Need for child centred classrooms

Schools play a vital role in child’s learning. Making a connect between home and school is only possible if the four walls of the classroom reflects the essence of belongingness for the learner. Indian classrooms by and large, are dull, not welcoming and in Sylvia Ashton Warner’s terms- inorganic.

When we deal with live learners why our classrooms are not alive. Let’s look at simple ways we can enhance our classrooms while being cost effective and learner centred:

1. Make classrooms print rich. Drawing from the emergent literacy perspective, we need to make our classrooms print rich. The language could be child’s mother tongue or target language which we want to focus. Print rich environment will include labeling of cubby holes, articles like fan, tubelights, board, chart, key holder, projector, chalkboard, pinboard, desks etc with names of articles. This not only enhances language learning, one has to be careful about the font that you use- some schools choose to use uppercase, lowercase, print, cursive when it applies to English language. The font that we select for labels will automatically register in child’s mind. The best way to learn language is through immersion in the target language and this is one of the effective techniques.
2. Qualitative Bulletin Boards: I choose to use here an evaluative statement that the posts and materials on pin up boards need to be qualitative. Qualitative does not mean decorations, borders, cartoons, frills, excellent art work, moralistic stories, preaching from religious texts etc. Why I specifically state this is because it is very obvious to find teachers spending endless hours in decorating their classes/ bulletin boards that is futile. Similarly religious preaching in form of shlokas, verdicts, sermons, do not really help much as religion is a way of a life more caught rather than taught. These spaces- bulletin boards can be more creatively utilized and some ideas are posted here:

a.       Open-ended stories: To make a board interactive, it is important for the learner to have scope for interpretation, modification and creativity. Instead of posting complete stories- illustrate half stories and leave the plot in between- What will happen next? open for learner’s to predict. This will build their curiosity to read and tell stories.

While dealing with middle school students, likewise the same concept can be upgraded by adding on middle or end of a story and allow students to create their story beginnings. This also teaches story structure.

b.      Thematic:  Thematic postings help in cross curricular learning and enhancing learner’s peripheral knowledge. For example while learning about modes of transport- we may post our bulletin board with metro rail maps and ask some questions on map interpretation, some metro signs etc- hence taking learning beyond the text. The postings on theme could also include pinning up a boarding pass, railway ticket etc.

c.       Inquiry centred: It is important for boards to arouse interest and generate questions rather than only be telling information, stories and morals. There can also be a post on “question of the day”. Each child by rotation everyday will post a question that is Top of his mind- could be about vacations, examinations, climate, parents- and there should be scope for discussion on the question either in quality circle time or class procedures depending on the quality of question.

d.      Learner’s work: Allow students work to be displayed on the board. Kindly refrain from selecting and posting only the best piece of work- because that only fosters competition and our motto as a teacher is to foster learning and high self- esteem. Involve students themselves in bulletin board maintenance.

e.       Change: Change is vital to learning, the boards need to be changed frequently at least fortnightly/ weekly else they cease to act as catalysing agents for learning. Knowing enormous pressure that teachers face in Indian classrooms, it is also advisable to share bulletin board stuff with other section teachers and multiply effort.

f.        Access: This is perhaps the most vital aspect of pin up boards. In majority classrooms it is seen that pin up boards are not at the eye level of learners. They are kept out of reach, mounted high up on the wall with a view to make it inaccessible to students who may spoil the resources pinned up. As a result, it never brings in any ownership in learners. It is important to have pin up boards accessible and at learner’s height to avoid condescending them, and giving them equal responsibility in maintenance of the same.

3. Create class libraries: Initiating a class library with story books and variety of children’s literature is an effective way of language learning. Students should be encouraged to contribute their favourite books in class libraries and talk sessions about the book, show and tell stories and other activities that engages learners should be part of the curricular planning. Student’s contributing books to the library also brings in sense of belongingness and ownership in them and bridges gap between the home and school environment.
4. Create Learning Corners: The concept of learning corners is very effective, but difficult to maintain as per learning styles of learners. So one pragmatic solution is to initiate one corner/ learning space and sustain it for some time and then change the resources according to different learning styles. For example: Jan- Feb- the learning corner can be Bodily Kinaesthetic and hence materials and planning for kinaesthetic activities should be kept here. Example: puppets, props, masks, manipulatives etc. March-April- it can be addressing visual spatial learning- thus CDs, picture prompts, blocks, puzzles, drawing colours, clay etc. should be part of corner and instruction. Likewise, all Multiple Intelligences can be addressed on a rotational basis.

It is important for classrooms to change on these lines and become more welcoming for learners to learn. The classroom has to be a space not only that is cognitively challenging but also affectively bonded with the child who spends his/ her maximum time in school.

By Meeta Mohanty- The author works into teacher training and curriculum development and is a publishing professional.

Problem Solving Assessment

PROBLEM SOLVING ASSESSMENT- the unsung story

Off late CBSE had launched PSA tests which had created a havoc in the schools across the country. Bound by boundaries of curriculum, syllabus, practice- it is difficult for us to consume the fact that we are being tested for abilities that neither has a fixed curriculum, syllabi, no teaching periods nor any practice papers. Accustomed to the system of teaching first and assessment later – as teachers, principals we have been completely baffled with the new idea floated by CBSE, and are operating with an anxiety how well will my school students perform on a PSA test. Harnessing this fear psychosis- the market is flooded with publishers selling solutions for PSA in form of MCQ manuals for different subjects. The high sale margin of these books with PSA reflects  the low IQ of our teaching community that endorses these products.

As an educationist, I wonder that as to why the teaching community is a consumer rather than generators of knowledge. Perhaps the answer to this question is more rooted in the politics of oppression that manifests itself at every level in education. Right from Principals to teachers and students are all victims of oppression, culture of dominance that filters down and manifests itself not only through the explicit but also through the hidden curriculum that operates in the school. When there is no freedom of mind how will we ever be able to develop a culture of investigation, and the internal power to negate whatever is being fed to us. Since we are not self actualized and neither does any school system enable a culture of actualization, caught up with mundane basic needs as articulated by Maslow – we never make a transition in understanding our meta needs and process of actualization.

No wonder, since we are not actualized- we lack the cognitive capacity to differentiate between the knowledge that is provided to us- and from generators of knowledge we accept and submit to knowledge provided by others and become consumers. Research in cognition proves that a child is born as a constructor of knowledge and it is ironical that a school and external agencies makes him/her a consumer of knowledge. The agency within is lost to the environment. In wake of this culture- how is it possible to not look for solutions and rather be one solution.

Coming back to the question of PSA- have we ever pondered and tried to understand the rationale behind examination and CCE reforms, PSA tests- what is CBSE driving the schools to? Is it another record that CBSE wants the schools to maintain, or in words of common human beings another CBSE fad?

Seeing from my perspective all these reforms seamlessly emanate from a common thread of altering the culture of dominance in schools. The reforms are more rooted to change the social order that prevails in the schools rather than just bringing change in pedagogy, assessments and curriculum. These three pillars – Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessments determine the social order/ or rather reinforce the order. And hence there is no doubt that these CCE reforms and PSA tests have brought a disorder in the country because it is meant to change the social order. Social Order can only change through disorder and when it is binding for all of us.

The day we understand the rationale- the unsung story of these reforms that discards the hegemony of a text/ curriculum, teacher, principal, and is only meant to bring about a structural change in the prevailing order that is conducive to consumerism in education – we will accept all these changes with open arms.

The only solution is to first begin by challenging one’s role, one’s own actions that am I perpetuating the culture of dominance or am I liberating people around me. Jiddu Krishnamurti rightly commented that if there is no freedom within – one cannot have a liberating effect on others. Thus it is the time for us to wake up and commune with ourselves, understand our potential, believe in our power and alter the order of dominance in texts, pedagogy, assessments. Precisely, this is what CBSE has tried to evoke through these reforms.

A culture of empowerment is resonated when a teacher is given charge of assessing students formatively. The tradition and dominance of texts/ syllabus is broken when CBSE lists that the modes of transaction and implementation will be more learner centric. Thus we see a number of activities like role plays, presentations, case study analysis, debates, role reversals, interviews, surveys, questionnaire, field visits that pervades the instructional strategy for all subjects- all these are geared to empower students, value their generation of knowledge and alter the power equation and challenge the dominant social order.

Years have passed since we gained independence from Britishers, however the seeds of colonialism and capitalism are rooted in everything we do around us. Schools are structures/ or rather agencies of socialization and we have a strong yearning to be capitalist/ a colonial master and perpetuate culture of dominance. With these means we are not only creating a social divide, an economic divide but also are separating the social and inner self (Carl Rogers) and denying ourselves a liberated life.

The day we rise within and beckon ourselves to liberate ourselves and the society, we will understand the unsung story behind Problem Solving Assessments- which is just not confined to Higher Order of Cognitive Processing but also geared to arouse our inner self through culture of investigation and freedom.

Need for Two-Teacher Classrooms

Published in Teacher Plus, September, 2011 issue
Need for two-teacher classrooms
By Meeta Mohanty

The expectations from the teachers have risen in wake of the assessment reforms introduced by CBSE. The need of the hour is an awakened, informed and efficient teacher who not only helps each child realize his/ her best, but also has to be dexterous in documenting assessments. The CCE system has tremendously increased the ownership of the teachers by making assessments school-based. It is important to investigate the conditions of schools where such change is envisioned for better teaching and learning.
Most schools in our country are adversely affected by the large class size which poses a real challenge in making learning child-centered. Activities, projects, surveys, field excursions -- an important component of teaching and learning process are reduced to fixed routines where a teacher’s role is about controlling behavior, ensuring safety and material management rather than being a facilitator of learning. The argument advanced here is not in support of teachers who do a mere lip service to the profession by considering it an easy option and half-day job. However, the argument here is in understanding the conditions of classrooms that delimit a creative and passionate teacher. How is it possible to do detailed documentation of class discussion, probe into child’s feelings and thought process given a TPR of 1:50 and in some cases even sixty or eighty? This is not an unusual figure as one would agree and can find such schools in every city of our country.

With such huge TPR, activities, discussions and now CCE records becomes a mammoth’s task. Is it possible for teachers to do anecdotal recording of learning with such huge numbers? Does this mean that one should not expect any change in classrooms and abandon any progressive idea? Certainly this is not the solution.
Some systemic changes need to be adopted to facilitate teaching and learning. One solution is to have two-teacher classrooms. This concept is not new and has been practiced in several progressive schools of our country. Some of the advantages of two-teacher classrooms are listed below:

1. This helps in effective teaching and learning as the class is benefited from expertise of two teachers who engage in the facilitation process. Each teacher has his/ her way of thinking and teaching, thus the class gets the advantage of the duo that thinks and plans lessons together.


2. Two teacher classrooms also help in personalizing attention to students who are now under the guidance of two facilitators with whom they relate to.


3. It helps in easy adoption of various tools and techniques of assessment like maintaining portfolios, recording anecdotes, use of checklist, rubrics while teaching. As one teacher teaches, the co-teacher can engage in recording the flow of the class by taking down anecdotes or use rubrics, checklists, rating scales etc.


4. Two teacher classrooms solve the problem which might arise because of teacher absenteeism occasionally. However this should not become a routine.

Some considerations that are important while implementing this scheme is that two teacher classrooms does not mean that each teacher is responsible for half the total number of pupil. Nor does this imply that while one teacher teaches, the other is busy with maintenance of attendance records, notebook correction or preparing wall displays. The concept of two teachers comes with greater responsibility to upgrade the quality of instruction in classrooms. When the school management invests in a two-teacher proposition, it also needs to set a system of streamlining the role of both teachers in the classrooms. A school leader needs to be very selective while pairing teachers. Some measures are suggested below:

• Assessment of strengths, weaknesses and interests of the teachers is essential. Example: A language teacher can ideally be paired up with one who teaches mathematics. Thus the duo can be involved in teaching on a rotational basis and can play the observer role too. This situation is a symbiotic one as the class is benefitted from the expertise of both teachers. The duo too gets an opportunity to learn about other’s subject area, understand child’s cognition and disposition across subject areas.


• Styles of teaching need to underpin the selection process. For example- a teacher who integrates lot of nature walks, field experiences can be paired with someone who is dexterous in indoor activities with students.


• Prior teaching experience is vital. While selection it is crucial that teachers that are paired have a mix teaching experience. For example: while selecting co-teachers for grade two, it would be of help to pair one existing grade two teacher and another grade one teacher. This shall help the duo in understanding what the class-cohort has accomplished in grade one and will be effective while lesson planning.

CCE reform is a great stride in changing educational scenario. However for effective implementation of the scheme it is important that reduced class size needs to be equivocally emphasized and needs to be a legally binding on schools. A two-teacher classroom proposition can be evaluated and implemented in schools at least to begin with in primary school. This will definitely help in combating issues associated with quality education.

The author works with Oxford University Press, India and is currently involved with teacher trainings.

Impact of CCE in schools

Published in Teacher Plus magazine in Apri, 2010 by Meeta Mohanty

Last year, the CBSE introduced a new set of educational reforms with Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), suggesting an overhaul of the education system. Documents have been circulated across the country, and the intensive training by the CBSE to principals and teachers have been a noteworthy effort. What is striking about the whole exercise is the effort of the government to break away from the tyranny of examinations, which have been largely dominated by paper and pencil assessments.
As an educator, and now as a teacher-educator it aggrieves me that CCE has created more chaos rather than being welcomed by schools. The bewilderment it has generated is equivocal amongst school managements, teachers, students, parents, publishers and other agencies working in the field of education. Thus, there are schools demanding intensive CCE training for different stakeholders. Students feel that it will mean more assessments for them on an ongoing basis. Teachers feel that their work has increased tremendously with assessments having additional ‘descriptive indicators’.
It is shocking to look at some solutions that have immediately come up in the market like the CCE software which will help teachers grade the descriptive indicators. Such solutions further state that there is no need for anecdotal records; a software will grade all life skills, attitudes and values. Then, there are publishers who feel that adding more worksheets or assessments in books will make their books CCE-centered.
However, what is visible through all these efforts is the lack of understanding of the framework and ideology behind implementing CCE. Let’s examine some facets of CCE.
Assessments should capture all three major goals of education – the psychomotor, cognitive and the affective.
It does not imply breaking syllabus into smaller bits and testing students weekly through class tests because this is again paper and pencil assessment.
It does not emphasize formal assessments only, rather assessments or observations are to be made in informal settings like break-time, in the corridor, in the playfield, etc.
It goes beyond assessment as only a post-learning experience, rather it emphasizes on assessments to be made during the learning experience.
It emphasizes on documenting the learner’s efforts in learning, processes of thinking to be captured through assessments.
Emphasis is also on tailoring instruction according to different learning styles and assessing differentially. Differential assessments would mean giving more scope to learners to exhibit their understanding of concepts in a variety of ways like – role play, collecting material and displays, reading and writing tasks, surveys, presentations, etc. All these have to form a part and parcel of each theme that is dealt with in a classroom.
Assessment to be continuous implies that children need to be assessed throughout the year through a range of tools and techniques.
CCE tends to make assessments school-based and done by teachers. It does not mean increasing the subjective bias while assessing. Rather it implies that teachers need to corroborate their comments with concrete observations and anecdotes of learning.
It also shifts the onus of assessing a learner not only to the class teacher rather assessment to be collaboratively done by all the subject teachers. Thus, this process of collaboration increases objectivity and validity instead of generating bias.

What goes behind the implementation of CCE?
Shared lesson planning: Time needs to be set aside for teachers to plan lessons collectively. Not only the same subject teachers, but also collaboration of resources ought to happen with teachers taking up different subject areas. This shall encourage cross-curricular exchange.
Reduced teacher pupil ratio: It is absolutely essential to have a small class, with the teacher-student ratio not exceeding 1:30 for effective implementation of the scheme. In the changed scenario, a teacher ought to maintain a number of records like child’s portfolios, anecdotal records, prepare checklists, rubrics for assessment. All this only becomes viable with a small class size.

Sustained reading time: It is often observed that classroom issues remain only the prerogative of the class teacher. Her action on day to day class issues is often left to her practical wisdom. There is never an effort made to allocate time for helping teachers read on fundamental classroom issues, explore different research areas. Thus, reading amongst teachers is dying out. It needs to be a sustained school routine where pedagogical issues are addressed.

Understanding pedagogy: As teachers it is important to understand different discourses in pedagogy. The field is evolving and thus even if we as teachers might have not undergone a formal course in the pedagogy of different disciplines, it is never too late to start reading to understand the learning process and how it relates to the child’s mind. An M.A. or any such degree in the core subject area, say for example English, or Physics, does not generally include and therefore does not assume a knowledge of pedagogy. Nor does a B.Ed. degree make a complete course in pedagogy. There are different courses in pedagogy being offered for different disciplines and understanding of this is absolutely integral to teaching and evaluation of learners.

Flexible timetable: The implementation of the scheme also implies flexible timetables. Imagine the plight of the child’s mind buffering between different subjects one after the other, switching on and off within the span of 30 minutes. Further, to observe the processes of learning, every subject shall require block periods of at least one hour ten minutes to justify teaching, learning and simultaneous evaluation. In case of an outdoor activity, this time maybe extended.
There are many more systemic changes which ought to be in place before the implementation of CCE. Flexibility, change and willingness to learn are the key factors.

Anecdotal records – an important means of evaluating learners

Anecdotal Records are an effective way of tracking a child’s performance as required under the Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation scheme. In the first place, it is important to understand that an anecdotal record means citing specific examples from inside or outside the classroom that can help in unravelling a child’s attributes – the cognitive, the affective or the psychomotor.
Below are highlighted some of the facets of anecdotal records.
Anecdotes ought to describe the context, and capture the child’s behavior.
They should be recorded ‘’verbatim’’, without any interpretation by the observer.
They can be brief or detailed.
They should state facts (what was observed and not an interpretation of the observation).
Value-based words that convey assumptions like good, bad, mild, aggressive ought to be completely avoided while recording.
They can be recorded both inside and outside the classroom.
These records can unleash a lot of information about the child’s learning style, strategies he/she uses. Let’s consider some examples of anecdotal records coupled with teacher’s comments:

Shriya provides multiple reasons behind occurrence of a phenomenon. It was a delightful experience to read Shriya’s insights about why a cat cannot live in water. She explained that “it has lungs and hence it can’t live in water. She added further that it does not have an oily body or fins to live in water.” She uses wall display readily to collect information.

Vishnu has begun to establish causal relations between phenomenon around him and reason logically. While drawing inferences about what changes a cat has to undergo to live in water he wrote: “It should have a flat body, fins, gills and an oily body.” He supplements his thoughts with well labelled illustrations.
The above anecdotes capture the reasoning and thinking skills of a child.

Radhika chooses to retell a familiar story in her own words when it comes to story writing. She writes a story giving an appropriate beginning, developing the plot and the character as can be seen in the story “The race day”. She can write spellings paying attention to the key sounds in a word; for instance she wrote “disided” for “decided”.
The above anecdote captures the extent of details captured by a child while retelling a story.

Digvijay displays leadership qualities by trying to reason when faced with unfamiliar situations. Recently during one of the outdoor activities involving the digging of ponds, Digvijay displayed his resourcefulness by using various resources available in the environment to open the jammed tap of the hose pipe.

The above anecdote talks about the child who learns best through nature and hands-on activities. Anecdotes can be written to document a child’s positive or negative behavior. A teacher needs to be very careful while recording observations. Examples about a child’s emotional response, social behavior, group work, team play, adaptation to difficult situations are as important as a child’s academic performance. Anecdotes ought to be recorded in a variety of situations and on different activities.
The author works with Oxford University Press India and is currently involved in teacher training. She can be reached at meetaprabir@gmail.com.

A road unexplored- Experiences in The Heritage School

A road unexplored
Meeta Mohanty

Published in Teacher Plus in September'2009 issue

‘Life after 3’ is hardly conceived by a teacher as her personal time. It is not unusual to see teachers carrying loads of notebooks or paper bundles for correction almost every other day. Although teaching is considered a half-day job, it is actually challenging and exhausting as most teachers will confess. Every year— a new group of 30-40 children and the ownership of their education lies completely in the hands of the teacher who is supposed to have a magic wand and understand each child’s potential, hone their skills, groom them on good values and turn them into sensitised citizens. Phew! the list is unending when it comes to expectations from the teacher.
However, it is noteworthy to have a close look at the teacher and what kind of support mechanisms s/he gets to nurture the individuality of children. How much of his/ her individuality forms a part and parcel of the school system? I would certainly like to add that though schools have begun to pay attention to the teacher’s professional development in the form of organising seminars and workshops for his/ her enrichment, personal development still remains a road unexplored in many schools.
I used to be a part of an alternative school system where a lot of personal attention was paid to the ‘making of the teacher’ in the real sense. A year and a half ago, I was a facilitator at The Heritage School, Gurgaon which happens to be a school with practices in favour of teachers and students. It is important to upgrade the quality of living of teachers to actually impact the quality of learning in classrooms. Below I have highlighted only a few examples of some teacher-support mechanisms—
· Induction support: As a teacher ushers into a school, s/he is usually clueless about the school system and takes time to settle down and understand the classroom processes. At The Heritage School, Gurgaon, this need is understood and every teacher who enters afresh is given a settlement time to know her/his duties, observe the class- s/he shall be responsible for. A peer- teacher acts as a mentor in guiding the new teacher about the class and introduces her to the parent community through emails, meetings, etc.

· Peer-observations: Teachers at The Heritage School, are free to observe each others’ classes and gain from such observations. Peer-observations are an ongoing voluntary mechanism and do not involve any stress or performance pressure. There is room for all to learn from his/her errors.

· Retreat: Besides ongoing professional development, there are retreats organised for teachers. These retreats span over two to three days and are planned generally in natural spaces where some adventure sports can be organised for teachers. During the retreat, teachers from different class segments commune together as a group, unwind and share their experiences. A lot of resources are invested in personal development and in building teacher community as a coherent whole.
Collective lesson planning and problem solving: This forms the backbone of the teaching community at The Heritage School. Collective lesson planning and reflective sessions, interspersed with hot debates on education, on righteousness of content, pedagogy, etc. form the core component of the teaching-learning process. Day-to-day lesson planning, theme planning, and problem solving is key. If one teacher is facing a difficult situation in her classroom, the entire group/ cohort of teachers support him/ her in troubleshooting. There is support from the management in troubleshooting problems. Every individual is given space to grow, learn from his/ her errors and not operate under any kind of pressure.

Teacher Leadership: The concept of teacher leadership is completely visible in the school—where s/he has a free choice to plan lessons, be him/herself, plan the day, think and discuss what is best for children. Undoubtedly, curriculum in this school is developed by the teachers and assessments are also formative in nature- with portfolio assessment forming one of the key ways of assessing in primary school.

Only an empowered teacher can bring about empowered classrooms. Learning can only take place when teachers and the whole system undergoes transformation. To expect a teacher who is shattered or disintegrated in an obtrusive, compulsive system to bring about change and develop personalities is too demanding a situation. Thus, systemic changes are important and mandatory in the wake of a call for learning-centred classrooms.

The author works with the Oxford University Press, New Delhi. She can be reached at meetaprabir@gmail.com

A framework for thinking schools

A framework for thinking schools
Meeta Mohanty

Published in Teacher Plus Magazine (August'2009 issue)

Of late, the outsourcing of work to professionals and organisations to deal with day to day issues in schools has become a fad. As a result of the cut-throat competition amongst solution providers each agency wants to surpass the others by providing more solutions to the school system to ease the teaching-learning process. While these agencies certainly help facilitate change in the way a school functions, sustaining this change is entirely left to the school and how many schools manage it is a question.

The Problem
The problem, essentially, is to sustain change in schools and to optimise learning in classrooms. Is it possible to sustain change, acknowledging the fact that outsourced professional assistance is an expensive solution and is accessible for a limited period only?

Some thoughts
A system that recognises the need for some external help is a system that learns and will grow. In Peter Senge’s (An American scientist and author of the book ‘The Fifth Discipline’) terms this system has analysed its current reality, its present situation, the problem it faces and is ready to seek help. In other words this system has self- knowledge and shows readiness for change.

Once a school has acknowledged its problems and is ready for help the second step is to look for help. Should the school outsource professionals or is there a scope of resolving the crisis from within? What shall affect a long lasting change? How should one move forward?

The visible trend
Increasingly, many schools are seeking professionals for the following needs:
Day to day lesson planning
Most schools are now seeking professional help for day to day lesson plans to effectively transact their course books. When a school management requests external help for lesson planning it sends a message across that it does not repose faith in its own teachers but trusts professionals who lie outside the school system to prescribe the methodology for teaching. And more often than not these professionals providing solutions to teaching are not practicing teachers.

If a school does need external help then why not organize regular workshops on how to plan lessons, have discussions on the school and class setting, the effective use of available resources in optimising learning in classrooms? What I am articulating for is a common platform; time for teachers to discuss key issues that are peculiar to each of their classes and finding solutions as a group. Rather than looking at class 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D as separate groups led by different section educators, it is possible to treat class 2 as one cohort group and then identify different kinds of learning preferences of children. Collective lesson planning will surely help in minimising problems, finding solutions, collating resources and upgrading one’s knowledge.

Making teaching-learning innovative
Many schools are seeking professional assistance in acquainting teachers with ideas to make the teaching process engaging. Ideas are shared based on some philosophical or pedagogical theory; however such a system does not encourage teachers to develop activities on their own. It is important that teachers develop the capacity to create and design activities on their own. This can only happen when there is a culture of sustained reading and sharing. Expectations from teachers will only materialise when there are systemic changes as well.

Time needs to be set aside on an ongoing basis for reading research, interpreting new syllabi document and engaging in a dialogue. Only this can push thought processes further and develop confidence to ideate and innovate. There needs to be an ethos where teachers can make errors and learn from their new experiments. It is imperative to move from being safe following the tried and tested chalk and talk method to becoming a risk-taker, plan based on one’s gut feelings, one’s interpretation of theories. There is risk in innovating, but yes there is also a sense of accomplishment.
Isn’t this something we also expect of our students? Further as a practice, reflective journal writing can be introduced where teachers can pen down their daily reflections of their classes. This is important as these journals can be a source of assessing one’s new methodologies, and also can offer useful insights about learning and our learners. It is however important that these journals are not regulated and checked by the management as this would alter the entire dynamics and richness of writing, as somehow our schools are yet to function as a whole.

Drafting assessments
Some schools demand professional help in setting question papers—unit and term papers included. Such a demand leaves teachers with no autonomy to draft need -based assessments. Further, all pedagogical deliberations on assessments to be formative, beyond paper and pencil tests seem to be only deliberations with no practical grounding in face of such demand and solutions. If we do seek professional help, instead of asking them to set question papers, let’s ask for how to assess, what goes behind setting a good and valid assessment, how can children be assessed in a formative manner, how to design rubrics that are valid and reliable? Such demand from schools will also push solution providers to move beyond the spoonfeeding mode to more thinking and challenging levels. This will set a premise for a thinking school, where all stakeholders are engaged in thinking— leaders, teachers and children. This is what I call HOTS applied to a school. Higher Order Thinking Skills—is a framework not only for students but also true for a thinking school—a learning organisation.

The basic idea is to push the needs of the school management and solutions provided by organisations to a level where the fundamental paradigm breaks away from giving solutions to thinking together and empowerment at all levels. From questions that move from ‘what’ to ‘hows’ and ‘whys’at all levels. Such an empowerment shall definitely be a breeding ground for a thinking classroom.

The author works with the Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

Is knowledge in question in India?

Is knowledge questionable in India?

Published in Seminar Magazine, June'2009--'Circuits in Cinema' issue by Meeta Mohanty.

This paper is an attempt to investigate that whether knowledge— explicit or tacit is questionable in Indian education or not? It probes the issue through the medium of various examples that are set in schools— choice of subjects, daily classroom routines, textbooks etc.

The phrase ‘knowledge in question’ seems to be ironic in wake of the rigid curriculum that is imparted in schools in India with a marked degree of impersonation and alienation. I wonder as an educator, a curriculum developer and a teacher educator that nothing has changed from the days when I was schooled till date when I visit schools to address the concerns that relate to teaching & learning process. Most teacher concerns are centered around finding solutions to cope with enormous information contained in textbooks, and they look forward for some tips for planning lessons and making it innovative. By and large the process remains of epitomizing resource persons and looking at them for knowedge. Rarely a teacher attempts to investigate the sources and resources shared in workshops by the resource persons. This conformity to knowledge perpetuates to the grass root levels and is visible in form of unquestioning obedience to texts, teachers and the social norms in classrooms. I wonder that the seeds of inquiry need to be sown in the teachers and systemic changes to be introduced in schools to break away from the pattern of conformity that is visible at all levels.

Skimming through a range of textbooks in our country shall reveal the clientele or the social class it caters to. The illustrations, text, language, setting, selection of content and the pricing, all determines the clientele. Further it is also amazing to look at the tone of certainity with which a book transmits knowledge. This certain tone does add to the sacrosanct stature of the texts and no one whether it is the teacher or the student feels the need to investigate the information shared in the book. It is assumed that what is published is carefully scanned and is correct as the book seems to be attached to the authors and publishers whose knowledge and stature is unquestionable. Thus with all due respect to the author or the publisher, one comes across rare occasions where the knowledge that is published is questioned, reviewed or even tested by the teachers and students who instead become consumers of knowledge. Clearly such passive transmission of texts has its philosophical leanings towards behaviorism* and thus texts and textbooks in schools enjoy the ultimate authority to shape the responses and thereby the personalities of children.

It is not only the published knowledge that is received with a degree of obedience but there is an equally powerful hidden curriculum that is transacted in schools and has a much deeper impact on the child’s psyche. This hidden curriculum operates in form of a stable class atmosphere— the similar physical setting, desks and blackboard, the high placed charts, bulletins and other manipulatives that remain accessible to the teacher, in general. Not only is the physical environment stable, the emotional environment is stable as well. A reflection of this is clearly visible in the difference in space shared by the teacher and the students and also in segregation of seating place of boys and girls that does become sharp in the middle school. Further, some social segregation is also seen as one moves towards higher education. For example professions like teaching seem to be monopolized by women and other professions like adventure sports and sales & marketing are dominated by men. It is not surprising to find feeble representation of women in jobs like plumbing, driving, electrical appliance handling, gardening, ploughing etc. These are jobs that require physical labour and thus mostly opted for by men in India. The same social knowledge finds its reflection in the textbooks. This divide that exists is not a natural divide or the one that exists by chance. It is the result of aggregation of subtle nuances that are communicated in the process of schooling in form of the hidden curriculum. This hidden curriculum is the unspoken curriculum conveyed through teacher’s expectations of seeking help for lifting chairs or doing physical work or outdoor surveys from boys, and on the contrary asking girls to be more involved in cultural activities like presenting a dance or a drama on the stage. Besides the teachers, parents and the society also construct a gender- stereotyped schema by attaching social taboos to girls opting for travel related jobs, or event management or even modeling. Likewise boys are not spared and they too face the pressure of earning that often takes a toll on their creative interests that might be painting, choreography, cooking, anchoring etc. Thus till date what is visible is a conformity to the apparent and the hidden curriculum that are forms of visible or tacit knowledge which forms the essential backbone of the schooling process. Coupled with this is the closed pedagogy where the basic premise is to give knowledge and thus chalk and talk predominates and crushes the individuality, creativity and the inquiring nature of the child.

When I talk of unquestioning obedience, I am also reminded of a popular animated movie developed by National Institute of Design ‘Do flowers Fly?’ that reveals how both the apparent (texts, closed pedagogy) and the hidden curriculum (walking in lines, no peer interaction, no right to speak) operate in schools and take a toll on child’s creativity and sense of inquiry and well being.

Thus knowledge in Indian society remains unquestioned and unparalleled. If any text tries to raise questions vis a vis the dominant social order, it has to be prepared for repercussions. At this point I shall like to draw attention towards the fate of new SCERT Social Science textbooks for class VII in Kerela and the much debated text of Jeevan, a young school boy who was given a choice to choose his religion by his parents. The text was accused to be propagating atheism, though what I believe it questioned was the ascribed status of religion. It did deviate from the dominant social order by giving freedom to a child to choose his religion who is considered to be cognitively immature in our society to take such an important decision. After a lot of burning of textbooks and the political chaos it generated, SCERT had to tone down the text. I wonder again is ‘knowledge in question’ in India?

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By Meeta Mohanty who has taught in both mainstream and alternative schools. She is into developing curriculum & teaching learning materials, teacher education and currently employed as Assistant Product Manager (North) at Oxford University Press India, New Delhi.








References:

http://www.indiatogether.com/2008/nov/edu-textbook.htm
http://www.indiatogether.org/2008/jul/edu-textbook.htm
“Do flowers fly”—web resource available on my blog http://www.myeduexperiences.blogspot.com/
Jackson, Philip W.: Life in Classrooms- The Daily Grind, Holt Rinehart & Winston Publishers, 1990
Kumar, Krishna “What is worth teaching?” Published by Orient Blackswan, 2004