Education
Teacher training trends in Asia
Vaidehi K N pens down teacher training trends in Asia.
Published
6 years agoon
By
Vaidehi K N
Global socioeconomic trends and cultural changes pose new challenges for ECE teachers in 21st century. Rising parent expectations around learning outcomes, are creating opportunities for those who are ready. Thus a teachers’ role in early childhood setting is much more demanding and challenging.
Thus teachers are the cornerstone of educational development and ‘good schools require good teachers’. Teachers are at the forefront of the process of educational reform, since the quality and effectiveness of any education system ultimately depends on the quality and nature of the interaction that occurs between learners and their teachers.
THE CURRENT SCENARIO
For most of USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, school readiness is around behavioural, emotional and motor skills, not academic standards. In Asia including India the demand from parents is more aorund academic excellence and readiness! Though this is taking a paradigm shift.
Asia is engaged in an educational movement in this decade to transform the traditional academic- and instruction-driven education into inquirybased and child-centered approaches involving critical thinking as the core. ECE teachers in India now have to possess skills to handle students’ varied interests, talents, and creativity in addition to academic knowledge.
“Teach Less, Learn More” is the new mantra in ECE and for all the right reasons. Teachers who earlier were abiding by the prescriptive curriculum are now forced to acquire new skills to handle the paradigm shift to inquiry based learning with critical thinking. It requires teachers to reorient themselves to align their beliefs and practices with the global trends in education.
The encouragement of conducting “learning by doing” activities throughout a wide range of fields replaces the traditional content-valued education. The objective is to focus on each child’s holistic developmental needs by a child centered integrated curriculum.
How to address the tension between achieving “success” in academic knowledge, and attaining the goal of valuing children’s creativity and diverse ways of thinking, are still evolving. Asia thus is at a critical point of this transformation journey being closely mentored by government agencies and global organisations.
TRENDS IN CHINA
China’s educational system has made great progress. The nine-year compulsory education has been basically universalised in 2000. Politicians, parents, and the general public challenge the quality of teacher education in China, and therefore the reform of the curriculum of teacher education is a very hot topic in teacher education institutions. In general, everybody agrees that the complex knowledge structure for teachers comprises subject-matter knowledge, conditional knowledge (knowledge about pupils’ development, knowledge about learning and teaching, knowledge about assessment and evaluation, etc.), practical knowledge, and cultural knowledge. But there is lack of common understanding about what should be the proportion of those kinds of knowledge or where the emphasis should be put.
China has raised the qualification standards by the establishment of Master of Education professional degree. Now comprehensive universities like Beijing and Peking unversities have started to prepare ECE teachers. The undergraduate programs will emphasise general education and foundations of major fields as in ECE. The majors will be widened to cover interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary studies including ECE. ECE teaching institutions are raising their standards and improving their quality of education to promote professionalisation of teachers by including global stadards. Teachers are still not regarded as full professionals by many policy-makers or the general public in China.
TRENDS IN MALAYSIA
During the ’60s and ’70s after years of independence, there was an urgent need to recruit enough teachers to staff the newly built classrooms. To ease the acute shortage of teachers in ECE and primary schools, many untrained teachers with academic qualifications as low as Form 3 (which is equivalent to nine years of general education) were recruited and given part-time training during the weekends and school holidays in training colleges and regional training centers. To staff the secondary schools, many graduate teachers were imported from the United Kingdom and India.
The goals of teacher education have changed over the years according to the pressing needs of the education system. Consequently, different types of teacher education programs have been developed to cater to the following priorities at different points in time:
a) to ensure that enough teachers of the various levels needed by the schools are recruited and trained;
b) to raise the quality of teachers;
c) to train enough teachers in specialised subjects like ECE, English, science, and mathematics;
d) to provide sufficient trained teachers for vocational and technical schools;
e) to provide training for upgrading, professional development of practicing teachers; and
f) to provide professional training for all kinds of practitioners in the education system, including school counselors, school principals, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and others.
The teacher-training curriculum is focusing on:
a) Teacher Dynamics – Soft skills, child psychology in ECE, language and thinking skills, Islamic education, Moral and environmental education.
b) Knowledge and Professional Competence – Psychology, pedagogy, and guidance and parent counseling.
c) Self-enrichment – art education and physical and health education/games.
d) Co-curricular activities – management of co-curricular activities, games, athletics, uniformed units, and societies.
The teaching profession and ECE does not attract the most talented young people and less male teachers.
ECE Teaching is not very attractive, partly because of its low social status and partly because a teacher’s job is very complex and demanding. Therefore, better pay and incentives are being provided to attract talented young people to the teaching profession.
The quality of teacher training is being improved by paying attention not only to the intellectual qualifications of future teachers but also the characteristics of their personalities, and the working conditions for teachers are improved to include a better career structure with more promotion and professional development opportunities.
In all ECE teacher education programmes, the practicum is being made mandatory which attempts to link theory and practice of teaching. This there has been a shift from the technical-rational model to the reflective practitioner model.
TRENDS IN INDIA
India has a long tradition of teaching and learning. Traditionally, the society entrusted young ones to the learned scholar known as guru with full confidence and faith: the guru looked after all the learning needs of the learner, including the total development of the personality.
There is a serious imbalance of availability of qualified/trained ECE teachers in the country. In many regions, ECE trained teachers are not available; this has led to untrained teachers being appointed.
It is widely acknowledged that teacher education has not yet acquired the requisite status as a profession like engineering, medicine, and business management. The community and parents still do not give much credibility to the training aspect of teachers in schools.
ECE teacher training and general teacher training are preparing teachers to integrate indigenous knowledge in theory and practice; developing among them an understanding of the impact of globalisation, privatisation and information and communication technology; fostering among teachers as well as in the students the interest for life long learning; empowering teachers to inculcate at every stage values among students; enabling teachers to establish linkages with parents and the community; developing among teachers the competencies to deal with differently abled students; orienting teachers in modern techniques of evaluation; etc.
Specialised training on parent management is part of the ECE training as parents’ expectations are very high and students are demanding! Teacaher concerns around career advancement, placement opportunities, professional development, and transparency in upward mobility scenario are being addressed. New systems are evolving to provide professional feedback to the teachers and thereby contribute to their professional growth.
There is immediate emphasis on retraining and reorganising existing ECE teachers, making most of them competent in their profession and to the new curriculum challenges. A new type of educational institution called the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) has been conceived within the National Policy on Education (NPE) and the Ministry of HR as major steps towards effective teacher education. The DIET is designed to improve and enrich the academic background of ECE and elementary school teachers.
Training in models of ECE teaching (concept attainment, inquiry training and critical thinking) in the form of lecture, demonstration, discussion and peer practice feedback has been put in place to enhance the understanding and competence of both teacher educators and student teachers in using the models of teaching. Teaching in these models also brought about significant favourable changes in the attitudes of both teacher educators and student teachers towards new models and their willingness to implement them in teacher training programmes. School students taught through these models also responded favourably to them.
In the long-term, helping teachers at the beginning of their training definitely sounds like a good investment. After all, before you can become a good teacher, don’t you have to have the opportunity to be a good student?
Vaidehi K N is Managing Partner, Podar Jumbo Kids Banashankari and Sarjapur.
Image Courtesy: ucl
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With a solid foundation of knowledge, students took the next step by forming their own government system. They crafted their own constitution, preamble, and even experimented with combining two forms of government to create a new one. This hands-on experience empowered them to think critically and creatively, applying their understanding to real-world scenarios.
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This article is authored by- Arushi Sikri, IB PYP Educator, Prometheus School, Noida
Education
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Let’s focus on the importance of quality in education and the significance of learning to give.
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Service is the numero uno of the 4S
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
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All boys at The Doon School must complete mandatory hours of social service. The school runs a Panchayat Ghar where students teach underprivileged children. Over the years, the school has adopted villages, working with villagers to construct houses, community centres, school buildings, sanitation systems, energy efficiency systems, and self-employment projects, including small-scale irrigation systems. Apart from village development, the school is actively involved with the Raphael Ryder Cheshire International Centre and the Cheshire Home.
Socially Useful Productive Work (SUPW) was introduced as a subject in Indian schools, where students could choose from various vocational education activities—embroidery and knitting, gardening, cooking, painting, carpentry, and other crafts and hobbies, as well as community service for senior students (Class IX onwards). This subject was introduced in 1978 by the Ministry of Education to promote Gandhian values and the educational ideas of Mahatma Gandhi. While many private schools have discontinued the subject, it remains an ancillary but mandatory part of the curriculum in schools affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), which conducts the ICSE and ISC examinations. It is also taught in some Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools, including all Kendriya Vidyalaya and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools.
Skill
Skill development aims to encourage the growth of personal interests and practical skills. Music, crafts, arts, nature, communication, hobbies, indoor games, vocational skills, and performance skills are examples of such activities. These interests are typically non-physically demanding and may be hobbies, vocational, or job-related.
“Skill is the learned ability to carry out a task with pre-determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. In other words, the abilities that one possesses. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of work, some general skills would include time management, teamwork and leadership, self-motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills would be useful only for a certain job. Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used.” ~ Wikipedia
Various forms of skills that schools should help deliver include labour skills, life skills, people skills, social skills, soft skills, and hard skills.
Sport
Sport is not only important for children’s health but also enhances learning achievement, resilience, and psychosocial and motor development. Children who engage in sports from a young age are more likely to continue doing so as they grow older. School-based sports programmes can lead to noticeable positive changes in teens’ behaviour and outlook. When students participate in sports, they can benefit not only physically but also socially and mentally!
Sport should encourage young people to improve their personal physical performance through training and perseverance in activities they enjoy. Physical activity is vital to young people’s holistic development, fostering their physical, social, and emotional health. The benefits of sport extend beyond physical well-being, and the educational value of sport should not be underestimated.
Round Square and International Baccalaureate (IB)
Round Square is a worldwide association of schools across five continents sharing unique and ambitious goals. Students attending Round Square schools make a strong commitment to personal development and responsibility, beyond academic excellence. The Round Square approach promotes six ideals of learning: Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership, and Service. These are incorporated into the curriculum across all member schools, providing opportunities for student and teacher exchanges, community service projects, and conferences.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers four programmes for students aged 3 to 19, helping develop the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills necessary for living, learning, and working in a rapidly globalising world. The IB aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who contribute to creating a more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
Study
Study is the process of applying the mind to learning and understanding a subject, especially through reading. According to the dictionary definition, study refers to ‘the application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or reflection.’ This is just one aspect of a young person’s growth at school.
A good school must provide the best ecosystem for the personal and social development of an individual. This can only be achieved when we focus beyond studies, giving equal emphasis to Study, Skill, Service, and Sport.
This article is also published in the Good Schools India Journal.
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Authored By- Sandeep Dutt, Founder, The Good School Alliance
Education
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What the Training Programme Entails
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The Journey So Far
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The NEP 2020’s emphasis on the Indian Knowledge System underscores the need for an education system that is not only globally competitive but also rooted in India’s rich intellectual traditions. By integrating IKS into higher education, the initiative aims to provide students with an opportunity to connect with their heritage and draw insights from centuries of accumulated wisdom.
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Education
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September 23, 2024
India has announced a major initiative to provide 50 Quad scholarships, worth Rs. 4.17 crore ($500,000), to students from the Indo-Pacific region. This scholarship programme will enable selected students to pursue a four-year undergraduate engineering degree at a Government of India-funded technical institution, emphasising the country’s commitment to strengthening ties with the Indo-Pacific region. The announcement was made as part of the Wilmington Declaration Joint Statement by the leaders of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
In the joint statement, the leaders of the Quad highlighted their dedication to building a network of future science, technology, and policy leaders, stating, “The Quad is committed to strengthening the deep and enduring ties between our people, and among our partners. Through the Quad Fellowship, we are building a network of the next generation of science, technology, and policy leaders.” The implementation of the Quad Fellowship will be overseen by the Institute of International Education (IIE) with support from private sector partners such as Google, the Pratt Foundation, and Western Digital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who participated in the Quad Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, alongside US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, emphasised India’s role in the initiative: “India is pleased to announce a new initiative to award fifty Quad scholarships, worth $500,000, to students from the Indo-Pacific to pursue a 4-year undergraduate engineering programme at a Government of India-funded technical institution.”
About the Quad Fellowship
Commencing in 2024, the Quad Fellowship extends to master’s and doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields across the United States. Administered by the IIE, the programme aims to cultivate collaboration and innovation in private, public, and academic sectors among the Quad countries. As stated on the official website, “The fellowship develops a network of science and technology experts committed to advancing innovation and collaboration in the private, public, and academic sectors, in their own nations and among Quad countries.”
Eligibility Criteria and Application Process
The Quad Fellowship is open to candidates from the four Quad nations—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States—as well as 10 Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Selected candidates must demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to using their skills for the greater good. Each fellow receives a financial grant of $40,000 (Rs. 33.39 lakh) to cover academic expenses.
The eligibility criteria for the 50 undergraduate engineering scholarships in India will be announced soon. However, for the graduate fellowship, candidates must:
- Be at least 18 years old at the time of application.
- Be citizens or legal permanent residents of one of the Quad countries or the 10 Southeast Asian countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, or Vietnam).
- Hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a STEM field by August 2024.
- Have a record of superior academic achievement at the undergraduate level.
For prospective graduate students, they must have applied to an eligible STEM graduate programme at a US-based university for the 2024-2025 academic year. Current graduate students enrolled in a Master’s or PhD programme in the US must be enrolled full-time in an eligible STEM course for the full 2024-2025 academic year. Programmes in clinical healthcare, such as medicine or nursing, are not eligible.
Though applications for this year are closed, prospective candidates can stay updated by visiting the official Quad Fellowship website: Quad Fellowship.
(Source- PTI)
Education
Microlearning: Delivering Bite-Sized Education for Better Retention
Published
4 weeks agoon
September 20, 2024
In recent years, microlearning has become an accepted teaching and learning methodology due to the effectiveness of bringing knowledge quick and timely to the learner. Learners have also regarded this paradigm as transformational in nature because it aids in information acquisition and retention by breaking complex matters down into simpler, smaller modules. Microlearning permits the learner to focus on one topic at a time because the information is given in a summarized fashion, enabling them to learn better and remember for a longer period. Also, through the modular approach of microlearning, updates and changes are easily integrated, helping them to keep up with changing situations. In today’s fast-moving world, wherein the need is to adapt and absorb newer information at a quicker pace than ever before, microlearning ideally meets this demand. Key Features of Microlearning are below,
Short and Focused Content
The microlearning modules are brief, typically around 3 to 10 minutes long. It is this brevity that enables learners to concentrate on one subject matter, step, or piece of information at a time, without cognitive overload, thus, making the learning process more manageable. By limiting the scope of a lesson to one single objective, learners are able to comprehend the material better and thus, they can retain it for a longer period of time.
Multimedia-Rich Formats
This applies the use of different multimedia formats for easier facilitation of learning. These include videos, infographics, animation, podcasts, quizzes, and even simulations that are interactive. The use of all these kinds of media means that microlearning caters to all kinds of learners: visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. The use of multimedia therefore adds variety to the learning process and maintains the interest of the learner in the materials.
Also, through multimedia usage, boredom is avoided and the learners remain interested in the content as it seems to be information-based but also entertainment-based. While the interactive elements include quizzes and simulations, which reinforce learning by providing context for the application of what has been learned.
On-Demand and Flexible
The most impactful benefit of microlearning is its flexibility. A learner can access the modules as they want, and from any location, whether at work, home, or during their commute. This on-demand access means that learning can be easily integrated into daily routines, making it possible to learn at a time and place that suits the individual. Moreover, students can select the modules that correspond to their existing problems or knowledge gaps, thus, driving a more personalized learning experience.
Mobile-Friendly
The mobile correspondence of microlearning content is a highly influential aspect in a world where mobile device usage is so widespread. Microlearning modules are mostly built with a mobile-first approach, so they can be easily navigated and accessed by smartphones and tablets.
This mobility provides learners with the ability to participate in learning activities on the go, be it during break times, when on the road, or in between tasks. The capability to acquire knowledge in pieces through a mobile device fits the current lifestyle and thus, education becomes more available than ever.
Just-in-Time Learning
Microlearning is superb in implementing this type of learning called “just-in-place” learning which refers to offering the information that students require precisely at the moment they require it. The method is of particular importance in professional environments where workers often need quick access to particular knowledge or skills they may need to finish a task or solve a problem. As an instance, a sales team officer can access a microlearning module that discusses the latest product features just a few minutes before a client meeting. This immediacy strengthens the content’s relevance and applicability, which in turn leads to better performance and outcomes.
Benefits of Microlearning
The most important feature of microlearning is’ its flexibility and adaptability. Learners can choose when and where they want to study the material since they can access it at their own pace and convenience. Be it at work during a lunch break or on a bus ride, microlearning gives the learners the liberty to choose the learning path. And it is precisely this flexibility that allows the learners to get the most out of the content and apply what they have learned in practice, as they can take an approach to the material that best works for them.
Improved Retention
Research proves that separating the information into smaller, simple and more manageable pieces enhances memory retention. The theory is based on the idea of “chunking,” which is a psychological principle that states that information is grouped into smaller units making it easier to process and recall. Microlearning strengthens this perspective since it provides content in small chunks, which in turn decreases cognitive load and helps the information to be transferred into long-term memory. The mindset of learners is positively influenced by the fact that chunked information is easily remembered. Because the learners can focus their full attention on one piece of information, they are not overwhelmed by other pieces of information.
Increased Engagement
The entertaining aspect of microlearning is one more key advantage. The fact that the content is sent in different multimedia formats, microlearning to capture the learners’ interest and not lose their motivation. Each module’s short duration also aids in keeping attention since learners are less likely to get tired or bored, as is the case with longer, more traditional learning sessions. Additionally, the interactive features normally found in microlearning like quizzes and simulations, are so engaging that learners get involved in the learning process and the whole process becomes more dynamic and attractive.
Greater Flexibility
Microlearning has a dominant feature of flexibility in learning by providing options to learners on how and when learning can take place. The learners can decide the speed of their own learning, and thus they can move at a pace that is suitable for their individual learning styles and schedules. This method of learning in self-pace makes the whole process of learning less stressful as in traditional methods
learners are required to keep up with a fixed schedule. On the other hand, students are permitted to review the applets as frequently as necessary, thus they do not move on to the next topic until they comprehend the material. It is this provision that makes the adult learners who have to divide their time between learning and other obligations, such as family and work, very satisfied.
Microlearning works well and is flexible and convenient, especially in a fast-changing environment where lifelong learning has become inevitable. It allows for a better understanding and longer retention, as the contents are presented in granular and focused modules. Thus, it is ideal for students and professionals alike. It is flexible, can be updated without any problem, and also integrated with other learning modes to enable customization and quality learning. In a world of growing remote work and virtual classrooms, microlearning meets the need for an era of just-in-time learning through micro contents about topics, which will enable continuous skills development, ensuring that learners stay up-to-date and current.
This article is authored by-
Vishal Aditya Sahoo, Director, New Age Learning, SAI International Education Group
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