Education is more than just delivering content

Throw some light on the gaps in teacher training.

As an educator, what I have come across is, we have a teacher set hich are already trained, maybe 20 years back. There are government bodies, educationists, entrepreneurs, working in their areas. But what we need to look at is. As a leader of the school, what is the growth of teachers we have?

Are they actually equipped enough to deliver what our vision is. Are they able to tap each child’s unique talent. Are they aware of what Neuroscience is telling us about training. How we can make the change. Because 4 years back when we started this initiative, we were discussing about What a child can and is capable of learning between 0-7 years. So, this is what we look at. We take traditional teachers which we have but what we do is, we have a continuous professional development. It is the fabric of our school where we talk to each other, help her design her instructions, plan and help her deliver it, monitor it. We also follow strong teacher competencies and map them around it.

How important is personalised learning for children of young age?

I have had teachers who are trying to teach children the life cycle of a butterfly in grade 4. Reading and understanding the concept of a subject is very different. So, I think wjat the teachers need to focus on in the primary years is the Literacy and Numeracy which will make the foundation stronger for the subjects ahead.

When it comes to Reading, Comprehending, Connecting, yes, they might have a problem. So that is where the teacher has to make a difference. And that will come only when we mentor them till such time we have young blood coming in.

Tell us about the training process in your Institution.

In our setup, we have tried using unique methods for the training process. Starting with, we have a 2 day stay back for the teachers which means that the teacher has to stay back after the school hours, followed by a detailed conversation of the day’s schedule with special importance given to the works that were left undone. We then try to map them with our solutions. 

For me, The training process has to be ongoing and in our setup, the training process is followed by planning, collaborating and discussions, coaching and monitoring which takes place through one to one conversation because ‘What works for you, may not work for someone else’,