Teachers’ Training - Enhancing the skills of ‘Creators of Knowledge’

In today’s world there is at most need of education which encourages the students involvement in terms of attention, interest and inquisitiveness, that can be promoted on how they are being taught. Teachers are valued as most essential resource in determining the learning outcomes of the students. At every level of education there is a need of quality teachers.

Teachers have an influence in learning outcomes of students and have a deep impact on their future contribution to the society. An inspired and well-informed teacher helps the future generations acquire knowledge, guide them on the right path and help them acquire the skills necessary to lead a productive life and contribute to the society. A teacher therefore plays an important role in the creation of a society that is healthy, productive and peaceful. That is why the profession is considered the most noble of professions.

Even the noblest of professions has its own set of challenges and shortcomings. From a room full of excited young studentswith starkly different aptitude and mannerism to external disruptors like the internet and digital devices, a teacher has to find ways to balance them all and help the students in the pursuit of knowledge. From the quick learner to the struggler and the obedient sort to the playful sort. Disruptions like the internet and web enabled devices have had a massive impact on the classrooms. Access to and consumption of knowledge have undergone a sea change. Classrooms are increasingly being digitised and so are educational contents. This has a disruptive impact on the traditional functioning of a classroom and poses a serious challenge for teachers. From being the primary source of information, teachers today have to contend with supposedly unlimited amount of information that is easily accessible over the internet. The new age teacher therefore must up-skill to equip themselves with the necessary skill and understanding of technology so that they can successfully co-opt and harness the benefits.

Improving access to education has been one of the key developmental goalsfor successive governments. Schemes such as RTE and SSA are aimed squarely at improving access to schools. This not only calls for an increase in the number teachers, it also calls for improving learning outcomes through teacher’s up-skilling and training. The government having woken up to the need for improving access to and quality of education is implementing stricter quality controls in teachers’ training. This is a welcome development and teachers’ training and up-skilling needs to be undertaken regularly to keep them abreast with the latest developments in technology induced disruption in the education system.

Private educational companies have on the back of significant investments accumulated significant experience and expertise in content development and delivery mechanisms. From keeping contents updated to developing new and efficient learning aids these private players have a clear insight and understanding of the education sector. These players experience and expertise can and must be leveraged to augment the government’s efforts at teacher’s training and development.

We, at MBD Group, with over 60 years of experience in the education field have a wealth of experience and are utilizing towards training and equipping teachers with the requisite training for an effective teaching and learning experience. Towards that end, MBD Disha (the teacher training arm of MBD) collaborated with Imagine Education (UK) in 2015 to provide teacher training in India. MBD Disha training programmes are structured to equip teachers in content and pedagogical competence and their implications to classroom practices. The Group has developed training modules on Pedagogy, Classroom Management, and Different Teaching Methods in Different subjects. On an average, we conduct 12-15 sessions per week, each 4-5 hours training session is typically attended by 30-50 teachers and these training sessions are conducted pan India. These teacher training programmes help in-service teachers weed out gaps in the knowledge of subject content and help them employ a constructive approach to the teaching learning process.

Such partnerships and collaboration with government agencies as well as international educational firms of repute can lead to an enhanced quality of modules and training materials. It will take the concerted efforts involving the government as well as players in the private sector to successfully develop and implement an all-encompassing teachers’ training program for government as well as private school teachers in India.

-By Ms. Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Managing Director, MBD Group