“Personally, the experience has been deeply enriching. It has changed my perspective about my role in the educational system. The experience has been truly novel. Sometimes one needs an opportunity like this to shake us out of our complacency!” This excerpt from the personal reflections of a teacher validates the fact that the opportunity to reflect upon one’s own teaching practice can provide valuable insight about how a simple intervention or a new methodology can impact learning or influence a positive change in the school as a whole.
The Global Teacher Accreditation (GTA) project was initiated in India in 2010-11 jointly by the British Council and Cambridge Education Foundation. GTA, offered as part of the professional development strand of GSP, provided a unique opportunity to 45 teachers, to engage in action research and use the research experience for their professional advancement and for the school’s further development. The teachers chose topics with global relevance with a real benefit for their own schools and were supported in their research work by experienced mentors. An online networking platform provided the teachers and the mentors the space to engage in meaningful interactions during the process and for secure submission of teachers’ research papers. Of these 42 successful participants, two teachers will be sponsored, on the basis of their performance and feedback from the for a PG Diploma/ Certificate course through an Indian University
Rajshree Tewari, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s Vidyashram, Rajasthan
We often see academically good students either breaking down or not performing well in their school exams. Some even have nervous break down and in worst cases, there have been student suicides. In which ever corner of the world one may go, life is never easy for an adolescent. It is full of confusion, crisis and challenges. But some students do manage to fight the pressure and do reasonably well. So what is it that separates them? Is it their hardiness, moderate anxiety, adjustment skills or supportive family background that is related to their mental health? This was one question that was very close to my heart and has been the basis of my action research project - How do some students cope with stress effectively while others cannot?
Generally, teachers blame the education system, competitions, and parents for the student’s stress. All these years I used to think, “Yes there is a problem of increasing stress in students, but then how can I alone make a difference?” But this action research experience gave me the confidence that if I want, I really CAN make a difference. Since the intervention has proved to be useful for this group, I have decided to use this action plan for the high school students on regular basis. My school now strongly supports me in this endeavour. If we could help and bring back even one child from the brink of depression and trauma, I think we would be truly fulfilling the noble cause for which any school stands.
S. Sivagami, Brindavan Vidyalaya, Tamil Nadu
I have always been actively involved in helping my students become aware of their rights. Apart from guiding the students in making the board game Anjaraipetti (similar to Locococo), I have included learning about child rights as part of the school’s Physical, Social and Moral Education (PSME) curriculum. My research topic was - Children’s Attitude towards their Rights. I wanted to know what the students understand about their rights and this survey has been useful to ascertain their knowledge on child rights. The collected data and its subsequent interpretation have been shared with our UK partner school. As a result, the two schools have been able to discuss and come up with a plan for how to educate the students on their rights. The results will also be shared globally through our website, in the form of blog and forum, so that the initial data can be used as a stepping stone to do further investigation into child rights with a more global representation of children.
The opportunity provided to me through the GTA project enhanced my confidence and also acknowledged the work done so far. The action research project exposed me to a completely new experience. Interviewing children of child labour school, Trichy has been the part closest to my heart. The cooperation extended by our new partner Conyers School, North England helped me to record the universal voice of children. The curiosity of students, teachers and my partner school to know the result of my research was the driving force. This research has given me a lot of experience and I would like to involve myself in such a process to enhance the teaching methodology.
Purnima Ravindran, Birla High School Girls’ Section, West Bengal
The primary aim of my project was to assess the efficacy of undertaking a learning exercise outside the classroom, in this case community service through environmental conservation and fund raising with a view to enhancing the students’ soft skills. This meant harnessing their enthusiasm to develop the skills required in such areas as research, planning, marketing, interacting with different organisations and individuals from government officials to simple tribal villagers, organising field trips, making presentations to fund the project and maintaining timelines. Another focus area was getting the students to translate their natural sympathy for the underprivileged into concrete measures of assistance instead of merely paying lip service. I hoped to analyse and understand how to provide motivation for this.
The positive impact of the project and it’s recognition by the school, media and respected citizens have bolstered my confidence to handle such projects. Involvement in a project of this nature at such a young age has been a tremendous learning experience for the students. The undoubted accretion of knowledge and enhancement of skills of the students by participating in the project emphatically confirms the utility of using a non classroom model for this purpose. This does help to develop them into responsible global citizens. The enthusiastic response and cohesive teamwork of the students is testimony to the efficacy of this method of getting the students to put in their best efforts voluntarily and wholeheartedly through the medium of equal opportunity.
Pradnya Gokhale, New Era Senior Secondary School, Gujarat
I have been working as Mathematics teacher since last 13 years and have taken part in a workshop on Vedic Mathematics (VM), which is an alternative method to do mathematical computation. I had read in newspapers and magazines about the ability to do mathematical operations to be rather poor in many western countries. I also asked my partner school teacher in the UK. She replied that students scored better in the paper in which use of calculators was permitted than in the paper in which it was not permitted. Obvious corollary is students had conceptual abilities but lacked computing skills and this is the same in our school. The influence of the above two made me realise that some methods must be devised to optimise performance in mathematics and thus even boost general self esteem and confidence in the students.
As I have been teaching Mathematics for years, this action research helped me to realise that newer methods to teach a subject develop interest in the subject which is very vital to learn and perform well in a subject. As I had carried out the action research myself my colleagues from the Mathematics department who were keenly observing me appreciated the work. I shared the outcomes and they too are convinced to incorporate VM techniques in the teaching. My colleagues have devised plans to introduce VM methods in the normal teaching curriculum. They became interested in getting advanced training in VM. When I have shared the outcome of the action research with my partner school teacher in the UK, they showed keen interest in learning these methods. This will be one area where I will help the students of the partner school to learn the VM method.