(The Gist of Kurukshetra) SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE TEACHER EFFICACY [NOVEMBER-2019]

(The Gist of Kurukshetra) SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE TEACHER EFFICACY

[NOVEMBER-2019]

SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE TEACHER EFFICACY

What is needed is a complete transformation of the teaching profession in the key areas listed above and so that education and learning standards could be improved. There is a dire need to improve the efficacy of teacher and teaching standards. Some suggestions that can help achieve these are listed below:
To ensure that truly excellent students enter the teaching profession from and in rural areas, merit-based scholarships need to be instituted across the country. In rural areas, special merit scholarships that also guarantee employment in their local areas should be established upon successful completion of their four-year integrated B.Ed. Programmes. Incentives will be provided for teachers to take up teaching jobs in rural areas, especially in those remote rural areas with the greatest current numbers of teacher shortages and vacancies.
Finally, in order to gauge passion and motivation for teaching, a classroom demonstration or interview should become an integral part of teacher hiring at schools.
A comprehensive teacher requirement planning exercise needs to be conducted in each State to assess expected teacher and subject vacancies over the next two decades.
To ensure decent and pleasant service conditions, all schools need to be equipped with adequate and safe infrastructure, including working toilets, clean drinking water, clean and attractive spaces, electricity, computers and internet in order to ensure that teachers and students are comfortable and inspired to teach and learn.
In collaboration with parents and other key local stakeholders, teachers will also be more involved in the governance of schools and decision making, including as members of School Management Committees.
Finally, teachers need to be given more autonomy in choosing finer aspects of curriculum and pedagogy, so that they may teach in the manner that they find most effective for the students in their classrooms and communities. Teachers should be recognised for novel approaches to teaching that improve learning outcomes in their classrooms.
Teachers must be given constant opportunities for self-improvement and to learn the latest innovations. To ensure that every teacher has the flexibility to optimise their own development as teachers, a modular approach to continuous professional development will be adopted. Opportunities, in the form of local, State, national, and international teaching and subject workshops, as well as online teacher development modules, will be available to all teachers so that each teacher may choose what is most useful for their own development.

Recommendations:

Other recommendations to improve teacher availability and quality of teaching in schools are as follows:

Ensure availability of a full complement staff of teachers in every school with a focus on remote schools and remote districts. States should rationalize teachers across districts and schools, ensuring that every primary school has at least two teachers and that every upper primary school has teachers for all subjects.
Strengthen BRCs and CRCs for teacher professional development. BRCs and CRCs need to build a repository of curricular materials and resources (print and digital) to help teachers in preparing for their classes and working on self-guided study. States should develop a strong core group of outstanding teacher educators through a rigorous process of selection and professional development in partnership with identified institutions.
Make material for teachers and teacher educators available in the state/local language. Create a digital repository of existing material at the state level which could be aggregated at the national level. Identify universities/departments that could take responsibility for creation, translations and validation of the new materials.
Significantly strengthen SCERTs and DIETs. These two institutions are, in the long-term, the academic lifelines for the school system. It is critical to build strong leadership in these institutions, create a cadre of teacher educators and ensure full faculty availability, assure the availability of quality infrastructure and learning resources (including vibrant libraries in both institutions) and strong linkages with all departments of school education.