TeacherSITY

Taking a cue, The Gurukul Trust in 2007 launched TeacherSITY, an initiative to Enrich, Elevate & Empower teachers already in schools. As a first step, it launched theme based short duration trainings; that engaged the teacher before and after the contact programs.

Through a series of professional development programs in partnership with CBSE, Army Welfare Education Society (AWES), Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalays, Sainik Schools and Air Force Schools, TeacherSITY has by now trained around 4,500 teachers and around 115 school principals and leaders. TeacherSITY conducted the first ever Teachers Conference in November 2010.

For more details log on to www.teachersity.org

Principals’ Conferences – NCSP, 2012

Going further, TeacherSITY was the first to take up the cause of empowering Principals as school leaders. National Conference of School Principals, 2012 (NCSP, 2012) was organized at India Habitat Center, New Delhi on Nov 8 & 9, 2012. The conference was supported by CBSE, NCERT and NUEPA as academic partners.

Over 250 in service principals, educationists, school management & administrators from 106 cities representing 19 states attended the two days educational extravaganza making it an event - National in stature and character. The conference was principal- centric & principal - focused – A conference Of, By and For Principals. The theme of conference befitting the need of the day was ‘School Leadership - A Compelling Priority.’

The conference emphasized the urgent and inescapable need to institutionalize a system which ensured that each prospective principal undergoes a structured empowerment program to equip school leaders with requisite skills, competencies and values to successfully lead schools in 21st Century. It also voted for a short duration program for serving principals.

Based on request by delegates, we pronounced that Principals conference will be an annual event- bigger in size and better in content each passing year.

For more details log on to www.principals.in

Training Need Analysis (TNA) –Pilot Project

Infrastructure facilities, curriculum, teaching learning material, effective monitoring and evaluation systems all contribute towards improved learning. However, the ultimate impact-making factor is the ‘Teacher’. Research has shown that teacher’s effectiveness accounts for 33% of whole school impact on student’s achievement gains.

Meaningful and appropriate teacher development and support programs are thus the cornerstone of building effective educational systems.

In the last two decades, research has created a new paradigm for professional development; one that rejects the ineffective "drive-by" workshop model of the past in favor of a model wherein training and development is an ongoing cyclic process covering three broad areas, viz, Training Needs Analysis, Training and Impact Analysis in recurring cycles. Each cycle will be spread over one academic year.

A KSA (Knowledge, Skill and Attitude) based tool (Questionnaire) was designed/existing one utilized for carrying out TNA of DPSG teachers’ current threshold in attitudes, skills and knowledge with a view to design empowerment program suited to the needs of the 21st Century learners

Attitude

Teachers’ attitudes play a very important role in student development. In this context, the two most significant facets are Self Esteem and Emotional Intelligence. Both these facets play a crucial part in shaping the teachers attitude and behavior towards the students and also impact the teaching learning process. This in turn has a direct bearing on the student’s development. Hence, developing the right attitudes and high self-esteem among teachers is essential.

Revised Janis and Field Scale containing 36 items to assess teachers’ Self Esteem was administered Self-scoring Intelligence Test- Are you making most of yourself at work, containing 12 items was administered.

Skills

A teacher has to possess skills in various areas. The more important ones are pedagogical and 21st Century Skills (Decision Making, Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Problem solving) 30 questions in ‘Skill’ covered four broad areas namely Growth and Development in children, Curriculum Transaction, Classroom management and Inclusion and other issues which give an insight into their skills. The Questionnaire was developed in house through deliberations and brain storming amongst faculty.

Knowledge

The third area is Knowledge. A teacher needs to have a wide base of knowledge both pedagogical as well as general in order to be effective. 30 questions in “K” were intended to assess teachers’ knowledge about pedagogy, policy frameworks - National Curriculum Framework 2005, National Curriculum Framework for Teachers Education 2009, Right to Education, current areas of concern – Disaster Management, environmental conservation, CBSE guidelines and initiatives and current affairs. The Questionnaire was developed in house through deliberations and brain storming amongst faculty.

The ASK tool was administered on line on the software developed by IT deptt of SelaQui Education In order to validate teachers’ responses to the ASK tool, interactive sessions i.e. central orientation program, group discussions and individual F2F interactions were conducted. This helped in further understanding the teachers’ personal traits like self-confidence, self-control (how they manage their impulsive feelings and actions), their adaptability and innovations, communication skills and above all their commitment to the profession.

Based on their response during F2F interactions and the responses in the ASK tool, Achievement Pathway of each teacher has been mapped.

ASK tool i.e. KSA based Questionnaire designed by TeacherSITY and responded to by over 350 teachers of Ghaziabad based DPSG group of schools stands validated by F2F interactions with the individual teachers.

We now propose to offer this tool to conduct TNA of other schools with the hope of improving teachers’ effectiveness to improve students’ performance.

SelaQui- CBSE Best Teacher Award

SelaQui- CBSE Best Teacher Award was announced in ICSP, 2013. Salient features are given below. PISA, Program for International Student Assessment, Paris reported India at 78th rank out of a total of 79 participating countries, in its four yearly global survey in 2011.

Out of 7.85 lacs of teachers who took the CTET, Central Teacher Eligibility Test for 2012, only 0.55 lacs being just 7% cleared the test. The performance in the 2013 test was abysmal. Less that 1% B.Ed. or D. El. Ed teachers qualified. The situation is alarming.

India’s schools are crying out for help. To inspire teachers and students to strive for more and achieve higher standards, we need to create heroes and role models at every level, at the city, state or national level. The achievers need to be recognized, acknowledged and rewarded and awarded.

Such public recognition and accolades, however humble, may bring some dignity to the profession of teaching. The purpose is to enthuse and inspire millions of students and teachers across the secondary educational landscape; to learn and perform well.

The Gurukul Trust, a pioneer in teacher empowerment is introducing an annual BEST TEACHER AWARD for high performing teachers in CORE subjects across all schools. For more details visit www.besteacher.in