A Professional Learning Community Approach for Teacher Development and OER creation - A toolkit/Introduction to the tool-kit

The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers. The Government and the community should endeavour to create conditions which will help motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs and capabilities of and the concerns of the community

- National Policy of Education, 1986 (NPE).

Read more..

NPE (1986), Part IX: The Teacher

9.1 The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers. The Government and the community should endeavor to create conditions which will help motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate, to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs and capabilities of and the concerns of the community.

9.3 Teachers associations must play a significant role in upholding professional integrity, enhancing the dignity of the teacher and in curbing professional misconduct. National level associations of teachers, could prepare a Code of Professional Ethics for Teachers and see to its observance.

9.4 Teacher Education is a continuous process, and its pre-service and in-service components are inseparable. As the first step, the system of teacher education will be overhauled.

9.5 The new programmes of teacher-education will emphasis continuing education and the need for teachers to meet the thrusts envisaged in this Policy.

9.6 ... Networking arrangements will be created between institutions of teacher education and university departments of education. 1986 says, "The importance of competent teachers to the nation’s school system can in no way be overemphasized. It is well known that the quality and extent of learner achievement are determined primarily by teacher competence, sensitivity and teacher motivation. It is common knowledge too that the academic and professional standards of teachers constitute a critical component of the essential learning conditions for achieving the educational goals"

Teacher education

Teacher education acknowledged as an important lever for the quality of school education. Improving the quality of teacher education would help in development of more capable and motivated teachers, which would improve the quality of classroom processes and school education. However, as identified by the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, 2010 (NCFTE) ,the current teacher-education system has several challenges and limitations. It says 'An attitude of resignation towards initial teacher education and piecemeal in-service training courses have become an integral part of state provisioning for elementary education. The training of teachers is a major area of concern at present as both  pre-service and in-service training of school teachers are extremely inadequate  and poorly managed in most states'. The NCFTE envisions that 'the broad aims of continuing professional development programmes for teachers are to : break out of intellectual isolation and share experiences and insights with others in the field, both teachers and academics working in the area of specific disciplines as well as intellectuals in the immediate and wider society'.

In a society that is termed as the 'digital society', educational processes too can be meaningfully impacted by ICT. So far, the significant focus of ICT in education has been on students learning to use few software applications, without much involvement of the teachers, this has made these programs stand-alone. Perhaps the beginning of ICT integration should be in Teacher Professional Development (TPD). Digital technologies (popularly known as Information and Communication Technologies, or simply ICT) can provide opportunities for connecting teachers and reducing intellectual isolation. ICT can also support participatory models of teacher education. The NCFTE says 'Any effort to strengthen teachers’ professional practice must equally respect them as professionals. This includes matters of training in content and approach, how trainings are announced and how they are implemented. Programmes must build on and strengthen the teacher’s own identity as a professional teacher and in many cases also establish and nurture the linkage with the academic disciplines of their interest. Programmes that compromise on the professional identity of the teacher and his/her autonomy will be unsustainable in the long run, providing very little psychological motivation for teacher to internalize what they have been ‘told’ in their practice'. to TPD essential for effectiveness'.

Curricular resources

Material development has been acknowledged as an important component of TPD, which would enhance the availability of local resources for teaching. A recent development in the educational domain has been the rise of Open Educational Resources (OER), with the promise of delivering quality education. An essentially, digital phenomenon, OER seek to leverage the possibilities of digital methods for accessing, creating, modifying and sharing educational content. OER has redefined the copyright regime, stimulating the sharing of content with license to re-use, modify and share or publish.

There is need to promote the integration of ICT in education, to meet the aims of TPD and creation of teaching resources. This toolkit aims to promote a model of TPD, which integrates ICT the creation, re-purposing and publishing of OER using FOSS applications. Implementing the PLC-OER model in government school systems would improve the teacher development and curricular resource development processes and thereby support the national goal of a universal and equitable education system.