Learner - learning: New approach

High demand for school and cluster-based teacher-development programs:

G H Asoka

Ensuring quality of learner-learning as it is defined within a particular education system is the most fundamental feature of high-quality education

[Teacher training skills]

* Knowledge about learners
* Sound instructions
* Subject matter knowledge
* Understanding curriculum
* Professionalism
* Dedication
* Discipline

Second part of this article was published yesterday

According to researches, SCBTD models have a high demand today due to five reasons;

* The widespread curriculum reforms which emphasize active learning,

* The accompanying necessity of rapid and effective teacher change,

* The growing realization of the central role of teacher quality in educational quality,

* The career-long ongoing teacher professional development viewed as a necessity in order to improve teacher quality and in return educational quality,

* The rapid expansion of student enrollments requiring a much larger number of teachers and the necessity of finding ways to support relatively inexperienced or less qualified teachers in rapid changes of androgogy and pedagogy and the consequent decline in quality as a consequence of rapidly expanding quantities of education in the absence of resources. This situation is common in Sri Lanka, too.

Teacher-assisted programs

The sort of teacher-assisted programs needed today prepare teachers as teacher communities for a professional role as a reflective practitioner and a researcher. This is vivid in the definition introduced in the Wikipedia, Free encyclopedia on teacher education as 'the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community'.

Continuing professional Development (CPD) of which school based teacher development programs is also a model, has been identified with the need for updating and upgrading teachers who have already completed their professional career with initial teacher development courses or an induction course which cannot be guaranteed to fulfill requirements in the teaching profession with evolving teaching skills and the insufficiency of such courses to prepare a teacher for a career of 30 or 40 years ahead. In many countries, teacher professional development takes place at the school level itself (UNESCO 2004, P. 162-163) to successfully respond to these challenges.

Mutual support

The World Bank Report, Treasures of the Education System in Sri Lanka: Restoring Performance, Expanding Opportunities and Enhancing Prospects (Feb, 2005) also emphasizes the need for SCBTD rather than using a cascade. In this regard, formation of school communities as learning communities within their schools or clusters of schools is a necessity for teachers to engage in an approach which ensures their learning, processing, reflecting and improving through collaborative and mutual support.

A significant impact of school based continuous teacher development approach is the growing trust of teachers while empowering them to function as professionals and make responsible decisions when they have sufficient understanding of the reforms they are being asked to implement and support with a range of effective alternative practices.

This, in return, causes an increased sense of professional identity and empowerment and more positive morale and energy. Implementation of reflective practice and action research empowers teachers a lot in SCBTD programs and these two practices are important as they are closely related to recent thinking about education quality as well. Teachers' professional attitudes, energy and motivation are critical, in combination with teaching skills and creating quality of learning.

SCBTD programs

Teachers' teaching skills include their knowledge about their learners, appropriate and sound instructions, subject matter knowledge, understanding of the curriculum and its purposes, general professionalism, ability to communicate, enthusiasm for learning, sensitivity to others, discipline, ability to work with others, dedication and relationships within the school and community.

The SCBTD programs are supposed to consider these aspects in various ways when implementing them at school and cluster level.

Another important facet of SCBTD programs is its promising nature for establishing professional development of teachers focusing on teachers' role as the central to student learning without excluding other members in a school community: they aim at individual, collegian and organizational improvement while respecting and nurturing intellectual and leadership-capacities of teachers, principals and others in the school community.

Development efforts

Such programs reflect the best available research and practice in teaching, learning and leadership. At the same time, they enable teachers to develop further expertise in subject content, teaching strategies, use of technologies and other essential elements in teaching to high standards.

SCBTD programs therefore, ensures professional development while promoting continuous inquiry and improvement in the daily life of school using substantial time and other resources. Coherent, long-term plan and evaluation in such programs is based on their impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning guiding subsequent professional development efforts. When organizing SCBTD programs, schools are clustered paying attention on geographical aspects and keeping them in appropriate size in order to organize activities such as teacher education, informative sessions, leaders and community events.

Clustering facilitates resource mobilization, increasing local ownership of programs, coordinated awareness, community participation with enthusiasm, relevant representation, professional exchange, creating support networks, the practice of developing communities of learning among teachers and participatory contribution by maintaining flexibility, accommodate needs of teachers and stimulate sharing among the schools belonged to a certain cluster. SCBTD programs are more decentralized and localized forms of teacher support due to clustering.

Within these programs, teachers’ professional development can be ensured at intra-school level and cluster level by establishing small development communities under desirable aspects.

Facilitation of teachers in these programs is required to be highly participatory and they utilize teachers themselves, master teachers and outside advisors using support material which provide basic information on innovative practices with suggestions.

The androgogical principles applied in SCBTD programs require participatory, learner centred and active learning patterns while introducing innovative, active learning approaches addressing pedagogical aspects to fulfill requirements of the classroom.

The curricula and content used in these programs are different depending on various circumstances. A variety of teacher learning material such as printed material, radio support, multimedia kits and teleconferencing can be utilized in these programs to enrich their quality to develop teacher-learning by sharing experiences and communal problem solving. In addition, the necessity of powerful professional learning strategies such as reflective practice, peer observations, action research, school visits, round-table discussions and so on can be incorporated to raise quality.

To be continued