Innovations in Pre-service Second Language

Teacher Education for Elementary Level in

West Bengal

Ms. Kuheli Mukherjee

Overview

Context of change in Elementary teacher education in West Bengal

Innovations introduced in revised D.El.Ed. Curriculum

Is the existing elementary teacher education system capable of implementing the innovations?

Steps necessary to make the innovations successful

Elementary Teacher Education in West Bengal (before 2013)

School Education in W.B

Directorate SCERTAutonomous bodies

i. WBBPE

DIETS & PTTIS

Academ

ic as

pect

Administrative

aspect

Elementary Teacher Education in West Bengal(since 29/01/2013)

School Education in W.B

Directorate WBBPE

(conducts D. El. Ed. exam)

SCERT

DIETSAca

demic

&

administ

rative

PTTIs Aca

dem

ic

Administrative

SCERT in the new context

20th March 2013 - the finalization of draft of

Revised D.El.Ed Curriculum for the State of West Bengal in light of NCFTE’2009

Organized workshopFrom Feb. 25th-28th & on March 6th

13th-18th, 2013

for

aligning and calibrating the D.El.Ed curriculum for the state of West Bengal in the light of NCFTE’2009

Outline of the revised D.El.Ed programme (2yrs)

24 courses are “Theory” based

6 courses are “Practicum” based

4 semesters containing 7 curricular areas distributed in

30 courses.

Second Language Teacher Education (Elementary)

Consists of 3 courses under Curriculum & pedagogic studies

1. CPS01- Proficiency in English (Sem. 1)2. CPS09- Pedagogy of English Language I (Sem.3)3. CPS10- Pedagogy of English Language II (Sem.4)

Type: Theory Credit: 3(15hrs/cr) 3hr/week FM:50

Teaching Practice -2 courses

Latest West Bengali textbooks of ESL encourage constructivist classrooms

where

• teachers ask open ended questions

• higher level thinking is encouraged

• students develop problem solving attitude through dynamic process of discovery, inquiry, investigation, discussion & reflection

• CCE is the mode of evaluationBrooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993).

Appropriate Teacher Education Curriculum

Curriculum should “provide provisions of a variety of

learning experiences in institutionally based sessions

and in real school and classroom, with an emphasis on

awareness raising, collaborative learning, reflection and learning from Experience”.

Wright, T. (2010)

Introducing constructivist approach in teacher education

Mode of transaction proposed:-Participatory/Interactive learning

Through

*Classroom discussion for developing conceptual understanding based on Closed reading of text materials/

research papers

*Individual and group presentation

*Debates & Discussions

*Interaction

*Group learning

*Peer learning

*Workshop/Seminar

Practical exercises based on first hand data

i. Case study through interviewing children and guardians

ii. Assignments based on intensive reading and relating that with real classroom situations

iii. Writing report on peer observation, school visit

iv. Writing journal

v. Project work

vi. Role play

vii. Internship

The proposed activities and transactional modes are introduced to encourage student teachers

to reflect on practical experience and

to learn from them

Innovations in Evaluation

In order to enable

the student teachers to implement CCE in classroom

they themselves should experience such methods and

find them to be helpful in their own learning.

Wright, T (2010)

Existing scheme of evaluation :

Course end written evaluation &Internal assessment (Micro &Macro teaching)

o There is variety in marks allotment of internal assessment in different courses

o Student teachers depend on rote learning to answer questions in written evaluation

Proposed evaluation scheme

i. Continuous Evaluation ii. Course -End written test

Continuous evaluation based on

Course based assignments (both theory & practical courses)

Development of portfolio

Project work- group & individual

School based practical activities

Any of these modes may be used for internal assessment in each semester as found appropriate for the

specific courses being studied.

Thus initiative is taken to use reflective practices in transaction as well as in evaluation

But

The marks division for theoretical courses will be 30% for internal and 70 % for external evaluation.

15+ 35 = 50

Effective reflection would be impossible unless a sound grasp of its basic principles is established and a mastery of the discourse norms and features of the community is

established. Akbari, R. (2007)

The Question is :-

How prepared are our institutes to implement these innovations appropriately?

Findings based on data collected from SCERT /DIETs / PTTIs

There are

16 DIETs

22 Government PTTIs

22 Government Aided & Sponsored PTTIs &

115 Private PTTIs

to take care of elementary teacher education in West Bengal

Coordination ?SCERT looks after the academic aspect of DIETS

PTTIs are controlled by West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) and Department of School Education

T. Ed. institutes for upper elementary and secondary level are under Higher Education Department

Department of School Education has no connection with these institutes

WBBPE is empowered only for lower elementary (I-IV) level in schools

Hence lack of coordination and lack of accountability in the

elementary teacher education system of West Bengal

However D. El. Ed. evaluation is conducted by WBBPE

Faculty Strength

To teach 4/5 classes per week

There are only four permanent faculties of English in 16 DIETs

Most of the PTTIs have no permanent faculty in English

Teachers are locally arranged

either from English teachers of Govt. or Govt. Aided schools

orfrom retired faculties of Teacher education institutes.

Qualification of ESL Teacher educators

M.A. In English Literature & B.Ed. Only one has M.A. Ed

None of the English faculties have specialization in ELT or in Linguistics

?How equipped are these faculties to enable student

teachers to reflect and construct concepts such as

Ing second language acquisition

‘Factors affecting Second Language Acquisition’

‘Four skills of language and its relation to Acquisition and Learning’

‘Using portfolio for subjective assessment’

‘Planning and developing material’

‘Critical analysis of existing material and designing supplementary innovative tasks’

The classroom reality

Mode of classroom transaction -

• Lecture method• Occasional use of power point presentation

At times student teachers may reflect after activities in feedback session

No scope for structured reflective activities as the new curriculum proposes

Only one faculty informed about using journal writing and peer observation

“Internal assessment is done without proper evaluation criteria”

Peer observation is done informally without proper guideline about objectives and hence no learning

through reflection

Principals opined that existing faculties are not well

versed in application of reflective practices

“Appointing properly qualified and experienced teacher

educators is a must to enable student teachers to

implement constructivist approach in L2 Teaching”

JRM Report on WB, April 2013

“....teaching practice was happening in didactic mode based upon the curriculum that professed behaviorist

pedagogy.”

“Teachers also expressed how the teacher training followed the dominant paradigm and did not reflect or

relate to the real situation and context.”

Korthagen, 2001

If the children to be taught by student teachers need to

develop a problem solving attitude for their whole life

they need to develop reflection skills. The student

teachers’ learning to reflect on their own experiences is

an important preparation to enable their students to grow

capacity for independent and continuous learning.

Steps being taken :-

1. “The SCERT is actively engaging the Teacher

Educators of INSET to this purpose. A pool of

teachers will be shortlisted by using the British

Council developed platform for selection of trainers.

They will be giving support to the institutes as of now.”

2. “The Government in School Education is also

actively pursuing for regular appointment with WBPSC.

This is particularly in sync with the recommendations of

the JRM constituted for Teacher Education”

From my long experience in West Bengal it seems very difficult to identify enough properly trained INSET teacher

educators who would be able to do justice to the innovations proposed.

Mere short term “training” by British Council will not be empowering enough to enable INSET Teacher Educators

to help student teacher construct and reconstruct concepts on pedagogy of English

Suggestions

2. Faculties coming with masters in Literature should be allowed to obtain DELTA/DELT/ PGDTE from appropriate institutes. At the time of appointment preference should be

given to candidates with these qualifications.

1. Appointing permanent faculties of English with NCTE approved qualification should be immediately

initiated.

3. The existing faculties as well as newly appointees must be properly oriented in using “reflection in action” and “reflection on action” (Schön, 1987) as tools to learn

from any experience

4. There should be a coordination between elementary teacher education institutes and those catering to upper

elementary and secondary level teacher education.

5. In the present era of ICT distance learning mode may

be used to cope with the dearth in second language

teacher educators

References

Akbari, R. (2007). Reflections on reflection: A critical appraisal of reflective practices in L2 teacher education.

System. 35/2 pp. 192-207.

Brooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA:

Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development

Korthagen, F. A. J. (2001). ‘A reflection on reflection’. In Linking Practice and Theory: The pedagogy of realistic teacher education. Mahwah, N. J. Lawrence: Erlbaum Associates.

Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Sanfransisco: Jossey Bass.

Report of the Joint Review Mission on Teacher Education, West Bengal, 2013.

Accessed on 04/01/2014 from:http://www.teindia.nic.in/Files/jrm/JRM_Reports/JRM_Report_WB.pdf

Richards, J. C. (2008). Second language teacher education today. RELC Journal. 39/2. pp. 158-177.

Wright, T. (2010). Second Language Teacher Education: Review of recent research on practice. Language Teaching. 43/3. pp. 259-296

kuheli.mukherjee@gmail.com

Thank YouMs. Kuheli Mukherjee