenges; help them think aboutthe community and see the school as a part of thecommunity.

It was reiterated that there is a need to develop apre-primary teacher education programme and itshould be such that it provides knowledge ratherthan information; training should mean changein attitude and behavior and the teachers must beable to practice what they learn through theoriesand must understand the correct perspective.

Dr. B. Ramesh Babu, RIE, Bhopal, said that theschool education is now mandated by twopackages: RtE, which is a constitutional packageand a pedagogical package consisting ofNCF2005 and NCFTE2009. He compared thepresentation of Uttar Pradesh with Chhattisgarhsaying that Chhattisgarh has followed the


52

pedagogical processes for their in-serviceuntrained teacher training whereas UP hasfollowed the administrative processes.

Issues and concernsSeveral of the states are following the IGNOUmodel to achieve their targets. But like IGNOU,the states too face man-power issues of training alarge number of untrained teachers by the limitednumber of faculty members. Quality of teachereducator and subject-wise selection of resourceperson has to be carefully done to ensurereasonable support. They need to have periodicsharing and new learning to keep them motivated.Their work needs to be supported on-site throughvarious means including face to face interaction.

Main findings from the seminarIn the last 5-10 years increasing emphasis is beinggiven to teacher education in the country,especially after DPEP and SSA. The twoprogrammes have introduced the concept of teach-ers’ professionalism. While everyone seems to betalking about the principles of NCF and NCFTE,what they mean, their basis, and a deeper under-standing of terms such as ‘child-centred’ and‘multilingual classroom’ is required.

Fulfilling the RtE provision should be more thanproviding a certificate; quality of the training isequally important. It is important to understand

and articulate the kind of changes we expect tosee in a teacher who has undergone suchcertifications. The material for these courses alsoneeds to be thoughtfully developed keeping inmind the vast experience most of the teachersalready have.

While states are trying to develop programmesthat meet NCTE criteria, they are struggling withissues of on-site support and rigor, assessmentand feedback. Continuity in learning andmotivation to do so after the certificate has beenobtained are also issues that need to be tackled.The possibilities of ICT as yet remain unexploredand unexploited.

ConclusionAfter the views sharing by the differentparticipants, Mr. Anil Rai, Director SCERT,Chhattisgarh took over. He felt that everyone hadlearned from each other and the seminar had alsoshowed where we stand today in comparison tothe other states. We will improve from ourmistakes as it is not just a mere training, but it isabout professional development. We also need tofocus on students and teachers relationship.Special emphasis on classroom transactions andmodel teaching needs to be done. For the teachersself learning mode is good but they also need tobe provided with quality study materials.


53

fouksn dqekj JhokLrofouksn dqekj JhokLrofouksn dqekj JhokLrofouksn dqekj JhokLrofouksn dqekj JhokLro

oxZ o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ,oaoxZ o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ,oaoxZ o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ,oaoxZ o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ,oaoxZ o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ,oamudk fo’ks"k xq.kmudk fo’ks"k xq.kmudk fo’ks"k xq.kmudk fo’ks"k xq.kmudk fo’ks"k xq.k

ys[k esa ch0Vh0lh0 izf’k{kqvksa }kjk laKku esa yk;h x;h dfri; dfBukbZ;ksa ds n`f"Vxr xf.kr f’k{k.k esa x.kukvksadks O;ogkfjd ,oa jkspd cukus ds Øe esa oxZ la[;k o ?ku la[;k dh izkFkfed igpku ds fy;s ,oa dsoy ;ksxdh lafØ;k }kjk oxZ la[;k rkfydk rFkk ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djus vkSj oxZ@?ku la[;k dk iwoZorhZ oxZ@?kula[;k ls lEcU/k LFkkfir djus ds dfri; u;s rjhdksa ij fopkj fd;k x;k gSA blls izkFkfed d{kkvksa ds Nk=ksadh dfBukbZ;ka nwj djus esa lgk;rk gks lds vkSj uokpkj ds iz;ksx ls fo"k; Hkh jkspd gks tk;sA ;g uokpkj ljygS vkSj 08 ls 14 o;oxZ ds Nk=ksa ds fy;s jkspd o lqxE; gS vr% mu ij ekufld ncko ugha gksxkA

1- oxZ la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku1- oxZ la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku1- oxZ la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku1- oxZ la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku1- oxZ la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku d`i;k fuEu rkfydk dks /;ku ls ns[ksa&

mijksDr rkfydk ls Li"V gS fd oxZ la[;k ds la[;k¡dksa dk ;ksxkad 1] 4] 7 ;k 9 esa ls dksbZ la[;kgks ldrh gSA mijksDr rkfydk ls fuEu rF; Hkh Li"V gksrs gSa&

1- fufnZ"V la[;k] ftldk oxZ fn;k x;k gS] esa bdkbZ dk vad 1 ;k 9 gksus ij oxZ la[;k esa bdkbZdk vad 1 gksrk gSA




la[;kla[;kla[;kla[;k la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1½½½½ esa iznf'kZr dk oxZesa iznf'kZr dk oxZesa iznf'kZr dk oxZesa iznf'kZr dk oxZ

la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1la[;k ¼dkye&1½½½½ esa iznf'kZr ds esa iznf'kZr ds esa iznf'kZr ds esa iznf'kZr ds bdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vad

oxZ la[;k oxZ la[;k oxZ la[;k oxZ la[;k ¼dkye&2¼dkye&2¼dkye&2¼dkye&2½½½½ ds ds ds ds bdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vadbdkbZ dk vad

oxZ la[;k ¼doxZ la[;k ¼doxZ la[;k ¼doxZ la[;k ¼dkye&2kye&2kye&2kye&2½½½½ ds la[;kadksa ds la[;kadksa ds la[;kadksa ds la[;kadksa (Digits) dk ;ksxdk ;ksxdk ;ksxdk ;ksx

1 2 3 4 5

1 1 1 1 1 2 4 2 4 4 3 9 3 9 9 4 16 4 6 1 + 6 = 7 5 25 5 5 2 + 5 = 7 6 36 6 6 3 + 6 = 9 7 49 7 9 4 + 9 = 13 ;k 13 = 4 8 64 8 4 6 + 4 = 10 ;k 10 = 1 9 81 9 1 8 + 1 = 9 10 100 0 0 1 $ 0] 0 = 1


54

5- fufnZ"V la[;k] ftldk oxZ fn;k x;k gS] esa bdkbZ dk vad 5 gksus ij oxZ la[;k esa bdkbZ dkvad 5 gksrk gSA

6- fufnZ"V la[;k] ftldk oxZ fn;k x;k gS] esa bdkbZ dk vad 0 gksus ij oxZ la[;k esa bdkbZ dkvad 0 gksrk gSA

7- oxZ la[;k esa bdkbZ ds LFkku ij 2] 3] 7 o 8 la[;k;sa ugha gksrh gSaA

mijksDr izfØ;k ij vk/kkfjr dqN vU; cM+h la[;kvksa ls lEcfU/kr mnkgj.k fuEuor gSa&

mijksDr izdkj ls ijh{k.k djus ij izFke n`"V~;k oxZ la[;k dh igpku dj ysus ds i’pkr ikjEifjdi)fr ls okLrfod oxZ la[;k dh igpku fd;k tk;s rks le; o Je dh cpr gksxhA

2 -2 -2 -2 -2 - ?ku la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku?ku la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku?ku la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku?ku la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpku?ku la[;k dh izFke n`"V~;k igpkud`i;k fuEu rkfydk dks /;ku ls ns[ksa&


55

mijksDr rkfydk ls Li"V gS fd]1- ?ku la[;k esa bdkbZ dk vad 0] 1] 2] 3] -------------------- 9 esa ls dksbZ gks ldrk gSA2- la[;k ds bdkbZ vad o mlds ?ku la[;k ds bdkbZ vad dh O;oLFkk fuEu izdkj gksrh gS&

3- ?ku la[;kvksa dk ;ksxkad 1 ;k 8 ;k 9 esa ls dksbZ la[;k gks ldrh gSA bls fuEu izdkj ls O;Drdj ldrs gSa&¼1½ 1 ;k mlesa 3 ;k 3 dk xq.kkad tksM+us ij tks la[;k izkIr gksrh gS] mlds ?ku la[;k ds

la[;kadksa dk ;ksx 1 gksrk gSA¼2½ 2 ;k mlesa 3 ;k 3 dk xq.kkad tksM+us ij tks la[;k izkIr gksrh gS] mlds ?ku la[;k ds

la[;kadksa dk ;ksx 8 gksrk gSA¼3½ 3 ;k mlesa 3 ;k 3 dk xq.kkad tksM+us ij tks la[;k izkIr gksrh gS] mlds ?ku la[;k ds

la[;kadksa dk ;ksx 9 gksrk gSA ;Fkk]

4- la[;k ds bdkbZ ds LFkku ij 'kwU; gS rks ?ku la[;k esa bdkbZ] ngkbZ o lSdM+k ds LFkku ij 'kwU;vk,xkA

mijksDr izdkj ls ijh{k.k djus ij izFke n`"V~;k ?ku la[;k dh igpku dj ysus ds i’pkrikjEifjd i)fr ls okLrfod ?ku la[;k dh igpku fd;k tk;s rks le; o Je dh cpr gksxhA

3- dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij oxZ la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djuk3- dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij oxZ la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djuk3- dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij oxZ la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djuk3- dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij oxZ la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djuk3- dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij oxZ la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djukuhps fn;s x;s funsZ’kksa dks /;ku ls if<+;sA vkidks fcuk xq.kk fd;s ;ksx ds vk/kkj ij oxZ

la[;k izkIr gks tk;sxkA layXu rkfydk esa funsZ’kkuqlkj dqN mnkgj.k uewus ds :i esa fn;k x;k gSA1- dkye 1 esa ftl la[;k dk oxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djuk gS] mls vafdr djsaA ;g iznRr la[;k

gksxkA


56

2- dkye 2 esa izFke ;ksT; la[;k vafdr djuk gSA iznRr 1 ds fy;s izFke ;ksT; la[;k 1 gS vkSjmlds vkxs ds fy, iznRr la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ;ksx ;ksT; la[;k izFke gSA ;Fkk iznRr2 ds fy, iznRr la[;k 2 o iwoZorhZ la[;k 1 dk ;ksx vFkkZr 2 + 1 = 3 izFke ;ksT; la[;k gksxhrFkk blh izdkj iznRr 3 ds fy, iznRr la[;k 3 o iwoZorhZ la[;k 2 dk ;ksx vFkkZr 3 + 2 = 5

izFke ;ksT; la[;k gksxhA blh izdkj vkxs izFke ;ksT; la[;k dk vkx.ku fd;k tk;sxkA3- dkye 3 esa f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k vafdr djuk gS tks iznRr la[;k ds iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ gksxkA

;Fkk iznRr la[;k 1 ds fy;s f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k iwoZorhZ la[;k ^0* dk oxZ vFkkZr 0 vkSj iznRr2 ds fy;s mlds iwoZorhZ la[;k ̂1* dh oxZ la[;k vFkkZr 1] f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k gksxhA blh izdkjvkxs x.kuk dh tk;sxhA

4- dkye 4 esa mijksDr izdkj ls vkxf.kr la[;k tks iznRr la[;k ds le{k dkye 2 o 3 esa ;ksT;la[;k izFke o f}rh; ds :i esa vafdr gS] mls tksM+dj fy[kk tk;sxkA ;gh vHkh”V oxZ la[;kgSA ;Fkk iznRr 1 ds le{k dkye 2 o 3 esa Øe’k% ;ksT; la[;k izFke o f}rh; ds :i esa 1 o0 vafdr gS] ftudk ;ksx 1 gksrk gS tks iznRr 1 ds fy, oxZ la[;k gSA blh izdkj iznRr 2 dsle{k dkye 2 o 3 esa Øe’k% 3 o 1 vafdr gS] ftudk ;ksx 4 gksrk gS] tks iznRr 2 ds fy, oxZla[;k gSA vkxs Hkh Øe’k% mDror fof/k ls x.kuk djus ij bfPNr ifj.kke Kkr fd;k tk ldrkgSA

4 -4 -4 -4 -4 - dsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djukdsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djukdsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djukdsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djukdsoy ;ksx dh lafØ;k ds vk/kkj ij ?ku la[;k rkfydk rS;kj djuk

uhps fn;s x;s funsZ’kkssa dks /;ku ls if<+;sA vkidks fcuk xq.kk fd;s ;ksx ds vk/kkj ij ?kula[;k izkIr gks tk;sxhA layXu rkfydk esa funsZ’kkuqlkj dqN mnkgj.k uewus ds :i esa fn;k x;kgSA1- dkye 1 esa ftl la[;k dk ?ku la[;k vkxf.kr djuk gS] mls vafdr djsaA ;g iznRr la[;k

gksxhA


57

2- dkye 2 esa izFke ;ksT; la[;k vafdr djuk gSA iznRr 1 ds fy;s izFke ;ksT; la[;k 1 gS vkSjmlds vkxs ds fy, iznRr la[;k ds iwoZorhZ la[;k ds le{k vafdr ;ksT; la[;k izFke o f}rh;dk ;ksx gSA ;Fkk iznRr 2 ds fy, iwoZorhZ la[;k 1 ds le{k vafdr izFke ;ksT; la[;k 1 o f}rh;;ksT; la[;k 0 dk ;ksx 1 + 0 = 1 rFkk blh izdkj iznRr 3 ds fy, iwoZorhZ la[;k 2 ds le{kvafdr izFke ;ksT; la[;k 1 o f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k 6 dk ;ksx 1 + 6 = 7 gksxkA blh izdkj vkxsizFke ;ksT; la[;k dk vkx.ku fd;k tk;sxkA

3- dkye 3 esa f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k vafdr djuk gSA iznRr 1 ds fy;s f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k 0 vkSjmlds vkxs dh iznRr la[;k gsrq Øe’k% iwoZ iznRr la[;k ds f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k esa 6 tksM+djfy[kuk gSA ;Fkk iznRr 2 ds fy, iwoZ iznRr la[;k 1 dh f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k 0 esa 6 tksM+djvFkkZr 0 + 6 = 6] iznRr 3 ds fy, iwoZ iznRr la[;k 2 dh f}rh; ;ksT; la[;k 6 esa 6 tksM+djvFkkZr 6 + 6 = 12 gksxkA blh izdkj vkxs x.kuk dh tk;sxh A

4- dkye 4 esa iznRr la[;k ds iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku vafdr djuk gSA ;Fkk iznRRk 1 ds le{k iwoZorhZla[;k 0 dk ?ku ;k 0] iznRRk 2 ds le{k iwoZorhZ la[;k 1 dk ?ku ;k 1 vafdr fd;k tk,xkAblh izdkj vkxs dk vadu gksxkA

5- dkye 5 esa iznRr la[;k ds le{k dkye 2] 3] 4 esa vafdr tks ;ksT; la[;k izFke] f}rh; oiwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku gS] mls tksM+dj fy[kk tk;sxkA ;gh vHkh”V ?ku la[;k gSA ;Fkk iznRr1 ds le{k dkye 2] 3 o 4 esa Øe’k% 1] 0 o 0 vafdr gS] ftudk ;ksx 1 gksrk gS tks iznRr 1ds fy, ?ku la[;k gSA blh izdkj iznRr 2 ds le{k dkye 2] 3 o 4 esa Øe’k% 1] 6 o 1 vafdrgS] ftudk ;ksx 8 gksrk gS] tks iznRr 2 ds fy, ?ku la[;k gSA vkxs Hkh Øe’k% mDror fof/k lsx.kuk djus ij bfPNr ifj.kke Kkr fd;k tk ldrk gSA


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5 -5 -5 -5 -5 - oxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djus dh vU; fof/koxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djus dh vU; fof/koxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djus dh vU; fof/koxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djus dh vU; fof/koxZ la[;k vkxf.kr djus dh vU; fof/kd`i;k fuEu rkfydk /;ku ls ns[ksa&

mijksDr rkfydk ls Li"V gS fd fdlh la[;k dk oxZ ml la[;k o iwoZorhZ la[;k dsxq.kuQy o la[;k ds ;ksx ds cjkcj gksrk gSA

6 -6 -6 -6 -6 - oxZ la[;k o mldh iwoZorhZ oxZ la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAoxZ la[;k o mldh iwoZorhZ oxZ la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAoxZ la[;k o mldh iwoZorhZ oxZ la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAoxZ la[;k o mldh iwoZorhZ oxZ la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAoxZ la[;k o mldh iwoZorhZ oxZ la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAd`i;k fuEu rkfydk /;ku ls ns[ksa&

mijksDr rkfydk ls Li"V gS fd fdlh la[;k dk oxZ ml la[;k] iwoZorhZ la[;k o iwoZorhZla[;k ds oxZ ds ;ksx ds cjkcj gksrk gSA oxZ la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o ljy fof/k ds oxZ la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o ljy fof/k ds oxZ la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o ljy fof/k ds oxZ la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o ljy fof/k ds oxZ la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o ljy fof/k ds:i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx fd;k tk ldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ Kkr:i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx fd;k tk ldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ Kkr:i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx fd;k tk ldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ Kkr:i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx fd;k tk ldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ Kkr:i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx fd;k tk ldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk oxZ KkrgksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrs gSaAgksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrs gSaAgksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrs gSaAgksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrs gSaAgksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrs gSaA


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7 -7 -7 -7 -7 - ?ku la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ ?ku la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukA?ku la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ ?ku la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukA?ku la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ ?ku la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukA?ku la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ ?ku la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukA?ku la[;k vkSj iwoZorhZ ?ku la[;k esa lEcU/k LFkkfir djukAd`i;k fuEu rkfydk /;ku ls ns[ksa&

mijksDr rkfydk ls Li"V gS fd fdlh la[;k dk ?ku] ml la[;k] iwoZorhZ la[;k ds xq.kuQyds rhuxqus dh vxyh la[;k rFkk ml la[;k ds iwoZorhZ la[;k ds ?ku ds ;ksx ds cjkcj gksrk gSA?ku la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o jkspd fof/k ds :i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx gks?ku la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o jkspd fof/k ds :i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx gks?ku la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o jkspd fof/k ds :i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx gks?ku la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o jkspd fof/k ds :i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx gks?ku la[;k Kkr djus dh uohu o jkspd fof/k ds :i esa Hkh bl fu;e dk mi;ksx gksldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku Kkr gksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrsldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku Kkr gksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrsldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku Kkr gksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrsldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku Kkr gksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrsldrk gS c’krsZ iwoZorhZ la[;k dk ?ku Kkr gksA bls [ksy dh rjg Hkh iz;ksx esa ys ldrsgS aAg S aAg S aAg S aAg S aA mPp izkFkfed fo|ky;ksa ds lgk;d v/;kidksa ds xf.kr izf’k{k.k dk;Zdze

¼fnukad 21-01-2013 ls 28-01-2013½ esa oxZ o /ku la[;kvksa ij ppkZ gksrs gq,A

,d dq’ky v/;kid esa rkfdZd {kerk o leL;k lek/kku dk xq.k gksuk vko’;d gSA xf.kr f’k{k.k esa nksuksa xq.kksa dh vko’;drk gksrh gSAch0Vh0lh0 izf’k{kqvksa ds xf.kr f’k{k.k dh O;oLFkk djus ds n`f"Vxr v/;kid dk pquko djrs le; miyC/k tu’kfDr esa ls Jh fouksn dqekjJhokLro dk p;u blh vk/kkj ij fd;k x;kA ;|fi Jh JhokLro xf.kr ds Nk= ugha jgs gS vkSj v/;kiu esa Hkh xf.kr eq[; fo"k; ughaFkk fQj Hkh fo’ks"k ifjfLFkfr o’k mudk fd;k x;k pquko izf’k{kqvksa ds fy;s Qynk;h jgkA izf’k{kqvksa dh leL;k;sa xf.kr ds lkekU; Nk=ksals dqN ek;us esa fHkUu gksrh gSa] ftls f’k{kd&izf’k{kd dks le>dj nwj djuk gksrk gSA blh ifjizs{; Jh JhokLro }kjk fd;k tk jgk iz;kllaKku esa vk;k rks ml ij ppkZ gqbZ vkSj ;g n`f"Vxkspj gksus ij fd xf.kr dh miyC/k iqLrdksa esa oXkZ o ?ku la[;kvksa ij tks lkekxzh nhxbZ gS] mlls brj iz;kl fd;k x;k gS] rc lsokjr f’k{kdksa dh ikap fnolh; dk;Z’kkyk esa bls ppkZ gsrq izLrqr fd;k x;kA

yfyrk iznhi] izkpk;Z] ftyk f’k{kk ,oa izf’k{k.k laLFkku] y[kuÅA


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Abbreviations

ABL Activity Based LearningAP Andhra PradeshASER Annual Status of Education ReportB.Ed. Bachelor of EducationBITEs Block Institutes of Teacher EducationBRC Block Resource CentreCET Common Entrance TestCSS Centrally Sponsored SchemeCTE College of Teacher EducationD.Ed. Diploma in EducationEFA Education for AllGER Gross Enrollment RatioGoI Government of IndiaHEIs Higher Education InstitutionIASE Institute (or Institution) of Advanced Studies in EducationICT Information and Communication TechnologyJRM Joint Review MissionMHRD Ministry of Human Resource and DevelopmentMP Madhya PradeshNCERT National Council of Education Research and TrainingNCTE National Council for Teacher EducationNER Net Enrollment RatioNGOs Non-Government OrganizationsNCF National Curriculum FrameworkNCFTE National Curriculum Framework for Teacher EducationODL Open Distance LearningPPP Public Private PartnershipRIE Regional Institute of EducationRtE Right to EducationSC Scheduled CasteSCERT State Council of Education Research and TrainingSIE State Institute of EducationST Scheduled TribeSMC School Management CommitteeTEI Teacher Education InstitutionTISS Tata Institute of Social SciencesUT Union Territory

voices of teachers and teacher educators final june...

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