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The other day I had attended a National Seminar on  Empowering Teachers for Sustainable Development.

One session during the Seminar focussed on the topic ‘Equipping Teachers for Eco-Pedagogy and Education for Sustainable Development-An  Exploration.’

Two teachers, Prof. A.Faziluddin, Principal, Farook Training College and  Dr. Muhammadunni Alias Musthafa, Dept. of Education, University of Calicut engaged the session.

The following  were the  introductory remarks made by Prof. Faziluddin:

• Palkhiwallah once stated: “The human generation ends  up with guided missiles and misguided men.”…Now…, who is responsible for  the misguided men?  Teachers are keen on taking responsibility for the fame not the blame.
• Three essential things which a teacher  is expected to do includes: To know the truth, to do the right thing and to love beauty. But  this seldom happens.
• The  twenty million baby diapers and the  napkins which women use every day  in India  is   a  real threat to the environment.
• Unlike the Indian closet, the European closet which adorns every modern home and office,   flushes down the toilet  millions of gallons of water  each time an individual uses the urinal.

While summing up Prof. Faziluddin  affirmed that for Environmental Education, it is the attitude of the teacher that makes  the difference.

Dr. Mustafa dealt at length with several aspects  related to Eco-Pedagogy. The enabling pedagogy which he proposed  included:

• Emphasis on learning rather than on teaching
• Capacity building for critical thinking and problem solving
• Addressing locale specific environmental problems/issues infusing environmental perspective to classroom subjects.
• Multi-disciplinary approach

The challenges for Teacher Education  includes:

• Developing an appropriate environmental ethos and developmental perspective.
• Developing sensitivity and awareness to environmental issues/concern.

While summing up Dr. Mustafa  said that a progressive free education is essential  for Eco-Pedagogy.

The  final session of the Seminar  included  an Open Forum: Sustain or Extinct.   The moderator of the  session was Dr.T.N. Vijayakumar, President of Malabar Natural History Society. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Vijayakumar revealed how he learned the first lesson in Global Warming  from a fisherman. He narrated how  the fisherman who eked out a living in the 1980’s  by fishing in the  estuary  near Feroke, Calicut had to give up his profession when many species which he used to catch and sell had died out owing to the rise in temperature of the water  in the estuary.

In the Open Forum many issues   and concerns were expressed  by  the delegates.  I had raised the following concern related to experience:

In an attempt to raise sensitivity to environmental  issues, many teachers organize trekking to  jungles and National  Parks. But during such outings,  food, clothing    and modern makeshift shelters   are carried by the students to make the trip as comfortable as possible. Those who live a life completely dependent on the jungle know, what it means to live entirely on resources available from Nature.  A bite by an insect can be cured using herbs available in the jungle.  The water in the jungle  streams  are free of pollutants and  they are aware of  the need to preserve them all in its pristine beauty.

Now…,how many teachers can survive in the jungle by solely depending on the resources available in the jungle? Can casual pleasure trekking  create in students a real love for Nature and evoke in them the need to preserve our natural resources?

Any comments dear reader?

 

Note : The visuals  on  nature is  from the Photo Exhibition organized  by The Malabar Natural History Society  during  the Seminar.

 

 

 

Last month, 03 September 2011, I had attended a seminar on Gender Quest in Multiple Intelligences at Farook Training College, Kozikkode.  The following are notes made during the Seminar which provides food for thought.

• Globally, the proportion of students joining courses in  Science and Technology  shows a  decrease.
• In India, student interest in Science decline as they climb the education ladder.
• In Kerala,  girls perform better in Board exams and boys perform well in Entrance exams. Girls perform better in homework, assignments and Course Work, but boys outshine girls when tested on the same content.

“The surest  way to keep a people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family.”

-Dr. J. E. Kwegyir Aggrey (1875-1927), a visionary Gandhian educator

 

External Benefits of Education

Benefit Type: Child education                     

Findings: Parental schooling affects child’s schooling level and  Achievement

Benefit Type: Fertility

Findings: Mother’s education is inversely related to daughter’s birth

Benefit Type: Crime

Findings: Education reduces criminal activity

Benefit Type  : Desired family size

Findings: Schooling improves contraceptive efficiency

-Wolfe and Zuvekas 1977

 

 A verse illustrating Gender stereotypes in Curriculum

In my textbooks I learned that only men are kings and soldiers

Till I read a book in which famous queens ruled and fought against enemies

In my textbooks, I learned only men are doctors

When I went to a doctor I saw that she was a woman

In my textbooks, I learned that only men do farming in my country

Until on a train journey I saw women working in the fields.

 

 

Can sitting in the same class room, reading the same text book, listening to the same teacher prove useful??

 

 

These are notes from a lecture on Family-centred approach in teaching delivered by Mr. Hafiz Mohamad during the National Seminar on educating Teacher Educators for diversity  organized by  Govt. CTE, Kozhikkode.

• Though the child spends a lot to time at school, it is the family that plays a crucial role in moulding  a child’s personality.
• Family addresses the child’s physiological development and socialisation. It also provides help in time of need, builds a lasting relationship, imparts a status and develops an attachment to generations.
• Family disorganization can affect a child. This could be in the form of family conflicts, separation and desertion, extra-marital relationship of parents and  disease or death. This  would affect the child and  reflect in its behaviour.
• Problems of separation are unique in nature. The psychosomatic disease found among  house wives whose husbands live in the Gulf is a case in point. Lack of physical proximity, feeling of isolation, unavailability of an authority figure in times of crisis or conflict with the mother can lead to intra-psychic problems in children.
• No attempt should be made by parents to belittle, blame, joke at poor performance, punish or grumble for minor flaws. Attempts to generalize and use abusive words can also cause mental stress in children.

What role can the teacher perform?

The family-centred approach should begin by  the teacher making an attempt to understand the problem. Next, the role of  the parents should be identified. The parents should be contacted and if necessary social support should be sought.

• There are several things that the teacher can do: Develop empathy, develop understanding, involve in listening, avoid biases and open criticism and try to find solutions.
• Mentoring is also possible. This should  be individual centred, and the teacher should  try to become a trusted counsellor and guide. The teacher should act as a fellow traveller and give relevant information and inspire the student. Basically it would involve establishing a new relationship with the student.   The teacher can begin by establishing a rapport, a partnership and  exchange views and identify plans and resources needed. Then, diagnose the needs  and go about setting   objectives and  commence the work. While making  progress,  make it a point to  review the work.

 

I had recently attended a National Conference on Emerging Trends in Arts and Science in  a college in Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu. Of the 192 papers selected by the Screening Committee, the highest was from English, totalling 32.

Before the Technical Session for English, which stretched to over six hours and  two sessions  spread over two days, the moderator of the session, Dr. D. Radharaman Pillai stated that he  was amazed at the disparity in the representation of the sexes. 90% of the paper presenters were women! He also observed that  from the abstracts submitted it appears that  almost all of them had employed feminist perspectives for a variety of novels from Afro-American Literature to Common Wealth Literature. This made the moderator remark that the women presenters, appear to be obsessed with ‘feminism’.

During the closing moments of the Technical Session, the moderator offered comments on the content of the papers presented. He affirmed that the fact remains that  ones understanding of a literary work is dependent  on ones experience of the world. He even emphasized the fact that to understand African writing,  an entirely different aesthetic sensibility is required and illustrated the point through an anecdote:

Once the moderator had served for a brief spell in one of the top twenty universities in the world,  located in the African continent. During the first week of his teaching sojourn he was given accommodation along with his wife and kid in a Guest House allotted by the University. His first teaching assignment was to engage classes for the Post Graduate students of Literature. The topic was Morphology and Syntax-something not very easy to grasp if you do not have an aptitude for Linguistics. After five days of teaching, he was to conduct an examination and the results were to be published by the University.

In the evening after the examination was given, two girls of the PG course the moderator was assigned to teach, called on him at the Guest House. One of the girls introduced herself and told him that she requires a grade not less than ‘B’ failing which she will forfeit her chance to study in the University with a scholarship.

The moderator however told the girl that he would never  consider any such request and would award  only the mark she deserves. As the girl who accompanied  knew that her friend was likely to fail, completely ignoring the fact  that the moderator’s wife was seated beside him in the Drawing Room during the conversation said: “Sir, my friend could offer you pleasure if you award her a ‘B’Grade.”

Now, this the moderator said, is likely to be shocking to students in Kanyakumari  who unlike some girls in metropolitan cities, would dare not engage in pre-marital sex.  Perhaps for many girls in Kanyakumari and elsewhere in India,  expressions of love  is through the sending of  umpteen SMS messages to their lovers or making free mobile to mobile unlimited talk-time calls! Naturally,  it is difficult for them to understand the failure of male and female characters in African novels   to engage in true love.

Then, the moderator went on to  explain how the African society  and  the values they possess  are  different from  Indian values. They do not see sex as taboo and went on to narrate to the stunned women  paper presenters,  how in the African University campus, over two thousand condoms  are supplied free everyday for use by the students and how on evenings it is possible to see students making love in the open!

All these facts were provided by the moderator to emphasize the fact that ‘love’ is not  perceived by writers in Africa the way students in Kanyakumari  perceive it. An ignorance of  the African campus culture can  lead a  student from Kanyakumari to interpret  character relationships in novels in a way never ever perceived by the author!

 

 

 

With an intention to get my BEd trainees of the academic year 2010-2011, to become Internet savvy, I gave  them an assignment to be completed and sent  to my email address during the recent Chiristmas vacation. Though nearly 85% of the trainees in my class did submit the assignment on time, a few failed.  In fact  some did not have an  email Id and was not computer literate. But  I was firm and persistent and  refused  an extention of time for submission of  the  ‘ vacation’ assignment.

In my New Year address,  I did express my displeasure at the lax attitude shown by a few trainees. This apparently did put off a few. And last Sunday  a news item entitled Laptops, netbooks for teachers in ICT-enabled learning appeared in the Sunday Express dated 9 January, 2011.  To convince my trainees  the need to become computer savvy,  on Monday , 10 January 2011, I displayed  a paper clipping of the news  item mentioned in the class Bulletin Board.

 

 To my utter surprise a smart  trainee sent me the following email. ( I am publishing it  after intimating the trainee)

 

sir,

as an aspiring teacher, i look forward to such initiatives. but i ‘m doubtful how far it would be successful. we can’t be sure even the new generation trs would make best use of it!  some of the problems which hinder this endeavour may be:

 

~ quality of the system provided [ eventhough they offer warranty ]

~ difference in operating systems ( windows xp/ 2000/ vista/ 7    * edubuntu/ ugandu/ other linux version) creates confusion among trs.

~ cost eventhough reasonable, it would be out of reach for a no. of trs [easy instalments without interest would do better to some extend]

~ reluctance

 

 for instance, … in an aided school,  the Headmaster  is illiterate in computer, and also most of the staff -the IT co ordinator [an english tr] does everything.  the class trs are supposed to teach their IT practicals. but they  conveniently make use of the service of an outsider for this purpose and they get a free hour … pupils have to pay for this.

 

during the school induction programme, we felt the same except a very few trs.

 

anyway, i would like to hope for better results.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Chithra jl,

BEd. English, Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandurm

 

Well, this is the reply I sent her…

 

Dear Chitra,

 

Thanks for  the email and the concern you have shown.

 

Perhaps, you will find the  following  observations made by researchers interesting:

 

The  introduction of ICT in education has created a  new challenge for teachers and students in relation to their technical ability, knowledge and expertise in the use of ICT. According to a research done in Europe, “older teachers considered themselves too old to be learning new tricks and some stuck doggedly to old methods, it was nonetheless also found that older teachers could reveal greater patience and tenacity in the acquisition of new skills.” ( If interested in knowing more, please use the following  link

http://www.elearningeuropa.info/directory/index.php?doc_id=1357&doclng=6&page=docne

 

According to Fischer & Gillespie, 2003: “The computer is a catalyst for information sharing, language development, and decision making”.

Nir-Gal & Klein, 2004 have found that computers improve children’s  mathematical thinking and play an important role in enhancing the cognitive development . Integrating teacher mediation within computer learning environments for young children facilitates informed use of computer technologies in their learning system, and enhances thinking processes and work habits.

To Huang & Liaw, 2005, among  the  factors  that affect the  successful  use  of  computers  in  the  classroom  are  teachers’  attitudes  towards computers.

 

Well …it is an acknowledged fact that the  success  of  any  initiatives  to  implement  technology  in  an  educational  programme depends strongly upon the support and attitudes of teachers involved!

 

Practice Teaching as per the BEd. syllabus  of the University of Kerala is based on the following assumption :

 

 In teaching, the kind of knowledge required can neither be taught nor learned from the book; it only exists in practice.

 

Not surprisingly, this year too,  the teacher educators who observed the classes had to give plenty of directions on how to teach. Of course, they too could learn a lot by  listening to the comments offered by the trainees after they had completed fifty percent of the days stipulated for Practice Teaching . Given below are the comments of the trainees followed by the comments and tips offered by the teacher educators.

 

Trainee Comments After Practice Teaching

 

• Some of the Supervising teachers had insisted that the trainees need to be punctual!
• The crowd of trainees from other Teacher Training Colleges is a big problem. It is very difficult to get extra hours to complete the portions especially when the trainee misses classes owing to strikes or  programmes in the school.
• Indiscipline of students in some schools did create a problem and a few Supervising Teachers did provide assistance in managing students.
• Though all the trainees were supposed to teach at the secondary level, many were assigned to teach Upper Primary classes and in some cases Lower Primary classes.
• Some trainees did admit that they learned quite a lot of things by observing the classes of their peers.

 

Teacher Educator Comments/ Tips  After Observing Classes of Trainees

• Some trainees  did show a tendency to teach using the mother tongue even in English medium classes.
• Many trainees were not using relevant and appropriate teaching aids.
• There were many instances in which the trainee failed to ask questions which prompts the pupils in the class to think.
• There was one unique case in which  a trainee of Sanskrit language attempted to teach a particular yoga posture using a picture… something which could have been easily demonstrated.
• It is a pity to complain that the pupils are not attentive. You ought to realize that the only thing the school going child loves to do,  is to play. So to get the pupil to be attentive, you should plan properly. Be sure that you keep changing the stimulus every five minutes. For example, change in tone, using  a song, using  a teaching aid, engaging  pupils in pair/ group work, demonstrating etc.
• During  extra teaching periods allotted to you, do attempt to test the effectiveness of new strategies other than the ones based on Constructivism which you regularly follow.

 

Around 150 delegates assembled in the Senate Chamber for the Foundation Day Lecture 2010 of the Kerala State Higher Education Council. The special invitees included Vice Chancellors from various universities who also were invited speakers for the two-day seminar on New Directions in Higher Education, organized along with the lecture. The gathering which included among others teacher educators, and research scholars were welcomed by Dr. K.N.Panikkar, Vice Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.

Dr. Panikkar began  his welcome speech by referring to the role till now being played by the Council which was essentially aimed at quality improvement and not related to administration. References were made to the earliest attempts at introducing the semester system  and the choice based credit system, the emphasis on continuous review of the system,  the formation   of   cluster of colleges and the workshops  for course designing involving teachers. He also underlined the two main principles on which the Council works:

• Academic freedom of students
• Academic freedom of teachers

 When the  lecture on the theme ‘The Global Academic Revolution: Implications for India’ by Prof. Philip G.Altbach and the forty-five minute question answer session came to an end [Please view http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/the-global-academic-revolution-implications-for-india-lecture-excerpts-2829726.html] , copies of the text of the Presidential address by the Chairman of the Higher Education Council, the Hon. Minister for Education, Mr. M. A. Baby was circulated and read out in absentia as the State Legislative Assembly was in session.

 Excerpts from the text of the Presidential Address :

 *… We have been trying to evolve a Left Democratic alternative to neo-liberal policies and practices in education…Educational reforms carried out by the State government over the last four  years has had  the following broad objectives:

1. Expanding  the choices of students and teachers

2. Promoting the study of basic disciplines and research

3. Recognizing the importance constructivist approach to learning

4. Learning through academic collaboration  rather than competition

5. Implementation of fair, transparent and non-exploitative practices in educational institutions.

 The programme ended with Mr. Thomas Joseph, member secretary of  the Higher Education Council offering the vote of thanks.

The first four questions asked for the First Semester BEd Degree examination, of the University of Kerala held last Friday, 23 April, 2010 for Paper I – Theoretical Base of Education: Philosophical & Sociological, were the following: 

Q # 1. When you met your classmate after completing the course, he told you that he was able to develop a philosophy of life now and he wants to be the world to be ideal. What suggestion  you can give him from your knowledge of philosophy? 

Q # 2. When you met your teacher, he asked you whether the current trend in education is able to achieve the aims of education. How will you react to this? 

Q # 3. Imagine the period your grand parents lived. Compare that period with the modern age with relevance to the factors responsible for the changes that had taken place. 

Q # 4. During your practice teaching you imagine that you happened to meet a parent. He complained that his son had a feeling of being isolated. Explain to him how education can be a help to solve this problem. 

Analyzing the questions in terms of expected student response, would reveal that the question paper setter is keen on getting responses that are the trainees own, and products of self-reflection. 

While answering the  four questions, the trainees are  expected to perform the following:

For Q # 1. State one’s own philosophy of education.

For Q # 2. Provide one’s perception of current trends in education.

For Q # 3. Analyze social change.

For Q # 4. Provide workable solution based on inferences drawn from philosophy and  sociology of education. 

The BEd trainee who is expected to answer the above questions has just completed four months of instruction. They lack  the necessary knowledge about the vast field of  Education. They neither have the experience  to evolve  ones own philosophy of Education nor are they in a position to form a proper perspective of Education in Kerala. The fact remains that a majority of the trainees who join the BEd. course  have only a BA, BSc or BCom. degree which does not necessarily help evolve a maturity in thinking! Further, it is common knowledge that,  the  average teacher trainees in Kerala, prepares for the BEd degree examination referring to bazaar guides and even worked out university questions available in the market. But in terms of difficulty level of the questions asked and  the possible inability of trainees to comprehend the question properly, don’t you think dear reader, the University examination question will only drive the average trainee to frustration?

Amazingly enough, the question paper setter believes other wise. No wonder, the fifth question  in the same paper reads : “ Education without Philosophy is blind, Philosophy without Education is  invalid – Comment.”!

 

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 The other day, I had been to a reputed Government College in the city accredited with ‘A’Grade. As I had arrived in the college  quite early for an academic work, I had time to interact with  the faculty. My curiosity in finding out those aspects that led the college to acquire an ‘A’ Grade made me inquire about the academic programmes in the college. I was told that  over the years, things have completely changed in this once reputed college.  Though the  NAAC Peer Team had accredited the college with an ‘A’ Grade,  the public have their own accreditation! So only the ‘third’ or ‘fourth best’ of the students who join the Arts and Science stream, come to this college!

 

A more startling revelation came from a faculty closely associated with the accreditation process. From his experience he has found that, once a teacher registers for research, he/she  willingly divorces himself/ herself from any serious preparation for teaching students. Such teachers, never ever take the extra pain to raise the competence of students! And what follows after the securing of a PhD is assiduous preparation for  attending seminars, presenting papers and publishing of  articles to meet UGC guidelines!

 

As I waited to fulfil the purpose of my visit, came shouts of slogans, of a particular student’s union, against the  Principal and teachers of the college,  for banning a Film Festival for which they had already sold the tickets! Soon the striking students were seen  driving out of class rooms those keen on academics with occasional threats! I later realized that  this was a tactful move to make it convenient for the students to  attend the Film Festival.  While all this was happening, the teachers of the college  promptly entered abandoned class rooms  as per the bell and returned to their Staff Room with the tell tale message on their faces…  Phew…another day of rest!

 

A faculty of the college, affirmed that  the present  power struggle between the Students Union and the College  Teachers  is  likely to continue for a few days. This is because the struggle is of ominous importance and that it is  the winner of this struggle  who will ultimately  be having an upper hand in the conduct of  academic programmes of the college for  the current  academic year!

 

With concern, I inquired whether this will affect their college accreditation. To this, my friend  with insouciance assured me that during re-accreditation, it will  be a  still better grade .. simply because such   insalubrious  facts are  always  discretely  suppressed !

 

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The Teacher Educators of  the Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum, South India  who observed the classes by the trainees during the Second Spell of the Practice Teaching, 22^nd  June to 20^th July 2009, had this to say:

• Some trainees were over confident, many made use of few teaching aids and there was less of activity and more of teacher- talk.
• In certain language classes, the trainees were found to explain the lines in the text, read from the text , write the answers on the Black board, and actively participate in the group work leaving very little scope for pupils to use the  target language. Surprisingly, the reason given by the trainees  was that many pupils who study Sanskrit, Tamil or English at the secondary level, do not know  even the alphabets of the language!
• Some trainees failed to realize that pupils coming from a good economic background, who have tuition for each subject would learn even without any help from the school.
• Trainees ought to have realized that the impressions they could make on the pupils during PT was  important.
• Some trainees  forgot  the key to teaching, which they learned in the Educational Psychology class viz;   to teach Greek, the teacher should know John first!
• Trainees need to remember that what they learned as part of PT has a gestation period and only when they get jobs as teachers will they really realize the importance of the training they received.
• Most trainees showed  a higher level of confidence compared to that of the First Spell of PT
• Women trainees ought to realize that  a soft voice is good for conversation … but in controlling a noisy batch of students  a soft voice is of no use.

 

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