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).
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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.
9.2 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.
9.3 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.
9.4 The new programmes of teacher-education will emphasis continuing education and the need for teachers to meet the thrusts envisaged in this Policy.
9.5 ... 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"
Important to reform and strengthen teacher development
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, the current teacher-education system has several challenges and limitation. The basic model of the in-service teacher education (INSET) has been of a centralised program design. It is often seen necessary to ‘cover‘ all the teachers in a state every year in teacher training programs, this makes the process focus on reaching training targets, making it supply driven. This model leads to limited interaction amongst participants during training and amongst participants and with Resource Persons (RPs) after training.
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NCFTE - Issues with current INSET models
The National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, 2010 (NCFTE) has identified several issues with INSET. 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. Pre-service training needs to be improved and differently regulated both in public and private institutions, while systems for in-service training require expansion and major reform that allow for greater flexibility".
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'.
ICT and Teacher Education
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 in school education, should be in the area of 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. 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'.
ICT can support participatory models of teacher education. ICT can be used to support self-directed, need based, continuous, peer learning and mentoring based teacher education. The integration of ICT in teaching can help in the enrichment of classroom pedagogies. This tool-kit discusses a model of ICT integration that facilitates these processes.
Teacher learning spaces / forums
The NCFTE advocates for Teacher Learning Centres (TLC's) as a forum for interaction and sharing, which would support Teacher Professional Development (TPD). It says "A TLC would serve as a forum for interaction among teacher trainees and teacher practitioners on issues of developing materials and planning for teaching. Frequent interaction and sharing would help trainees to articulate concerns with clarity and learn from each other’s experiences".
ICT can be used to build virtual learning spaces, in which teachers (and teacher educators and student teachers) can share their ideas, experiences and resources for learning, as well as seek support of peers, beyond the constraints of space and time, imposed by physical interactions. These virtual networks can also help support the NCFTE's suggestion 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".
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 towards the creation of teaching resources. This toolkit aims to promote a model of TPD, which integrates ICT in the creation, re-purposing and publishing of OER using FOSS applications.
NCERT ICT Curriculum
The NCERT ICT Curriculum stresses on 'connecting and learning' and 'creating and learning' as two important 'themes' of integrating ICT in education. Creation of 'learning spaces/forums' supports 'connecting and learning. Creating and revising curricular resources as OER, supports 'creating and learning.
Technological-Pedagogical-Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework
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. This model subscribes to the 'Technological-Pedagogical-Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, which emphasises the integration of technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge for teacher professional development. Another way of expressing this would be to say that strengthening the technological knowledge of the teacher, should be towards altering the content and pedagogical practices of the teacher, enhancing her content and pedagogical knowledge as well. The integration of ICT must aim at enriching pedagogy and content, to support quality education.
