CONTEXT AND ISSUES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION- M.Ed. -CALICUT UNIVERSITY

 

 

Course Code – MED 12.1

CONTEXT AND ISSUES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

(Instructional Hours - 90)


MODULE 1. Introduction to Secondary and Senior Secondary Education in India

1.1 Nature, Scope, function and systems of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education- Structure of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education in India - Status of 

Secondary and Senior Secondary Education: Process of teaching-learning of 

adolescents, Exposure to integrated and subject specific streams.

(15 Hours)

MODULE 2. Quality Concerns and Management System in Secondary and Senior 

Secondary Education

3.1 Quality Education: Concept, Indicators of quality, Setting standards for  performance - The present status of quality education in India: Status and 

prospects- Delor’s Commission Report on quality- Professional enrichment of 

secondary School teachers- In-service programmes for ensuring quality -

Agencies : NCERT, SCERT, CIET, NUEPA, IASE.

3.2 Critical appraisal of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education in India. 

3.3 Areas of research in Secondary Education: Teacher, curriculum, Institution and 

Learner. Innovations in secondary Education. Competency Based Teaching – Learning 

(CBTL). Integrated Learning.

(30 Hours)

MODULE 3. Status, Issues and Concerns of Secondary and Senior Secondary 

Education in India

4.1 Problems and issues of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education in India: 

Problems and challenges related to universalization of Secondary Education -

Equalization of educational opportunity, and - Nature and forms of inequality: Dominant 

and minor groups, Gender inequality, Public – private schools, Rural and urban schools 

- tribal schools

4.2 Problems of education for girls, disadvantaged and differently abled children Imparting gender sensitivity - Removing gender bias in curriculum and text books -

Wastage and stagnation in secondary level- Vocationalisation of Secondary and Senior 

Secondary Education in India- Research in Secondary and Senior Secondary Education

4.3 Professionalizing Secondary and Senior Secondary Education – Pre-service and 

in-service Secondary teacher education programmes- Critical appraisal of the 

Secondary and Senior Secondary teacher education programme in Kerala.

 (30 Hours)

MODULE 4. Secondary and Senior Secondary Education Curriculum and Evaluation

5.1 Secondary and Senior Secondary School curriculum: Features, principles, and 

relevance - Critical appraisal of present Secondary School curriculum in the state -

Assessment and evaluation in secondary level- New trends in evaluation: Grading, 

Internal assessment , Portfolio assessment, Semester system, Need and importance of 

CCE, ) - Critical appraisal of the present evaluation system in Secondary level.

(15 Hours)


NATURE, SCOPE, FUNCTION AND SYSTEMS OF SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION


    Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education is informally regarded as the education children receive during their teenage years, secondary education is considered to generally target eleven to fifteen year old children and upper secondary education to target fifteen to nineteen year old. Secondary education serves as a link between the elementary and higher education and plays a vital role in this respect. A child's future can depend a lot on the type of education she/he receives at the secondary level. Apart from grounding the roots of education of a child, secondary education can be instrumental in shaping and directing the child to a bright future. Secondary education covers children aged 14 to 18. The final 2 years of secondary is often called higher secondary. The objectivs is to identify key aspects of secondary education that may be essential contributors to national self sufficiency. Secondary education is the link between primary education and Higher education. Primary education is intended to provide minimum requirements for survival where as secondary education enables an individual to become a full members of the complicated society.

Definition of Secondary Education

Secondary education is in most countries the phase in the education has the continuous responsible for the development of the young during adolescence, the most rapid phase of their physical, mental and emotional growth. It is at this  education level particularly in its first cycle, where values and attitudes formed at primary school are more firmly ingrained alongside the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Secondary education covers children upto 12 to 18. Secondary school education comprises of 2 years of lower secondary and 2 years of higher secondary. Every country aims to provide basic education, but the systems and terminology remain unique to them.

Nature of secondary education

~It is the second stage of formal school education, it comes after elementary stage.

~ The first phase beginning upto the age group of students 14 to 16, then the second phase, that is senior secondary upto the age group of 16 to 18.

~ Secondary education is also started after the first phase of formal education ie, elementary education.

~ It is the middle school stage.

~ Secondary education is informally regarded as the education of teenage group.

~ It is the high school education.

~ In secondary education, the students should learn 3 languages, that is mother tongue, secondary language English and third language Hindi.

~ Besides language subjects, the basic science, social science, mathematics are the compulsory subjects in secondary education.

~ Basic text is compulsory for all students.

~ The teachers in secondary section must gain degree, B. Ed and TET.

~ All the co-curricular and extra curricular activities are included in this stage.

~ In 10th std, there is board examination.

~ Secondary education develops faculties of critical thinking, abstraction, insight, skills and competence at a higher level.

~ The primary goal of secondary education is to make good quality available, accessible and affordable to all young person in the age of 14 to 18.

~ Secondary education provides requiremen for employment.

~ It can reduce poverty and provide equity.

~ Requirements for primary teachers.

~ Arises International competitiveness in children.

Scope of Secondary Education

~ Secondary education should provide the learner with opportunities : acquire necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the development of the self and the nation.

~ Promote love and loyalty of the nation.

~ Promote harmonious co-existence among the people.

~ Develop mentally, socially, morally, physically and spiritually good.

~ Enhance understanding and respect for own and other peoples cultures and their place in contemporary society.

~ Enhance understanding and appreciation of interrelationships among nations.

~ Promote positive environmental and health practices.

~ Build a firm foundation for further evaluation and training.

~ Develop ability for enquiry, critical thinking and rational judgement.

~ Develop into a responsible and socially well adjusted person.

~ Promote acceptance and respect for all persons.

~ Enhance enjoyment in learning.

~ Identify individuals talents and develop them.

~ Build a foundation for technological and industrial development.

~ Develop into a self-disciplined individual who appreciates work and manages time properly.

Functions of Secondary Education

~ To make the foundation of Higher education.

~ To ensure education of good quality for all students.

~ To provide integrated education for all students including disabled.

~ To provide the knowledge about various subjects followed by the secondary education.

~ To develop the various skills of the students through the curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular activities.

~ To enhance the students how to face the examination properly.

~ To open the door of life of students to the outer world.

~ To provide the certificate for higher studies through the board exam.

~ To provide ICT education.

~ To provide vocational skills through the arts and work subjects.

~ To provide physical and sex education.

Systems of Secondary Education

~ There are 2 levels in this section that is secondary and senior secondary.

~ In secondary education includes 9th and 10th standards and in senior secondary level includes 11th and 12th standards.

~ Secondary education also called junior secondary and senior secondary level also called Upper secondary.

~ In 10th standard the children should pass the board exam, SSLC for the admission of senior secondary level.

~ On the basis of that criteria the students will get the admission to the senior secondary level.

~ Language papers, basic science, social science, mathematics are the main subjects in this level and also compulsory subjects.

~ Each of the paper should have the minimum pass mark.

~ All the curricular and co-curricular and extra curricular activities are support in this section.

~ The subjects may learn in their own mother tongue and English.

~ State syllabus and central syllabus can choose by the students according to their willingness.

~ Examination system and valuation system are entirely different in state and central syllabus.

~ Weightage of each syllabus is different as a result the teaching learning method, strategies, techniques, items for teach and learn are entirely differ from one another.

~ Teachers in secondary level should gain degree, B. Ed, TET.

~Provision for say exam and re-evaluation.

10th (Matriculation or Secondary) Exam

Students taking the grade 10 examination usually take six subjects: English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, one language, and one optional subject depending on the availability of teachers at different schools. "Elective" or optional subjects often include Computer Applications, Economics, Physical Education, Commerce, and Environmental Science.

 

SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION

The senior secondary years are the years of later adolescence corresponding to the later part of secondary education. Although definitions vary, the senior secondary years are sometimes defined as being from approximately age 15 to age 18.The term generally includes eleventh grade and twelfth grade, and may sometimes also include tenth grade.

Senior Secondary Education is the higher level of Secondary Education. Kids in Senior Secondary are about 15 to 18 years of age and are in the phase of being young adults. The senior secondary years of a student involves the 11th & 12th grade of a student. Senior Secondary is also referred as High school in various places.

In the Senior Secondary years, the respective fields of study get divided into various streams like Science, Commerce and Arts. Students can choose any stream that they are interested in and would like to make a career out of it by studying further. Senior Secondary years of education are the two last years of secondary education. After this the students take up college for specific degrees like engineering, doctor, CA, CS, Accountancy, etc.

This course is designed for those who have passed the tenth standard or equivalent examination from a recognized board and would like to continue their education towards a senior secondary certification, equivalent to 12 standard.

Nature of Senior Secondary Education

~ It starts on the completion of basic education, which also is defined as completion of lower secondary education and its completion will provide the entry requirements to technical or vocational education.

~ More subjects may be dropped and increased specialisation occurs.

~ The educational focus is varied according to the future direction of the students and their interests.

~ Senior secondary education is the third phase of formal school education. This phase is for students aged between 16 to 18 years.

~ Senior secondary education is started after the completion of secondary education. It is higher secondary level education.

~ In higher secondary level, the students can opt science subjects, humanities subjects and commerce subjects.

~ But two languages are must in this level. English is the first language and any other subjects like malayalam, hindi, Arabic, Sanskrit etc as secondary language.

~ The senior secondary course is 2 year course as lower secondary (XI) and upper secondary (XII). Future oriented education.

~ In each class, the end of the year has a board exam.

~ Total marks of each year considered as the completion of senior secondary.

 ~ In the Kerala context, the students can approach the examination in English or in malayalam.

~ In senior secondary level, the vocational training is provides on the basis of profession.

~ In this type of school, the students should have to attain the regular classes.

~ In senior secondary level, the students should learn 4 or 5 subjects with two languages.

Scope of Senior Secondary Education

~ It is an entrance to higher education.

~ It provides the employment opportunities.

~ The students can apply for government job.

~ It provides vocational training which helps the students to select the future job.

~  Development of competitive skills.

~ National development through the means of production by vacational training.

~ After the completion of senior secondary education, one can apply to higher education ( engineering, medical, law, business) under UGC control and professional courses.

Functions of Senior Secondary Education

~ To make the foundation of senior secondary education.

~ Quality education provides.

~  It focuses on subject specialisation like science, humanities, commerce, etc.

~ To develop vocational skills of the students through VHSC.

~  It occupies two board examinations at the end of the each year under the secondary board.

~  It provides the certificate for higher education through the board exam.

~ It provides the ICT education through senio secondary.

Systems of Senior Secondary Education

~ Duration of the course is two years. It has two phases, lower secondary and upper secondary.

~ In this system of education exists the opportunities to select the subjects according to the students interest.

~ There are mainly three categories of subjects like science, commerce, humanities.

~ Under these categories about seven subjects such as home science, biology science, agriculture, technology, computer science, etc followed by the Kerala Higher secondary board.

~ In senior secondary education comprises the state and central board of education.

~ In senior secondary education students can approach the state or central syllabus.

~ State and central syllabus are entirely different from one another in the case of its execution.

~ In this system of education, a teacher should qualified with PG, B. Ed and SET.

~ In each phase, the students should clear the board exam with minimum passmark.

~ Provisions for say exam, improvement and re-evaluation.

UGC, NCERT, CBSE and ICSE directives state qualifying ages for candidates who wish to take board exams. Those at least 15 years old by 30 May for a given academic year are eligible to appear for Secondary board exams, and those 17 by the same date are eligible to appear for Higher Secondary certificate board exams. It further states that upon successful completion of Higher Secondary, one can apply to higher education under UGC control such as Engineering, Medical, and Business Administration.

Secondary education in India is examination-oriented and not course-based: students register for and take classes primarily to prepare for one of the centrally-administered examinations. Senior school or high school is split into 2 parts (grades 9-10 and grades 11-12) with a standardised nationwide examination at the end of grade 10 and grade 12 (usually informally referred to as "board exams"). Grade 10 examination results can be used for admission into grades 11–12 at a secondary school, pre-university program, or a vocational or technical school. Passing a grade 12 board examination leads to the granting of a secondary school completion diploma, which may be used for admission into vocational schools or universities in the country or the world. Most reputable universities in India require students to pass college-administered admissions tests in addition to passing a final secondary school examination for entry into a college or university. School grades are usually not sufficient for college admissions in India.

12th (Senior Secondary or Higher Secondary) Exam

Students taking the grade 12 examination usually take four or five subjects with English or the local language being compulsory. Students re-enrolling in most secondary schools after grade 10 have to make the choice of choosing a "core stream" in addition to English or the local language: Science (Mathematics/Biology, Chemistry, and Physics), Commerce (Accounts, Business Studies, and Economics), or Humanities (any three of History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Geography depending on school). Students study Mathematics up to single-variable Calculus in grade 12

Academic Session

The academic sessions usually begins from July after a long summer vacation in most of the states but it is different in hilly states where the winter vacation is sufficient. The total number of working days is more than 200 daysin all states and Union territories.

Time

The time of the school day could be decided at each school level, in consultation with the Gram Panchayat, keeping in mind issues such as how far children need to travel to get to school. This flexibility is suggested only in order to facilitate children's participation in school. While saying this, we strongly maintain that the time spend in schools itself and on learning in the school cannot be in any way compromised or reduced below 6 hours a day.

Curriculum

~ Learner centric

~ Flexible process

~ Learner autonomy

~ Multiple and divergent exposure

~ Multidisciplinary

~ Education focus on active participation in learning.

Role of the Teacher

In this context, the teacher is a facilitator who encourages learners to reflect, analyse and interprets in the process of knowledge construction.

Examination

Learning without Burden notes that public examinations at the end of Xll. Computerisation.

Assessment and Evaluation

~ Formative evaluation

~ Paper pencil test.

~ Oral testing

~ Group work evaluation should be encouraged.

 

Structure of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education


Introduction

The recent significant development viz., Universal Elementary Education (UEE) being achieved through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and also the impact of globalisation and rapid growth of new technologies have led to reassessment of India’s preparedness to generate required technical manpower, develop new knowledge and skills, and remain competitive at global level. The secondary and higher secondary education system has a key role to play in enabling the nation to move towards these objectives.

Meaning of Secondary Education System:

Secondary education in India begins after eight years of elementary education and is divided into two years of secondary education (classes IX and X) and two years of senior secondary education (classes XI and XII).

At the end of the secondary phase (class X), students take a set of externally administered examinations from either a state or national (All-India) examination board. Students who pass the secondary examinations earn a certificate usually called the Secondary School Certificate or SSC. These students are eligible for senior secondary school.

Secondary education serves as a link between the elementary and higher education, and plays a very important role in this respect. A child's future can depend a lot on the type of education she/he receives at the secondary level. Apart from grounding the roots of education of a child, secondary education can be instrumental in shaping and directing the child to a bright future. This stage of education serves to move on higher secondary stage as well as to provide generic competencies that cut across various domains of knowledge as well as skills.  Primary education is intended to provide minimum requirements for survival where as secondary education enables an individual to become a full members of the complicated society.

After independence our country achieved a great remarkable changes in the field of secondary education. The Government of India, Soon after attainment of independence appointed a number of committees and commissions to review the system of secondary education.

The various committees recommended certain suggestions for the improvement of secondary education both quantitatively and qualitatively. Tara hand Committee in 1948 suggested the multipurpose type of secondary schools without discouraging the unipurpose schools.

The university education commission 1948-49 which was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, remarked that “our secondary education remains the weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent reform.” The landmark in the reconstruction of India’s secondary education is the secondary education commission report 1952-53.

The commission was appointed by the Government of India, on September 23, 1952, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Lakshmanswami Mudaliar to review the existing defects in the secondary education and made some suggestions regarding the improvement of secondary education.

 

Nature and Scope of Secondary Education - Education for the Holistic Development of the Adolescents

Secondary education spreads over the ages of 15 and 16, and then to 17 and 18 in the senior secondary grades. These are the years of adolescence, and late adolescence, years of transition; indeed, most crucial years of life. There are steady and fast changes in the body structure transforming to adult.  At this age, the bodily changes take final shape.  This is also the stage of emotional transformation and maturity that swings between joy and trauma.  So, seecondary education essentially has to be the education of the adolescence. Experiences in schooling have to be designed to the needs of transition and it must foster skills of transition.

Though both boys and girls experience transition, there is a special case for girls and it needs special attention. Because of prejudices, taboos and social stigma, phase of transition for girls is more difficult. Also, it will be necessary to develop a gender friendly curriculum.   Contemporary secondary education concentrates primarily on learning a few subjects challenging the ‘cognitive intelligence’, that too largely the lower order cognition. This very approach to secondary education is a disadvantage to large number of students with differential abilities and potentialities.  It does not contribute and nurture children's native wisdom and imagination. 

The future secondary education must be designed to nurture multiple abilities like linguistic or verbal ability, logical-mathematical ability, spatial ability, bodily kinesthetic or sports ability, musical ability, inter-personal ability, intra-personal ability and naturalist or environmental ability. The primary intention of designing secondary education with a purpose of holistic development of the adolescents.  In absence of education designed to facilitate holistic development, children with abilities other than scientific and mathematical abilities are treated as weak and not fit for the employment market. This not only makes them underachievers but also demolishes their self-concept and self esteem. So, secondary education must offer adequate opportunity for unfolding the full potential in each student.

Aims and Objectives of Secondary Education:

Various committees have given their valuable suggestions regarding the aim and objectives of secondary education after independence.

They are as follows:

Aims of secondary education according to Secondary Education Commission (1952-53):

1. To bring all round development among the learner.

2. To train the young mass of the country to be good citizens who will be competent to play their part effectively in the social and economic development of the country.

3. To promote social virtues, intellectual development and practical skills of students.

4. To Train character of students to enable them to participate creatively as citizens in the emerging social order.

5. To improve practical and vocational efficiency of the students.

6. To develop a scientific attitude of mind to think objectively.

7. To inculcate the qualities necessary for living harmoniously and efficiently with one’s fellowmen.

8. To develop artistic and cultural interests which are essential for self-expression and development of all round personality of pupils.

9. To promote national integration, progress, and the spread of values like national cultural heritage, social equality, democracy, secularism, etc.

10. Removal of social barriers and of family norms.

 

Objectives of secondary education according to Indian Education Commission (1964-66):

1. The main objective is “national reconstruction by raising the standard of living of our people.”

2. The education is to meet the needs of a modernizing democratic and socialistic society.

3. It would promote productivity.

4. It would strengthen social and national integration.

5. It would consolidate democracy to adopt as a way of life.

6. It would accelerate the pace of modernization.

7. It would enable students to participate in productive work in school, home, workshop, form and factory etc.

8. It would develop social, moral and spiritual values among the students.

 

    As per the recommendations of Indian Education commission, education was reconstructed for the economic and cultural development of the country. Importance was given on qualitative development of secondary education by relating education with the real life situations of the students.

The NPE, 1986 and the Revised NPE, 1992 have discussed about the aims and objectives of education in general out of which some are relevant to secondary education.  They are as follows:

1. Secondary education is meant essentially for all round development, material and spiritual.

2. It develops manpower for different levels of the economy, ultimately promoting self-reliance.

3. It develops a sense of good citizenship among the learners.

4. It would inculcate democratic values, rights and duties in a democratic set up among the students.

5. It would strengthen the “whole world as one family” view and motivates, the younger generations for international co-operation and peaceful co-existence.

6. It should provide equality of educational opportunity for all not only in access, but also in the conditions for success.

7. It would inculcate in children scientific temper and independence of mind.

8. Minimum Levels of Learning (MLL) would be laid down and steps need by taken for fostering among students an understanding of a diverse cultural and social systems of the people.

9. It enables to develop physical health through physical education among the students.

    Besides these, the secondary education should be based on a national curricular frame work which contains a common core along with other components that are flexible.  The common core would include the history of India’s Freedom Movement the constitutional obligations and the other content essential to nature and national identity. Promotion of vocational efficiency should form an integral past of secondary education.

Curricular Structure and Course Offerings 

    The recommendation of the Education Commission (1964-66) for a common curriculum until class X within the 10+2+3 framework was accepted in NPE-1968.  NPE- 1986 rated this pattern as the National System of Education.  The National Curriculum Framework (1975) proposed a common curriculum for the ten year school, to be followed by diversification beginning at class +1 or the +2 stage. This basic principle is now practiced nation-wide. The National Curriculum Frameworks prepared successively in 1988, 2000 and 2005 have continued to follow this imperative of NPE- 1986.  The right to study and succeed in basic mathematics, science, social science and languages, including English, and other mainstream subjects is as much a fundamental right of a child as to have access to and complete secondary/ senior secondary education.” (Report of the CABE Committee on USE, pg. no. 13)  Keeping this in mind, the National Curriculum Framework – 2005 has made several radical proposals to revisit the very character of knowledge, shift to a new pedagogic approach and change the entire examination system. Such changes are urgently required in order to make sure that the nation is freed of this phenomenon of “mass scale failure” and “underachievement”. Without such a paradigm shift, it would not be possible to universalize secondary education either.

Structure of secondary Education in India

           Secondary school education comprises two years of lower secondary and two years of higher secondary education.

           The lower secondary level is 4 Students age 14 to 16 years.

           Admission requirement is the completion of upper primary school education.

           Instruction is more organised along specific subjects.

           The classes in clones in secondary level is 9th and 10th for students age 14 to 16 years.

           This level is under the board of secondary education.

Minimum Staff Qualification 

           At least a bachelor's degree from a recognised University

           B.Ed from a recognised University

           Eligibility test certificate.

Principal

           Postgraduate academic in teaching subjects from a recognised University.

           Recognised teacher education degree from a recognised University and 5 years teaching experience.

Curriculum of Secondary Education

1. Three languages

           Mother tongue/ Regional language

           Hindi

           English

(Some school offer offer as elective language such as Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, etc.)

2. Mathematics

3. Science and Technology

4. Social Science

5. Work education

6. Art education

7. Physical and health education

 

Exposure to integrated and subject specific streams in secondary education

Integrated and subject specific stream in secondary education is mainly focused on Academic stream and Vocational stream.

Academic stream- Objectives

           To expose learners to higher levels of knowledge in different disciplines.

           To promote problem solving abilities and creative thinking.

           To cope with the changing demands of our society committed to use science technology and information.

           To  assist students to explore their interest and aptitude in order to choose appropriate career for shaping their future.

Scheme of studies in secondary level

There are two scheme of studies: Foundation course and Elective course.

Foundation course:

           Language and literature

           Work education

           Health and physical education

           Arts, games and sports

Elective courses

           Student would require to choose elective courses for subjects prescribed by the board of studies.

           The list of subjects or courses may include Indian languages, science subjects, technical subjects, environmental courses,  etc.

Instructional strategy in secondary level

Self study method, Technology based teaching, Problem solving methods, Seminar, Assignments, Group discussions, Library works, Project work, Home study, etc.

Vocational stream

           Professional stream of secondary education was recommended by Kothari Commission and NPE 1986 and 1992.

           The major objective of vocational stream was vocational education for all.

           In secondary level the provisions exist for giving the students an opportunity under work education to do work.

           Vocational courses are designed as self content modulus falsifying details of the theoretical aspects of basic scientific principles and the practical operational details.

           School will assess the need relevance and potential of the courses before offering them to students.

           Their duration may vary depending upon their nature and requirements.

           This courses in the formal School system would help in enhancing the employability of the students.

Scheme of studies

1.         Language

2.         General foundation course

3.         Health and physical education

4.         Vocational Electives

1. Language

Choices of language comprises:

           Regional language

           Second language

           Hindi Arabic

2. General Foundation Course

           Environmental education

           Rural development

           Information and communication technology

3. Health and Physical Education

           Training in the regular vocational courses

           Physical activities like yoga meditation relaxation practices

4. Vocational Electives

Wage employment

Self employment

Instructional strategies

           Training come production centres

           Hindi creation of knowledge and skill

           Apprenticeship.

Senior Secondary Education

    Higher secondary  (also called ‘senior secondary’, 'post secondary', 'upper secondary', etc.)  education comprises two years of later adolescence corresponding to the later part of secondary education.  Although definitions vary, the senior secondary years are sometimes defined as being from approximately age 15 to age 18.  The term generally includes eleventh grade and twelfth grade, and may sometimes also include tenth grade.  The senior secondary years often involve a difficult transition from the world of the child to that of the adult.  In many countries, school attendance is no longer compulsory in the senior secondary years.

    There is uniformity on this level of education in terms of duration and classes i.e. all the States/UTs follow this 10+2 pattern.  The schools which provide education up till 12th class are commonly known as Senior Secondary Schools or Higher Secondary Schools.

    There is a noticeable drop in the enrolment rate at this level (gross enrolment ratio of 51.3 per cent, compared to 79.3 per cent at lower secondary in 2017). 67 A second high-stakes exam (the All India Senior School Certificate Examination, AISSCE) is taken at the end of Grade 12 that determines entrance into universities, colleges, or acceptance at job interview for a number of career paths. Places at the top universities frequently demand results above 95 per cent for students to be considered – an inevitable effect of the large numbers of students competing each year for these elite institutions.

    At the senior secondary level, subject choices diversify greatly, and students can choose particular subjects or vocations to pursue, depending on the desired career or academic path.  As such, they are better placed to exercise a choice of course keeping in view their needs, interests, capabilities and aptitude, which would enable them to cope with the challenges of future.  Streaming is common at this level.  They can pursue Arts, Commerce, Science (medical & non medical).

For example

           With science streams (including maths, physics, chemistry, biology and ICT)

           Humanities streams (including history, politics and geography), etc.

    However, concerns about streaming remain, especially the issue of students being pressured to take specific subjects based on their academic achievement, rather than personal choice. The Draft NEP (2019) suggests that there will no longer be a ‘hard separation’ between arts and sciences or between vocational and academic streams.

General Objectives for Upper Secondary Education

According to the Education Act, general educational aims for upper secondary education are as follows:

           To develop students’ capacity for reasoning, reflection and scientific curiosity, as well as the expansion of the basic elements of humanities, artistic, scientific and technical culture that constitute an appropriate cognitive and methodological basis for further studies and working life.

           To provide young people with the essential knowledge to understand aesthetic and cultural expression and allow them to improve their own artistic expression.

           To foster the acquisition and application of increasingly in-depth knowledge based on study, critical thinking, observation and experimentation.

           To educate young people interested in solving national problems and making them aware of the problems affecting the international community, on the basis of the regional and national context and respect for the permanent values of society in general, and Portuguese culture in particular.

           To provide contact with and experience of the world of work, strengthening the ties between school, working life and the community, and by stimulating the innovative and participative role of the school.

           To foster the vocational guidance and training of young people by means of technical and technological knowledge that will help them find work.

           To create individual and group working habits and to foster the development of methodical reflection, open-mindedness, awareness and acceptance of others, and the capacity to adapt to change.

           To promote social justice and equal opportunities, offering quality and successful education for all students throughout the 12 years of compulsory schooling.

           To achieve better learning that promotes the development of higher level skills.

 

Course Structure

State examinations vary considerably and generally require students to be examined in four or five subjects with English or the local language being compulsory. Students re-enrolling in most secondary schools after grade 10 have to make the choice of choosing a "core stream" in addition to English or the local language:

           Science (Mathematics/Biology, Chemistry, and Physics)

           Commerce (Accounts, Business Studies, and Economics),

           Humanities (any three of History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Geography depending on school).

o          Students study Mathematics up to single-variable Calculus in grade 12.

Career Guidance and Counselling sessions are organized throughout the year for the students of the Higher Secondary School.

In today’s world of globalization marked by competitiveness and challenges, it is required more than ever before that the school sets its own standards comparable to any international standards. Thus the school has to its credit well thought out courses of studies, detailed curricular outlines, identification of learning outcomes, variety of instructional materials — audio and visual — and multimedia packages and improved evaluation tools.

 

Scheme of Studies

           Two-year program which comprises of 16 to 18 years age group of students.

           Admission requirements are after the completion of SSLC.

           Five subjects with at least one language or atmost two languages.

           Minimum of five subjects.

           Two additional subject can also be taken.

           The learners are however advised to select the subjects as per their future plan of study and work.

           UGC NCERT CBSE and ICSE directives state qualifying ages for candidates who wish to take board exams.

           Those at least 17 years old by 30 May for a given academic year are eligible to appear for higher secondary certificate board exam.

           It further states that upon successful completion of higher secondary one can apply to higher education under UGC control such as engineering medical and business administration.

           Higher secondary stage should be flagged as comprising two broad learning compounds which may be termed the general education spectrum and the vacation allies spectrum with many crossover points during and after this particular stage.

           Formative, summative and CCE  evaluations are possible in this system.

 

CBSE

CBSE requires students to take five subjects which are externally assessed in Year XII, plus some internally assessed subjects (general studies, work experience and physical and health education). Students must pass each subject to gain their full qualification.

CBSE requires students to take and pass examination in five subjects: two languages (to include English or Hindi) plus three electives from: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, biotechnology, engineering, graphics, economics, political science, history, geography, business studies, accountancy, home science, fine arts, agriculture, computer science / informatics practices, multimedia and web technology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, physical education, music and dance, entrepreneurship, fashion studies, creative writing and translation studies. Students are also required to pass internally assessed subjects.

CISCE

CISCE award a pass certificate to candidates who pass four (or five) subjects (which must include English) at the same examination sitting and pass the internally assessed socially useful and productive work (SUPW) / work experience and community service. Students much pass each subject to gain their full qualification.

CISCE requires students to take and pass four (or five) subjects, which must include English, at the same examination sitting and pass the internally assessed SUPW / work experience and community service.

There are a total of 31 state examination boards and three national boards. Secondary schools are affiliated to either the state board relevant to their location or one of the national boards:

           Central Board of Secondary Education Board (CBSE)

           Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE)

           National Institute of Open Schooling Board (NIOS)

           State Government Boards

Students who pass the HSC examinations are eligible for university admissions.

Higher Secondary Certificates may also be known as:

           Higher / Senior School Certificate / Examination (most state boards)

           Pre-University Certificate (some state boards)

           Intermediate Exam (some state boards)

           All India Senior School Certificate (CBSE)

           Indian School Certificate (CISCE)

           Certificate of Vocational Education (CISCE)

           Senior Secondary Examination (All-India) (NIOS)

Assessment

           In Year XI subjects are assessed internally.

           In Year XII subjects are assessed by external examinations set by either state or national awarding organisations.

Conclusion

Secondary and senior secondary education are  the most appreciated basic education level that every Indian individual is entitled to.  The purpose of secondary and senior secondary education is to prepare the learners into the tertiary level of education, Therefore it should be noted that these levels of education are the roots of an individual career choice. Hence a lot of keenness is very necessary in this regard.

 

 

Status of  Secondary and senior secondary education system in India: Process of teaching and learning, exposures to subject and integrated stream


    Secondary education in India begins after eight years of elementary education and is divided into two years of secondary education (classes IX and X) and two years of senior secondary education (classes XI and XII).At the end of the secondary phase (class X), students take a set of externally administered examinations from either a state or national (All-India) examination board. Students who pass the secondary examinations earn a certificate usually called the Secondary School Certificate or SSC. These students are eligible for senior secondary school. After two years of senior secondary school, students are again examined by their school’s affiliated board and, if successful, awarded the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (HSC / HSSC). There are also examinations administered internally by individual secondary schools at the end of class XI.

    There are a total of 31 state examination boards and three national boards. Secondary schools are affiliated to either the state board relevant to their location or one of the national boards:

           Central Board of Secondary Education Board (CBSE)

           Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE)

           National Institute of Open Schooling Board (NIOS)

           State Government Boards

 

Meaning of Secondary Education System:

    Secondary education occupies a very strategic position in the educational pattern of the country. It is the link between primary education and higher education. Primary education is intended to provide minimum requirements for survival where as secondary education enables an individual to become a full members of the complicated society.After independence our country achieved a great remarkable changes in the field of secondary education. The Government of India, Soon after attainment of independence appointed a number of committees and commissions to review the system of secondary education.

    The various committees recommended certain suggestions for the improvement of secondary education both quantitatively and qualitatively. Tara hand Committee in 1948 suggested the multipurpose type of secondary schools without discouraging the unipurpose schools.

    The university education commission 1948-49 which was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, remarked that “our secondary education remains the weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent reform.” The landmark in the reconstruction of India’s secondary education is the secondary education commission report 1952-53.The commission was appointed by the Government of India, on September 23, 1952, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. Lakshmanswami Mudaliar to review the existing defects in the secondary education and made some suggestion

 

Various committees have given their valuable suggestions regarding the aim and objectives of secondary education after independence.

Aims  of secondary education according to secondary education commission (1952-53):

1. To bring all round development among the learner.

2. To train the young mass of the country to be good citizens who will be competent to play their part effectively in the social and economic development of the country.

3. To promote social virtues, intellectual development and practical skills of students.

4. To Train character of students to enable them to participate creatively as citizens in the emerging social order.

5. To improve practical and vocational efficiency of the students.

6. To develop a scientific attitude of mind to think objectively.

7. To inculcate the qualities necessary for living harmoniously and efficiently with one’s fellowmen.

8. To develop artistic and cultural interests which are essential for self-expression and development of all round personality of pupils.

 

Aims and Objectives of secondary education according to Indian Education Commission (1964-66):

1. The main objective is “national reconstruction by raising the standard of living of our people.”

2. The education is to meet the needs of a modernizing democratic and socialistic society.

3. It would promote productivity.

4. It would strengthen social and national integration.

5. It would consolidate democracy to adopt as a way of life.

6. It would accelerate the pace of modernization.

7. It would enable students to participate in productive work in school, home, workshop, form and factory etc.

8. It would develop social, moral and spiritual values among the students.

    As per the recommendations of Indian Education commission, education was reconstructed for the economic and cultural development of the country. Importance was given on qualitative development of secondary education by relating education with the real life situations of the students. The NPE, 1986 and the Revised NPE, 1992 have discussed about the aims and objectives of education in general out of which some are relevant to secondary education. They are as follows:

1. Secondary education is meant essentially for all round development, material and spiritual.

2. It develops manpower for different levels of the economy, ultimately promoting self-reliance.

3. It develops a sense of good citizenship among the learners.

4. It would inculcate democratic values, rights and duties in a democratic set up among the students.

5. It would strengthen the “whole world as one family” view and motivates, the younger generations for international co-operation and peaceful co-existence.

6. It should provide equality of educational opportunity for all not only in access, but also in the conditions for success.

7. It would inculcate in children scientific temper and independence of mind.

8. Minimum Levels of Learning (MLL) would be laid down and steps need by taken for fostering among students an understanding of a diverse cultural and social systems of the people.

9. It enables to develop physical health through physical education among the students.

Besides these, the secondary education should be based on a national curricular frame work which contains a common core along with other components that are flexible.

The common core would include the history of India’s Freedom Movement the constitutional obligations and the other content essential to nature and national identity. Promotion of vocational efficiency should form an integral part of secondary education.

 

SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION

    The senior secondary years are the years of later adolescence corresponding to the later part of secondary education. Although definitions vary, the senior secondary years are sometimes defined as being from approximately age 15 to age 18.The term generally includes eleventh grade and twelfth grade, and may sometimes also include tenth grade.

    Senior Secondary Education is the higher level of Secondary Education. Kids in Senior Secondary are about 15 to 18 years of age and are in the phase of being young adults. The senior secondary years of a student involves the 11th & 12th grade of a student. Senior Secondary is also referred as High school in various places.

    In the Senior Secondary years, the respective fields of study get divided into various streams like Science, Commerce and Arts. Students can choose any stream that they are interested in and would like to make a career out of it by studying further. Senior Secondary years of education are the two last years of secondary education. After this the students take up college for specific degrees like engineering, doctor, CA, CS, Accountancy, etc.

 

STATUS OF SECONDARY/  SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

    Ever since the Constitution was adopted in 1950, the focus of educational programs was concentrated on elementary education. Since the constitutional commitment is free and compulsory education to all children up to the age fourteen, all efforts were focused on achieving the goal of universal elementary education.  But despite significant progress in every sphere of elementary education, the goal to achieve universal elementary enrolment is still a far distant dream.  Within the elementary education, primary education remained in the focus all through since the independence.  Even, the coverage of District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is also limited to the primary level only.  However, it is the upper primary education, which is now getting attention of the planners and policy makers.  The DPEP is now being extended to the upper primary level initially in the phase one 52 districts. Sporadic attempts have been made in the past to consider both the primary and upper primary education as one component. The Bihar Education Project and the World Bank Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Project considered the entire elementary education as one unit.  The new initiative, namely the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) also envisages the entire elementary education as one component.  Secondary education had never been in the focus and all the activities were concentrated on elementary education. The Government recently constituted a task force on secondary education. Even there is now mention of Universalisation of Secondary Education.   It is in this context, the present article takes an overall view of the entire secondary.

 

    Like other levels of school education, a significant progress is made in all the spheres of secondary education. More than 84 per cent habitations had secondary school/section within a distance of 8 km as compared to 70 per cent within 5 km.  The number of unserved habitations declined from 21 per cent in 1986-87 to 15 per cent in 1993-94.  During 1950-51 to 1999-2000, the number of secondary and higher secondary schools increased from 7 thousand to 117 thousand.  The increase (16 times) is much more rapid than the corresponding increase in the primary (3 times) and upper primary (14 times) schools.   In the latest decade (1990 to 99), more than 37 thousand secondary and higher secondary schools were opened. The ratio of upper primary to secondary schools also improved from 1.83 in 1950-51 to 1.69 in 1999-2000.  The number of secondary/higher secondary teachers increased from 127 thousand in 1950-51 to 1,720 thousand in 1999-2000.  Despite the increase in number of teachers, the pupil-teacher ratio increased from 21:1 in 1950-51 to 32:1 in 1999-2000; thus indicating significant increase in enrolment at this level.  From a low 1.5 million in 1950-51, it has now been increased by more than 19 times to 28.2 million in 1999-2000.  The percentage of girl’s enrolment increased from 13 per cent in 1950-51 to about 38 per cent in 1999-2000.  Enrolment in secondary/higher secondary level increased by almost doubles the rate than the increase in the primary enrolment.  The GER, though low but improved from 19.3 per cent in 1990-91 to 30.0 per cent in 1993-94 and further to 41.2 per cent in 1998-99.  Almost 50 per cent children of age group 14-17 year were attending schools in 1995-96.  The retention rate (I to IX) is also improved but still it is low at 27 per cent. The transition rate from upper primary to secondary level is as high as 85 per cent.

    Over time facilities in secondary schools have improved impressively.  The majority of secondary schools have got school buildings (69 per cent). The average number of instructional rooms in a secondary school is as high as 8.  More schools have now got drinking water (41 per cent), urinal  (77 per cent) and lavatory (57 per cent) facilities in schools than in 1986-87.  More than 63 per cent schools have furniture for teachers and almost the same percentage of schools science laboratories.  The plan allocation on secondary education increased from Rs. 20 crore during the first plan to more than Rs. 2600 crore in the ninth plan. However, expenditure on secondary education always remained below one per cent of the GDP. Impressive progress has also been made at the primary and upper primary levels of education.  But despite all these significant achievements, the goal to achieve universal elementary enrolment still remains far out of the sight. The goal of universal secondary education cannot be achieved unless the goal of universal elementary enrolment is achieved.

 

TYPE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS

     The majority of secondary schools in 1993-94 were integrated with the upper primary schools  (33.99 per cent) followed by the independent secondary schools (23.79 per cent). On the other hand, about 17.37 per cent secondary schools were the integrated with either primary or upper primary schools.  Only 5.44 per cent secondary schools in 1993-94 were integrated with the higher secondary schools.  Upper primary integrated with secondary and higher secondary (13.95 per cent); and primary integrated with upper primary, secondary and higher secondary (5.46 per cent) were the other types of schools.  Further, it has also been revealed that private managements (aided 29.12 and unaided 40.45 per cent) had the majority of independent secondary schools.  More than 62 percent secondary schools under local body managements were integrated with the upper primary schools. Schools under private managements also had the highest percentage of integrated schools from primary to higher secondary level. Future expansion of secondary education should be viewed in the light of the existing arrangements of secondary schooling, as well as, the management type.  With the limited set of data, it is not possible to know which arrangement is the most economic one. It may also be recalled that Secondary Education Commission (1952) recommended a national system of education covering 11 years of education and the Kothari Commission 10+2 pattern. The states have accepted 10+2 pattern but still the system is not uniform across the country.

School Buildings

    The distribution of schools according to buildings reveals that unlike the primary schools, the majority of secondary schools have got the school buildings. Only 0.51 per cent of the total 66 thousand schools were functioning either in the tents or in open space (Table 4). The majority of such schools were the government run schools. About 64 per cent schools in the rural areas had the pucca (permanent) buildings compared to 82 per cent in the urban areas. About 65 per cent government schools had pucca buildings compared to 26 per cent partially pucca and another 7 and 2 per cent schools were functioning in the thatched huts and tents. On the other hand about 72 per cent schools run under the local body managements had pucca school buildings.  A little more than 70 per cent private aided and unaided schools had pucca buildings and not a single school under this category was functioning in the open space.

    Further, it has also been noticed that about 74 per cent schools owned buildings and rest of the 26 per cent schools had either rented or they rent-free buildings (Table 5).  Schools in the urban areas (63.71 per cent) had lower percentage of owned buildings than schools in the rural areas (78.63 per cent).  On the other hand, it has been noticed that the majority of government and local body schools had their own buildings but the same is not true in case of the schools run by the private aided (59.49 per cent) and unaided (47.17 per cent) managements.  Most of the private schools had rented buildings.

  It has also been noticed that the majority of secondary schools   require additional classrooms, which is true for all types of school managements (Table 5). Comparatively, percentage of private schools that need additional classrooms is a bit lower than the requirement in case of the government and local body schools.  Compared to the primary (2 rooms) and upper primary (5 rooms) level of education, the average number of instructional rooms were quite high (8 rooms) in secondary schools. Government run schools (2 rooms) had the lowest number of rooms than the rooms under other managements.  On an average secondary schools under local body management had 2 instructional rooms. Schools under the private managements (aided 4 and unaided 5 rooms) had much higher number of rooms than the schools under the government and local body managements.  Disparity in number of instructional rooms is also noticed in case of the rural (2 rooms) and urban (4 rooms) areas. Both within the rural and urban areas, schools under the private managements had much higher number of rooms than the other managements.  A close look at the number of rooms distributed according to enrolment size reveals that higher is the size of school, higher is the number of instructional rooms.  Schools having more than 600 enrolment had an average of 10 and 16 rooms respectively in the rural and urban areas.

s of secondary and Senior secondary education.

Education  in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector with the control and funding coming from three levels

Central

State

Local

Under various article of Indian Constitution and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to all children between age of 6 and 14.

Ratio of public School to private school is 7 : 5.

according to 2013 GR higher education has increased steadily over the past decade reaching GERof 24 %.

At first and second level India has a large private school system complementing the government schools with 29% students previewing education in  the 6 to 14 age group

Certain post secondary technical schools are also private.

The private education market in India had relevance of 4.5 million in 2008.

Access to annual status of education report (ASER) 2012, 95 % of all rural child between the age of 6 to 14 were enrolled in school

another report from the 2013 stated  that they were 22.9 crore students enrolled in different accredited urban and rural school of India from class 1- 12. this shows an increase of 23 lakh student over 2002.

while more than 95 % of children attend first school ,just 40 percentage of Indian adolescence attend secondary schools

Some of the reasons for poor quality is

Absence of around 25% age of teachers every day

Poor infrastructure facilities

due to the state of India having reduced evaluation and education assessment system to identify and improve system of schools

it is very important to clarify that these are private schools in India they are highly regulated in terms of what they can teach in what form they and operate and all other aspects

Hence differentiation of government schools and private school can be misleading

in India higher education system a significant number of seats are reserved for SC, ST and other backward classes

Maharashtra had 73 percentage revaluation in 2014 which is the highest percentage of reservation in India

in short there are  28 million students enrolled in secondary and higher secondary education in the country representing a GER of 35 %.

 

The GER for girls is 14 % lower than that of boys indicating the need for focusing on girls enrollment.this is considerable variation across the states in terms of GER  and also in terms of difference in gender equality

Three types of schools provide Senior secondary and higher secondary in the country

Government funded private unaided private aided

 

 

The following statistics give an overview of the present status of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in the country .

(i) No. of secondary Schools and students is 1,01,777 and 2.43 crore respectively. 

(ii) No. of Hr. Secondary schools and students is 50,272 and 1.27 crore respectively. 

(iii) Girls’ enrolment increased from two lakh to 101 lakh. 

(iv) Drop-out rate at primary level slipped down from 65 per cent in 1960-61 to 39 per cent in 1997-98 and at middle level, it reduced from 78 per cent to 54 per cent. At secondary level the rate of drop-out was 69 per cent in 1997- 98. 

(v) Enrolment increased from 15 lakh to 272 lakh. 

(vi) The number of teachers increased from 12.7 lakh to 15.42 lakh. 

(vii) The teacher-pupil ratio increased from 1:21 to 1:32.

 

Exposures to subject and integrated stream in secondary and senior secondary level

Secondary School - subject area

           Agriculture

           Arts

           Design & Technology

           Business Studies

           Science

           Social Science

           Mathematics

           Languages

           Personal Development

 

Senior Secondary School subject stream

           Accounting

           Applied Science

           Geology

           Natural Resource management

           History

           ICT

           Language & Literature

           Chemistry

           Physics

           Economics

           Personal Development

           Music

           Legal Studies

    Secondary education covers children aged 14 to 18, a group comprising 8.85 crore children according to the 2001 Census of India. The final two years of secondary is often called Higher Secondary (HS), Senior Secondary, or simply the "+2" stage. The two halves of secondary education are each an important stage for which a pass certificate is needed, and thus are affiliated by central boards of education under HRD ministry, before one can pursue higher education, including college or professional courses.

    UGC, NCERT, CBSE and ICSE directives state qualifying ages for candidates who wish to take board exams. Those at least 15 years old by 30 May for a given academic year are eligible to appear for Secondary board exams, and those 17 by the same date are eligible to appear for Higher Secondary certificate board exams. It further states that upon successful completion of Higher Secondary, one can apply to higher education under UGC control such as Engineering, Medical, and Business Administration.

    Secondary education in India is examination-oriented and not course-based: students register for and take classes primarily to prepare for one of the centrally-administered examinations. Senior school or high school is split into 2 parts (grades 9-10 and grades 11-12) with a standardised nationwide examination at the end of grade 10 and grade 12 (usually informally referred to as "board exams"). Grade 10 examination results can be used for admission into grades 11–12 at a secondary school, pre-university program, or a vocational or technical school. Passing a grade 12 board examination leads to the granting of a

secondary school completion diploma, which may be used for admission into vocational schools or universities in the country or the world. Most reputable universities in India require students to pass college-administered admissions tests in addition to passing a final secondary school examination for entry into a college or university. School grades are usually not sufficient for college admissions in India.

10th (Matriculation or Secondary) Exam

Students taking the grade 10 examination usually take six subjects: English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, one language, and one optional subject depending on the availability of teachers at different schools. "Elective" or optional subjects often include Computer Applications, Economics, Physical Education, Commerce, and Environmental Science.

12th (Senior Secondary or Higher Secondary) Exam

Students taking the grade 12 examination usually take four or five subjects with English or the local language being compulsory. Students re-enrolling in most secondary schools after grade 10 have to make the choice of choosing a "core stream" in addition to English or the local language: Science (Mathematics/Biology, Chemistry, and Physics), Commerce (Accounts, Business Studies, and Economics), or Humanities (any three of History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Geography depending on school). Students study Mathematics up to single-variable Calculus in grade 12

 

 

Secondary Stage grades 9 and 10 (2 years)

The curriculum includes:

1. Three Languages

a. mother tongue/regional language

b. Hindi

c. English

(Some Schools offer as electives other languages such as Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, German, Arabic,Persian, Spanish)

2. Mathematics

3. Science and Technology

4. Social Sciences

5. Work Education or Pre-Vocational Education

6. Art Education (fine arts: Visual and Performing)

7.Physical and Health Education

 

Upper Secondary Education

The curriculum includes: The majority of students exit school (approximately    age 15)

Science (mathematics, physics, and chemistry, Biology)

Commerce

Humanities (arts) (history, geography, political science,

philosophy, psychology, languages, arts, music.

Adolescence

"A period between childhood and adulthood": Oxford dictionary

Adolescence is that period of life of an individual when society no longer view him as a child but does not as yet concede him either the roles or the functions inherent In the  status of adult.

 

Common problem of adolescence

And adolescent is a problem individual there are many problems around him and he needs help and guidance for their solution at every step

Excessive energy: intake of food is increase the general health is also improved the result is excessive energy. our traditional schools do not provide such physical activities consequently the adolescence is restless various activities at as a sublimation for adolescence and they feel relieve.

           Tension of attending the class examination and test

           Low IQ feeling

           Fear about failure in examination

           Fear about low score

           Worry about future career

           Misconception about teacher.

           Education for adolescence

           Adjustment with the school discipline

           School should assume responsibility for vocational guidance

           school should not implant habits of unquestioning obedience which inhibits the growth of young people towards this dependence

           teacher need to be understanding good counselors maintenance of emotional tolerance

           Training in the art of living together

           Development of child entire personality

           Recognise individual differences

           Freedom of self development

           Development of scientific attitude

           Value of independence

           Satisfaction of the urage of practical activity

           Physical exercise and activities

 

Teaching adolescence

Adolescence is a distant stage that marks the transition between childhood and adulthood adolescence are capable for abstract reasoning also we may still improve the family in education adolescence themselves are major focus of teaching since they have considerable Independence at our consequently in more control of degree to which recommendation will be carried out

How adolescence learn??????

when adolescents are not in a situation that best fits their learning style they will have trouble with their study habits as well

Four different learning styles that affect students study habits

1.         Visual  learning

2.         actual learning

3.         Auditory learning

4.         Analytical learning

o          Visual learnering

 Adolescence work best with visual representation of the information. This includes pictures symbols, chart ,diagrams and colours.

o          Auditory  learning

Learn  best if they hear information for that type of learners. better to read aloud because it help them to better learn material when they hear themselves read it aloud.

           Analytic learner

This kind of learners deal well with the details they prefer reading and re reading the information while taking some time to reflect on what just read in mean time. This kind of learner can deal well with list, pattern , homework and practice exercise

           Actual learners

when it comes to practical subject like maths and English these learners  would rather do some trial and error rather than actual reading and learning the rules first. Teacher should help them to develop this study habits to this trial and error kind of learning style.

Adolescence principle of learning

           Focusing

           Organisation

           Repeatetion

           Association

           Learner control

           Imitation

           Active participation

           Motivation

           Individual styles

           Spacing

Teaching process of adolescence

Discussion

Between the teacher and learner

Interaction

Between the learner and some aspect of defined by the teacher

Adaptation

Of the world by the teacher and action by the learner

Reflection

On the learners performance by both the teacher and learner

 

Teaching and learning process of adolescences

 

 

The classroom is a dynamic environment, bringing together students from different backgrounds with various abilities and personalities. Being an effective teacher therefore requires the implementation of creative and innovative teaching strategies in order to meet students’ individual needs.

1. Visualization

Bring dull academic concepts to life with visual and practical learning experiences, helping students to understand how their schooling applies in the real-world.

Examples include using the interactive whiteboard to display photos, audio clips and videos, as well as encouraging your students to get out of their seats with classroom experiments and local field trips.

2. Cooperative learning

Encourage students of mixed abilities to work together by promoting small group or whole class activities.

Through verbally expressing their ideas and responding to others  students will develop their self-confidence, as well as enhance their communication and critical thinking skills which are vital throughout life.

Solving mathematical puzzles, conducting scientific experiments and acting out short drama sketches are just a few examples of how cooperative learning can be incorporated into classroom lessons.

3. Inquiry-based instruction

Pose thought-provoking questions which inspire  students to think for themselves and become more independent learners.

Encouraging students to ask questions and investigate their own ideas helps improve their problem-solving skills as well as gain a deeper understanding of academic concepts. Both of which are important life skills.

Inquiries can be science or math-based such as ‘why does my shadow change size?’ or ‘is the sum of two odd numbers always an even number?’. However, they can also be subjective and encourage students to express their unique views, e.g. ‘do poems have to rhyme?’ or ‘should all students wear uniform?’.

4. Differentiation

Differentiate  teaching by allocating tasks based on students’ abilities, to ensure no one gets left behind.

Assigning classroom activities according to students’ unique learning needs means individuals with higher academic capabilities are stretched and those who are struggling get the appropriate support.

This can involve handing out worksheets that vary in complexity to different groups of students, or setting up a range of work stations around the classroom which contain an assortment of tasks for students to choose from.

Moreover, using an educational tool such as Quiz Alize can save you hours of time because it automatically groups your students for you, so you can easily identify individual and whole class learning gaps (click here to find out more).

5. Technology in the classroom

Incorporating technology into your teaching is a great way to actively engage students, especially as digital media surrounds young people in the 21st century.

Interactive whiteboards or mobile devices can be used to display images and videos, which helps students visualize new academic concepts. Learning can become more interactive when technology is used as students can physically engage during lessons as well as instantly research their ideas, which develops autonomy.

Mobile devices, such as iPads and/or tablets, can be used in the classroom for students to record results, take photos/videos  or simply as a behavior management technique. Plus, incorporating educational programmes such as Quiz Alize intension plans is also a great way to make formative assessments fun and engaging.

6. Behavior management

Implementing an effective behavior management strategy is crucial to gain students respect and ensure students have an equal chance of reaching their full potential.

Noisy, disruptive classrooms do no encourage a productive learning environment, therefore developing an atmosphere of mutual respect through a combination of discipline and reward can be beneficial for both you and your students.

Examples include fun and interactive reward charts for younger students, where individuals move up or down based on behavior with the top student receiving a prize at the end of the week. ‘Golden time’ can also work for students of all ages, with a choice of various activities such as games or no homework in reward for their hard work.

7. Professional development

Engaging in regular professional development programmes is a great way to enhance teaching and learning in classroom.

Following are the different steps of teaching process

1.         Teacher was considered students background needs and interest

2.         Selection of appropriate materials

3.         Determining the teaching strategies to meet the needs and interest

4.         Constant monitoring of process

5.         Undertaking revisions/ alternatives ever needed

6.         Comprehensive evaluation including quantitative and qualitative records

 

How does teaching and learning process of adolescence reflect in the development of better society

 

"when their contribution we recognised, young people come to understand their place and value in the world"

- Meghan Lynch fonder

 

           Get proper knowledge about social relations and importance of group living.

           Proper education leads to make a right and rational attitude towards democracy. It  develops in school atmosphere and would enable the child to develop his on philosophy of life

           Social development is an important reflection among adolescence

           social development refers to the process of development by which a child acquires the necessary attitudes ,skills and values that make him an acceptable member of a group to which he belongs.

           NCERT coordinates the program and works through both curricular and non curricular formulates to contribute towards holistic development offence people in pursuance of national curriculum framework 2005

           teaching and learning process help the adolescence to develop awareness and positive attitude towards population and development leading to responsible behavior among students

           adolescents development includes learning values, knowledge and skills that enable the children to relate to others effectively and to contribute in a positive way to family, School and society

           Learning help them to develop social skills and make them enable to share converse and deal with other people in the society.

           adolescence grow stronger and more coordinated with Effective  cognitive abilities and their role as a family member  and as a better citizen can become more substantial

           meaningful contribution at school will enable the students to have a substantial impact on not only on their school but also to the entire environment of the society

           if high school or higher secondary students are allowed in decision-making around coursework, classroom practices and school policies will help them to contribute more fruitfully to the society.

           Opportunity to choose seating, choose projects, learning activities for grading practices are avenues for meaningful contribution .it increase students motivation and connection to school and community.

Above mentioned are the impact of social development of adolescence through learning process.

 

THE PRESENT STATUS OF QUALITY EDUCATION IN INDIA: STATUS AND PROSPECTS


    Educated mass of any country act as backbone of development. Education is considered as one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality. Education provides platform to enhance a country’s competitiveness in the global economy. Thereby, ensuring access to quality education for all, in particular to the underprivileged population, is key to the economic and social development

    The meaning of a Quality Education is one that is pedagogically and developmentally sound and educates the student in becoming an active and productive member of society. A Quality Education is not one that is measured purely by a test score or by how many words per minute a 5-year-old can read. To hark back to these simplified measurements is to do a disservice to both the student and the phrase Quality Education itself.

“A quality education is one that focuses on the whole child — the social, emotional, mental, physical, and cognitive development of each student regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or geographic location. It prepares the child for life, not just for testing”.

A quality education is supported by three key pillars:

Ensuring access to quality teachers

Providing use of quality learning tools and Professional development

Establishment of safe and supportive quality learning environments.

Secondary education

Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Except in countries where only primary or basic education is compulsory, secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education, and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university. Secondary education is characterized by transition from primary education for minors to tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education for adults. Depending on the system, schools for this period or a part of it may be called secondary schools, high schools, gymnasia, lyceums, middle schools, sixth-form, sixth-form colleges, vocational schools and preparatory schools, and the exact meaning of any of these varies between the systems.

Secondary education should provide the learner with opportunities to:

acquire necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the development of the self and the nation

promote love for and loyalty to the nation

promoter harmonious co-existence among the peoples of Kenya

develop mentally, socially, morally, physically and spiritually

enhance understanding and respect for own and other people's cultures and their place in contemporary society

enhance understanding and appreciation of interrelationships among nations

promote positive environmental and health practices

build a firm foundation for further education and training

develop ability for enquiry, critical thinking and rational judgment

develop into a responsible and socially well-adjusted person

promote acceptance and respect for all persons

enhance enjoyment in learning

identify individual talents and develop them

build a foundation for technological and industrial development

develop into a self-disciplined individual who appreciates work and manages time properly

Education in India

Education in India means the process of teaching, learning, and training of human capital in schools and colleges. This improves and increases knowledge and results in skill development hence enhancing the quality of the human capital. Our government has always valued the importance of education in India and this is reflected in our economic policies.

Issues and Challenges in Indian education

The following are the main problems faced in the progress of education:

Lack of funds

Expensive higher education

Neglect of Indian languages

Mass illiteracy

Wastage of resources

General education oriented

Problems of primary education

    The challenge of improving quality of teaching by training teachers and supporting them with modern teaching aids, tools and methodologies -- like smart classrooms and digital course content--needs to be taken up so that teachers take pride in their classroom performances smoothly. The future of the country depends on a quality education being provided in every school and it plays a major role in the student education. Quality is at the heart of education, Alternatively Performance in licensure examinations is not the only measure of quality education. The quantity and quality of school inputs the effectiveness of the curriculum and teaching methods and the quality of the school and home environment.

    Schooling and education are two different things. Although India has made substantial progress in getting children enrolled in schools, this has not led to children getting a quality education. Despite implementing the Right to Education Act 2009, which makes free and compulsory elementary education a fundamental of every child, India accounts for around 21% of the world's achievement gap for the Quality Education goal, according to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015, adopted by 193 nations, recognise the role of good quality and accessible public education in developing nations such as India. In its goal no. 4 (SDG 4: Quality Education) it embeds the crucial tenets of human capital formation that needs to be mainstreamed in national development frameworks.

The United Nations highlights policy initiatives like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for making progress towards universalization of primary education in the country. During the years of its implementation, the Gross Enrolment Ratio of students at primary level has reached to 99.21%.

The importance of public education is also depicted in the recent Draft National Education Policy 2019 which favours 20% of total public expenditure to be spent on education. Even the NITI Aayog suggests that the spending on education should be increased from 3% of the GDP to at least 6% of GDP by 2022, which is much higher than the world average expenditure on education at about 4.82% of GDP, in 2015.

The quality of education in today’s world

 The problems in today's society with the education system are endless. So many students are deprived of the quality of the education they deserve today. Many elementary and high schools are improving but deserve more attention with school supplies, smaller classrooms, and need more highly qualified teachers. Schools today are in a bad need of change.

Students deserve to have the education they need to prepare them for the future because they are the future of our nation. Schools should help prepare students to succeed by providing text books and supplies that are updated. Textbooks should be updated every five years so that the new information will not be left out for the student. It is important that we update any new information in textbooks so that we can keep up with the current subjects. The more updated books, the more knowledge we gain. Also, the supplies needed should be obtained earlier so that assignments can be assigned in the textbooks rather than having hand outs of massive papers.

 

 Crowded classrooms are becoming more and more of a problem as the student population continues to grow. In some regions, classrooms are packed each day as students sit on the floor or stand up during a full class period. It is very important to have a classroom that is comfortable and spacious. The student ratio should decrease so students get more attention from teachers.

 

Another issue is the quality of education. 6 out of 10 children and adolescents are not achieving a minimum level of proficiency in reading and math. Therefore, achieving inclusive and quality education for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development.

A quality education is the foundation of sustainable development, and therefore of the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

As a policy intervention, education is a force multiplier which enables self-reliance, boosts economic growth by enhancing skills, and improves people’s lives by opening up opportunities for better livelihoods.

 

Quality education is one of 17 Global Goals that make up the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An integrated approach is crucial for progress across the multiple goals. The Sustainable Development targets for 2030 call for ensuring the completion of primary and secondary education by all boys and girls, and guaranteeing equal access to opportunities for access to quality technical and vocational education for everyone. Policy interventions will require improving access and improving quality, as well addressing relevant obstacles which include gender inequalities, food insecurity, and armed conflict. It also aims to eliminate gender and wealth disparities with the aim of achieving universal access to a quality higher education.

Target of Goal 4

Goal 4 is designed to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all are central to ensuring a full and productive life to all individuals and to the realization of sustainable development.

Targets to be achieved 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes

4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education

4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations

4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy

 4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

4.7a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all

4.7b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries

4.7c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states

Importance of Goal 4 in Indian Prospective

With current 1.37 billion population, India is the second most populated country in the world after China. With a median age of 27.9 years in 2018, India is a young country. By 2020, youth will make up 34% (>360 million) of the country’s population. However, by year 2015 only 74.8 % of Indian adults were literate, which lower in comparison to global literacy rate (86.2%). Literacy rate is further lower among the rural (68%) population and adults with disabilities (55%). Whopping 39% of children with disabilities are out of school. Despite having 100% enrolment of girls in primary education, only 24.5% of them opt for higher education. This is not surprising as gross enrolment in higher education in India is only 25%.

Future Prospects

Indian government considers education as a key area where drastic growth and development is required. So various future prospects have been considered and policies are drafted. The vision is to ensure that education in India is of the highest quality and available to the whole population without discrimination. Let us look at some projects the government wishes to implement successfully.

Education for all

Though the education level has increased for both youth as well as adults, still the number of illiterates is as much as the population was at the time of independence. The constituent assembly passed the Constitution of India in the year 1950. Free and compulsory education for the children till 14 years of age within 10 years from the commencement of constitution was noted as Directive Principal of the constitution. Following are the factors which make education for all a dream:

Gender bias

Low rural access

Increasing number of illiterates

Privatization

Low expenditure on education by government

Improving Gender Equity

The differences between male and female are reducing and the same can be seen in literacy rate, showcasing a development in gender equity. Still, hard work left to promote the education of women. There are various reasons, such as:

The social status of women

Healthcare of women and children

Improving economic independence

Higher Education

People in India face great difficulty to reach the higher levels in the current education system. As per National Sample Survey Organization data, in the FY 2007-08, the unemployment r

ate was 18.10% for youth with education up to secondary level. Whereas unemployment rate for youth with education up to primary level was only 11.60%. The government should take emphasis on allocation of higher education and improve the students.

 A quality education is the foundation of sustainable development, and therefore of the Sustainable Development Goals. As a policy intervention, education is a force multiplier which enables self-reliance, boosts economic growth by enhancing skills, and improves people’s lives by opening up opportunities for better livelihoods. The Sustainable Development targets for 2030 call for ensuring the completion of primary and secondary education by all boys and girls, and guaranteeing equal access to opportunities for access to quality education for everyone. Policy interventions will require improving access and improving quality, as well addressing relevant obstacles which include gender inequalities, food insecurity, and armed conflict.

Delor’s Commission Report on quality education


    The Delor’s report was a report created by the Delor’s Commission in 1996. It proposed an integrated vision of education based on two key concepts, learning through life and the four pillars of learning, to know, to do, to be and to live together.

Learning to know- a broad general knowledge with the opportunity to work in depth on a small number of subjects.

Learning to do- to acquire not only occupational skill but also the competence to deal with many situations and to work in teams.

Learning to be- to develop one’s personality and to be able to act with growing autonomy, judgment and personal responsibility.

Learning to live together- by developing and understanding of other people and an appreciation of interdependence.

 

The report argued that choices about education were determined by choices about what kind of society we wish to live in. Beyond education’s immediate functionality, it considered the formation of the whole person should be an essential part of education’s purpose. The Delors report was aligned closely with the moral and intellectual principles that underpin UNESCO, and therefore its analysis and recommendations were more humanistic and less instrumental and market-driven than other education reform studies of the time.

The Delors commission identified a number of tensions generated by technological, economic and social change. They included:

 

Tension between the global and local

The universal and the particular

Tradition and modernity

The spiritual and the material

Long term and short term consideration

The need for competition and the ideal of equality of opportunity and

The expansion of knowledge and our capacity to assimilate it.

These seven tensions remain useful perspectives from which the current dynamics of social transformation. Some are taking on new meaning, with fresh tensions emerging. These include patterns of economic growth characterized by rising vulnerability, growing inequality, increased ecological stress, and rising intolerance and violence. Finally, while there has been progress in human rights, implementation of norms often remains a challenge.


Two observations which the Commission sees as important are:

Basic education should be provided worldwide and basic education is of course and issue in all countries, including the industrial ones. The first thing this Commission acknowledge is the existence of several types of Institutions Of Higher Learning both private and public, and also vocational and non vocational the increasingly stringent selection in order to cause the pressure on higher education is unacceptable, therefore the first suggestion is for the universities to diversify what they offer like

 as scientific establishments and centers of learning from where students go onto theoretical or applied researcher teaching

 as establishments offering occupational qualifications

 as meeting places for learning throughout life

as a leading partners in international corporations

For the developing countries they must be provided the vocational and technological training of future leaders the higher and Middle level education is additionally required to save them from grinding poverty and underdevelopment.

 

Commission stresses the great advantages of the product decentralization in helping to increase responsibility and ability to innovate at the school level.

1) No reform can succeed without the cooperative and active participation of teachers

2) Fully aware of classroom practicalities today

3) The permanence of values, the challenges of future demands, preparing the future, and review of the duties of teachers and Society.

 

Recommendations of this Commission:

A policy of strong encouragement for the education of girls and women following are the recommendations of the Beijing conference held in September 1995

The allocation of a minimum percentage of development aid a quarter of the total to fund education this adjustment in favour of education should also apply to International funding institutions first and foremost the World Bank which already has an important role.

The further development of Debt for education swaps to offset the adverse effects on state education expenditure of adjustment policies and policies for reducing internal and external deficits

The widespread introduction of the new technologies of the information society in all countries to prevent the growth of yet another gap between rich countries and poor countries

Enlisting the outstanding potential of Nongovernmental organisations naturally including grass roots initiatives which can provide valuable support to cooperation in education.

 

Professional Enrichment of Secondary School Teachers- Inservice Programs for Ensuring Quality

    Professional development is the enrichment training provided to teachers over a period their development in all aspects of content and pedagogy. Professional development for a teacher should be analogous to professional development of other professionals. Secondary Education is a crucial stage for children as it prepares them for higher education and also for the world of work. It is very essential to provide good quality education available. accessible and affordable to all our children in the age group of 14-16 years.  To achieve this there is need to strengthen the secondary school education by providing opportunities to teachers for improving their professional capabilities/ capacity.  

 

Aims of Inservice Teachers Professional Development (ITPD)

The aims of ITPD:

Enrich and update Knowledge in their discipline, pedagogy and other areas of

School curriculum continuously.

Develop a culture of shared learning and accountability such that teachers are not mere recipients of training conceptualized in atop down manner.

Evolve a mechanism by which effective programs of teacher professional development can be initiated for large number of teachers in vastly different aeras and to deal with a range of diverse learners for inclusive education.    

Research and reflect on the gaps in student learning and their progress.

 

In Service Training

For the purpose of this paper Inservice training is defined as a workshop for employed professionals, paraprofessionals and other PR actioners to acquire new knowledge better methods etc. for improving their skills towards more effective efficient and competent rendering of service in various fields and to diverse group of people. Further such a work shop is a training designed to benefit a specific group of teachers at a particular school. A good in- service training should via workshop trainees and improve the quality of programming for the development of teachers in service.        

Professional Development of Teacher

This refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career ranging from college degree to formal course work, conference and informal learning opportunities, ranging from college degree to formal course work, conference and informal learning opportunities situated in practice.

Principles for professional Development

The principles of Professional development are:

Ensure depth of content knowledge

Provide a strong foundation in the pedagogy of particular disciplines.

Reflect the best available research.

Contribute to measurable achievement in student learning.

 

Definition

“The development of a teacher does not case when he leaves the training collage. He now begins to learn from a different kind of experience”

                                                                        OLIVER

“A program of activates aiming at the continuing growth of teachers and educational personnel in service” 

                                    M.B BUCH   

 

Needs and importance

The needs of in-service education is most urgent in the teaching profession because of the rapid advance in all fields of knowledge and continuing evolution of pedagogical theory and practice.

Education a lifelong process.

Need of continuous training

Need of professional growth

To bring dynamic in teaching

To exchange views

To develop critical thinking

 

Objectives of in- service Teacher Education

To equip the teachers with the latest content or subject matter their specialized fields.

To initiate the teachers in the habit of self-study with ultimate aim of keeping them be the latest developments in their own and allied field.

To help the teachers learn economical and effective methods of teaching. 

To develop suitable and varied programs to meet individual needs, school needs, needs of the state with regard to educational extension. 

To follow -up the teachers who undergo in-service education to reinforce the objective training.

 

Different Types of in-service Teacher Education Programs

However, there are mainly five types of teacher-education programs or institutions. They are:

Pre-primary teacher education

Primary teacher education

Secondary teacher education

Higher education programs

Vocational teacher training

 

National Council for Teacher Education


    National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is a statutory body of Indian government set up under the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 in 1995 is to formally oversee standards, procedures and processes in the Indian education system.This council functions for the central as well as state governments on all matter with regard to the Teacher Education and its secretariat is located in the Department of Teacher Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Despite the successful functioning in terms of educational field, it is facing difficulties in ensuring the maintenance of the standards of teacher education and preventing the increase in the number of substandard teacher education institutions in the country.



History
Before 1995, the NCTE had existed since 1993 as a government advisory body (and not as a separate institution) to look after development and progress of "teacher education". The NCTE was then only a department of the National Council of Educational Research and Training. As per the NCTE's own admission, it failed in its objective of overlooking and, to an extent, regularising norms and processes in teachers' education in India because of lack of formal jurisdiction. To that effect, the National Policy on Education, 1986 allowed the setting up of a government authorised institution with formal powers.

Objectives


To achieve planned and coordinated development of teacher education system throughout the country.
To regulate and properly maintain the Norms and Standards in the teacher education system and for matters connected therewith.
It aims at training individuals for equipping them to teach pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary stages in schools, non-formal and part-time education, adult education (correspondence) and distance education courses.


Functions


Undertake surveys and studies pertaining to all aspects of the teacher education and publish the corresponding results.
For the preparation of suitable plans and programmes regarding the field of teacher education, it makes recommendations to both the state and central governments, universities, University Grants Commission (UGC), and other recognised institutions.
It co-ordinates and monitors the teacher education system throughout the country.
It lays down the guideline for the minimum qualifications need for an individual to be a teacher in schools and recognised institutions.
It lays downs guidelines for the provision of physial and infrastructural facilities, staffing pattern etc. for the compliance by recognised institutions.
It lays down standards with respect to examinations, the major criteria for such admission as well as schemes for courses or training.
It promotes and conducts research and innovation in schools and recognised institutions and then disseminate the results thereof.
It examines its own laid-down guidelines, norms and standards for the improvement.
It identifies the recognized institutions and set up new institutions for the developmental programmes of teacher education system.
It takes up necessary steps for the prevention of the commercialisation of teacher education

Functions of the  department

 Awareness Generation On Gender Sensitivity:    sensitization  and orientation  of key educational  personal  including  teacher educators , educational  planners ,   administers  on girls and women’s  equality

 Re designing curriculum  and educational  program :   evaluation of text book for eliminating gender   bias  from text book,  development of guide lines  ,hand books, exempler material  for teaches  curriculum makers  educational planners  for     promotion of  gender equality  making the curriculum  gender inclusive

 Moblisation   of women and community     :   mobilizing women and the community   at the village  level   for greater  participation  in educational planning  for improving enrollment  retention and achievement  of    girls

 Interacting with media : development  of messages and themes relevant     for promotion  of girls education and self image  particularly amongst  those among  deprived   groups

 Promotion of research and innovative reaction project;  preparation of    innovative  projects  research development abstracts

Input into teacher education    :  formulation of   interventions   strategies for input into teacher education curriculum training of teacher educators  pre service and in-service  education of teachers :

Networking:  working in  close collaboration  with the constituent  units of  NCERT , MHRD  planning commission  department of women and  child development   NUEPA  and voluntary  organization       working  in the area of  girls education

 

 Devoplopmental yextual and    promotional materials :     development  and preparation   of textual and  promotional  material   in curricula r areas  for different stages   of school education  for undoing gender stereo types

 Orientation of   curriculum   makers  text book  , writers,  and, educational planners

 Enculcation   of positive self image     girl child  ;  school based programmes with  media support using  interactive  process  and  working in  close liaison   the the expert in related areas

  Data bank : to collect   collate  compile and  analyses  gender statistics on education  and allied   indicators  at district state  national  and international    level

 

Yashpal Committee Report


In the year 2009, the  Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development (MHRD)  had  set  up  a Committee  on  Higher  Education  known  as  the  Yashpal   Committee. The chairman  of  the committee  was  Dr. Yash  Pal, and  it  was  constituted  for  examining  reforms  to  be  brought about in higher education in India.Yash Pal was a globally renowned physicist, academic, and higher education reformer.In its report, the Yashpal Committee laid emphasis on the idea of a university  and  advocated a  number  of  major  structural  changes.


 Important  Recommendations  of  The  Yashpal  Committee  Report:

In the Final Report submitted by the committee to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), it was recommended that the deemed university status should be abandoned.

It was also recommended that all the deserving deemed universities should be either converted to full-fledged universities or would have to be scrapped.
The report also said that a GRE like test needs to be evolved for the purpose of university education.
The committee recommended that bodies like the NCTE, AICTE, UGC and others must be replaced by a Commission for Higher Education and Research (CHER) – a seven-member body.
It was recommended that this new regulator must be free from political pressures.
The position of the chairperson of CHER was recommended to be parallel to that of the election commissioners.
It was recommended that the universities must take up all the academic responsibilities, restricting the jurisdiction of the other regulators such as the Bar Council of India, the Medical Council of India, etc. to administrative matters alone.
The report said that IITs and IIMs should be encouraged to diversify and expand their scope to work as full-fledged universities.

A few major recommendations of the Yash Pal Committee, 1993 are given below

1    The process of framing of the curriculum and writing of textbooks should be decentralised and involve more teachers.
2           Education committees should be constituted at the village, block and district levels.
3      The jurisdiction of CBSE should be restricted to KVs and the Navodaya Vidyalayas only,       and all other schools should be affiliated with the respective state boards.
4    Interview tests and interviews for nursery admissions should be done away with.
5  The norms for giving private schools recognition need to be more stringent, to avoid      commercialisation.
6   There should be no compulsion for school children to carry heavy books to school.
7    Primary school children should not be given any homework. And even for the higher classes, it should be non-textual.
8  The teacher – pupil ratio should be reduced to at least 1:30.
9     Greater use of electronic media.

National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA)


NUEPA is one of the forerunners in educational planning,administration, educational research, training and consultancy.The present Vice- Chancellor of this prestigious institution is Prof Ved Prakash.

 

About NUEPA

 NUEPA is established as a research focused university located in New Delhi, India and It is an autonomous body in the field of educational planning and administration.

Earlier known as NIEPA - (National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration) is associated with the UNESCO's regional center for Educational Planners and Administration started in 1960 - 61 for taking care of educational needs of South Asia.

 The organization was renamed as Asian Institute of Educational Planning and Administration in 1965.

It was in 1970 that the institute was taken over by the govt. of India from UNESCO and was renamed as National Staff College for Educational Planners and Administration.

 The institute with the present name was rechristened in 1979(NUEPA)

 NUEPA as an autonomous organization emphasizes on planning,management and capacity building in educational policy, through research, training, consultancy and dissemination.

 The NUEPA structure is based on nine academic and one administrative unit.The Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, is the chairman of the NUEPA Council.

 Director of the institute as head of the Executive Committee is responsible for policy making and implementation. The Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, is the chairman of the NUEPA Council.

Main Objectives

To organize training programmes for educational functionaries for developing capacities of educational planning and administration.

To strengthen capacities for training and research in the field of educational planning and administration.

To provide consultancy services in the field of educational planning and administration to  to central as well as State government , Universities and Board and other similar organisatios in India and international organisations in abroad.

To disseminate information in relation to innovative experiences and new advancement in the area of educational planning and administration.

The NUPEA organizes a large number of seminars, workshops and other training programmes for various Indian personnel's in the field of education.

It conducts a few diploma courses (Research programme is one of the major areas of activities of NUEPA.

It publishes a number of documents in the matter of educational planning and administration (Books, Journals, Periodicals, Research reports, Studies ...etc)

It keeps close relation with JNU, NCRT, Indian Statistical Institute, National institute of Public Finance and Policy, National institute of Health and Family Welfare and with institute of educational planning, Pares, UNESCO Regional office, Bangkok Common Wealth Senetariale, London in abroad.

 

Functions of NUEPA

1. Organize training programme:

It organizes pre-service and in-service training   programme in the area of educational planning and administration. 2. Co-ordinating research:

It promotes and coordinate research in various aspects of educational planning and administration and allied disciplines.3. Providing Guidance:

It provides academic and professional guidance to agencies and institutions regarding planning and administration.4. Offering Ph.D and M.Phil Programme:

It offers Ph.D course and awards degrees in educational planning, finance, comparative education, School education and higher education.

5. Act as a Clearinghouse:

It acts as a clearinghouse of ideas and information on research, training and extension in educational planning.6. Publishing Journals and Periodicals:

It prepares, prints and publishes papers, periodicals and books, especially brings out a Journal on Educational Planning and administration.7. Organizing Workshops, Trainings and Seminars:

It organizes meetings, workshops and seminars for educational personnel of the Central and State government and Union territories.

8. Consultancy Services:

It provides consultancy services in the sphere of education planning and administration for Centre as well as State Government Universities.

9. Organizing Refresher Courses for Teacher Educators:

NUPEA organizes orientation and training programmes, and refresher courses for teachers, educators and for college administration.10. Discussion and Issues:

 It Initiates and encourages discussion on educational issues of National significance.

11. Contacts and Collaborations:

It establishes contacts and advances academic collaboration with inter institutions in India and abroad particularly in countries of third world. NUEPA has developed close links with UGC, NCERT, CSIR, etc. NUEPA has entered into memorandum of agreement with UNESCO’s International Institute of Educational Planning.

12. Offering Scholarship and Academic Awards:

It offers fellowship, scholarships and awards.13. Conferring Honorary Fellowship:

It Confers honorary fellowships on eminent educationists for continuation in the field of educational planning and administration.14. Disseminating Information:

It disseminates information relating to experience and new advances in the area of educational Planning and administration.15. Symbolic Links:

It builds symbolic links between the imparting and generation of knowledge. It also strengthens basic and applied research in sphere of educational planning and administration.

Departments

National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration has eight different academic departments and two centres for the better governance and management;

Department of Educational Planning

It is one of the fundamental divisions of NIEPA. The main function of the department is the integration of inputs, processes and products of planning at all levels.

Department of Educational Finance

The  function of this department is conduct and promote research on economic and financial aspects of education at all levels. (Research, teaching and training, around issues relating to public and private financing of education)

Department School and Non-Formal Education

This department focuses on critical issues of school education,non formal and adult literacy.

Department of Educational Management Information System

To strengthen the database and management system on education in India, the Department undertakes research, capacity building activities and provides technical advice. The Department has also taken the responsibility for strengthening the management information system of secondary education. It has developed an information system, called DISE, to collect and compile detailed information on all schools in the country. District Information System for Education (DISE) is covering unrecognised schools and recognised and unrecognised madrasas since 2010-11. The Department also conducts conferences, seminars, workshops and research with regard to educational management information system.

Department of Educational Administration

This department focuses on training and research on educational management and also planning and management of resources in education.

Department of Educational Policy

The main activity of the department is training, research and dissemination. The Department stimulates discussion on policy issues. It also conducts short term courses.

Department of Higher and Professional Education

This department has constantly provided research support and policy advice to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government Of India. It has provided academic support to regional conferences of UNESCO leading up to the world conference on Higher education and Planning Commission.

Department of Training and Capacity Building in Education

Its mission is to expand the scope and coverage of training programmes and capacity-building initiatives of NIEPA. The aim is to create more stable and dedicated institutional arrangement for trained teams to help improve the design, implement, monitor and evaluate educational policies, plans and programmes.

Centres

Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education

National Centre for School Leadership

 

Conclusion

    The NUEPA , which started as a regional centre of UNESCO in 1962 very soon became a national university which has contributed in the field of educational planning and administration.In recognition of the pioneering work done by the organization in the field of educational planning and administration, the ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has empowered it to award degrees by conferring on it the status of 'Deemed to be University' in August 2006 .Like any central University, it is fully maintained by the Govt. Of India. The national university is a premier organisation dealing with capacity building and research in planning and management of education not only in India but also in South Asia. Now it is actively engaged in teaching, research and advisory services in the areas of educational policy, planning and administration. Though it didn't launch programme in it's initial stage.But later on it launched various new programme and courses in the field of educational planning and administration, which earlier were not taught in India.

Recommendations of Mudhaliar Commission for Secondary Education

Mudhaliar Commission

The Secondary Education Commission (Laxman Swamy Mudaliar Commission) – 1952-53

            The commission was appointed with the aim of reorganising the secondary education system of the country. The comment of Radakrishna commission that “Our secondary education remains the weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent reform” was the leading reason to constitute the committee. It was appointed in Sept 1952 under the chairmanship of Laxman Swamy Mudaliar, the then VC of Madrass University.  

Aim of Appointment

To enquire into the problems of Secondary Education

The aims, organization & content of secondary education and

Its relationship to Primary & Higher Education

Suggest measures for its reorganization and with particular reference to:

Its relationship to primary, basic and higher education.

The aims, organization and content of education.

The inter-relation of Secondary Schools and different types

Other allied problem so that a sound and reasonably uniform system of Secondary Education suited to our needs and resources may be provided for the whole country.

Major Recommendations

Recommended new pattern of education as:

Secondary education extended to 11 years

Integrated elementary education

Three years secondary education with a marked diversification of subjects

Three years university education to get the first degree

Establishment of multi purpose schools and conversion of selected schools into multi purpose schools

Reform of secondary level examination system to objective based continuous and comprehensive valuation

Recommended three language formula

Emphasis on vocational guidance

Qualified teachers should be appointed

Improvement in teaching methods

Recommendations of Secondary Education CommissionRecommendations regarding Aims of Secondary education1. Development of democratic citizenshipIndia is a democratic country therefore the citizens need to be trained to uphold and practice the values of the democratic social order. This can be possible only when the qualities of discipline, tolerance, patriotism, co-operation, equal opportunities for thought, speech and writing, the essence of the world citizenship are inculcated and developed in the students. Secondary education should develop all these qualities in the students. Citizens with these qualities can grow into ideal citizens capable of making Indian democracy a success. In short, the aim ofsecondary education should be to develop ideal democratic citizens in the country.2. Improvement of Vocational EfficiencyOne of the urgent needs of the country is to increase the productive efficiency of its people and to increase the national income. For this, education must aim at increasing the productivity or vocational efficiency of the young students. To achieve this goal, the Secondary Education Commission recommended for fostering the dignity of manual labour and for the promotion of technical skills through secondary education. Emphasis is to be placed on agricultural, technical, commercial and other practical courses at secondary level.3. Education for leadershipAccording to the commission an important function should be train students for leadership qualities in different fields - in social, political, industrial or cultural fields.

4. Development of PersonalityThe secondary education must aim at the development of the personality of the students. It should be so organised that the creative energy in the students should find proper expression. They should also be trained to appreciate their cultural heritage and acquire constructive and valuable interest. They should also be trained to preserve and conserve their cultural heritage. An all-round development of the personality of the student is an essential aim of secondary education.

Recommendations regarding organizational pattern of secondary education1. The duration of secondary education should be 7 years. It should cover the age of group of 11-17 years.2. The middle or senior basic or lower secondary stage should cover a period of 3 years.3. The higher secondary stage should cover 3 years.4. The commission also suggested abolition of the present intermediate classes. The 12th class should be attached to the university and the 11th class should be added to the high school. Thus it requested for one year pre-university and 3 year degree courses.5. The commission recommended that technical schools should be started .6. Multi-purpose schools should be established, which would provide terminal courses in technology, commerce, agriculture, fine arts and home sciences

Recommendations regarding Curriculum at different stages

The commission gave recommendations at 2 levelsCurriculum for middle schools

Curriculum for higher secondary schools1. Curriculum for the Middle Schools will include following subjects

The Commission has recommended the inclusion of the following subjects. English, Social Studies, General Science, Mathematics, Art and Music. Craft, Physical Education.

2. The Curriculum for High and Higher Secondary Schools-For this stage of education, the commission has suggested that there should be a diversified course.(a) Compulsory subjects or main subjects

The Compulsory subjects shall include the following :

1. Mother tongue or regional language or composite course of the mother tongue and a classical languages.

2. One other language to be chosen from among the following:i) Hindi for those whose mother tongue is not Hindi.ii) Elementary English (for those who have not studied English in the middle stage).iii) Advanced English (for those who have studied English at the earlier stage).iv) A Modern Indian Language (other than Hindi).v) A modern foreign language (other than English).vi) A classical language.3. Social studies - General course (for the first two years only).4. General science, Including Mathematics - General course (for the first two years only).5. One Craft to be chosen out of the list they gave.(b) Optional subjects.

7 groups of Optional subjects were recommended as follows.There were many subjects under each group

• Group - 1 (Humanities)

• Group -2 (Sciences)

• Group-3 (Technical Education)

• Group - 4 (Commercial)

• Group - 5 (Agriculture)

• Group - 6 (Fine Arts)

Group - 7 (Home Science)Multi Purpose Schools

            Mudaliar commission recommenced Multi purpose schools.  Multi purpose schools were introduced to overcome the too academician methods. The commission recommended extension of one more year with the higher secondary schooling. The higher secondary schools that provided one or more year practical course in addition to the regular course were called multi-purpose schools. Multi purpose schools included core subjects, regular academic course for secondary schools, and one or more practical course like technology, agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, cottage industry and so on. These schools served different purposes a a time like regular school course plus an additional vocational training.

        The curriculum followed in multi purpose schools were called diversified curriculum. Diversified curriculum provided varied type of courses for students according to diverse of aims, interests and abilities.

 

CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

 

Meaning of Secondary Education System:

   Secondary education occupies a very strategic position in the educational pattern of the country. It is the link between primary education and higher education. Primary education is intended to provide minimum requirements for survival whereas secondary education enables an individual to become full members of the complicated society.

After independence, our country achieved great remarkable changes in the field of secondary education. The Government of India, Soon after attainment of independence appointed several committees and commissions to review the system of secondary education.

The various committees recommended certain suggestions for the improvement of secondary education both quantitatively and qualitatively. Tara hand Committee in 1948 suggested the multipurpose type of secondary schools without discouraging the uni purpose schools.

The university education commission 1948-49 which was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr S. Radhakrishnan, remarked that “our secondary education remains the weakest link in our educational machinery and needs urgent reform.” The landmark in the reconstruction of India’s secondary education is the secondary education commission report 1952-53.

The commission was appointed by the Government of India, on September 23, 1952, under the chairmanship of Dr A. Lakshmanswami Mudaliar to review the existing defects in the secondary education and made some suggestions regarding the improvement of secondary education.

Aims of secondary education according to secondary education commission (1952-53):

1. To bring all-round development among the learner.

2. To train the young mass of the country to be good citizens who will be competent to play their part effectively in the social and economic development of the country.

3. To promote social virtues, intellectual development and practical skills of students.

4. To Train character of students to enable them to participate creatively as citizens in the emerging social order.

5. To improve the practical and vocational efficiency of the students.

6. To develop a scientific attitude of mind to think objectively.

7. To inculcate the qualities necessary for living harmoniously and efficiently with one’s fellowmen.

Objectives of secondary education according to the Indian Education Commission (1964-66):

1. The main objective is “national reconstruction by raising the standard of living of our people.”

2. The education is to meet the needs of a modernizing democratic and socialistic society.

3. It would promote productivity.

4. It would strengthen social and national integration.

5. It would consolidate democracy to adopt as a way of life.

6. It would accelerate the pace of modernization.

7. It would enable students to participate in productive work in school, home, workshop, form and factory etc.

8. It would develop social, moral and spiritual values among the students.

Senior Secondary Education

  The final two years of secondary is often called Higher secondary, senior secondary, or simply plus two-stage. The two halves of secondary education are caught an important stage for which a pass certificate is needed, and thus are affiliated by central boards of education under HRD ministry, before one can pursue higher education, including college or professional courses.

CURRICULUM SECONDARY STAGE

Three languages

Mother tongue/Regional language

Hindi

English

Mathematics

Science and technology

Social science

Work education or Pre-vocational education

Art education

Physical and health education

 

SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION

 

The curriculum includes:-

Science

Commerce

Humanities

EDUCATION BOARDS IN INDIA

CBSE – Central Board of Secondary Education

CISE – Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination

NOS – National Open School

SSC – State School Board

MINIMUM STAFF QUALIFICATION

Secondary school teacher

At least a Bachelor degree from a recognized university.

B.Ed from a recognized university,

Higher secondary school teacher

Post-graduation qualifications with specialization in a branch of the subject with graduation in the subject concerned.

QUALITY CONCERN IN EDUCATION

 

     The aims of education reflect the current needs and aspirations of society as well as its lasting values, and the immediate concerns of a community as well as broad human ideals.

 

Locating the term quality in educational discourse is now a universal concern today. “Quality is somewhat problematic: like beauty, it lies in the eyes – or rather the mind of the beholder” (Cliff. et al. (1987). Quality has been extensively defined by Dewney et al. (1994) as, “meeting, exceeding and delighting customer’s needs and expectations with the recognition that these needs and desires will change over time.”

 

The belief that quality goes with privilege is irreconcilable with the vision of participatory

democracy that India upholds and practices in the political sphere. Its practice in the sphere of

education demands that the education available to all children in different regions and sections of

society has comparable quality. J.P. Naik describes equality, quality and quantity as the elusive

triangle’ of Indian education. Dealing with this metaphorical triangle requires are deeper

theoretical understanding of quality in education than has been what available in schools today.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recently published global monitoring report which discusses systematic standards as the appropriate context of the quality debate (see Global Monitoring Report 2006 – Literacy for Life, UNESCO, 2006). From this point of view, the child’s performance needs to be treated as an indicator of systematic quality.

 

The quality dimension also needs to be examined from the experiences

designed for the child in terms of knowledge and skills. The assumption about the nature of

knowledge and the child’s nature shapes the school ethos and the approaches used by

those who prepare the syllabi and textbooks and by teachers as well. The representation of

knowledge in textbooks and other materials need to be viewed from the larger perspective of the

challenges facing humanity and the nation today. No subject in the school curriculum can stay

aloof from these larger concerns, and therefore the selection of knowledge proposed to be

included in each subject area requires careful examination in terms of socio-economic and

cultural conditions and goals. Quality in education includes a concern for the quality of life in all its dimensions.

 

For the parents and students, quality education means, “improving the quality of education

invariably means raising the levels of academic performance usually measured in the test scores

in the various subjects which form part of the school curriculum. Regarding education, quality

is a relative term and hard to define and even more difficult to measure. That is why educationists, scholars, educational policymakers and administrators do not come to the same conclusion while discussing what makes good quality education or a qualitative education. However, parental aspirations for education are belied by endemic poverty and unequal social relations, and by lack of adequate provision of schooling of equitable quality.

 

Merely providing adequate infrastructure, teaching-learning material, adequate teaching and

non-teaching staff, providing a conducive atmosphere in the learning school are not sufficient

requirements towards the quality education. Along with this, components of the curriculum, viz.

syllabus, pedagogy, examination, affiliation and accreditation standards are also important factors which need to be addressed while dealing with quality issues in education. These issues have been discussed separately in light of different education boards. Some of the basic items covered under the study to understand the quality concern in education.

 

Curriculum

 

The curriculum is all the planned, guided and implemented learning that occurs in a school. A

school curriculum plan gives details of the what, when and how of the teaching-learning process

in a particular school across the different years and phases of schooling. Informal education or

schooling, a curriculum is the set of courses, course work, and content offered at a school or

university. A curriculum may be partly or entirely determined by an external, authoritative body

like the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). Curriculum means two things: (i) the range of

courses from which students choose what subject matters to study, and (ii) a specific learning

program. In the latter case, the curriculum collectively describes the teaching, learning, and

assessment materials available for a given course of study. In education, a core curriculum is a

curriculum, or course of study, which is deemed central and usually made mandatory for all

students of a school or school system. Core curricula are often instituted, at the primary and

secondary levels, by school boards, Departments of Education, or other administrative agencies

charged with overseeing education.

According to Wikipedia, curriculum, as an idea, has its roots in the Latin word for the racecourse, explaining the curriculum as the course of deeds and experiences through which

children become the adults they should be, for success in adult society. Furthermore, the

the curriculum encompasses the entire scope of formative deed and experience occurring in and

out of school, and not experiences occurring in school; unplanned experiences and

undirected, and experiences intentionally directed for the purposeful formation of adult members

of society.

The word curriculum from its early Latin origin means literally to run a course. Oliva (1997)

has analysed curriculum as:

􀂾 That which is taught in schools

􀂾 A set of subjects

􀂾 Content

􀂾 A programme of studies

􀂾 A set of materials

􀂾 A sequence of courses

􀂾 A set of performance objectives

􀂾 Is everything that goes on within the school, including extra-class activities, guidance,

and interpersonal relationships

􀂾 Everything that is planned by school personnel

􀂾 A series of experiences undergone by learners in a school

􀂾 That which an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling

 

Extracurricular activities

 

 Extracurricular activities are activities performed by students that fall outside the realm of the

the normal curriculum of school or university education. Extracurricular activities exist at all levels of education, from 4th-6th, junior high/middle school, high school, college and university education. On average, in India, students are advised to participate in a minimum of one extracurricular activity throughout one school year. Such activities are generally voluntary as opposed to mandatory, non-paying, tend to be athletics, social, and philanthropic as opposed to scholastic, and involve others of the same age. Students often organize and direct these activities under faculty sponsorship; although student-led initiatives - such as independent

newspapers - are common. The extra-curriculum made its first appearance in American colleges in the nineteenth century. It complemented the curriculum as much as subverted it. The students

found in it a kind of laboratory for practical and vocational interests.

 

Pedagogy

Pedagogy is the art of teaching. According to Wikipedia, pedagogy or paedagogy is the art or

science of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of

instruction. Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies.

For example, Paulo Freire referred to his method of teaching adults as "critical pedagogy". In

correlation with those teaching strategies the instructor's own philosophical beliefs of teaching

are harboured and governed by the pupil's background knowledge and experiences, personal

situations, and environment, as well as learning goals set by the student and teacher.

Effective teachers use an array of teaching strategies because there is no single, universal

approach that suits all situations. Different strategies used in different combinations with

different groupings of students will improve learning outcomes. Some strategies are better

suited to teaching certain skills and fields of knowledge than are others. Some strategies are

better suited to certain student backgrounds, learning styles and abilities. Effective pedagogy, incorporating an array of teaching strategies that support intellectual engagement, connectedness to the wider world, supportive classroom environments, and recognition of difference, should be implemented across all key learning and subject areas. The effective pedagogical practice promotes the wellbeing of students, teachers and the school community - it improves students' and teachers' confidence and contributes to their sense of purpose for being at school; it builds community confidence in the quality of learning and teaching in the school.

Syllabi at Different Stages

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) was approved by the Central Advisory Board of

Education (CABE) in 2005. The Syllabus Committees set up for various stages of school

education involving scholars, subject experts, teachers and the NCERT faculty held several

meetings and deliberated on the ideas reflected in the NCF and formulated the syllabi. The NCF

2005 recommends that the multilingual character of our society should be treated as a resource

and school teaching should focus on what the child understands. The syllabus aiming at

arousing curiosities and interests in children to share their ideas and experiences, to listen

patiently others ideas and relate their own experiences with listened stories and poetry, and

able to express themselves orally and through paintings. At the primary stage, it aims at creating

interests in reading books and developing gradually the required language skills. The focus

shifts to preparing children to express their views clearly and confidently about any language,

person, object, place, and structure by analysing and explaining them at the upper primary stage. At

the secondary stage, the emphasis is placed on oral and written expressions. The syllabus at the senior

secondary stage is designed to nurture a sense of appreciation, enjoyment and critical vision

towards creative literature and use of language for peace in adverse situations. The proposed

syllabus tends to integrate the concerns related to the environment, gender, peace, health, work

and arts. Similarly, the syllabuses of other subjects are formulated according to the need of the

children.

 

Affiliation

 Affiliation is one possible way of getting formally associated with an organisation or agency.

School affiliation as such is a kind of partnership between the school and some other educational

institution. There are proper laws that regulate the nature and the terms of school affiliation. The

most important ones are those of affiliations of school with education and examination boards

such as CBSE, ICSE and State Boards. Affiliation like the partnership is based upon some specified support services and benefits rendered by the accredited institution to the one that seeks the affiliation. In the Indian school system, the affiliation with the popular examination board is a popular example. The Examination Boards like CBSE and others conduct the examinations and provide the certificates that have external validity. School affiliation also determines the standard of education in India. This is because the schools that are affiliated have to conform to the rules and regulations set forth by the body that gives the affiliation. For instance, CBSE gives affiliation to those schools only that meet the requirements given in the affiliation bye-laws. Since these bylaws are related to the management and the administration of the school, therefore particular norms have to be followed by the schools.

Accreditation Standards

Accreditation means to identify (an educational institution) as maintaining standards to ensure

that their certification practices are acceptable and qualify the graduates for admission to higher

or more specialized institutions or professional practice. This is a voluntary process by

which educational institutions meet standards established by an accrediting body. This is the

validation of a programme by an independent organisation, which has established standards for

judging quality. Accreditation also deals with the evaluation of an institution by one of the registered accrediting commissions. Accrediting agencies develop evaluation criteria and evaluate to assess whether or not those criteria are met. Institutions and/or programs that request an agency’s evaluation and that meet an agency's criteria are then “accredited” by that agency. So far there were no accreditation standards for primary and secondary education institutes in India. Private schools and government-aided schools have set forth their standards regarding school governance and therefore have remained away from a universal accreditation system. However, the foremost accreditation agency of India, Quality Council of India, has started approaching the schools. The board, called National Accreditation board and Training, has developed the procedures for schools that seek the accreditation. Schools have to apply for the accreditation process, which is followed by the inspection and assessment by a team of professional from the agency. Schools are supposed to be fully prepared for the inspections team checks even minute details. In case the school or governance is found as non-standard the school is given suggestions to act upon. If the school succeeds in plugging the loopholes and provides the best practices, the school is awarded accreditation.

Comparative Assessment of Good Practices

During the field visits, some of the good practices in the school education system have been

identified under the 10 common parameters. These are School Safety/Vigilance Measures,

School Governance and Hygiene, Co-Curricular Activities, Extra-Curricular Activities, School

Teaching-learning Processes, School Sanitation and Gardening Activities, Learners’ Performance Monitoring Activities and School Hobby Development Programmes.

School Routine Activities

The school routine starts with the morning Assembly. It is an opportunity for displaying the

inexhaustible talent of the children. It fosters the spirit of group activity leadership and value

building. It also acknowledges the silent workers in the class who are equally participative in

organizing the class assembly. The Assembly is also an opportunity for the students to show

their sensitivity and social responsibility towards the school. During the field visits it was

found that in all the schools affiliated with CBSE, ICSE and Delhi Government Schools, there

was a proper arrangement for morning assembly, Each section has its special day to

conduct the assembly with the help of their Class Teacher in the academic

year. Teachers and children were found greeting each other, and discipline and punctuality

were also playing an important role in the functioning of the schools. The school culture of IB

schools was found to be some more different from the schools under the Indian Education

Boards. In IB schools, there was no hard and fast rule for morning assembly, but the schools

were found more disciplined and the students were more punctual in comparison to other

schools.

 

School Safety and Vigilance Measures:

CBSE and IB schools were found to be paying more attention to the safety and vigilance in

comparison to ICSE and Delhi Government schools. In both the schools of CBSE and all the

three schools of IB, visitor registers and feedback forms were properly maintained and it was also taken into consideration who comes to drop and take the students. In case of the teaching of how to use Fire Extinguisher and how to remain safe from other dangers all the schools associated with the concerned boards were doing their best.

School Governance and Morning Activities:

All the school's taken understudy had a code of conduct for students and teachers. Students’

manuals were available in the CBSE and IB schools. In all the schools except Swami

Hariharan and School (ICSE), notice boards were well maintained with the daily information. All

the schools were keeping daily records of the school activities. The way records were maintained

in CBSE and IB schools were better than other schools. Ragging was banned in all the

schools under study. Uniforms were not compulsory in IB schools, while it was mandatory in

other schools. All the schools were in favour of gender equality in education and case of

education for all Delhi Government Schools and CBSE schools were found to be ready to

support education to all in all the difficult situations.

 School Health and Hygiene:

Sound Health with a healthy brain is a prerequisite for acquiring education. The schools have a very

crucial role to play in this field but during the study, it was observed that all the schools were not

doing so well as is, required. The CBSE and IB schools and to some extent Konark Public School (ICSE) were trying to do as good as they could. Though first-aid services were available in all the schools, and health check-up facilities were also provided, but all the schools were lagging in the context of health insurance and accident insurance policies. Red Cross Society was active in IB schools only.

Co-curricular Activities (CCA):

It is the responsibility of every educational institution to provide such education that leads to

overall personality development of every student. Such kind of education includes both

the academic activities as well as Co-curricular activities. During the field visits, it was found that

all the schools encourage students’ participation in CCA. Though each school was conducting

study tour, mela, science exhibition but the CBSE. ICSE and IB schools were found to be very

regular and systematic in organizing these events whereas Delhi government schools were found

irregular in organising about its timing and all. The CBSE, ICSE and IB schools also conduct

various competitive programmes as essay, debate, painting, poems, creative writing and Quiz

very frequently. But in Delhi Government Schools it was observed that there was a lack of

enthusiasm among teachers for organizing these competitions as a habit. Further, though these

schools were found performing well in daily news reading, NCC, SCOUT / GUIDE, RED CROSS and SUPW, CBSE, CISCE and IB schools were lagging in NCC, SCOUT / GUIDE and RED CROSS.

 

School Teaching-Learning Processes:

The teaching-learning process is an essential activity among other school activities. Teaching without learning is of no use. During the field study, it was found that in all the school's teachers were using indigenous knowledge while imparting education. CBSE and IB schools emphasise on the use of the practical and innovative method, of teaching whereas the CISCE and Delhi Government Schools were found to be insisting upon the completion of given syllabi in a given period. Community participation in school activities was more common in CBSE and Delhi Government Schools. CBSE, ICSE and IB schools were also found to be regular in conducting Parent-Teacher Meetings. Online learning, use of Information Technology and Communication (ICT), and Multimedia all these facilities were available in IB schools and to some extent in CBSE and ICSE schools also. IB schools were technologically advanced in comparison to other schools. Delhi Government Schools were lagging in the use of ICT. In all the schools teaching aids, maps, charts, globe, measuring rods, geometric and scientific instruments were available but the quality and number of theses aids were of a high standard in IB and CBSE schools in comparison to ICSE and Delhi Government Schools. In ICSE, CBSE and IB schools children

were found to be interested in group learning and Group Discussion Method was very effective

while in Delhi Government Schools though the students had a spirit of group learning, group

discussion method was not in much use in the teaching-learning process.

Examination and Evaluation Procedures

Conducting examinations in education system work like a regulatory mechanism in improving

quality in education. More specifically speaking, the quality of education also depends on the

types of examinations and frequency of examinations conducted in schools. It has been found

that conducting class / internal examination with regular intervals helps in improving the quality in school education. In the school education system, the conduct of examination and evaluation for the promotion to the next higher classes is an important activity. Merely transacting curriculum in the classroom is not going to help the students about their learning. The examination helps keep the records of academic achievement and progress of the student. The terms examination and assessment are closely linked. Examination means to conduct a test, whereas assessment is how to measure the test or score or give a numerical value to test giver.

Examination

For the general understanding, examination or test means to examine somebody or something

i.e. to inspect closely; hence, an examination is a detailed inspection or analysis of an object or

person. In an academic or professional context, examinations are tests which aim to determine

the ability of a student or a prospective practitioner. Exams are usually written tests, although

some may be practical or have practical components, and vary greatly in structure, content and

difficulty depending on the subject, the age group of the tested persons and the profession. A

person who passes an examination receives a degree, certificate, diploma, driving or

professional license, depending on the examination's objectives.

Evaluation and Assessment

Evaluation is a standard procedure to measure or scale the students’ performance. The

evaluation or assessment procedure may vary as per the nature of the test and set standards of

the subject. Assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Evaluation is an important aspect of any education system. Student

learning can be improved through well-planned procedures of evaluation that are inbuilt in the

teaching-learning process. Many times teachers attempt to assess the progress of learning while

teaching in the classroom – sometimes deliberate and at times spontaneous. Thus evaluation is

considered as an integral part of the teaching-learning process. Evaluation is a process of collecting,

analyzing and interpretation of the evidence about students' progress in cognitive and noncognitive areas. Based on this evidence teacher could take certain decisions to improve classroom practices for enhancing the attainment levels among students. Evidence is

collected, analyzed and interpreted through some tools and techniques. Tests are the most

prominent tools to collect evidence about the progress of learning among learners. Observation

 

is an important technique used to collect evidence of development in specifically co-scholastic

areas. Tests provide the marks or grades and observation gives an idea or impression.

Evaluation is a decision-making process that intends to lead students towards better

performance and consequently helps to bring about qualitative improvement in education. It is

both process and product. When we talk about the evaluation process, it mainly focuses on

teachers as the teacher have to decide why, what, when and how to evaluate and how to make

sense of it. The thoughtful teacher uses information about students' results as a guide to improve

his/her teaching practices. The performance of learners in scholastic areas can either be

evaluated during the process of instruction or after completion of instruction in a regular temporal sequence. The former is formative evaluation and the latter is summative evaluation. The evaluation in scholastic areas is mostly focused on the attainment of instructional as well as

educational objectives. Some of the important purposes of evaluation are:

• to know the efficacy of instruction, to determine the rate of progress of learners,

• to predict the success of learners in their future scholastic endeavours,

• to know the attainment of instructional and educational objectives,

• to motivate learners for better learning,

• to diagnose the weaknesses,

• to provide a continuous record of achievement,

• to place students in rank order and

• to increase self-confidence among students

The process of evaluation involves the selection of suitable tools and techniques for collecting

evidence to know the progress of performance among learners.

 

The Concept of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCCE)

Evaluation is now considered as an integral part of the teaching-learning process. It cannot be

separated from teaching as teaching includes evaluation. As child development is a continuous

process, evaluation should be continuous. The progress of the learner will be evaluated quite

often in continuous evaluation. The learner is subjected to schooling for scholastic and co-scholastic

gains. As such evaluation should cover all the aspects of schooling and teacher should be able

to assess the all-round development of the child. The comprehensive evaluation covers the

a whole range of student's experiences in the context of total school activities. It includes physical,

intellectual, emotional and social growth comprising of social personal qualities, interest, attitude

and values. Varieties of techniques need to be executed to carry out the comprehensive

evaluation. The main characteristics of continuous and comprehensive evaluation are:

• It is informal and formative

• It is based on the assumption that the teacher knows his pupils best and hence he/she

should only be entrusted with the responsibility of evaluation

• It provides opportunities for the use of multiple techniques of testing

• It is built into the total teaching-learning programme rather than done at a specific point of

time

• It provides an opportunity for a teacher for regular diagnosis of learning difficulties followed by

remedial measures

• It involves analysis and interpretation of the evidence of achievement to arrive at the right

decision and make a judgment

The examination and evaluation process of different education Boards looks like similar

pattern but they are objectively different in many ways in regards to weightage, time allotment,

question pattern, etc.

MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN INDIA

Management of education is the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the activities of an institution by utilizing human and material resources to effectively and efficiently accomplish functions of teaching and extension work and research.  Educational management is not similar to other management areas which are established and function for profit. It is safe to think that education is publically managed and deliver service.

CHARACTERISTICS

Management of the public organization

administering health service for management perspective

OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDIA

Helps to develop the education system in India

Directive and provisions of the Indian constitution help to the educational management system in India.

The role of international bodies to the developed educational management system in India.

The role of educational bodies of MHRD to the management of the education system in India.

The role of state-level bodies in the educational management system in India.

And lastly we known, how local level bodies help to the educational management system in India.

 The Management of Education at various levels

 

        Overhauling of the system of planning and the management of education will receive high priority. The guiding considerations are 1. Evolving a long-term planning and management perspective of education and its integration with the country's developmental and manpower needs. -. n. Decentralization and the creation of a spirit of autonomy for educational institutions. iii. Giving pre-eminence to people's involvement, including the association of non-governmental agencies and voluntary effort. iv, Including more women in the planning and management of education. v. Establishing the principle of accountability about given objectives and norms. a. National Level The Central Advisory Board of Education will play a pivotal role in reviewing educational development, determining the changes required to improve the system and monitoring implementation. It will function through appropriate committees and other mechanisms created to ensure contact with, and coordination among, the various areas of Human Resource Development. The Departments of Education at the Centre and in the States will be strengthened through the involvement of professionals. A proper management structure in education will entail the establishment of the Indian Education Service as an All-India Service. It will bring a national perspective to this vital sector. The basic principles, functions and procedures of recruitment to this service will be decided in consultation with the State Governments. b. State Level The State Governments may establish State Advisory Boards of Education on the lines of CABE, Effective measures should be taken to integrate mechanisms in the various State Departments concerned with Human Resource Development. Special attention will be paid to the training of educational planners, administrators and heads of institutions. Institutional arrangements for this purpose should be set up in stages. C. District and Local Levels District Boards of Education will be created to manage education up to the higher secondary level. Within a multi-level framework of educational development, Central, State, District and Local level agencies will participate in planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. A very important role must be assigned to the head of an educational institution. 7. Resource and Review The Education Commission of 1964-66, the National Education Policy of 1968 and practically a11 others concerned with education have stressed that the egalitarian goals and the practical development-oriented objectives of Indian society can be realised only by making investments in the education of an order commensurate with the nature and dimensions of the task. Resources, to the extent possible, will be raised by mobilising donations, beneficiary contributions collecting fees for higher education etc. The great consequence of non-investment or inadequate investment in education is indeed very serious. So education will be treated as a crucial area of investment for national development and survival. The National Policy on Education 1968, had laid down that the investment in education is gradually increased to reach a level of expenditure of 6 per cent of the National Income as early as possible. It will be ensured from the VIII Five Year Plan onwards it will uniformly exceed to 6 per cent of the National income. 8. TheFuture The future shape of education in India is too complex to envision with precision. Yet, given our tradition which has almost always put a high premium on intellectual and spiritual attainment, we are bound to succeed in achieving our objectives. The main task is to strengthen the base of the pyramid, which might come close to a billion people at the turn of the century. Equally, it is important to ensure that those at the top of the pyramid are among the best in the world. It should now be possible to further intensify the nation-wide effort in Human Resource Development, with education playing its multi-faceted role. Financial Constraints contained in the NEP calls for finances, which will be four to five times greater than what is allocated in the Seventh Plan. The imaginative, innovative technical and administrative propositions incorporated in the NEP will come alive only if finances are available for their implementation. Here it is good to recall that inadequate financing has been the graveyard of the reforms planned by the Kothari Commission and the Cornmission~.~~ Institutions involved with research and the development of technical manpower should also raise some funds by levying access charge on user agencies including government departments and entrepreneurs. But all this will amount to less than 30 per cent of the present Seventh Plan allocation. The Union and the State governments will have to increase the educational finances at least fourfold. At the CABE meeting held in August 1986, the member of the Planning Commission stated quite bluntly that there would be no increase in resources during the Seventh Plan. There might be some additional resources during the Eighth Plan. The Prime Minister in an address stated that educational finances would be increased from the current rate of less than 3 per cent of the GDP to 6 per cent during the Eighth Plan, without mentioning from where the resources were to come, and by cutting back which area. When all said and done, the New Policy would materialise very slowly and might not be different from other policies, unless there is a concerted effort made to revitalise the education system. There should be concrete measures to reduce wastages in the existing system. Economically non-viable institutions must be curbed or stopped. The provision of a grant-in-aid system for all educational institutions, especially schools and colleges, itself engenders proliferation. Hence, the financial code must be changed. Further, unit costs at all levels of education must be reduced, by making use of part-time and local personnel. Thus, given the resource constraints which the education policy will face in the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Plan till the turn of the century, it is through increased internal efficiency, improved effectiveness and new innovative models which schools and colleges should be encouraged to develop and adopt, that the New Policy can concerning its qualitative goals be given effect.63 Administration and Management of Educational Sector Discussed in the NEP, 1986 Another salient feature of the New Educational Policy of 1986 is its emphasis on management of education, which was not stressed earlier by any committees or commissions." The NEP had assigned top priority to plan and management of education. To achieve this goal, the NEP had laid down the following guidelines: 1. Evolving a long-term planning and management perspective of education. ii. Decentralization and creation of a spirit of autonomy for educational institutions. . . . I. Inducting more women in the planning and management of education. iv. Establishing the principle of accountability concerning given tasks. Further, the NEP has outlined an evaluation mechanism for management of education, containing three stages: I. Input Evaluation: The thrust will be on the optimization of resource use and institutional planning, etc., ii. Process Evaluation: By considering education as a whole process, efforts must be made to avoid wastage of resources, deadstock, the lapse of funds etc. The supervisory system, staff development programmes, testing and evaluation, staff welfare, student services, curriculum development, etc., will be carefully administered and managed. iii. Output Evaluation: The total output of education and the output of its supportive services will be obj lively evaluated. Examination results, students' excellence, improvements in curriculum, professional achievements of the teaching staff are some indicators of the output evaluation. To improve educational management, several concrete measurers has also been suggested in the New Policy. Revitalization of CABE at the national level, strengthening of the Department of Education by involving professionals both at the Centre and States, the establishment of State Advisory Boards of Education on the lines of CABE etc. The reestablishment of the Indian Education Service or an All-India Service has also been stressed to provide a proper management structure for educators in the county. In addition to these bodies, the establishment of State Councils of higher education has also been recommended. The NEP proposes decentralization of the administration of education through district boards. These boards will be responsible for the implementation of all programmes up to the higher secondary level in the district and will be vested with the power to do educational planning, including area development, and institutional planning, and control administration and finance.65 There will also be a Chief Education Officer (CEO) for each district to look after all education up to the higher secondary stage. He will be assisted by a District Education Officer (DEO) in respect of establishment, budget, planning and educational data-base and by other educational officials of appropriate rank in respect of other educational programmes. It is also proposed to appoint district inspectors to look after the academic aspects exclusively, for improving quality of education in the institutions. Another important step to strengthen the implementation and management of education in the district is to set up a District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) under the District Board of Education. These institutes are also required to work as an academic wing of the District Boards of Education. To decentralize the administration at the grassroots level, a village education committee has been visualized to look into the overall management of all educational programmes at the village level.

INTERNATIONAL BODIES TO EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDIA

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS (UNESCO).

UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL CHILDRENS EMERGENCY FUND (UNICEF).

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

WORLD BANK

COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING (COL).

 

EDUCATIONAL BODIES OF MHRD FOR EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDIA

 

CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION (CABE)

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING(NCERT)

UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION (UGC)

ALL INDIA COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION(AICTE)

DISTANCE EDUCATION COUNCIL(DEC)

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION (NUEPA)

STATE LEVEL BODIES FOR EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND COUNCIL(SCERT)

DISTRICT PRIMARY EDUCATION PROGRAMME(DPEP)

DISTRICT LEVEL BODIES

BLOCK LEVEL BODIES

STATE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

STATE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING (SIEMAT)

STATE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY(SIET)

quality education: concept, indicators of quality, setting standards for performance

a good quality education is one that provides for learners with a capability they required to become economically productive develop suitable livelihood.Contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance individual will being.

Quality concern in education

The aim of education reflect the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values  and the immediate concerns of a community as well as broad human ideals.locating the term quality  in educational discourse  is now a universal concern today.quality is somewhat problematic like beauty,it  lies in the eye or rather than mind of the beholder. the quality dimension need to examined from the point of view of the experience designee for the child in terms of knowledge and skills.

Dimension of quality education

education leads to empowerment a process of strengthening individuals organisation and communities so they get more control over their own situations and environments.quality education it is a crucial factor in combating poverty and inequality in society. in quality education  WOB sixth dimension that all  interventions of the organisation need to meet.

equity

 The VVOB definition refers to all learners this term refers to no discrimination and  equity.in education means that personal and social circumstances such as gender ethnic origin or family background are  not obstacles to achieving educational potential and that all individuals reach at least a basic minimum level so skills VVOB in particular focus on gender equity.

Contextualisation and relevance

quality education cannot be based on a blue print that is applicable in all  situation.solution and adaptation of education system must be based on the real needs of country and community.

child friendly teaching and learning

 quality education put the child in the centre and helps it  to reach  his or her full potential.quality education requires  children active participation

sustainability

educational changes process often need to need time to be released by enhancing the capacities of local education authorities

Balanced approach

quality education aims at  developing a balanced set of capabilities of children they require to become economically productive develop suitable livelihoods contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance individual well-being.

Quality indicator

 the quality indicators of school education should be translated from the aims of education and that these indicators should be useful tools for measuring and monitoring school performance and a value added the improvement in student performance in major domains of education broadly speaking they should be used for the following purposes.

Self evaluation and development

information comparison

 the difficulty of formulating a set of economically acceptable measurable and reliable indicator to assess in value added performance of schools and individual students

a well developed framework of quality indicator should consist of the following

 school  context and  profile

process indicators and

 output indicators

school conduct and profile

school conduct and profile should provide an factual school data and vital  Statistics to  reflect school characteristics(eg.school facilities)

 teacher statistics (eg.number and professional qualification of teacher)

 student characteristics(eh. gender mix)

This will provide information on the background and the progress of schools

process indicators

school culture and ethos

effectiveness of a principal leadership

school based management

provision of balanced curriculum

 teaching and learning process

availability of school based curriculum development and review

 the use of different teaching and learning methods

guidance and counselling

 moral and civic education

avalibilty student organisation

personal growth and development of students

the use of different teaching and learning methods

 availability of school based curriculum development and review

 development of formal procedures and resources for staff appraisal and staff development according to teachers needs

application of information technology to the teaching and learning processes

 output indicators academic achievement value-added improvement of output indicators ability to cope with pressure and changes

output indicator

Output indicators should measure the value-added improwment of students in both academic and non academic domains as different learning stages as a result of changes in factors affecting the student performance such as improvement in the teaching and learning environment.

ablity to cope with pressure and changes

academic achievement 

 value-added improvement of output indicators

Quality education enables people to develop all of their attributes and skills to achieve their potential as human beings and members of society. In the words of the Delors Commission (UNESCO, 1996): “Education is at the heart of both personal and community development; its mission is to enable each of us, without exception, to develop all our talents to the full and to realize our creative potential, including responsibility for our own lives and achievement of our personal aims.”

Quality education is a human right and a public good.

Governments and other public authorities should ensure that a quality education service is available freely to all citizens from early childhood into adulthood.

Quality education provides the foundation for equity in society.

Quality education is one of the most basic public services. It not only enlightens but also empowers citizens and enables them to contribute to the maximum extent possible to the social and economic development of their communities.

UNESCO’s framework on the variables of education quality has five dimensions:

Learner Characteristics: including learner aptitude, perseverance, readiness for school, prior knowledge, barriers to learning, and demographic variables.

Context: including public resources for education, parental support, national standards, labour market demands, socio-cultural and religious factors, peer effects, and time available for schooling and homework.

Enabling Inputs: including teaching and learning materials, physical infrastructure and facilities, and human resources.

Teaching and Learning: including learning time, teaching methods, assessment, and class size.

Outcomes: including skills in literacy and numeracy, values, and life skills.

THE USE OF INDICATORS

for educational quality and learning outcomes to improve, planners need access to evidence-based analyses of the current situation, trends over time, and information on the strengths and weaknesses of a system, and their causes. A strong monitoring and evaluation system that looks at relevant indicators can provide that evidence. Indicators can help track the progress of strategies and programmes within an education sector plan. Indicators of education quality can have meaningful implications for policy by enabling comparisons to be made across time, within different places or contexts, or against standards or global benchmarks such as Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4).More specifically, indicators enable educational planners and decision-makers to:Monitor changes in areas such as teaching quality, the curriculum, and student performance, which can alert policy-makers to impending problems.Measure the impact of educational reform efforts.Encourage an education system to improve by comparing it, or parts of it, with other countries or systems.Focus attention on educational subsystems that may require improvement, such as particular districts or levels of education.Focus attention on key equity indicators, such as the performance of different subgroups such as girls, students living in poverty, or students with disabilities. (Adapted from Kaagan and Smith, 1985:

Indicators for  Monitoring education quality

Education systems are typically analysed in terms of context, specific inputs, social or institutional processes, and outputs or outcomes. Indicators can be developed to measure issues that fall under each of these categories.

Context indicators: provide information on the contextual factors that affect learning, e.g. student characteristics, socio- economic conditions, cultural aspects, status of the teaching profession, and local community issues. Context indicators are often challenging to develop and measure as they concern qualitative issues. Common data-collection tools include surveys, classroom observations, inspection reports, and self-evaluations.

Input indicators: primarily measure the deployment and use of resources to facilitate learning. They reveal whether the planned financial, material, and human resources are being delivered in the planned quantities, at all levels of the system. Information on input indicators is relatively easy to obtain since inputs are often “countable” by nature, and management processes involve keeping records of many inputs automatically. One challenge may be the differences between producing inputs and ensuring that they are available at the endpoint. For example, the textbook/pupil ratio may be measured in terms of the number of textbooks that are delivered, or by the number of textbooks in use in schools. In some cases, there may be a discrepancy between the two figures.

Process indicators: measure how educational programme activities were conducted – whether they were carried out to the desired standard of quality. This includes how specific educational processes are conducted in practice, e.g. the application of standards, teaching quality, time on task, school climate, and educational leadership. Like context indicators, process indicators also concern qualitative issues and may be obtained through surveys and pedagogical observations, inspection reports, and self-evaluations.

Output indicators: measure the effects of the programme activities to see whether the programme objectives were attained. They reveal how the education system is performing in terms of subject knowledge, competencies, repetition, progression and completion rates, and employer satisfaction. Output indicators may be obtained through national examinations, international assessments, surveys, and systematic field observations. Output indicators typically involve measurement of learning outcomes based on national examinations or international assessments. Output indicators provide the most important data for understanding whether educational quality and learning outcomes are improving as intended.

Indicators should be based on context and on the specific learning goals of the education system. They should be designed to allow for measurement of change over time and be disaggregated by gender, geography, socio-economic situation, and other equity issues.

RESEARCH IN SECONDARY EDUCATION


Introduction

The term secondary school refers to the levels of schooling that follow elementary school and conclude with high school graduation. Researches play a very important role in reform processes. As an academic activity research helps us to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviors or theories or to make practical applications with the help of such facts, law or theories through an active, diligent and systematic process. The findings of these research studies will be communicated to all the concerned authorities for corrective measures and further strengthening of the implementation of the scheme. In the area of school education it is not enough to study macro education policies as they are articulated by governments and operationalized by centralized ministries of education. What is promised or envisioned on paper is often quite different from what actually happens in school establishments. It is important to understand, at the micro level, how schools are functioning in practice as they implement educational policies for improving the quality of education. At national and state level one must also concerned with learning from schools toward a better understanding of the practical realities of teaching children from the perspective of the school establishment, within its community and its student population. Therefore, it may be suggested that researches need to be undertaken not only at the state level but also at local level i.e. block and district level. Unless community, teachers, students and other stakeholders will be involved in exploring their own locale for identifying lacuna and strengths they may not be able understand the need of reform to carry it forward. Hence, a mechanism needs to be created for conducting researches in the areas of classroom processes, curricular choices, learning difficulties of the divers group of students, evaluation, and adolescents’ educational needs at the ground level, impact of teacher training, etc. This will help policy makers and curriculum developers to understand the problems and difficulties in curricular areas and teacher education. Teachers need to be motivated by the school functionaries for undertaking action researchers as a part of their teaching-learning activities for finding out the solution of content, pedagogy or adjustment related problems in the classroom and school.

 

Areas of secondary educational research

 

a.         Teacher

 

b.         Curriculum

 

c.         Learner

 

d.         Institution

 

e.         Various levels of education

 

a.         Teacher

 

In-depth studies in this area may be conducted to analyze gaps in recruitment, deployment and transfer policies concerning with teachers at secondary stage in different states. Specific studies may also be conducted to find out reflections of teachers’ assumptions about learner, learning, school and curriculum on her field practices.

Teacher research can change a teacher's practice, but it can also have a profound effect on the development of priorities for school wide planning and assessment efforts as well as contribute to the profession's body of knowledge about teaching and learning.

Scope of secondary educational research in the area of teacher

 

         Teacher experiences: experience as a teacher or effectiveness of a particular program by analyzing teacher experience

         Teacher preparation programs and degrees: pre-service training programs for teachers to improve quality ofteachers

         Teacher certification: different courses and criteria to enroll ateacher

 

         Teacher course work: in-service training programme and courses duringservice

 

         Teaching methodology: valuation of existing teaching methodology and application af new trends inteaching

         Professional attitude of teacher: attitude towards children with disability , co-curricular extra-curricular activity social injustice, implementation of new technology, lawetc.

     

 

         Teacher's behaviour , values, emotions: teachers personal values, belief, personality characteretc.

Studies related with Teachers in secondary education

I.          Factors influencing secondary school teachers’ adoption of teachingblogs

 

II.        Stress, coping strategies, and psychological distress among secondary school teachers in India

III.       Task-based learning and teaching in China: Secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices

IV.       Study on Teacher education curriculum of secondary schoolteachers

 

V.        Job satisfaction of secondary school teachers: A comparative analysis of gender, urban and ruralschools

b.         Curriculum

 

Research in the area of curriculum is systematic way to get better understanding of all the components of curriculum

Scope of research on curriculum

 

         Evaluation of secondary education curriculum:

 

Evaluating an existing curriculum and to identify the aspects such as

 

1.         Objectives ofCurriculum

2.         Structure of subject matter and learningexperiences

 

3.         Prescribed theory and practical hours to fulfill learning objectives

4.         Curricular and co-curricular activities

5.         Curriculumproblems

 

         Curriculum ReformProcess:

 

A Study of curriculum reform process in states may be conducted with special focus on the following aspects:

 

1.         Paradigm shifts being introduced in the system and system’s response towards thisshift

 

2.         Study of textbooks developed by the States as a follow-up of curriculum reformprocesses

 

3.         Study of the pedagogical shifts which teachers practice inclassroom.

 

4.         Planning of new Assessmenttechniques

 

Studies related with Curriculum in secondary education

I.          Criterion-related validity of curriculum-based measures in writing for secondary school students

II.        Incorporating Nano scale science and technology into secondary schoolcurriculum

c.         Learner

 

educational program or the difficulties faced by students in different aspects of schooling Research about learner in secondary level help teachers as well as educational planners to get ideas about current practice of an.

Scope of research on learner

         Action research: to understand the problems of learner in a particular learning situation or a particular plan or methodology. Every secondary teacher must be an action researcher and need to be trained to identify problem and seek solution related to teaching-learning processes, students’ adjustment, and learners’ pace of learning due to diverse backgrounds, etc. conducting actionresearches.

         Case study: to understand difficulties faced by any student or psychological or social problems ofstudents

         Impact studies: to check effectiveness of a new plan structured for students.

         In depth studies: Attitude, aptitude, psychological problems or learning difficulties of students

 

 

 

Studies related with Learner in secondary education

I.          Effects of computer-based teaching on secondary schoolstudents.

II.        Peer victimization at school and the health of secondary schoolstudents

III.       Collective Responsibility for Learning and Its Effects on Gains in Achievement for Early Secondary SchoolStudents

 

d .Institution

Institutional research is a broad category of work done at schools, colleges and universities to inform campus decision-making and planning in areas such as admissions, financial aid, curriculum assessment, enrollment management, staffing, student life, finance, facilities, athletics, and alumnirelations.

 

Scope of research on Institution

         School infrastructure and facilities: research about infra-structure of school like library, availability of lab equipment , ICT enabled classrooms computers physical structure of school

         Academic facilities and teachers: quality of teachers and academic improvements of teachers including in-service training teaching methodologyetc.

 

                     Excellence of school: excellence in academic or other field case studies aboutparticular achievement in arts or sportsect.

         Co-curricular activities: planning and implementing various co-curricular activities in school and participation of teachers and students in such activities.

         School projects and government fund utilization: effectiveness of different projects and utilization of Governmentfund.

         Government plans: implication and effectiveness of various government plans to improve schoolingprocess.

         PTA: involvement of PTA in school activities and utilization of PTAfund.

         Participation and role of school in socialactivities

Studies related with Institutions in secondary education

I.          A study of classroom climate in secondaryschool.

II.        A study of the management of higher secondary education system in the state ofTamil Nadu with respect to the administrative behaviour of the heads of theinstitutions.

III.       Effectiveness of school AIDS education programme SAEP on developinghealth behaviour among secondary school students of Calicut District inKerala

IV.       A study of the cost structures of rural secondary school and its relation to the S S C examinationresults

V.        A case study on Keralakalamandalam

e.Various levels of education.

           Pre pnmary education.

           Elementary and secondary level.

           Higher secondary level.

           Higher education.

Scope of Research on levels of education

i.          To find out the issues among this level.

ii.         For providing systematic instruction.

iii.        To check the coverage of objectives existing in education field.

iv.        To implement the alternative model of education.

v.         To check out the maximum use of resource utilization.

vi.        Development of teachers.

vii.       To provide proper feedback

viii.      To implement the innovative pedagogical methods.

ADVANTAGES OF RESEARCH IN SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL

 

           Increased sharing and collaboration across departments, disciplines, and gradelevels.

           Increased dialogue about instructional issues and studentlearning.

           Enhanced communication between teachers andstudents.

           Improved performance ofstudents.

           Revision of practice based on new knowledge about teaching andlearning.

           Teacher-designed and teacher-initiated staffdevelopment.

           Development of priorities for school wide planning and assessmentefforts.

           Contributions to the profession's body of knowledge about teaching andlearning.

           Selection of quality teachers for specialprograms.

           Improved objectives and learning practices incurriculum

           Inclusion of new topics according to social changes and needs ofsociety

           Improvement and implication of new content andmethodology

           Development in assessmentmethod

 

 

Competency-based Teaching and Learning

                                                                       

            Competency-based learning refers to systems of instruction, assessment, grading, and academic reporting that are based on students demonstrating that they have learned the knowledge and skills they are expected to learn as they progress through their education.
            Competence-based teaching and learning has been recognized in many education systems in recent years. It is a system which challenges the traditional practice of focusing on coverage of the content without paying due attention to mastery of skills. There are many terms used to refer to competence-based teaching and learning. Such terms include competence-based education, competence-based curriculum, proficiency-based education, outcome-based education, mastery-based education, standard-based education and performance-based education. There are some key features which make it unique. Such features include the following:
1. It is student-centered
            The learner is the focus of the learning process. Individual learners’ needs and learning styles are given priority in determining the content to be covered, the teaching and learning methods and the mode of assessment. Individual learners needs and learning styles are given priority in determining the content to be covered, the teaching and learning methods and the mode of assessment.

2. It is outcome-based

Students must demonstrate mastery of all required competencies to earn credit or graduate or advance to the next level.

Involve multiple measures of assessment to determine competency
            Students earn credit toward graduation in ways other than seat time and course taking (such as apprenticeships, blended learning, dual enrollment.

Practice oriented

Students must demonstrate practical skills and tangible outcomes to determine competence and not just the possession of theoretical knowledge.


Attributes of Competency-based Teaching

Understand how learners learn

Match principles of learning and teaching

Facilitate, rather than control learning

Support acquisition of knowledge, skills and professional behaviours in all learning domains (cognitive, psycho motor, affective)

Promote and expect learner accountability for Learning

Provide timely, specific feedback on learner progress beginning with learner self-assessment

Individualize learning experiences according to needs

Expect increasing complexity of performance as the learner progresses throughout the program

 

Role of the teacher

 

To be aware of the needs of the students

To make pupils aware of the competences to be attained.

To direct the students regarding the tasks to be done.

To facilitate and ensure the students' progress.

Re evaluate pupils performance

To provide constructive feedback to help learners improve skills

 

Role of the learner

 

To become aware of the competencies they are going to deal with

To ensure whether the competences stressed by the teacher are useful and relevant to them.

To ensure their active participation in the teaching learning process

To be able to adapt and transfer knowledge from one setting to another

 

Merits

 

It develops learners competencies.

It ensures students participation in the teaching

It makes continuous assessment.

It develops confidence in pupils.

It is very difficult to develop lists of competencies for every specific situations

It requires competent teachers.

It ignores the process of learning

 

Procedure of teaching

 

The teacher tests the students proficiency in the beginning He clarifies the competencies to be focused. Then the students are grouped on the basis of their proficiency level, learning capacity, needs etc. Tasks and required directions are given, Teacher evaluates the outcome of learning and gives constructive feedback

 

Integrated Learning


Definition of Integrated Learning

The integrated curriculum is about making significant connections between subjects or skills that are usually addressing several different subject areas. Integrating the curriculum can also improve learning experiences. An integrated approach to learning is designed to focus on learning within the curriculum. It focuses on making connections among concepts and experiences so that information and skills can be applied to novel and complex issues or challenges.

Characteristics of Integrated Learning

It primarily focuses on problem-solving.

It is a compilation of assessment, curriculum development, and faculty development.

Integrated learning explores and uses information effectively.

It enables children to integrate ideas and experiences and apply them to formulate new learning situations.

Creativity, adaptability, critical reasoning, and collaboration are the key features of integrated learning.

The method of learning accommodates a variety of learning styles, theories, and multiple intelligences.

Benefits of Integrated Learning

Integrated learning pays particular attention to an increase in understanding, retention, and application of general concepts.

It provides a better understanding of the content.

Integrated learning encourages active participation in relevant real-life experiences.

It serves as a connection between various curricular disciplines.

It develops higher-level thinking skills.

Ensures active participation by triggering the point of interest of students.

Innovation in Secondary Education

 

Need for Innovation

 

Promoting creativity and innovations through our educational institutions is a first step towards broadening and deepening the impact of innovations in our society and economy.

As in all sectors, innovation will be essential to bring about qualitative changes in education.

These changes are needed to increase efficiency and improve the quality and equity of learning opportunities.

Skills including critical thinking, creativity and imagination, can be fostered through appropriate teaching, and practices.

Technology-based innovations in education reshape the environments in which schools operate.

To provide alternative ways of learning for students with special needs.

 

Driving Digital Change in India

 

With two-thirds of its population under the age of 35, India will soon be the youngest country in the world.

If well-trained and well-skilled, it could be the workforce for the world.

The key to reaching and teaching a vast population spread across a large and diverse country is digital technology.

Thanks to the universal presence of mobile devices, they can reach a much larger audience via online courses and virtual classrooms.

Not only organizations, but the government is also investing heavily on bettering the education ecosystem, be it with revamping the National Education Policy, launching Skills India initiative, SWAYAM roll out etc.

Technology assists teachers in providing a more effective learning experience for the students.

Schools must therefore strike a balance between technology-enabled and nature-based teaching to equip its students for a better tomorrow.

The important innovations are

Audio-visual (AV) supplements : Many educational institutions in India have AV-equipped classrooms or venues to boost students’ learning and understanding. Teachers explain difficult subject like Physics/Maths/Chemistry/History etc. with the help of smart-boards.

Flip methodology or classroom : This technique, to put simply, is to roll the responsibility of learning towards the students and make them active participants of the learning process.Here, teachers relegate to the role of resource or material providers via email or intranet, whereas students take the centre stage of gathering concepts, constructing knowledge, and drawing inferences.

However, the other significant aspect is that teachers follow it up with a discussion session on the given topic on a stipulated day to ensure students’ participation, seriousness, and overall learning. Besides discussions, there are group presentations, debates, and essay writing competitions.Flip methodology promotes greater student involvement in the learning process and lays down the foundation of independent learning.

Role play : Role play brings in the element of entertainment into the classroom. As much as it is loved by students, this technique facilitates their understanding and appreciation of the characters that they read about. From pre-schools to Senior Secondary level, schools are implementing this method as it’s a great source to instill in children values and ideals as they play the roles of historical stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, or legendary characters like Caesar, Charlie Chaplin.

Peer teaching : It is one of the most effective strategies to even up the learning curve of a class. Usually, teachers pair students who are high performers with those students who might be struggling in a subject area. Students are also encouraged to volunteer, or are randomly chosen to take over as the subject teacher. It offers a platform of knowledge sharing among students, besides harbouring healthy competition. With regular peer teaching sessions, students start to develop better grasp of the concepts, display maturity, tend to be more disciplined, and also develop better communication skills.

Games : The play-way lessons are quite popular among students of all grades, and a successful strategy to keep them engaged.Teachers are experimenting with various kinds and levels of word and mind games like quiz, puzzle-solving, Scrabble, Sudoku, etc. Games help to seamlessly incorporate subject knowledge with application, and are an answer to productive and smart learning.

Collaboration : Collaboration is an essential life skill in a globalized environment. In an educational institution, this skill can best be fostered in the classroom by allowing students to work in groups. Teachers are designing their lessons to allow time and resources for group activities, be it research or class presentation.

Going beyond the classroom : Education should make children aware of the world and themselves, widen their perspective, and make them seek the truth. Schools are embracing the trend of taking children outside the classroom. Whether on a nature trail, or visiting cottage industry, students now directly interact with what they read about in books. Children gain more knowledge when they see and experience history in museums than being taught the same in the class. Field trips are now an integral part of the curriculum.Students, teachers, and parents enthusiastically come forth to make the attempt a holistic educational experience.

Conclusion

Education needs innovation to keep it fresh and relevant.It is not just the teachers and educators who form it, but also the students who shape it. Empowered by technology and tools, our education system can indeed scale up to empower our citizens to help the country on its journey to becoming a digital and knowledge economy.

CIET


Origin

Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) is a constituent unit of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India. Established in 1984 with the merger of the Centre of Educational Technology (1973) and Department of Teaching Aids (1959), its chief aim is to promote Educational Technology especially mass media singly or in combinations (multimedia packages) to extend educational opportunities and improve quality of educational processes at the school level.\

As a premier institute of Educational Technology at the National level, major functions of the CIET-NCERT are based on Research and Development,

Major Functions of CIET

           Designing alternative learning systems to deal with problems of Education

           Orientation of Educational planners, administrators to the concept of Educational technology.

           Training in specialised areas, radio ,audio, television and video production and low cost teaching aids

           Production of audio-visual Educational materials and other low cost aids

           Promote Educational Technology

           Train Personnel in Educational Technology

           Advise & Co-ordinate activities of SIETs

           Provide Consultancy and media support to other constituents of NCERT

Vision

Vision of our institute is to be the national pioneer and leader in various aspects of the professional improvement and advancement in educational communication and technology, grounded in theory, in research, in practice and in code of ethics, providing solutions by utilizing the innovations, research combined with design, building and managing the resource centre of quality educational media software and integration of technology and pedagogy.

 

Mission

The mission of Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) is to:

           Act as a nodal resource centre for school education media software acquired through national, regional and international sources for reference and research.

           Achieve excellence in design, research and production of educational software for children and teachers, including parents.

           Contribute to teacher education through the convergence of appropriate technologies.

           Build capacities of teachers/educators for quality improvement roles in school education.

           Constructively inform educational policy makers and to critically appraise educational technology (ICT related) policy in India.

IASE(Institute of Advanced Studies in Education)

 

 

 

The Institute of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE) is a deemed university in India

 

VISION

 

o          Leading institution(s) to actively contribute to Empowerment of teacher educators,

 

o          Developing more effective teacher development programs

 

o          State policy making and High quality research and innovation,

 

o          Preparation of teacher educators capable of empathy for inclusion of teachers and children:

 

o          Acting as Regional Resource Centers for material development, documentation and sharing, including in vernacular language Research:

 

o          in education and other aspects that influence policy- including equity, inclusion, hidden curriculum, teaching-learning;

 

o          Co-ordinating between institutions like CTES, DIETS and other colleges

 

o          Co-ordinating between universities and making curricular reforms possible;

 

o          Helping develop new courses for the universities including integrated courses and Post Graduate programs aligned with NCFTE/NCF

 

o          Developing new programs and courses for teacher educator preparation;

 

ROLE OF IASE (INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY IN EDUCATION)

 

The IASE has to perform the following specific functions

 

1.Organize pre-service teacher education courses (B.Ed.) for preparation of teachers for secondary schools.

 

2. Conduct programmes in elementary teacher education so as to prepareelementary teacher educators.

 

 

3. Conduct M.Ed., M. Phil and Ph.D. programmes in education.

 

 4. Organize subject-oriented and theme-specific in-service teacher education programmes for secondary teachers. Such programmes may be of one week duration to four weeks duration

 

5. Conduct in-service courses for teacher educator, head masters of secondary schools and inspecting officers.

 

6. Provide extension and resource support to secondary schools,school complexes and individual teachers.

 

7. Organize longer duration and specialized course in appropriate areas.

 

8. Provide academic guidance to DIETs and resource support to CTEs.

 

9.Conduct experimentation, innovation and advanced level research

 

10. Encourage community participation in teacher preparation

 

11. Conduct training programmes on of educational technology.

 

12. Develop instructional materials, teaching aids and kits.

 

13. Shoulder academic responsibility in the following areas:

 

           Foundations of Education

 

           Pedagogy and Methodology Educational Technology and Media

 

           Resources In-service Education and Extension Programme Special programmes such as science Education

 

           Vocational Education

 

           Environmental Education

 

           Work Experience

 

           Population Education Language Teaching

 

           Computer Education

 

           Social Education

 

           Planning and Management

 

           Adult Education and Non-formal Education

 

           Elementary Education

 

14. Act as centre of Excellence and Research.

 

One of the main duties entrusted to IASE is the organization of various in-service courses for the functionaries working at various educational sectors. So we used to conduct courses in each academic year, the course details are following.

 

Areas

 

In-service courses on :

 

           Various subjects for High school teachers.

 

           Managerial issues and developments for Heads of the schools. .

 

           Physical education.

 

           Information and communication technology.

 

           Library and information science.

 

           Guidance and counselling practices.

 

Duration

 

In depth courses - 10 days

 

Short term courses -5 days

 

 

 

Course Period

 

The courses are used to organize under various departments during the period October to March in each academic year.

 

Various pre-service Teacher Education programs by IASE

 

The B.Ed Course is a professional programme meant for preparing teachers for Upper Primary or Middle level (classes VI-VIII), Secondary level (classes IX-X) and Senior Secondary level (classes XI-XII), The two year programme is designed to imbibe in prospective teachers proper aspirations, knowledge base and a repertoire of pedagogic capacities and appropriate attitudes. The Course consists of four semesters of 100 days each. The B.Ed course in IASE is offered in eight subjects: English, Hindi, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Mathematics, Natural science, Physical science and Social Science,

 

Master of Education (MED) -2 Year Course

 

MEd is a professional and research oriented Post Graduate level Teacher Education programme. The two-year- Course is designed to provide opportunities for students to extend as well as deepen their knowledge and understanding of Education, specialize in select areas, and also develop research capacities. The Course consists of four semesters of 100 days each.

VISION

To develop world class teachers and teacher educators who can guide the GENERATION for

transforming the world to be a better place to live in, where people and nations live in peace and harmony with Nature.

 MISSION

* To make the institution a centre of excellence.

 

* To impart quality training in various areas and thereby enrich the teaching community.

 

*To make academic link with similar institutions in India for sharing resources.

 

*To develop the institution as a good centre of educational resources,

 

*To provide space and human resource for setting up a teacher education university.

 

*To emerge as à centre of experts on diverse educational areas.

 

*To extend consultancy services to the field of education and social science research.

 

*To upgrade the institution as an educational research centre.

 

VOCATIONALISATION OF SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA – RESEARCH IN SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION


VOCATIONALISATION

The term vocationalisation refers to efforts by schools to include in their curriculum those practical subjects which are likely to generate among students some basic knowledge, skills and dispositions that might prepare them to think of becoming skilled workers or to enter manual operations.

VOCATIONALISATION OF SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

 

             “Vocational education is a program of education below college grade organised to prepare the learner for entrance into a particular chosen vocation or to upgrade employed workers”.

            - Cater v good dictionary of education 1973

 “Vocational education is a comprehensive term embracing those aspects of the educational process involving in addition to general education, the study of Technologies and related Sciences and the occupation of practical skills, attitudes understanding and knowledge relating to occupation in the various sector of economic and social life.”

- UNESCO 1947

 

            Internationally, a major and persistent overall trend in education has been the massification of both secondary schooling and higher education. This is also the case, albeit on a more limited basis, in those developing countries that have achieved major progress in the universalization of primary education, with more students going on to secondary-level education.

In the past it was widely accepted that secondary schooling and higher education were for a relatively small number and proportion of students who were mainly concerned with receiving an academic-type education and (in the case of universities) obtaining entry to the higher-status professions. With an increasing proportion of the relevant age groups wanting to complete a full cycle of secondary schooling, before then going on to university, both schools and universities have had to modify their curriculum and entrance procedures to become more comprehensive by providing a more diverse range of courses in order to accommodate the more diverse study interests and range of capabilities of students. These courses are both academic and (increasingly) vocational in nature. There is now more emphasis on economic productivity, with secondary schools and many universities increasingly stressing skills development for employability, and so preparing graduates more directly to meet labor force requirements. There are some, such as Professor Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Macquarie University in Australia, who lament this trend, and argue that the programmes offered in secondary schools and universities are ‘being reduced to vocational training’ (Schwartz, 2010). This is a view that is shared by Professor Martha Nussbaum at the University of Chicago (Nussbaum, 2010). However, others (including ourselves) disagree, and argue that it is both desirable and appropriate that secondary schools and universities are more accountable to meeting the economic and labor force needs of society through placing a greater emphasis on skills development for employability (Fien, Maclean and Park, 2008; Maclean and Wilson, 2009; Rauner and Maclean, 2008). These are matters that are examined in greater detail in the main body of this paper.

           The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education provides for diversification of educational opportunities so as to enhance individual employability, reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower and provides an alternative for those pursuing higher education.

           The national policy planners have considered higher secondary stage of school education as crucial since it is at this stage that necessary skills and competencies are acquired which enable the students to enter the world of work or to go for higher education.

           Vocational education has been accorded high priority in the National Policy on Education, 1986. The NPE, 1986 inter alia states “The introduction of systematic, well-planned and rigorously implemented programme of vocational education is crucial in the proposed educational re-organization…. Vocational education will be a distinct stream intended to prepare students for identified vocations spanning several areas of activity”

Aims and objectives of vocationalisation of education in India

 

           Now our country is developing due to the development of science and technology. This has been possible because of the availability of material and human resources. Our country is too rich in these two resources. What is needed is their proper utilization. This requires expansion and development of vocational education. The need of the hour is to impart vocational education in order to acquire expertness in the field of “technical know-how”.

           Vocational education is concerned with the training on vocation. It is related to productivity. Vocational education prepares individuals for jobs. It has adequate employment potentialities. It helps in broadening of horizon. It leads to dignity of labor. It is helpful in the maximum utilisation of the material resources of the country.

           When vocational educational education is mixed with general education it is called vocationlisation of education. Vocationalisation of education is designed to introduce manual skills in general education. Vocationalisation of education means training in some vocations at the secondary, Higher Secondary level with general education.

           According to the recommendation of the Secondary Education Commission (1952-53), the aim of vocationalisation of education is to improve the vocational efficiency of the students. Therefore, the Commission emphasized on increasing the productive & vocational efficiency of our students and it recommended for diversified courses in multipurpose schools.

           The Indian Education Commission (1966) pointed out that vocationalisation can bring education into closer relationship with productivity. It also recommended to give a strong vocational bias to secondary education and to increase the emphasis on agricultural and technological education at university stage.

           The National policy on Educating (1986) and its revised formulations gave stress on the introduction of systematic, well planned and rigorously implemented programmes of vocational education.

 

Need for vocational education at the secondary stage

 In India the ratio of enrollment in vocational courses at a lower Secondary And Higher Secondary Schools is only 6 % it is a reason for low productivity and unemployment the Education Commission pointed out that another program which can bring education in to closer relationship with the productivity is to give a strong vocational based to Secondary Education and to increase the emphasis on agricultural and technological education at the University stage.

 The national policy on education point out the following merits of vocationalization of education.

           Enhancement of  employability

           Reduction him mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower

           Provision of alternative courses

           Dignity of labor

           Self-employment

           Increase the productivity

           Maximum utilisation of resources

 Causes of slow progress of vocationalization in India

           The unfavorable wage of policies for a middle level skilled workers and against white collar job operators

           The  failure to control the expansion of general Secondary Education

           The inability to create advocate job opportunities

           Lack of adequate resources for providing training

           Delinking degree from jobs

TARGETS AND MEASURES FOR THE PROMOTION OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AT THE SECONDARY STAGE EDUCATION COMMISSION 1964-66

1.         Secondary Education should be vocationalised in a large measure and environment in vocational courses riced to 20 % of total enrollment at the lower secondary stage and 50% of total enrollment at the higher secondary stage by 1986.

2.         A variety of part-time facilities in vocational education should be made valuable at the both these stages to meet the need of boys and girls in urban and rural areas.

3.         The central government should provide special grant to state government in the centrally sponsored sector for the vocationalisation of Secondary Education.

 NATIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE FOR ADISESHIAH COMMITTEE 1978

-Recommendation on vocationalisation of education

1.         Two  broad learning components of the higher secondary stage;

i) General education spectrum

ii) Vocational spectrum

       2. Vocational spectrum

           Special attention has to be given to the self-employment factor

           Main trust should be on rural agricultural and related vocations

           The duration of a vocational course in the schools In the formal system should normally be two years

           The courses requiring lesser duration than 2 years. May be pursued through formal system such as part time and evening courses, correspondence courses etc..,

           Causes and allocation of time

a.         Language (s)           15%  

b.         General foundation courses 15%

c.         Elective subject 70%

d.         60% for practical work

3. Vocational electives

            Anyone vocational course to be offered out of 64 courses divided into eight categories

1.         agricultural and related vocations

2.         business and office management

3.         paramedical

4.         educational services local body and other services

5.         Journalism

6.         home science related vocations

7.         other general services

4. Vocational survey

            The committee recommended that with regard to the offering of Vocationalised courses in rural or urban schools ,vocational survey of the area- Metropolitan, Block, Taluk ,District or state undertaken such surveys been done even in cases that the vocational courses have been in introduced.

5. Selection of schools

 The location of schools in the rural sector be given priority

6. Use of available facilities

 Two economies the financial investment on infrastructural Facilities the spare capacity in all the schools be used and the environment increased through running double shifts whenever it is possible.

7. Counselling and placement

            Counseling and placement offers the appointed in cluster of 3or4 schools particularly in rural areas.

 8. Pre-service and in-service training of teachers

The university the teacher training college SCERT state Institute of Science education, NCERT boards of Secondary Education agricultural Universities and all others should be actively involved in the program of orientation of teachers.

9. Teachers of Vocational courses

 There should not be instance on post graduate college applications in respect of teachers of Vocational courses. Service of persons who have had actual experience may be fruitful utilise to teach vocational courses. Part time teachers may also be appointed were necessary.

10. Textbooks

            In order to impart instruction in vocational courses in agricultural and related subjects, books may be written on a priority basis to suit local conditions and made available to schools.

11. Recruitment on basis of job requirement

            Recruitment policy of the government as well as public sector organisations should be revised and job requirements should be replace the university degrees as essential qualifications. Occasionally qualified persons should be preferred to graduates.

 12. National Council of vocational education

            This body may be set up by the Ministry of Education and all the Agencies such as the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are India Council for Technical Education the nursing council that Dental Council and the National Council for the training in vocational trades should be members of thus Apex body.

13.  Financial resources

            Any expenditure on vocationalisation should be considered as a national investment and an investment for the future.

 14. Cultural preparations

            Cultural preparation may be made to ensure that many facets of the Reform of Higher Secondary Education are thought through planned for and provided as the country’s stakes in the educational stage are high.

MEASURES SUGGESTED FOR PROMOTION OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION BY THE NATIONAL SEMINAR ON VOCATIONALISATION OF EDUCATION 1990

           Sharing pattern of expenditure on vocationalisation it should be in the ratio of 80:20 between the Cent and States.

           Allocation for construction of sheds

 It should be enhanced by one and half times that of the presenter rate

           Course structure

            70% of time should be utilised for vocational theory and practice

           Standardized and uniform norms

            Steps should be taken to setup standardized and uniform norms for steps to follow.

           Training of teachers

Each state should identify one or two existing teacher training college having edited infrastructural facilities which could be converted into vocational teacher training colleges by Supplementing with additional facilities through Central assistance.

           Orientation and training of Vocational officers

            Advocate arguments should be made in this regard.

           Coverage under apprentice act   

            The number of Vocational courses under the scheme should be increased substantially 

           Modification of recruitment rules

            Speedy and vigorous action is needed to enhance the chances of vocationally qualified persons to get employment.

 

CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEME OF PRE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AT THE LOWER SECONDARY STAGE

 

           The scheme was introduced in 1993- 94

            Objectives

1.         To impart training in symbol marketable skills to students of class IX and X

2.         To develop vocational interest in students

3.         To facility student in making a choice of Vocational courses at the higher secondary level.

 Under the pre- vocational scheme, Assistance has been provided to 11 States for or introducing pre vocational courses in 652 schools

 

Centrally sponsored scheme of vocationalisation of Higher Secondary Education

 

-The scheme was introduced in February 1998

 Objectives

1.           To  enhance individual employability

2.         To reduce the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled manpower

3.         To provide an alternative for those pursuing higher education without particular interest or purpose.

-The Scheme is introduced through the State government or UT administration

 

     Steps taken to strengthen the vocational education program

 

1.         A joint Council for vocational education (JCVE)   was set up in April 1990 for policy formation and coordination at the national level

2.         Central Institute of vocational education (CIVE) was set up in July 1993 to provide technical and academic support to the program in the country.

3.         Of the 150   courses introduced under the scheme 60 locational courses have been notified under the Apprenticeship Act.

4.         collaborative arguments have been made with the Ministry of Railways etc.,

NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION NCERT2000

 MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE FOR A WORK EDUCATION PRE VOCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

Functional levels         Policy coordination     RxD Evaluation monitory       Administration & implementation            Examination & certification

vocational        Joint council of vocational education PSS central institute of vocational education , Bhopal            Bureau of  vocational / school education MHRD      CBSE/ICSE

Regional

                   -    Regional institute of education           Regional board of Apprenticeship Training         -

State    State council of vocational education SCERT/ state institute of vocational education / state institute of education        State department of education           State board of examination / higher secondary council

District            District vocational committee Vocational training in centers/ district institute of education of training            District education / vocational education officer               -

institute           Institute advisory committee          -   Principle / Head master of institution        -

 

RESEARCHES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

a.         TEACHERS

A deep studies in this area conducted to analyze changing policies concerning with teachers at vocational level in different states. Specific studies may also be conducted to find out reflections of teachers assumptions about learner, learning, school and curriculum. The suggestions of researches in the teaching field will be an investment for pre -service and in-service teacher education program.

Examples:

o          Teaching competence of secondary school Teachers in relation to their role conflict Vocational maturity and attitude towards Teaching

o          An analytical study of students and teachers attitude towards vocational education at higher secondary stage in khurda district

b. CURRICULUM

Research in the area of curriculum is systematic way to get better understanding of all the components of curriculum such as;

           Objectives of Curriculum

           Structure of subject matter and learning experiences

           Curricular and co-curricular activities

           Prescribed practical hours to fulfill learning objectives

Examples:

o          Applied Science in the English School Curriculum: The Meaning and Significance of "Vocationalization"

o          Vocational education as a strategy for effective utilization of human resource

c. LEARNER

The researches will help to know the difficulties faced by students in schools and also different aspects of schooling help teachers as well as educational planners to get ideas about students needs and satisfaction about their learning and learning experiences.

Examples:

o          Study of status and problems faced by the schools under the directorate of education Delhi in implementing the vocational Education at plus 2 Level

o          Comparative study of vocational interest of students of ix standard

o          A sociological study of the vocational education of girl students in Mumbai

o          A study of vocational education for girls at higher secondary school level in Karnataka

 

d. INSTITUTION

Institutional research is a wide area in which it include schools, colleges and universities to inform campus decision-making and planning in areas such as admissions, financial aid, curriculum assessment, enrollment management, staffing, student life, finance, facilities, athletics, and alumni relations.

Examples:

o          Vocational Education System For Power Distribution Sector In India And Development of National Vocational Qualification Framework NVQF

o          To Study the Role of Vocational Education and Skill Development Program in Creating Entrepreneurship Development in Western Maharashtra

ADVANTAGES OF RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

           Enhanced communication between teachers and students.

           Improved performance of students.

           Revision of practice based on new knowledge about teaching and learning.

           Selection of quality teachers for special programs.

           Improved objectives and learning practices in curriculum

           Development in assessment method

PRE-SERVICEANDIN-SERVICE

SECONDARYTEACHEREDUCATION

PROGRAMMES


INTRODUCTION

AccordingtoKotharicommission,ateacherwhounlikeanordinaryworker,actsasamaster,

craftsman,anartist,astrategistandapowerfulmotivator.Theenvironsofaclassroom are

enlivenedbytheinspiring,dynamic,enthusiastic,encouraging,skillfulanddedicatedteacher.It

ishewhoshapesthedestinyofstudentsandthatofthefuturecitizenswhoeventuallyshape

thedestinyofthecountry.Suchateacheronlycansuccessfullyincultureamongchildren

valuesthatstrengthentheidealsofsocialjustice,equity,secularism andpluralism.

Byitsverydefinition,aprofessional,includingateacherisalifelonglearnerbecauseofhis

associationwithscientificknowledgewhichkeepsgrowingandsoopportunitieshavetobe

affordedtoensurethathekeepslearninganddevelopingthroughouthisprofessionallife.This

ispreciselytheresponsibilityofteachereducationsystem whichismorethanamere

combinationoftwoofitsmajorcomponentsi.e.pre-serviceteacherpreparationandin-service

education.

Professionalpreparationandprofessionaldevelopmentofteachersisacontinuousprocess.It

beginswiththeselectionofanaspirantteacherandincludeshisinitialpreparationinduction

intotheprofessionandhiscontinuousdevelopmentthroughouthisteachingcarrier.The

formulationofpolicyanddesignofteacherpreparationandcontinuingprofessional

developmentshouldoptimallytakeintoaccountthewholespectrum ofteacherlearning.

PRE-SERVICETEACHEREDUCATION,

MEANINGANDSIGNIFICANCE

Pre-serviceeducationofteachermeans,educationofteachersbeforetheyenterinto

serviceasteacher.Duringthisperiodofteachereducationprogrammes,teachingpracticegoes

sidebyside,whiletheyaregettingknowledgeabouttheorypapers.

Agooddealofimprovementintheteachereducationprogrammeisneeded.Pre-service

educationiscarriedonforpreparingdifferenttypesofteachers.Pre-serviceteacherpreparation

isacollectionofunrelatedcoursesandfieldexperience.Researchbasedcurriculum

developmentofpre-serviceteachereducationisyettotakeroots.Theseprogrammesare

intendedtosupportandenhanceteacherlearninginstillinthem agreaterdegreeofself

confidence.Thebeginningteachersinthiscaselearnfrom theirpracticeandfrom theculture

andnormsoftheuniqueschoolsettingswhereintheyhavebeenplacedandinteractwiththese

cultures.

Itisimportantforteachereducatorstolearnthemethodologyofhowtogetintouch

withthecorequalitiesofagoodteacherandhowtheycanstimulatethesequalitiesinstudent

teachers.Thiswillleadtoadeeperinvolvementinthelearningprocessofteachereducatorsas

wellasstudentteachers.Theinclusionofappropriatecontentknowledgeaboutessential

qualitiesofagoodteacherinrelevanttheorypapersandpracticeofeffectivedomainrelated

traitsinschoolsituationforalongerdurationcouldhelppromotethesetraitsinstudent

teachers.Theteachereducationprogrammeneedstoallowthespacewhereinateacher’s

personalitycouldbedevelopedassomeonewhoisreflective,introspectiveandcapableof

analyzinghisorherownlifeandtheprocessofeducationatschoolsothatafterbecominga

teacher,hebecomesanagentofchange.

A. PRE-PRIMARYTEACHEREDUCATION

PROGRAMME.

Hereteachersaretrainedforteachingchildrenofpre-primaryclasses.Thistypeofteacher

trainingisgenerallycallednurseryteachertraining(N.T.T).Teachertraininginstituteofthistype

areexistingindifferentstates.AtMussorie,thereisMontessoriteachertrainingprogrammein

oneinstitution.ThattypeoftraininginstitutesareaffiliatedtoassociationMontessori

international.Therearepre-basicteachertrainingschoolswhichprepareteachersforpreprimaryschools.

TheseinstitutesarerecognizedbyHindustaniFalimisangh,Wardha.Some

stategovernmentsalsoconductthistypeofteachertrainingprogrammes.Theuniversitiesof

JabalpurandBarodarunpre-primaryteachertrainingcourseleadingtocertificate.At

ChandigarheducationdepartmentU.T.Administrationisrunningsuchacoursewhichisduly

recognizedbyU.TAdministration.InthestateofHaryanaabouttwodecadesbackHaryana

governmenthadgivenaffiliationforrunningthiscourseofteachertrainingtoSohanLalD.A.V

collegeofeducation,Ambalacity.Butthenitwascloseddownbythegovernmentafterthe

lapseoftwo-threeyears.Atpresentafewschoolsandcollegesofeducationinthestateof

HaryanaarerunningoneyearN.T.Tcoursemeantforgirlsonlywhohavequalified+2

examination.ThesaidcourseisrecognizedbyD.A.Vcollegemanagingcommittee,NewDelhi.

B. PRIMARYTEACHERTRAINING

INSTITUTES

Primaryteachertraininginstitutesprepareteachersforteachingtothechildrenofprimary

courses.Theseinstitutespreparethestudentsforjuniorbasictrainingcertificate(J.B.T).This

traininghasbeenverypopularalmostinallthestatesearlier thistrainingwasmeantfor

maleandfemaleteacherswhowerematriculates.Recentlysomemodificationshavebeen

madeforgivingtrainingofJ.B.T.AfterpassingJ.B.Ttheteacherisabletoearnateaching

diploma.Howtheminimum qualificationfortraininghasbeenraisedto10+2examination.In

thestatesofPunjabandHaryana,thistypeofteachertrainingissanctionedtogovernment

teachertrainingschools(or)districtinstituteofeducationandtraining(D.I.E.T)withtherevision

ofgradesofalltypeofteachers,J.B.Ttrainingcentersattractstudentsofhighercalibersand

theypossesshigherqualifications

TheNationalCommissionofTeachershasrecommendedtheintroductionof

integratedfouryearcourseformatriculateswhichwillenabletheteacherstoearnteaching

diplomaforteachingprimaryclasses

C. LANGUAGESPROFICIENCYTEACHERS

ThistypeofteachertrainingprogrammepreparesteachersforteachingHindi,Punjabiand

Sanskrit.Thistrainingismeantforthosewhoare10+2.Ithelpsthem toearnateaching

certificatecalledO.T(Hindi),O.T(Punjabi),O.T(Sanskrit)etc.Thistypeofteachertraining

programmehasbeenpopularingovernmentaswellasnongovernmentinstitutes.Atpresent,

hiscourseisbeingruninaveryfewinstitutes.Thegovernmenthasalmostwithdrawnits

sanctiontoprivaterecognizedinstitutions.

D. COLLEGEOFEDUCATIONFOR

SECONDARYTEACHERS

Teachertrainingforsecondaryschoolsisgiveninthegovernmentaswellasnongovernmentcollegesofeducation.

Thesecollegesprepareteachersformiddle,high(or)

secondaryclasses.GenerallyinthesecollegesitisoneyearcourseafterB.A/B.ScorM.A/M.Sc.

Withtherevisionofgradesofteachers,thecollegeofeducationhasstarted

attractingstudentswithgoodqualifications.InsomestateslikePunjab,Rajasthan,entrance

testhavebeenintroduced.InthestateofHaryana,Theminimum qualificationforcompetingin

theadmissiontoB.Edis50%marksinB.A/B.ScorM.A/M.Sc.Besides,entrancetestisalsoheld.

Marksinbothareaddedupandthenmeritlistisprepared.

E. REGIONALCOLLEGESOFEDUCATION

N.C.E.R.Tstarteditsownregionalcollegesofeducationinfourregionsofthe

countrytomeettheshortageofteachersfortechnicalsubjectssuchasagriculture,commerce,

finearts,homescience,etc.Thedifferentregionalcollegesofeducationareasunder:-

(i) REGIONALCOLLEGEOFEDUCATION,AJMER:-

ItismeantforU.P,Haryana,Delhi,Punjab,HimachalPradeshandJammuKashmir.(Northern

region)

(ii) REGIONALCOLLEGEOFEDUCATION.MYSORE:-

ItismeantforsouthregionwhichincludesAndhraPradesh,Karnataka,Tamilnaduand

Kerala.

(iii) REGIONALCOLLEGEOFEDUCATION,BHOPAL:-

ItismeantforwesternstatessuchasMaharashtra,MadhyaPradeshandGujarat

(iv) REGIONALCOLLEGEOFEDUCATION,BHUBNESWAR:-

ItismeantforeasternstatessuchasAssam,Manipur,Bihar,WestBengalandTripura.

F. TRAININGINSTITUTIONSFORSPECIAL

SUBJECTTEACHERS:-

Thefollowingtraininginstitutionspreparespecialsubjectteacherssuchasmusic,drawing,

painting,finearts,homescience,etc.

(a)ViswaBharathiUniversity,Santhinikethan(W.Bengal)

(b)InstituteofArteducation,Jumiamitia,Delhi.

(c)Governmentschoolofart,Lucknow

(d)Kalakshetra,Adayar,Madras

(e)OneyeardiplomainphysicaleducationforgraduatesatGovt:physicalcollegeofeducation,

Patiala

G.INSTITUTEFORPOSTGRADUATETEACHER

EDUCATION

A)ONEYEARM.EDCOURSE:-thiscourseismeantforthosewhohavealreadypassedB.Ed.It

iscarriedintheuniversitiesinsomeselectedcollegesofeducation.

B)M.AINEDUCATION:-LikeotherM.Aitisatwoyearcourseforgraduates.Itisgenerallyrun

bydifferentuniversities.M.AineducationisconsideredequaltoM.Ed.

Postgraduatediplomaineducation,N.C.E.R.T,andsomeuniversitiesarerunningpostgraduate

diplomacoursesforgreaterefficiencyofteachers.Afewsuchcoursesareinthefieldof

researchmethodology,educationalandvocationalguidanceevaluation,audio-visualaids,social

education,distanceseducationetc.Thesecoursesaremostlyforteacherswhohavepassed

B.Ed.

SpecialcoursesforteachingEnglishareconductedbycontrolinstituteofEnglishandforeign

languages,HyderabadandregionalinstituteofEnglish.

H.CORRESPONDENCECOURSE:-

Correspondencecoursesforteachereducationhavebeenstartedbysomeuniversitiesand

colleges.ThefourregionalcollegesofeducationunderN.C.E.R.Twerethefirsttostartthis

course.Itis14monthcoursesincludingfourmonthstrainingduringtwosummervacation.

H.PUniversity,SimlastartedB.EdandM.Edcoursesin1972.Afteroneyear,B.Edcourses

throughcorrespondencewerestopped.JammuUniversity,theB.Edcorrespondencecourseby

JammuUniversitywasmeant onlyforin-serviceteachers.Insouth,AnnamalaiUniversityis

runningB.EdandM.Edcorrespondencecourse.PunjabUniversity,PatialaalsostartedB.Edand

M.Edcorrespondencecourses.ButnewB.Edbycorrespondenceionlargescaleisbannedby

N.C.T.E

IN-SERVICETEACHEREDUCATION–

MEANING

Themomentateacherhascompletedhistraininginacollegeofeducation,itdoesnot

meanthatheisnowtrainedforalltimestocome.Ateachingdegree,likeB.Edmakeshim enter

intoserviceasateacher.Thereafterhisjobcontinueswellonlyifhecontinueshisstudies

everydayintheclassroom situationsandoutsidetheclassroom,hecomesacrossproblems

andsidebysideheisaexpectedtosortthem out.Thereisneedofmoreandmoreknowledge,

moreandmoreeducationformakinghim abetterteacher.

Thereareformalaninformalprogrammesofin-serviceeducationorganizedfrom time

totime.Thehigherauthoritiesconcernedwitheducationwanttoensurethatthestandardsof

educationareproperlymaintained.Thatispossibleonlyiftheteachersrefreshtheirknowledge

andkeepituptothemark.Thedifferentagencies,thereforekeeponorganizingteacher

educationprogrammesforenrichingtheknowledgeofteachersandalsoforoverallproficiency

andbetterment.

AccordingtoLawrence,“In-serviceeducationistheeducationateacherreceivesafterhe

hasenteredtoteachingprofessionandafterhehashadhiseducationinateacher’scollege.It

includesalltheprogrammes–educational,socialandothersinwhichtheteachertakesa

virtualpart,alltheextraeducationwhichhereceivesatdifferentinstitutionsbywayofrefresher

andotherprofessionalcoursesandtravelsandvisitswhichheundertakes.

PROGRAMMESOFIN-SERVICETEACHER

EDUCATION

*SEMINAR-Inaseminarsomeproblemsofeducationaretakenupandthereiscollective

thinking.Discussionsareheldandconclusionsarearrivedatallundertheguidanceofsome

experts.

*REFRESHERCOURSES:-Arefreshercoursemeansaneducationalprogrammeorganizedfor

refreshingtheknowledgeofin-serviceteacher.Generallytheyacquiretheteacherswiththenew

developmentinthefieldofeducation.Withthecomingupofneweducationpolicy,refresher

courseswerearrangedallaroundforteachersofdifferentcategories.

*WORKSHOPS:-Workshopsareorganizedforgivingin-serviceeducationtoteachers.They

involvemoreofpracticalworkandlesstheoreticaldiscussion.Thesetypesofprogrammesare

moreusefulfortheteachers.Theteachershavetoworkpracticallyandcomeoutwithfinal

materialstobeseenbyothers.Organizationofworkshopsconsumesmoretimethanaseminar

orconference.

*CONFERENCE:-Inaconference,thereisabroaddiscussionofsubjectsofpracticalinterest.

Generallythereisacentralthemearoundwhichseveralsubtopicsaregiven.Teachersasper

theirinterest,presentpaperatthetimeofconference.Thesessionendswiththeconcluding

remarksofthepresident

*STUDYGROUPS:-Formingstudygroupsandusingthem asatechniqueforin-service

educationforteacherscanworkwonders.Agroupofteachersofthesamesubjectanda

subjectexpertinthecollegeofeducationarecombinedandstartworking.Theychoosesome

topicsofcommoninterest(or)itmaybeaproblem relatedtotheirteachingsubject.Discussion

isstartedunderguidanceandtheycontinuethinking,studyinganddiscussingthatsubject.If

needarises,someonemaybeinvitedforextensionlecture.Thestudygroupsmaybemeeting

onceinaweekorevenonceinamonth.

ASTUDYCENTREOFPROFESSIONALWRITINGS:-

Generallythematerialsarenotunderthereachofteachers.Thecollegeofeducation,the

extensionservicedepartmentscanhelpinthisdirection.VariouspublicationsofN.C.E.R.T,

somegoodbooks,materialsproducedbydifferentcentersofeducationmaybeproducedinthe

collegelibrary.Thestudyofreadingmaterialswillhelptheteachertoacquiresufficient

knowledgeintheirsubjects.

EXPERIMENTALSCHOOLS:-TheCollegeofeducationshouldhave

theirdemonstrationschoolandexperimentalschool.Theseareactuallypracticingschools

wheresomeexperiencescanbeperformed.Whateveristaughtintheory,whichisputinto

practicebycarryingoutexperiments?

Theexperimentalschoolsbecomecentersoflearningforin-serviceteachers.

Innovationsdoneintheseschoolsmaybeadvocatedamongtheteachingstaffsofother

schools.

RegionalcollegesofeducationaffiliatedtoN.C.E.R.Thavetheirexperimentalschools

wherethosecollegesareshowingleadershiptotheworkingteachersofotherschoolsintheir

areas.Othercollegeshavetheirpracticingschoolsbuttheydon’thaveanyexperimental

schoolsordemonstrationschools.

CORRESPONDENCECOURSES:

Correspondencecoursescanbedesignedforgivingin-serviceeducationtoteachers.Afew

universitieshavealreadystartedworkingintheareaofin-serviceteachereducation

programmes.CentralInstituteofEnglishandForeignLanguagesatHyderabadprovidespost

graduatecertificatecourseanddiplomacoursethroughcorrespondence.

OTHERPROGRAMMES:-Afewprogrammesforin-serviceeducationof

teachersaresuggestedbelow:-

*Educationaltours

*Radiobroadcast

*Film shows

*T.Vprogrammes

*Extensionlectureforteachers

*Exhibitions

*Exchangeofteachers

PROVISIONOFIN-SERVICEEDUCATION:-Different

institutionsarefunctioningwherethereisaprovisionofin-serviceeducationofteachers.Some

ofthem aredoingcommendableworkinthisfield.

STATEINSTITUTEOFEDUCATION(SIE):-Indifferentstates,SIEhavebeensetupwhichcater

totheneedofin-serviceeducationonly.Theyorganizeseminars,workshops,etc.

STATEINSTITUTEOFSCIENCE:-Insomestates,theyhavesetupinstitutesforin-service

educationofscienceteachers.Theymakeeffortsfordevelopingscientificattitudesamongthe

teachers.Scienceexhibitionsarealsoconductedtherewhichattractlargenumberofchildren

from thestate.Thusit’sagreatsourceofinspirationforteachersandtheirstudents.

REGIONALINSTITUTEOFENGLISH:-

RegionalinstituteofEnglishhasbeensetupindifferentregionsofthecountry.Theyhavetheir

affiliationwithCentralInstituteofEnglishandForeignlanguages;Hyderabad.Theseinstitutes

impactfourmonthcertificatecourseinteachingEnglishtoin-serviceteachers.Theinstitutes

givesscholarshiptothetraineesandtheteachersarepaidfullsalarybytheschoolswerethey

areemployed.TheseinstitutesareworkingforefficiencyandimprovementofEnglishteachers

CONCLUSION

“Goodeducationrequiresgoodteachers”thatitbecomesessentialthatthemost

capableandappropriateberecruitedintotheteachingprofession,providedwithhighqualitypre

-serviceprogrammeofteachereducation,andthem offeredopportunitiestoupgradetheir

knowledgeandskillsoverthefulllengthoftheircareer.Itis,therefore,essentialthatthereis

majorreorientationofteachereducationtoensurethatteachersarefurnishedwiththe

necessaryknowledgeandskillstocopewiththenewdemandsplacedonthem.Itisstrangeto

notethattoooftenteachersarehelplessinfrontofmachineswhichrefusetowork.How

undignifieditisfortheteachertobethwartedbymachines

Withtheincreasedcapacityofcommunicationtechnology,languagewillbecomeavery

powerfulinstrument.Theteacher-educationprogrammeshouldbestrengthenedtodevelop

languagecompetencyamongourteacher-taught.Themoderntimedemandsmultilingual

competenceincludingthenewcomputerlanguagesthatareboundtoemergewithexpansionof

computer-technology.

Continuingteachersandothereducatorswhichcommencesafterinitialprofessional

educationisoverandwhichleadstotheimprovementofprofessionalcompetenceofeducators

allthroughouttheircareers.

Additional points on pre-service teacher education programes

B.Ed

Bachelor of Education(B.Ed full form is Bachelor of Education) is an undergraduate degree course that qualifies students to work as teachers in schools.B.Ed course duration is 2 years with a total of 4 semesters. The acronym of Bachelor of Education is B Ed. The B.Ed degree is necessary for teaching at the secondary and higher secondary divisions. Formerly often referred to as Bachelor of Training [BT] or in some universities as ‘Siksha Shastri’. The B.Ed syllabus is framed to meet the psychological temparment of the students and also focus on various educational methods of teaching.

M.Ed

M.Ed. stands for Master of Education or Master in Education. It is a Postgraduate Academic Master Degree Course. It is normally a 2 years program with 2 Semesters, however, some institutes offer a 1-year Regular M.Ed. course like - Shivaji University. The minimum period of passing the course is 2 years and the maximum is 4 years. This period duration may vary from institute to institute.  Master of Education Course can be pursued either as a Regular Course or through Correspondence/Distance Education Mode. The correspondence course is of 1-year duration. Masters Degree in Education is available in various subjects. Masters in Education Programs involve instruction, counseling, and administration. It is especially meant for educators preferring to advance their skills in the field. Masters Degree in Education is provided all over India in various Universities. Master of Education course is offered at most of the District Institute of Education & Training (DIET) centers across India. M.Ed. is mainly offered by institutions that are recognized by the National Council of Teacher Education, New Delhi. It is a government body in charge of improving and implementing teacher education programs in the country. It is essential to pursue the M.Ed. courses if one is interested in pursuing a teaching career. In every state in India, there are several institutions that offer Master of Education courses. Master of Education Degree essentially provides educational research, social and psychological foundations of the discipline

B.P.Ed

BPEd (Bachelor of Physical Education) is an undergraduate degree course which deals with the techniques that are useful to maintain the fitness of human body. The course is typically of three to four years duration. However, some universities also offer one or two-year duration BPEd course. BPEd can be pursued as a full-time or part-time course.Candidates having a deep passion for sports and related activities are the right pick for Bachelor of Physical Education course. A degree in BPEd can lead candidates to a variety of career options starting from being a part of the chosen sport to being a physical fitness trainer.   

 

M.P.Ed

Master of Physical Education is a two-year postgraduate program that offers knowledge about sports psychology, sports research methodology, sports medicines, physical injuries in sports and their exercises, computer application in physical education and exercise psychology.

 

The main aim of the course is to acquaint students with the dynamics of sports activities and to help them understand physical activities related to the sports. Since it's a masters level program, it provides students with professional training and knowledge about fitness in sports and enables them to enhance their skills and abilities in the respective field.Candidates are also trained to understand the theories and expertise of physical education and gain in-depth knowledge about fitness, physical training, therapy and consultation.

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Critical Appraisal of Secondary and Senior Secondary Teacher Education Programmes in Kerala


Teacher education is the subsystem of the larger system of education in any nation. The scenario of teacher education in the country to a certain extent reflects the nature of its education system. The total outline and the expenditure incurred on it indicate the strength and competence of the teacher education system without which the main system of education cannot be improved. The present study is a humble attempt to investigate into the aspects of the cost of teacher education in the state of Kerala. Therefore it is essential to present a factual picture of the system in the national context. The first section of this chapter is devoted to presenting the teacher education scenario and discussing certain problems related to it especially from the economic point of view. The second section deals with the now prevalent taxonomy of cost of P education, which has been used in this study.

Objectives of Teacher Education Programmes

In order to plan teacher education curriculum and training strategies, it is necessary to recall the multi-dimensional nature of the teacher's roles and functions:

 Organize learning resources

 Plan effective curriculum transaction strategies

 Conduct interactive classroom teaching

 Evaluate outcomes of learning

 Implement compensatory education programmes

 Cater to special needs of disabled children

 Organize and guide a variety of co-ordination activities

 Train students in problem solving Participate in complementary education

 Develop in student's qualities of democratic citizenship and promote environmental consciousness

 Organise and participate in programmes of community service and development

Teacher Education

It has already been mentioned that the total duration of school education as per the national norms is 12 years. It comprises of 8 years of elementary stage, which is preceded by pre-school, and is 4 followed by four years of secondary stage. Training of teachers for these

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three broad stages of schooling is provided through stage specific pre-service courses. State Boards of School Education are responsible for conducting examinations and certification of Pre School and Elementary Teacher Education courses. Universities give the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree for teaching at secondary level.

Teacher's Certification

The Pre-service Teacher Education programmes in India are tied up with common structure of school education. The school structure comprises 8 years of elementary stage followed by 4 years of secondary stage. Courses of teacher education are, therefore, offered stage-wise. Teacher education for the elementary stage is being carried out at about 800 institutions, which offer courses of two year’s duration and are open to candidates who have passed the senior secondary examination at the end of the 12th year of schooling. As the 32-states/union territories have been determining 4 the profile of their elementary education, certificates of teacher education for the elementary stage issued by the State Departments of Education have as many as 28 different names. Some of the names of elementary teacher certificates are BTC (Basic Teaching Certificate), D.Ed (Diploma in Education), TTC (Teachers' Training Certificate), JBT (Junior Basic Training), etc.

Teacher education for the secondary stage is being carried out at about 900 institutions in India. The course commonly called B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) is generally of one-year duration and is open to graduates. Affiliating universities, which also determine the curriculum, award the B.Ed. degree. As there are more than 200 universities in the country, the course contents of teacher education programmes for the secondary teachers though appear similar are generally different. It should, therefore, only be expected that teacher education programmes in the country have wide diversity.

Teacher education institutions in Kerala

There are mainly 2 categories of teacher training institution in Kerala.

1) Primary Teacher Training Institutions, which issue certificates called T.T.C. (Teacher Training Certificate). These teachers who are getting trained in these institutions and are qualified for teaching primary classes. The basic qualifications required for admission is high marks in secondary school leaving certificates or a higher secondary pass.

2) Secondary teacher education institutions, which issue Bachelor's degree certificates in education. The students who get high marks in Bachelor's degree / Master's degree are usually admitted to this course. In fact there is a third category of teacher training institutions also, which

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prepare teachers for teaching languages at primary and secondary schools. These institutions are generally called Language Teacher Training Institutes. The basic qualification required for the course is Bachelor's degree in language or oriental title such as Vidwan, Afzalul ulama (in Arabic), Praveen (in Hindi), Adebe Faze1 (in Urdu), etc. In addition to this kerala has Pre-primary Teacher

Training Institutes also for giving training to those who teach the pre-primary children. The basic qualification for admission to this course is high marks in Secondary School Leaving Certificate /a Bachelor's degree. Secondary Teacher Education the responsibility for secondary teacher education would continue to rest with colleges of teacher education affiliated to the Universities. At present there are 596 secondary teacher education institutions in India working under different types of management. They organize pre-service education courses for the university graduates to enable them to become secondary school teachers. A centrally sponsored scheme for the improvement of teacher education has been formulated by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Under this scheme, 250 secondary colleges of education are expected to raise their standards so as to develop them into institutions of excellence with increased inputs. The MHRD is providing financial assistance to meet the additional expenditure. Each college will have a teacher's resource centre for the in-service and extension programmes in new areas like training in educational technology.

Out of 250 colleges, 50 are being provided with special assistance so that they may develop into Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education (IASE).

Kerala has an enviable record of socio-economic achievements especially in providing access to education for all children. The teacher education system of Kerala is multi layered and situated at multiple levels in the administrative system. Yet when viewed as a whole the system appears to be fractured and fragments located in different departments - higher education, Department of Public Instruction, SSA, RMSA, etc. Kerala has had long and rich experience of intervention in school and teacher education over the last 25 years.

Teacher education curriculum of different colleges and universities suffers from lack of clarity and objectivity. Four universities of Kerala reportedly follow for different kinds of curricula. In higher education institutions for instance, research and teaching go hand in hand, though emphasis on either may vary. This separation in space that comprises teacher education has rendered its isolation from institutions that produce disciplinary knowledge on the one hand and school practitioners on the other. Even Departments of Education in universities though operating within the same intellectual space of the university, is cut off from other departments of the university as well as governmental agencies conducting other teacher education programs. While the demands for teacher support both at disciplinary and transactional levels have increased manifold, the teacher education system continues to remain in isolation, losing

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relevance and credibility, though it was claimed that the curriculum was "Pedagogical, Content and Technological Knowledge" oriented.

While examining the B.Ed course of each University in Kerala it can be found that there are more differences than similarities in the course structure and the total Mark's assigned for B.Ed course. When comparing the M.Ed course of the four universities, it is clear that the M.Ed course of University of Calicut is overburdened, as it shows in the total marks assigned to the course, with the number of theory papers that a student has to undergo in two semesters in addition to other practical works and dissertation.

Others

* Lack of efficient teachers.

* Duration of the programmes.

* Attitude of teachers and teacher educators.

* Lack of resources.

* Lack of facilities.

* Financial problems.

* Degradation of education.

* Intervention of political, social, religious and economical factors.

Courses for teacher education are offered stage wise. Courses for teacher education are therefore elementary stage carried out by 800 institutions which offer courses of two year durations and are open to candidate who passed the 12 examination. All the states including union territories issue the certificate by State Departmentary education. Have as many as 28 different names some of the names of elementary teacher certificate are BTC (Basic Teaching Certificate), D.Ed. (Diploma in Education), TTC and JBT (Junior Basic Training).

Teacher education for secondary stage is being carried by 900 institutions in India. The course commonly called B.Ed.. It has two year span. Affiliating universities also determine the curriculum. There are more than 200 universities in India and 5 of them are in Kerala.

Secondary Teacher Education

The responsibility for secondary teacher education would continue rest with colleges of teacher education afflicted to the universities. A centrally sponsored scheme for the improve of teacher education has been formulated by MHRD out of 250 colleges 50 are being provided with

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special assistance so that they may develop into Institute of Advanced Studies in education (IASE).

There has been a great expansion of higher education over the years. Kothari Commission remark "the destiny of India is being shaped in its classrooms but the quality of education is greatly determined by the quality of teachers. Great efforts were made and still are being made to improve the quality of teacher education. Some of the critical points concerning teacher education are discussed:

a) Problem of selection: Defects of selection procedure lead to the deterioration of quality of teacher education. Better selection procedure not only improves the quality of teaching but also save the personal and social wastage.

For better selection candidate can be selected after interview. Test of intelligence can be administered. Attitude, aptitude and interest inventory can administer. A well guidance service can be provided.

b) Deficiencies due to small duration provided for teacher training: the main purpose of teacher education programme is to create a aptitude broad based interest and values towards teacher education. It is not possible so far imbibing these interests towards teaching. Proper incentives have to be provided to each teacher trainee.

c) Defects of papers concerned: A student teacher should know the meaning of education, objectives, and the socio-cultural, political and economic background of the education. So arrange for exchange of experience than merely attending lectures and changing the mode of testing inputs. The content must have direct implications in the daily school teaching.

d) Problem of practice teaching: Student teachers are non-serious to the task of teaching, aimless, indifferent to children, lacking an innovative measure in teaching are some of the great obstacles in the develop of pedagogical skills.

e) Problems of supervision of teaching: The supervising organizations for practice teaching aims in bringing improvement in the instructional activities of the student teachers by using various techniques and practical skills in teaching and help them to develop confidence in facing classroom situations. This is done through by

• Supervision before classroom teaching

• Supervision during the classroom teaching

The supervisor offer a description type of desirable while constructive type is desirable. Their remarks are related to general personality of student teacher. The quality of supervised subject may in between the percentage 0.5-25. It is not appropriate for the evaluation of his or

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her work. So the school teacher should be assisted by the college supervisor in his work. Frequent conferences and consultations between them will help to relate them to practice and the student teacher will improve the performance in a realistic school setting.

f) Lack of importance to subject knowledge: B.Ed. curriculum does not emphasize the knowledge of the basic subject whole teaching indifferent with regard to the subject knowledge.

g) Faulty methods of teaching: Teacher educators are averse to innovation and experimentation in the use of method of teaching. Their acquaintance with the modern classroom communication devices are negligible.

h) Isolation of teacher’s education department: The teacher education has become isolated from schools and current development in school education. The schools consider the teacher education department as an alien institution and not a nursery for the professional development of school teachers. These departments only observe the formality of finishing the prescribed number of lessons and no care will be given for the pedagogy involved in the procedure.

i) Poor academic background of the student teachers: Most of the candidates do not have requisite motivation and an academic background for a well deserved entry into the teaching profession.

j) Lack of proper facilities: Teacher education given a step-motherly treatment. About 10% of teacher education buildings are rented without any facilities for an experimental school, laboratory, library and other equipment necessary for a good teacher education department.

k) Lack of regulations in demand and supply: State education department has no data on the basis of which they may work out of the desired intake of their institution. There is a considerable lag between demand and supply of teachers this will create the problem of unemployment and underemployment.

l) Inadequate empirical research: Research in education is considerably neglected. The research conducted is of interior quality. The teacher education programmes are not properly studied before undertaking any research.

m) Lack of facilities for professional development: Most of the programmes are conducted in routine and unimaginative manner even the association of teacher educators has not contributed anything towards development of sound professionalization of teacher education in the country.

n) Insufficient financial grants: Most of the teacher education is still being run by the fee collected from the students.

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Conclusion

Since the teacher is the pivot of the entire educational system and is the main catalytic agent for introducing desirable changes in the teaching learning process. All attempts need to be made for motivating teachers to become innovative and creative. It goes without saying that a self motivated and really industrious teacher can utilize his own resources to keep himself abreast of new knowledge and skills.

 

CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PRESENT SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM IN THE STATE.


 The Secondary curriculum is a skills-focused programme that provides students with a broad and balanced knowledge of key subjects, as well as effective critical thinking and communication skills. A kind of equiping our students for further academic studies.Secondary education is very important. Because  this was the last time the students can going to get a free education that taught them everything.

As per the modern thinking, education is a tri-polar process, in which on the one end is the teacher, on the second is the student and on the third is the curriculum. The most comprehensive concept of curriculum is given by those who conceive it to include the total environment of the school.”The curriculum includes all the learner’s experiences in or outside school which has been devised to help him develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and morally.

Thus, the various subjects included for study in a curriculum are not intended merely for study or rote learning but to convey experiences- of various kinds .Curriculum does not mean only the academic subject traditionally taught it the school, but it includes the totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold activities that go on in the school in the classroom, library laboratory, workshop, playground and in the numerous informal contacts between teachers and pupils.

Curriculum is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Curriculum is a means or tool. Explaining the concept of curriculum as a tool of education, Cunningham writes, “The curriculum is the tool in the hands of the artist (the teacher) to mould his material (the pupil) according to his ideal (objective) in his studio (the school).” Here the educator is compared to an artist and the curriculum as one of the instruments of tools used by him to develop the student  according to, and in conformity with the aims of education.

Curriculum is an important element of education. Aims of education are reflected in the curriculum. In other words, the curriculum is determined by the aims of life and society. Aims of life and society are related to constant change.Hence, the aims of education are also subject to change and dynamic. The aims of education are attained by the school programmes, concerning knowledge, experiences, activities, skills and values. Curriculum plays a vital role in providing knowledge and skills to cope up with the complexities and to respond and adjust with the social changes satisfactorily.

A careful analytical study of the Secondary School Curriculum existing today reveals a number of defects in its planning, construction and realisation of the purposes. These drawbacks seem to be closely associated with the principles of curriculum construction; broad goals of education as laid in the constitution and the socio-cultural and political environments of the student population

*the policies and programs setup by State board is relate to only the schools registered with them.

*Kerala state board works according to a syllabus designed and categorized by the ‘Department of Education’ of the state government which may or may not change in the next academic year.

*In case a student needs to change his/her residence  from one state to another, he might face some major challenges in shifting from one style and mode of education to another because the two states would follow different curriculums.

*It has been witnessed that some state boards have failed to update their curriculums even once according to the demand of the education field in the contemporary times. They have fastened on to the same curriculum and syllabus for subjects over the past years.

*Regular monitoring helps to update the old programs or to develop a new one. Regular monitoring and follow-up may help to identify the strength and weakness of the system and to compensate these in time.

*The curriculum is loaded with bookish knowledge and there is no scope for practical activities. As a result of our schools have become knowledge shops and Pupil knowledge mongers.

*The present curriculum is partly outmoded. As the Kothari Commission point out there has been tremendous explosion of knowledge in recent years and also a reformulation of the basic concept in the Physics biology and social science. These changes are in adequately reflected in the existing School programs.

*It is out of tune with life. the present curriculum takes little note of the challenging day today economic social and political issues that confront children in later life. In a good curriculum the development of useful skills and the inculcation of right kind of interest attitude and values needs sufficient emphasis.

*The curriculum is overcrowded with too many subjects and the real relationship between and among the subject is far from satisfactory. There is no correlation or fusion or integration of subjects.

*The curriculum demands that teachers to cover specific content in set class period, which discourages them to be enthusiastic about practical and co-curricular activities. Teachers are not left with sufficient time to make use of the field trips moving pictures play or such other constructive activities.

*Examinations have such an impact upon the teachers and Pupil that teachers are more concerned about Getting higher percentage of passes And students of concern about securing more marks in the examination.

*There are a good many information in the curriculum which are not in tune with the realities of time. Kothari Commission points out there have been a tremendous explosion of knowledge in recent years and also a reformulation of the basic concept in Physics Biology and Social Science. These changes are in adequately reflected in the existing School programs

*teaching can be made more effective if a science teacher is fully satisfied with the curriculum which he has to teach. Also he should know its utility it can be possible only when he studies the prevalent syllabus critically. It should be fully clear to him that each subject has certain specific aim which student have to achieve. A teacher should examine these aims and how they can be achieved on the basis of the present syllabus.

*There is little scope for character training in the present system of secondary education. Character is the crown of life. Value educa­tion is essential for character training but our secondary education does not attach much importance to education for values such as toleration, cooperation, fellow-feeling, truthfulness, modesty, re­spect to teachers or elders, spirit of self-respect, faith in national cultural tradition, secularism etc.

* A philosophy, the classification of beliefs about the purpose and goals of education, is essential to curriculum development. Such belief statements enable the educators to define the goals of education. But the present Secondary School Cuniculurn does not reveal a single or eclectic philosophical thought that supports the present system.  *Educational goals are the statements of the outcomes of education. The scope of the entire educational bpl-ogramrne of a school can be found in the goals of the school. Goals are the basic elements in educational planning. The reflection of societal needs in educational goals usually results in statements describing categories of human behaviour either in generality or specificity.

*The existing curriculum of the Secondary School level fails to demonstrate the ability to apply what is learned to practical situations in the community for improvement of life. This reason behind this is that curriculum is not based on the needs and aspirations of the different cultural environments of the students population.  * Students previous experience of the student community of different subcultures play a vital role in meaningful learning. But the present curriculum assumes the response of individuals in various subcultures will be alike. Therefore a uniform curriculum all over the country is sociologically and psychologically unsound.

*The democratic ideal of true citizenship through education is a major goal of education. But the curricular provisions made in it are inadequate to for the children to realise such a sobre ideal.  * Subjects like social studies, English, mathematics and science of the Secondaly School Curriculum do not reveal any real concern with the method of presenting those subjects.  * School is a provision of the community to educate its children.There is a two-way relationship; one should benefit from the other. The curriculum is to meet the basic needs of the community members. For this, schools have to function as community centres so that material and human resources are mutually benefited. Such a scope is apparently scanty for the curriculum focused its main attention on the intellectual aspects of the people.  * Self-sufficiency through education is a long-cherished wish of the pupils. For this, education should have a vocational bias. But such an approach has not been considered in the general academic pursuit at the secondaly level.  *Utilisation of local resources can enhance the process of education. Curriculum has to incorporate all the available local resources, human and material to enrich it and provide it a fund of knowledge. But our local resources still remain to be unexplored by the educationists.

*concept of human resource development has become important as the basic postulate behind and type of education. The bases upon which human resource development rests are knowledge, competencies and skills. These are to be imparted through the curriculum in a scientifically structured procedure.  * Education is now getting globalised. Futurologists of education look at education as what is happening at present. They are concerned with an ideal model of curriculum that should exist after a period of time. There may come a day when people only with real skills will be employed. Only the best people will be selected for the task. Therefore, there is the demand for skilled workers. It implies a technologisation of education and a re-orientation of all our methods of teaching. In this context the present curriculum has to be reconstructed in accordance with the changing technical and scientific innovations.  *We stand at the critical crossroads of disaster. Most important changes expected in human beings composing the society is the imbibition of affective objectives. A curriculum with special emphasis on the inculcation of character, attitude and values is of utmost importance at the critical stage.

* the syllabus for the secondary education should be interconnected. so that continuity of knowledge can be maintained syllabus should be analysed on the basis by which it can be helpful for the future education

Remedies suggested

*curriculum should be related to the needs of the Pupil. School facilities and teacher competencies should suit the demand of the curriculum

*school should be given autonomy to devise, evolve and adopt curricula suited to their own needs

*school should be given freedom to experience with new curricula

*science should be a basic component of the curriculum at all stages of the school education

*work experience should be an integral part of general education

*At the secondary school level vocationalisation of the curriculum should be done

* some kind of education in moral should be made compulsory for all the children

*Teachers should be given through training to analyse a curriculum_ including hidden curriculum and to adopt appropriate Strategies for goal oriented curriculum transaction.

                          I feel much better that we have a secondary education system that tries to educate everyone. Life in the coming decades is likely to bring new tensions together with unprecedented opportunities. To enable the people to benefit in the new environment will require new designs of human resource development. The coming generations should have the ability to internalise new ideas constantly and creatively. They have to be resolved with a strong commitment to human values and to social justice. Our educational system should be such that it upholds the democratic values and fosters religious tolerance. At the same time, it should promote self-sufficiency through equipping children with maximum skills and intellectual competence for better. employment opportunities. This aspect of education is of paramount significance for it is basic to the economic development of the counhy. The needs of the community and optimum utilisation of the community resources are to given prime consideration in educating children. This will help in strengthening the relationship between school and community and in making education life-oriented. Thus, the different aspects of curriculum construction and their concomitant issues rightly justify the urgency of restructuring the existing Secondaty School Curriculum in a manner, which would satisfy the individual and societal needs of our counhy. 

 

 

CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PRESENT EVALUATION SYSTEM IN SECONDARY LEVEL


Evaluation is a continuous process of education. It is an act or process of assigning ‘value’ to particular task. It is not only occurred with the academic achievement of the student but also assessment of a student’s progress towards stated objectives, effectiveness of the curriculum and best practices of Method of teaching or teaching learning process as a whole. Evaluation is more comprehensive term rather than measurement. Few years, it was the common issue regarding the evaluation system followed by CBSE, SEBA and State Education; parents, the common people and even the teachers were not in favor of the then examination system prevailed in the schools under SEBA. A common allegation was that the students passed out through the examination system of SEBA can’t compete in national level examination. So a better evaluation system was mandatorily needed to be introduced to the education specifically to the secondary level to make students more bright and capable.

PURPOSE OF EVALUATION SYSTEM

 

           A Reducing stress on students so as to maximize student’s educational output.

           Constantly looking over student’s performance at small intervals of course for better growth of student.

           Preventing teachers on using negative comments on student’s performance so that he/she doesn’t get demoralized.

           Teaching student through various techniques and examples so that he/she understands the concept completely.

           Increasing the participation of students in the learning process so they experience everything themselves.

           Participation of student in more and more co-curricular activities so as to recognize the abilities of an academically non-performer into other fields.

PRESENT EVALUATION SYSTEMS IN SECONDARY LEVEL

CCE

The introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is considered as one of the major steps taken in this regard to improve and strengthen the quality of learner evaluation. Today we are in a Global village, where world-class educated people take maximum material advantage. If we want to sustain the process of development in all its aspects and dimensions, we have to swim with the global current. For that we have to follow the footprints of highly developed educational system(s) of the world. That doesn’t mean we have to overthrow the existing educational system as a whole, instead we should incorporate the necessary changes in the existing system.

“CCE is an approach wherein progress will be assessed by multiple intelligence approach rather than by the conventional testing styles.”

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

Internal assessment is the process in which the teachers and schools judge the students’ performance on the basis of his performance. Also, this process does not involve any outside person for assessment.

GRADING

Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters, as a range, as a percentage, or as a number out of a possible total. In some countries, grades are averaged to create a grade point average.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

Portfolio assessment is a term with many meanings, and it is a process that can serve a variety of purposes. A portfolio is a collection of student work that can exhibit a student's efforts, progress, and achievements in various areas of the curriculum. A portfolio assessment can be an examination of student-selected samples of work experiences and documents related to outcomes being assessed, and it can address and support progress toward achieving academic goals, including student efficacy.

SEMESTER SYSTEM

A semester system is an academic term. It is division of an academic year, the time during which a college holds classes. It also might be applicable in the schools and universities. Usually, a semester system divides the year in two parts or terms. Sometimes, it might be trimester or quarter semester.

CHALLENGING SCENARIO OF EVALUATION PRACTICE IN INDIA

It becomes essential for the Teachers to adopt scheme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation that help in confirming whether or not learners have mastered the comprehensives or not. it is a very well-known fact that evaluation is done to measure the understanding and knowledge of the learners. But the evaluation of skills and abilities are neglected to a great extent which results in its challenges.

The continuous and comprehensive evaluation system introduced by Government under RTI, becomes a great and difficult task for teachers as well as students.

Under the system in becomes mandatory for teachers to evaluate their students on weekly basis. But at the same time students from rural side tends to go school very rarely.

Therefore, assessing students on weekly basis is a great challenge which is faced by teachers under continuous comprehensive evaluation system of education. CCE does not allow students to be failed up to class 8. Sometimes students won't even acquire knowledge up to the standard and they are not evaluated properly based on their skills and abilities.

Scenario of evaluation practices in school’s certain empirical studies conducted at regional level and other study report states that, CCE is not adopted yet and they follow the old regional form of education. Other challenges such as,

1. Continuous assessment is not followed systematically.

2. Competencies are not assessed through planned procedure of evaluation.

3. Assessment of wrong thing. We not get the exact picture of what students have actually acquired as their knowledge or skill.

 

4. Formative feedback is not provided.

5. Learning difficulties are not identified.

6. Remedial Instructions are not provided.

7. Personal and social qualities are avoided undervaluation because and exact idea of what is to be evaluated is still lacking.

8. Evaluation practices conducted in schools especially in rural areas are still conventional in their nature and practice.

9. After getting orientated teachers do not follow CCE in real classroom environment.

10. Due to certain factors the evaluator is biased, the teachers are unable to find out at what level the student have acquired skill or mastery.

11. In case of overcrowded classrooms, CCE is just a show off.

12. Examinations conducted are predominantly written type. Speech or oral exams under CCE are totally ignored.

DRAWBACKS OF PRESENT EVALUATION SYSTEM

Our entire education system is centered around examinations. Evaluation means to conduct the examination and to give marks and ranks to students. Student’s knowledge is often limited to by hearing and reproducing the same in the examinations. Their innate talents are not recognized; instead their capability in writing examination is being tested. It is restricted to only by hearting or rot memory. There is no uniformity in evaluation, different types of evaluation systems are prevailing in different boards i.e. government, ICSE, CBSE etc. There is no flexibility in the conducting of tests. It is rigid board examinations are only helping in classifying students as meritorious and slow learners; that is in turn pass/fail. This leads to unhealthy discrimination. The tests and examinations conducted at present are only testing the memory power of the students; they are not measuring the higher order skills of learning, like analysis, synthesis and problem solving. The examinations are mechanical. Correcting and posting of marks is done routinely. There is no scope for remedial teaching and testing to know how far a student is lagging behind. Examinations are not helping in assessing the all-round development of the student that is co- curriculum social personal qualities and health status and also they are not helping to testify their level of competency. Despite of several modern evaluation methods introduced in education there persist many drawbacks in it. Modern evaluation methods like CCE, INTERNAL ASSESSMENT, GRADING, PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT AND SEMESTER SYSTEM have several demerits which still needs improvement to effectively evaluate students and their knowledge.

In CCE method, the grading system has its biggest disadvantage because students scoring 90 and 99 marks are both kept in Grade A+. There is no segregation. The internal exam papers are evaluated by school teachers, which means that there is a huge possibility of favouritism. The students have a casual approach towards re-evaluation as this option is readily available for them. There has been an introduction of language labs for conducting listening and speaking classes in Hindi and English. However, a lot of schools do not have the infrastructure and facility for the purpose.

Internal Assessment possess its own demerits, there are chances that teacher may misuse it for their own benefit. Also, in the hand of the inexperienced and insincere teacher, it can cause harm to students. Most noteworthy, it will lose its importance due to unfairness, favouring a student, and bias-ness.

Similar cases are found in semester system of assessment too. In semesters system, students do not get chance to re-evaluate their papers, so they have to manage and maintain their grades. There is less time for research, students do not get enough opportunity to research, time passes very quickly and it does not let students to have complete knowledge about the subject. Sometimes, teachers cannot convey the whole knowledge of the subject due to short time. Students do not get time for extra study; as a result, they just have basic knowledge of the subject.

Due to grading system, children tend to perform less. They know that they will achieve the targeted grade even by making a few mistakes. For instance, if a student targets the grade A that involves the range from 90% to 100%. He will know that even if he scores 90, grade A will be assigned hence he doesn’t require to score 95 or 100. Grading system demotivates the students who perform higher because they stand equal to those making less efforts. For instance, grade A will be assigned to all those scoring from 90 to 100. So students who made no mistakes and those who made a few, all will stand equally at one grade.  As grading system has divided the marks among different tasks such as assignments, presentations and final exams, the students become lethargic due to it. They score enough in assignments and projects and become lesser active in final exams. It does not insist a sense of competitiveness among the students and an accurate measure of scoring is still a miss in grading and other evaluation methods.

MEASURES TO ERADICATE THE DRAWBACKS

1. A stronger relation between learning outcomes and assessment need to be created by upgrading proper grading technique. Instead of grading A for 90-100%, A grade must have higher cut off of above 95-100% in every evaluation approach.

2. Higher stress to be given on formative assessment rather than just grading assessment. That is, assessment should be done more on learning rather than just exam based. What student learned is more important than what syllabus covers.

3. Pass/Fail assessment should also be included in certain courses.

4. Continuous evaluation should be conducted properly by conducting quizzes, assignment, projects and seminars.

5. Favouritism of teachers towards students must be avoided by random evaluation of papers to provide better grading.

6. Timely completion of syllabus especially when it comes to semester system. Rushing of syllabus can create havoc in the pre-set curriculum.

Strategies and plausible solutions for the implementation of CCE

It is very important to adopt CCE system of education in schools in order to develop a standard of teaching. despite the ranging benefits CCE is still ignored in several schools because of the lack of knowledge about the proper system of education. There are several strategies to overcome the challenges face by schools and teachers in order to adopt CCE system of education.

           The principal and teachers should develop an action plan indicating the scheme of evaluation, identifying the task and the role of teachers, different activities and their time schedule, mode of implementation and feedback, mechanism among remedial strategy.

           Orientations, workshops should all be managed to all personals who are involved in the evaluation.

           Proper monitoring and supervision under the observation of expert is necessary to check the accuracy of evaluation.

           The institutes like NCERTs, SCERTs, DIETs may prepare diagnostic and criterion test for different classes.

           Question bank may be readily developed in order to help teachers to evaluate the students on weekly basis.

           Record keeping is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to continuous evaluation. For the Teachers who do not have proper knowledge of computers must take proper time to keep the records meticulously for a longer period of time.

           Formative feedback is must for providing remedial classes for improvisation.

           The entire syllabus should be reduced and designed in such a way that CCE can be implemented properly.

           Teacher training is must before teachers are oriented in different schools providing complete knowledge about the CCE system of education in all levels.

           Class strength should be reduced so that a single teacher can conduct proper evaluation of each and every student. 30-35 would be appropriate.

           The appropriate tools and test needed for assessing students in CCE basis should be designed by experts and given to teachers. Teachers can also be given training to construct validity tools and test during their training period.

           Students and parents should be given proper awareness about CCE method. Concept of CCE and its implementation procedures must be explained to them properly.

CONCLUSION

Evaluation is one of the indispensable component of any curriculum. It plays a very crucial role in teaching learning process and influence the quality of teaching and learning. only when learners evaluated their weakness the skills and abilities can be estimated by the teacher in order to build whatever necessary changes a student requires for his or her future. With the onset of globalization skilled workers are necessary for the future and for that purpose learners should be evaluated properly so that proper skills and abilities can be built within them. And for that purpose several evaluation methods such as CCE, grading system, internal assessment, portfolio, semester system etc can help learners to acquire the necessary skills and abilities from their school time onwards.

 

Secondary and senior secondary curriculum, Features, Principles and Relevance


Etymologically, the term curriculum is derived from the Latin word “currere” which means “run”. Thus curriculum means a course which one runs to reach a goal or destination. In this sense, education is considered as a race, with its aim as the goal, and curriculum as the course, leading to that goal. It is sometimes called a course of study.It describes the ground which pupil and teacher cover to reach the goal or objective of education. So the term ‘curriculum’ refers to a group of subjects or courses of study arranged in a particular sequence, for instructional purposes in schools.

According to Cunningham, “curriculum” is the tool in the hands of an artist to mould his material, according to his ideals in his studio”. In this definition, artist is the teacher, material is the student ideals are objectives and studio is the educational institute.

Aims and objectives of curriculum

Synthesis of subject and life:

The primary aim of curriculum is to provide the educands those subject of study which will enable them to bridge the gap between school life and life outside the school.

Complete development :

The aim of education is to achieve the physical, mental, moral, social, religious and spiritual development of the educand.The  curriculum aims at making such a complete development possible.

Development of democratic values:

In all democratic countries, education must aim to develop values of equality, liberty and fraternity. So that the educamd may develop into citizens of a democratic society. Special emphasis should be laid on the development of values such as tolerance, respect to others, co operation, we feeling and civic sense.

Satisfaction of the educand's needs:

It is seen that the great variety of interests, skills, abilities, etc existing among educands.

Realization of values:

The Ultimate  aim of education is the development of character and what is required for this is to help the educand internalise various desirable values.

Acquisition and strengthening of knowledge :

The term education is taken to me acquisition of relevant knowledge and hence it may be considered as the most fundamental objectives to be realized by a curriculum.

Creation of suitable environment :

The environment must assist the educand in achieving the maximum possible development of his intellect, emotions and skills

Harmony between individual and society:

The success of a democracy depends upon the efficiency of the individual as revealed in once personal life as well as social life. The society has to look after the individual while the individual has to contribute the development of the society.

Child -centred curriculum :

This is learner oriented. Subjects should be choosen and taught keeping in view the social, emotional and intellectual needs of children as well as their capabilities and developmental status.

Experience - centred curriculum :

This lays stress on the experience which the individual is to get while participating in the process of learning. Under this pattern, experience of the individuals is the starting point of learning and not the subject matter or the interest of the individual

Undifferentiated curriculum :

This means a curriculum which doesn't aim at the specialized study of various subjects. Specialization should come at the higher secondary and college levels. At the primary and secondary stages we should have undifferentiated or  integrated curriculum.

 

Principles of Secondary (Education) School curriculum

 Principles of Secondary Education were issued in 1918 by the commission on the recognition of Secondary Education. The focus of this Commission was to form objectives for secondary education.

1.Health

    A Secondary School should encourage good health habits, give health instruction and provide physical activities. Good health should be taken into account when schools and communities are planning activities for youth.

2. Command of fundamental processes

     Fundamental processes are writing, reading,oral  and written expression and math.It  was decided that this basics should be applied to never material instead of using the older ways doing things.

3. Worthy home membership

     This principles calls for the development of this qualities that make the individual every member of a family both contributing to and deriving benifits from that membership.This principle should be taught through literature,music, Social Studies and art.

4.Vocation

 The  objective of this principle is that the student gets to know him or herself and a variety of courses. So  that the students can choose the most suitable course.The student should  develop and understanding of the relationship between the vocation and the community in which one lives and works.

5. Civic Education

   The goal of Civic education is to develop an awareness and concerns  for one's own community.

6.  Worthy use of leisure

The  idea behind this principle is that education should give the student the  skills to enrich his or her body, mind, spirit and personality in his or her leisure. The school should also provide appropriate recreation.This principle should be thought in all subjects out primarily in music, art, literature, drama, social issues and Science.

7.Ethical Character

      This  principle involves inatilling in the student the notion of personal response involves and initiative. Appropriate teaching methods and school organisation are the primary examples should be used.

Features of curriculum

The Curriculum is continuously evolving.

The Curriculum is the result of a long-term efforts.

The Curriculum is a complex of details.

The Curriculum provides for the logical sequence of subject matter.

 

What is the National Curriculum?

The National Curriculum is a programme of study, set by the Government, which says what children of different age groups should be taught and what level they should reach.The National Curriculum often changes. Most of its current format was introduced in 2014, although some small changes were made a year later.The National Curriculum applies to all children in local authority-maintained schools. So, from the age of 5 until they are 16, most children’s learning follows the guidelines set by the Government.  Here, how the National Curriculum affects children in secondary schools.The National Curriculum was first introduced in 1988. It applied to all state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland choosing its own curriculum. Since then, education has become a matter for devolved government and the National Curriculum now only applies to English schools.

Why do we need the National Curriculum?

The purpose of the National Curriculum is to standardise education throughout the country. It ensures that children of the same age are taught the same things, regardless of which state school they attend. This helps when families move between towns. If all schools cover the same topics, then a change between them should not affect a child’s education.Apart from subjects taught and topics covered, the National Curriculum also sets out how children should be tested and the standards they should achieve. This helps to compare schools - if they are all teaching the same things and testing in the same way, how their students’ perform can be easily assessed.Must Every Child’s Education Follow the National Curriculum?Although the majority of secondary schools follow the National Curriculum, there are some which do not. All local authority-maintained schools have to teach the National Curriculum. However, private, academy and free schools are all free to teach their own curriculum of chosen subjects and topics.Private or independent schools receive no government funding and so are exempt from the National Curriculum. Government funded free schools and academies also don’t have to follow the National Curriculum.

In addition, if you choose to educate your child at home you don’t have to follow the National Curriculum. However, you would be wise to do so. The material it covers will help, especially when it comes to the all-important GCSE exams.The secondary school curriculum is the programme of study set by the Government.

What are Key Stages?

The National Curriculum is divided into four key stages (KS1 to KS4). Key Stages 1 and 2 are taught in primary schools. In secondary schools Key Stage 3 is taught to children in Years 7, 8 and 9 and Key Stage 4 to pupils in Years 10 and 11. At the end of every key stage pupils are tested and assessed to see how well they are doing and whether they have reached the desired standard.

 

What is the Secondary School Curriculum?

The vast majority of secondary schools follow the National Curriculum, the programme of study set by the Government. However, academies and free schools are free to choose their own curriculums. Despite this, in reality most do not...Secondary school curriculum is the second stage in the system of public education usually beginning with Vth to VI and ending class X th of high school or XI and XII Of higher secondary school during which education is differentiated in varying degrees according to the needs, interests and aptitudes of the pupils. Secondary education is very important because for about half of those entering it. It represents the terminal  point of formal schooling. For this substantial group of the learning experience of this stage of education becomes important for their future living in society. The second face of the importance of this stage is that, it is the bridge between the general formation of the mind and personality which school education ans higher learning specialization which the college and university represents. This stage is both a criterion of the schools system and the forcaster of the learning features of the university. Finally it is at the period that character begins to be formed. Character as a multi faced expression of the affective, the slow learning of the vocational and the boundless vistas opened up by the spiritual and intellectual. These many factors of human personality at it's formative stage that the secondary stage must subserved.

- Leading an independent life

- Developing an social life

- Leads to inner freedom

- Social and physical development

- Modifications of behavior

- Promote democracy

- Process of learning and knowing

Which Subjects are Taught in Secondary Schools? The National Curriculum sets out which subjects secondary school pupils are taught. There are 3 ‘core’ subjects which must be taught in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 - maths, science and English. There are a further 9 ‘foundation’ subjects which must be taught in KS3: • History • Geography • Modern foreign languages • Art and design • Music • Design and technology • Physical education (which must include swimming) • Computing (often called information and communication technology or ICT) • Citizenship Religious education is also a subject on the National Curriculum and all state maintained schools have to teach it. Lessons should cover a range of religions, not just one. However, if parents don’t wish their child to be taught about religious beliefs different to their own, they can choose to exclude their children from these lessons.All secondary pupils in local authority-maintained schools must also be taught sex and relationship education. However, if parents don’t wish their children to have these lessons they can withdraw them from the classes.In KS4 the curriculum is less defined. The 3 core subjects of maths, science and English must be taken by all pupils, along with computing and PE. However, all other subjects are optional. What are ‘Entitlement Areas’? Schools must provide access to a minimum of one course in each of 4 ‘entitlement areas’ for KS4 pupils. They must also make it possible for pupils to take one course in all 4 of these if they wish to do so.The four areas are:-

• The arts (art and design, music, dance, drama and media arts) • Design and technology (electronics, food technology, graphics, resistant materials, systems and control, textiles and product design)

• The humanities (geography and history) • Modern foreign languages (French, German, Spanish etc.) Optional subjects for KS4 vary between schools. Some subjects may be restricted and others (particular languages for example) may not be offered at all. How are Secondary School Children Assessed? How pupils do in KS3 will affect what subjects they choose for KS4’s GCSEs. However, there are no national tests taken in KS3. Instead, children’s coursework is assessed and taken into consideration along with, in some cases, in-school tests.Schools have a duty to keep parents informed about how their child is doing. There should be regular parents’ evenings and school report cards so you always know how well your child is performing.At the end of KS4 the most important assessment of secondary education takes place – GCSEs. What are GCSEs? GCSEs are 2-year courses of study taken during years 10 and 11 (KS4). At the end of the course students are graded in exams and by assessment of their coursework. They were brought in as a replacement for O Levels and CSEs in 1986, and the first GCSE exams were taken in 1988. How many GCSEs do Children Have to Take? Pupils usually take a number of subjects at GCSE level. Each school determines the number of GCSEs its pupils can take, which could be as many as 12 or as few as 7. Aside from the obligatory maths, science and English, students select their remaining GCSE options in Year 9. What they choose will have bearings on their future so encourage your child to pick subjects needed for any chosen career as well as ones that interest them.

How are GCSEs Graded? In the past GCSE students were given marks between A* (the highest) and G (the lowest). Scores below a G were marked as U for ‘ungraded’. However, things have recently changed. Grades now range from 9 (highest) to 1 (lowest). Here’s how the new grades compare to the old: • Grade 9 – The top mark is even higher than the old A* • Grade 8 – Below an A* but above an A • Grade 7 – Slightly below an A but only just • Grade 6 – Slightly better than a B • Grade 5 – Below a B but above a C. Also called a ‘strong pass’

• Grade 4 – Equivalent of a C. Also called a ‘standard pass’ • Grade 3 – Below a D but above an E

• Grade 2 – Between an E and an F • Grade 1 – Between an F and a G • Ungraded - The lowest mark possible. As in the old system, a U denotes a fail.  Why has GCSE Grading Changed? The new grading system was introduced to differentiate between the very highest performing children. Along with the change in marking, some of the questions have changed too and are now a little more challenging. The aim is to find the very brightest pupils. In 2017 only 3% of students managed to score the much sought-after Grade 9. Which GCSE Subjects Include Coursework in Exam Results?

GCSE exams are very important but, in many subjects, students’ coursework is assessed as part of their GCSE results. In practical subjects, like art, design and technology or music, 60% of a student’s GCSE will be marked on coursework. 40% of the English Literature result is also based on work done in class or at home. How Important are GCSEs? For many college courses, grades of 4 or above are required, so good GCSE results are vital for anyone wishing to go to university in future.At the end of KS4 the most important assessment of secondary education takes place –GCSEs. There’s a lot to the National Curriculum - subjects studied, topics covered, tests taken and expected standards. But, armed with the information in this guide, you now know what it entails. That should help you to help your child through the trials and tribulations of secondary school.

 

Objectives of Secondary Education

Secondary education should provide the learner with opportunities to:

 

acquire necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the development of the self and the nation

promote love for and loyalty to the nation

promoter harmonious co-existence among the peoples of Kenya

develop mentally, socially, morally, physically and spiritually

enhance understanding and respect for own and other people's cultures and their place in contemporary society

enhance understanding and appreciation of interrelationships among nations

promote positive environmental and health practices

build a firm foundation for further education and training

develop ability for enquiry, critical thinking and rational judgment

develop into a responsible and socially well adjusted person

promote acceptance and respect for all persons

enhance enjoyment in learning

identify individual talents and develop them

build a foundation for technological and industrial development

develop into a self-disciplined individual who appreciates work and manages time properly.

Higher secondary Education Curriculum

Curriculum is the rational conversation between learner and coursework in higher education. It is the students' experience, on any given campus, of any given course; each syllabus represents one sequential or supporting piece of evidence that students have indeed engaged the institution.

Principles

Principle of continuity:

The development of higher education stage will be governed by the principle of continuity. It has double connotations. First one is basic continuity of the newly formed higher secondary stage with the past education system

Principle of international sharing:

A second principle which helps in the growth and flowering of the higher secondary stage is that like all learning, it also functions under the principle of the international storehouse which both enriches and widens education systems everywhere.

Principle of conforming to national goals:

Above all higher secondary education must be integrated with the goals of national development in the sense that it must serve them and be juded by the extend to which it is helping i n their realization.

Removal of employment :

A first national target is to remove unemployment and under - employment with in the next ten years. This is a hard and somewhat ambitious tasks.Nss estimates that there are at presen 19 million man years of unemployment and that 70 million persons have to be provided work om the next decade.

Removal of destitution :

The second agreed national aim is to remove destitution also with in the next 10 years. Destitution refers to the worst form of poverty, that is, of the 50% destitutes.while the removal of unemployment and under employment is a necessary condition  for the removal of destitution, ot is not a sufficient condition, or under employment but even more because employment and poverty or even destitution co-exist in the country.

Rural Development :

The third emerging objective  is rural development villae uplift and encouragement to tiny cottage and small industries.it is recognized that India leaves in her villages and the processes of national development must reflect this reality.

Adult literacy:

There is one more important national purpose that is the universalization of primary education and removal of adult literacy to be attained with in a five year period. That the formal school system must serve.

 

Principles of Curriculum Development

This article is about the principles of curriculum development. While you are studying curriculum development and its need and importance you should be aware of the principles of curriculum development. This is because these principles help you when you yourself are up to the task of curriculum development. From B.Ed. point of view this topic comes in the study of pedagogy of various subjects and under subject Knowledge and curriculum. You might also consider visiting the article on Bases of curriculum.

In curriculum development, we think about the type of learning experiences to be given to a child at various age and grade levels.

It needs systematic and sequential planning to widen the sphere of the learning experience at each level by keeping in view the principles of integration and correlation.

The curriculum is usually concerned with two questions

What should we teach? What should be the content of education?

How should we organize it and how should we teach?

To answer these questions we should now discuss the principles of curriculum development.

Suitability to the age and mental level of the children

What is to be given to the children in the form of learning experiences at a particular age and grade level should suit their age and mental development

The capacity for understanding, how children grow with age. The content of the study in any subject should be formed to suit their mental ability.

(b) According to the specific interests of students

Children will be able to learn better in fields where they have special tastes and inclination of the mind.

It is also found that at different stages of age groups, children have different interest patterns.

Interests of children also change according to circumstances and situations.

Therefore learning experiences should be designed to suit the interests and tastes of the age group of students.

(c) The curriculum should be environmentally centered

The content of the learning experiences for children should be linked with the needs of the environment in which they live.

For example, children from rural areas can understand and grasp easily the information which is directly concerned with their experiences in their own rural environment.

The same thing applies to children in a various environments like urban areas, hilly areas, etc.

(d) The principle of the comprehensive curriculum

The curriculum must have the necessary details. List of topics to be covered does not solve the purpose.

Both teachers and students should know clearly what is expected of them, what is the beginning and what is the end of the topic for the particular class.

Material, aids, activities, life situations etc. should be listed in the curriculum.

(e) Principle of co-relation

The curriculum should be such that all the subjects are correlated with each other.

While designing the curriculum, it must be kept in mind that the subject matter of various subjects has some relation to each other so that they help the child eventually.

(f) The principle of practical work

Children are very active by nature.

They like new things and can learn more by doing or by activity method.

Therefore curriculum should be designed in such a way that it provides maximum opportunity to the child for practical work with the help of concrete things.

(g) Principle of flexibility

Instead of being rigid curriculum should show the sign of flexibility.

The organization of the curriculum should be on the basis of individual differences as every child is different from the other.

Apart from these conditions of society go on changing, therefore, the curriculum must be flexible enough to address the needs as aspirations of the society.

(h) Principle of forward-looking

This principle asks for the inclusion of those topics, content and learning experiences that may prove helpful to the students in leading their future life in a proper way.

(i) The principle of consultation with teachers

Teachers play a key role in the implementation of the school curriculum of any grade or stage.

It is therefore quite essential to seek the proper involvement of the teachers in the construction and development of the school curriculum.

(j) The principle of the joint venture

It is necessarily a joint venture where various experts are involved like educational psychologists, educational technologists, curriculum specialists, evaluation specialists, teachers, subject matter experts etc.

 

curriculum develpoment

(k) The principle of availability of time and other resources

Curriculum is the means to realize the outcomes of the educational objectives of the school. Implementation of the curriculum is equally important as curriculum construction. While developing curriculum experts should also keep its implementation in mind. They should be aware of the conditions of the schools and possible availability of time and resources available.

Secondary and senior secondary curriculum, Features, Principles and Relevance

 

Etymologically, the term curriculum is derived from the Latin word “currere” which means “run”. Thus curriculum means a course which one runs to reach a goal or destination. In this sense, education is considered as a race, with its aim as the goal, and curriculum as the course, leading to that goal. It is sometimes called a course of study.It describes the ground which pupil and teacher cover to reach the goal or objective of education. So the term ‘curriculum’ refers to a group of subjects or courses of study arranged in a particular sequence, for instructional purposes in schools.

According to Cunningham, “curriculum” is the tool in the hands of an artist to mould his material, according to his ideals in his studio”. In this definition, artist is the teacher, material is the student ideals are objectives and studio is the educational institute.

Aims and objectives of curriculum

Synthesis of subject and life:

The primary aim of curriculum is to provide the educands those subject of study which will enable them to bridge the gap between school life and life outside the school.

Complete development :

The aim of education is to achieve the physical, mental, moral, social, religious and spiritual development of the educand.The  curriculum aims at making such a complete development possible.

Development of democratic values:

In all democratic countries, education must aim to develop values of equality, liberty and fraternity. So that the educamd may develop into citizens of a democratic society. Special emphasis should be laid on the development of values such as tolerance, respect to others, co operation, we feeling and civic sense.

Satisfaction of the educand's needs:

It is seen that the great variety of interests, skills, abilities, etc existing among educands.

Realization of values:

The Ultimate  aim of education is the development of character and what is required for this is to help the educand internalise various desirable values.

Acquisition and strengthening of knowledge :

The term education is taken to me acquisition of relevant knowledge and hence it may be considered as the most fundamental objectives to be realized by a curriculum.

Creation of suitable environment :

The environment must assist the educand in achieving the maximum possible development of his intellect, emotions and skills

Harmony between individual and society:

The success of a democracy depends upon the efficiency of the individual as revealed in once personal life as well as social life. The society has to look after the individual while the individual has to contribute the development of the society.

Child -centred curriculum :

This is learner oriented. Subjects should be choosen and taught keeping in view the social, emotional and intellectual needs of children as well as their capabilities and developmental status.

Experience - centred curriculum :

This lays stress on the experience which the individual is to get while participating in the process of learning. Under this pattern, experience of the individuals is the starting point of learning and not the subject matter or the interest of the individual

Undifferentiated curriculum :

This means a curriculum which doesn't aim at the specialized study of various subjects. Specialization should come at the higher secondary and college levels. At the primary and secondary stages we should have undifferentiated or  integrated curriculum.

 

Principles of Secondary (Education) School curriculum

 Principles of Secondary Education were issued in 1918 by the commission on the recognition of Secondary Education. The focus of this Commission was to form objectives for secondary education.

1.Health

    A Secondary School should encourage good health habits, give health instruction and provide physical activities. Good health should be taken into account when schools and communities are planning activities for youth.

2. Command of fundamental processes

     Fundamental processes are writing, reading,oral  and written expression and math.It  was decided that this basics should be applied to never material instead of using the older ways doing things.

3. Worthy home membership

     This principles calls for the development of this qualities that make the individual every member of a family both contributing to and deriving benifits from that membership.This principle should be taught through literature,music, Social Studies and art.

4.Vocation

 The  objective of this principle is that the student gets to know him or herself and a variety of courses. So  that the students can choose the most suitable course.The student should  develop and understanding of the relationship between the vocation and the community in which one lives and works.

5. Civic Education

   The goal of Civic education is to develop an awareness and concerns  for one's own community.

6.  Worthy use of leisure

The  idea behind this principle is that education should give the student the  skills to enrich his or her body, mind, spirit and personality in his or her leisure. The school should also provide appropriate recreation.This principle should be thought in all subjects out primarily in music, art, literature, drama, social issues and Science.

7.Ethical Character

      This  principle involves inatilling in the student the notion of personal response involves and initiative. Appropriate teaching methods and school organisation are the primary examples should be used.

Features of curriculum

The Curriculum is continuously evolving.

The Curriculum is the result of a long-term efforts.

The Curriculum is a complex of details.

The Curriculum provides for the logical sequence of subject matter.

Relevance of Secondary&Senior secondary  curriculum

Secondary education i s important because for about half of thos e entering it represents terminal point of formal schooling.

It is the terminal point of formal schooling.

The learning experience of this stage of education become important.

For future living in the society the secondary education is very important.

It is a bridge between the school and the higher education.

It is a bridge between the general formation of the mind and personality

It is a period of character formation, intellectual, spiritual, physical and social development  etc...

It is many faces of human personality at its formative stage that the secondary stage must be sub served...for leading an independent life, develop an interaction, development of social life...it leads to inner freedom, social and physical development, modifications of behavior, promote democracy, its a process of learning and knowing.

Objectives

All the objectives of secondary education has been achieved through secondary curriculum.

Secondary education should provide the learners to aquire necessary knowledge, skills  and attitude for the development of people an d nation.

Promote the love and loyalty to the nation.

Promote harmonious co existence relationship

Develop mentally, morally, socially, cultural, spiritual and physical.

It enhance understanding and respect our culture and also other people's culture.

Enhance understanding and appreciation of international relationship.

Promote positive enviromental and health practices.

Build a form foundation for future education and training.

Develop ability for inquiry critical thinking and rational judgment.

Develop in to a responsible and socially well adjusted person.

Promote acceptance and respect for all persons.

Enhance enjoyment in learning

Identify individual  talents and develop them.

Build a foundation for technological and industrial development.

Develop in to a self desciplined individual. Who appreciates work and who is able to manage time properly.

Aims

Improvement of vocational efficiency

Development of democratic citizenship

They will have the qualities of discipline, tolerance etc

Education for leadership is provided in secondary education.

Development of social, spiritual and values.

Inculcate patriotism and nationalism.

Foster love and humanity.

Promote respect for human right.

Appreciate the role of national heroes. In the historical development of the country.

Teach the right and duties of citizenship.

Strengthen ethical and spiritual values.

Develop moral character and personal discipline.

Encourage critical and creative thinking.

Broader scientifical and technological knowledge.

Develop vocational efficiency.

 

What is the National Curriculum?

The National Curriculum is a programme of study, set by the Government, which says what children of different age groups should be taught and what level they should reach.The National Curriculum often changes. Most of its current format was introduced in 2014, although some small changes were made a year later.The National Curriculum applies to all children in local authority-maintained schools. So, from the age of 5 until they are 16, most children’s learning follows the guidelines set by the Government.  Here, how the National Curriculum affects children in secondary schools.The National Curriculum was first introduced in 1988. It applied to all state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland choosing its own curriculum. Since then, education has become a matter for devolved government and the National Curriculum now only applies to English schools.

Why do we need the National Curriculum?

The purpose of the National Curriculum is to standardise education throughout the country. It ensures that children of the same age are taught the same things, regardless of which state school they attend. This helps when families move between towns. If all schools cover the same topics, then a change between them should not affect a child’s education.Apart from subjects taught and topics covered, the National Curriculum also sets out how children should be tested and the standards they should achieve. This helps to compare schools - if they are all teaching the same things and testing in the same way, how their students’ perform can be easily assessed.Must Every Child’s Education Follow the National Curriculum?Although the majority of secondary schools follow the National Curriculum, there are some which do not. All local authority-maintained schools have to teach the National Curriculum. However, private, academy and free schools are all free to teach their own curriculum of chosen subjects and topics.Private or independent schools receive no government funding and so are exempt from the National Curriculum. Government funded free schools and academies also don’t have to follow the National Curriculum.

In addition, if you choose to educate your child at home you don’t have to follow the National Curriculum. However, you would be wise to do so. The material it covers will help, especially when it comes to the all-important GCSE exams.The secondary school curriculum is the programme of study set by the Government.

What are Key Stages?

The National Curriculum is divided into four key stages (KS1 to KS4). Key Stages 1 and 2 are taught in primary schools. In secondary schools Key Stage 3 is taught to children in Years 7, 8 and 9 and Key Stage 4 to pupils in Years 10 and 11. At the end of every key stage pupils are tested and assessed to see how well they are doing and whether they have reached the desired standard.

 

What is the Secondary School Curriculum?

The vast majority of secondary schools follow the National Curriculum, the programme of study set by the Government. However, academies and free schools are free to choose their own curriculums. Despite this, in reality most do not...Secondary school curriculum is the second stage in the system of public education usually beginning with Vth to VI and ending class X th of high school or XI and XII Of higher secondary school during which education is differentiated in varying degrees according to the needs, interests and aptitudes of the pupils. Secondary education is very important because for about half of those entering it. It represents the terminal  point of formal schooling. For this substantial group of the learning experience of this stage of education becomes important for their future living in society. The second face of the importance of this stage is that, it is the bridge between the general formation of the mind and personality which school education ans higher learning specialization which the college and university represents. This stage is both a criterion of the schools system and the forcaster of the learning features of the university. Finally it is at the period that character begins to be formed. Character as a multi faced expression of the affective, the slow learning of the vocational and the boundless vistas opened up by the spiritual and intellectual. These many factors of human personality at it's formative stage that the secondary stage must subserved.

- Leading an independent life

- Developing an social life

- Leads to inner freedom

- Social and physical development

- Modifications of behavior

- Promote democracy

- Process of learning and knowing

Which Subjects are Taught in Secondary Schools? The National Curriculum sets out which subjects secondary school pupils are taught. There are 3 ‘core’ subjects which must be taught in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 - maths, science and English. There are a further 9 ‘foundation’ subjects which must be taught in KS3: • History • Geography • Modern foreign languages • Art and design • Music • Design and technology • Physical education (which must include swimming) • Computing (often called information and communication technology or ICT) • Citizenship Religious education is also a subject on the National Curriculum and all state maintained schools have to teach it. Lessons should cover a range of religions, not just one. However, if parents don’t wish their child to be taught about religious beliefs different to their own, they can choose to exclude their children from these lessons.All secondary pupils in local authority-maintained schools must also be taught sex and relationship education. However, if parents don’t wish their children to have these lessons they can withdraw them from the classes.In KS4 the curriculum is less defined. The 3 core subjects of maths, science and English must be taken by all pupils, along with computing and PE. However, all other subjects are optional. What are ‘Entitlement Areas’? Schools must provide access to a minimum of one course in each of 4 ‘entitlement areas’ for KS4 pupils. They must also make it possible for pupils to take one course in all 4 of these if they wish to do so.The four areas are:-

• The arts (art and design, music, dance, drama and media arts) • Design and technology (electronics, food technology, graphics, resistant materials, systems and control, textiles and product design)

• The humanities (geography and history) • Modern foreign languages (French, German, Spanish etc.) Optional subjects for KS4 vary between schools. Some subjects may be restricted and others (particular languages for example) may not be offered at all. How are Secondary School Children Assessed? How pupils do in KS3 will affect what subjects they choose for KS4’s GCSEs. However, there are no national tests taken in KS3. Instead, children’s coursework is assessed and taken into consideration along with, in some cases, in-school tests.Schools have a duty to keep parents informed about how their child is doing. There should be regular parents’ evenings and school report cards so you always know how well your child is performing.At the end of KS4 the most important assessment of secondary education takes place – GCSEs. What are GCSEs? GCSEs are 2-year courses of study taken during years 10 and 11 (KS4). At the end of the course students are graded in exams and by assessment of their coursework. They were brought in as a replacement for O Levels and CSEs in 1986, and the first GCSE exams were taken in 1988. How many GCSEs do Children Have to Take? Pupils usually take a number of subjects at GCSE level. Each school determines the number of GCSEs its pupils can take, which could be as many as 12 or as few as 7. Aside from the obligatory maths, science and English, students select their remaining GCSE options in Year 9. What they choose will have bearings on their future so encourage your child to pick subjects needed for any chosen career as well as ones that interest them.

How are GCSEs Graded? In the past GCSE students were given marks between A* (the highest) and G (the lowest). Scores below a G were marked as U for ‘ungraded’. However, things have recently changed. Grades now range from 9 (highest) to 1 (lowest). Here’s how the new grades compare to the old: • Grade 9 – The top mark is even higher than the old A* • Grade 8 – Below an A* but above an A • Grade 7 – Slightly below an A but only just • Grade 6 – Slightly better than a B • Grade 5 – Below a B but above a C. Also called a ‘strong pass’

• Grade 4 – Equivalent of a C. Also called a ‘standard pass’ • Grade 3 – Below a D but above an E

• Grade 2 – Between an E and an F • Grade 1 – Between an F and a G • Ungraded - The lowest mark possible. As in the old system, a U denotes a fail.  Why has GCSE Grading Changed? The new grading system was introduced to differentiate between the very highest performing children. Along with the change in marking, some of the questions have changed too and are now a little more challenging. The aim is to find the very brightest pupils. In 2017 only 3% of students managed to score the much sought-after Grade 9. Which GCSE Subjects Include Coursework in Exam Results?

GCSE exams are very important but, in many subjects, students’ coursework is assessed as part of their GCSE results. In practical subjects, like art, design and technology or music, 60% of a student’s GCSE will be marked on coursework. 40% of the English Literature result is also based on work done in class or at home. How Important are GCSEs? For many college courses, grades of 4 or above are required, so good GCSE results are vital for anyone wishing to go to university in future.At the end of KS4 the most important assessment of secondary education takes place –GCSEs. There’s a lot to the National Curriculum - subjects studied, topics covered, tests taken and expected standards. But, armed with the information in this guide, you now know what it entails. That should help you to help your child through the trials and tribulations of secondary school.

 

Objectives of Secondary Education

Secondary education should provide the learner with opportunities to:

 

acquire necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the development of the self and the nation

promote love for and loyalty to the nation

promoter harmonious co-existence among the peoples of Kenya

develop mentally, socially, morally, physically and spiritually

enhance understanding and respect for own and other people's cultures and their place in contemporary society

enhance understanding and appreciation of interrelationships among nations

promote positive environmental and health practices

build a firm foundation for further education and training

develop ability for enquiry, critical thinking and rational judgment

develop into a responsible and socially well adjusted person

promote acceptance and respect for all persons

enhance enjoyment in learning

identify individual talents and develop them

build a foundation for technological and industrial development

develop into a self-disciplined individual who appreciates work and manages time properly.

Higher secondary Education Curriculum

Curriculum is the rational conversation between learner and coursework in higher education. It is the students' experience, on any given campus, of any given course; each syllabus represents one sequential or supporting piece of evidence that students have indeed engaged the institution.

Principles

Principle of continuity:

The development of higher education stage will be governed by the principle of continuity. It has double connotations. First one is basic continuity of the newly formed higher secondary stage with the past education system

Principle of international sharing:

A second principle which helps in the growth and flowering of the higher secondary stage is that like all learning, it also functions under the principle of the international storehouse which both enriches and widens education systems everywhere.

Principle of conforming to national goals:

Above all higher secondary education must be integrated with the goals of national development in the sense that it must serve them and be juded by the extend to which it is helping i n their realization.

Removal of employment :

A first national target is to remove unemployment and under - employment with in the next ten years. This is a hard and somewhat ambitious tasks.Nss estimates that there are at presen 19 million man years of unemployment and that 70 million persons have to be provided work om the next decade.

Removal of destitution :

The second agreed national aim is to remove destitution also with in the next 10 years. Destitution refers to the worst form of poverty, that is, of the 50% destitutes.while the removal of unemployment and under employment is a necessary condition  for the removal of destitution, ot is not a sufficient condition, or under employment but even more because employment and poverty or even destitution co-exist in the country.

Rural Development :

The third emerging objective  is rural development villae uplift and encouragement to tiny cottage and small industries.it is recognized that India leaves in her villages and the processes of national development must reflect this reality.

Adult literacy:

There is one more important national purpose that is the universalization of primary education and removal of adult literacy to be attained with in a five year period. That the formal school system must serve.

 

Principles of Curriculum Development

This article is about the principles of curriculum development. While you are studying curriculum development and its need and importance you should be aware of the principles of curriculum development. This is because these principles help you when you yourself are up to the task of curriculum development. From B.Ed. point of view this topic comes in the study of pedagogy of various subjects and under subject Knowledge and curriculum. You might also consider visiting the article on Bases of curriculum.

In curriculum development, we think about the type of learning experiences to be given to a child at various age and grade levels.

It needs systematic and sequential planning to widen the sphere of the learning experience at each level by keeping in view the principles of integration and correlation.

The curriculum is usually concerned with two questions

What should we teach? What should be the content of education?

How should we organize it and how should we teach?

To answer these questions we should now discuss the principles of curriculum development.

Suitability to the age and mental level of the children

What is to be given to the children in the form of learning experiences at a particular age and grade level should suit their age and mental development

The capacity for understanding, how children grow with age. The content of the study in any subject should be formed to suit their mental ability.

(b) According to the specific interests of students

Children will be able to learn better in fields where they have special tastes and inclination of the mind.

It is also found that at different stages of age groups, children have different interest patterns.

Interests of children also change according to circumstances and situations.

Therefore learning experiences should be designed to suit the interests and tastes of the age group of students.

(c) The curriculum should be environmentally centered

The content of the learning experiences for children should be linked with the needs of the environment in which they live.

For example, children from rural areas can understand and grasp easily the information which is directly concerned with their experiences in their own rural environment.

The same thing applies to children in a various environments like urban areas, hilly areas, etc.

(d) The principle of the comprehensive curriculum

The curriculum must have the necessary details. List of topics to be covered does not solve the purpose.

Both teachers and students should know clearly what is expected of them, what is the beginning and what is the end of the topic for the particular class.

Material, aids, activities, life situations etc. should be listed in the curriculum.

(e) Principle of co-relation

The curriculum should be such that all the subjects are correlated with each other.

While designing the curriculum, it must be kept in mind that the subject matter of various subjects has some relation to each other so that they help the child eventually.

(f) The principle of practical work

Children are very active by nature.

They like new things and can learn more by doing or by activity method.

Therefore curriculum should be designed in such a way that it provides maximum opportunity to the child for practical work with the help of concrete things.

(g) Principle of flexibility

Instead of being rigid curriculum should show the sign of flexibility.

The organization of the curriculum should be on the basis of individual differences as every child is different from the other.

Apart from these conditions of society go on changing, therefore, the curriculum must be flexible enough to address the needs as aspirations of the society.

(h) Principle of forward-looking

This principle asks for the inclusion of those topics, content and learning experiences that may prove helpful to the students in leading their future life in a proper way.

(i) The principle of consultation with teachers

Teachers play a key role in the implementation of the school curriculum of any grade or stage.

It is therefore quite essential to seek the proper involvement of the teachers in the construction and development of the school curriculum.

(j) The principle of the joint venture

It is necessarily a joint venture where various experts are involved like educational psychologists, educational technologists, curriculum specialists, evaluation specialists, teachers, subject matter experts etc.

 

curriculum develpoment

(k) The principle of availability of time and other resources

Curriculum is the means to realize the outcomes of the educational objectives of the school. Implementation of the curriculum is equally important as curriculum construction. While developing curriculum experts should also keep its implementation in mind. They should be aware of the conditions of the schools and possible availability of time and resources available.

 

Assessment and Evaluation in Secondary Level - New Trends in Evaluation: Grading, Internal Assessment


Assessment is defined as a methodical way of acquiring, reviewing and using information about someone or something, so as to make improvement where necessary. The term is interpreted in a variety of ways ,i.e. educational, psychological, financial, taxation, human resource and so on. In general, assessment is an on going interactive proceds, in which two parties (assessor and assesse) are involved.  The assessor is someone who assesses the performance based on the defined standards, while assesse is someone who is being assessed.  The process aims at determining the effectiveness of the overall performance of the assesse and the areas of improvement.  The process involves;

           Setting up goals

           Collecting information (qualitative and quantitative)

           Fusing the information for increasing quality.

 

Why Assessment is Important?

First and foremost,assessment is important because it drives students learning.  Whether we like it or not, most students tend to focus their energies on the best or most expeditious way to pass their‘tests'.  Based on this knowledge, we can use our assessment strategies to manipulate the kinds of learning that takes place.  For example, assessment strategies that focus predominantly on recall of knowledge will likey promote superficial learning. On the otherhand, if we choose assessment strategies that demand critical thinking or creative problem-solving, we are likely to realize a higher level of student  performance or achievement.  Inaddition, good assessment can help students become more effective self-directed learners. (Angelo and Cross, 1993).

"Evaluation is the collection of, analysis and interpretation of information about any aspect of a programme of education or training as part of a recognised process of judging its effectiveness, its efficiency and any other outcomes it may have."

Mary Thorpe in "Handbook of Education Technology" (Ellington, Percival and Race, 1988)

As the authors point out, Rowntree (1992) makes comment on this definition as follows:-

 

           Evaluation does not equal Assessment

           We should not ignore the unexpected.

           Evaluation is a planned systematic and open endeavour.

Evaluation and assessment although often used interchangeably, refer to different levels of investigation.  Evaluation is concerned at the macro or holistic level of the learning event, taking into account the context of learning and all the factors that go with it, where as assessment can be seen as the measurement of student learning and is one of the elements that go into an evaluation, the micro-level. One aspect of any sound evaluation is the allowance for the unexpected. Above all an evaluation is a designed and purposeful enquiry which is open to comment.the elements that go into an evaluation, the micro-level. One aspect of any sound evaluation is the allowance for the unexpected. Above all an evaluation is a designed and purposeful enquiry which is open to comment.

 

Grading system in Evaluation

When students' level of performance are classified into a few classificatory units using letter grades, the system of assessment is called grading system.

           In grading, classification is made on 5 point, 7 point, 9 point scale etc.

           Fundamentally a 'grade' is a score.

           Grading considered to be more scientific way of evaluation as it solves the problems of borderline cases by including all the pupils falling within a wider range with in the same grade.

           Identifies the students' performance level within a wide range.

           Grading involves the use of set of specialized symbols whose meaning ought to be objectively defined in terms of specific criteria.

           In 5 point scale grading system the categories are: Outstanding, very good, good, average, below average.

Grading

Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters, as a range, as a percentage, or as a number out of a possible total. In some countries, grades are averaged to create a grade point average

   Grade means "to evaluate or rank," like teachers who grade their students or a food inspector who grades a crop, determining whether it is "food-grade." Grade can be both a noun and a verb. The verb form is used when you grade something, meaning you assign it a value.

What is grading system

A grading system in education is a system that is used to assess the educational performance of a child which is entirely based upon points alone.

According to many teachers and students, grading system is a good initiative and providing valuable advantages such as:

Advantages

 

Reduced score pressure: The grading system has reduced the scoring pressure of students. According to grading method, the actual marks of a subject do not get mentioned on transcripts but only the grades. Which means that now students do not have to score specific marks for good impression but only target a grade that can be achieved easily.

Advanced Grading Pattern: The grading system is based on an advanced marking pattern. Unlike old times, now students get assessed on the basis of monthly assignments, objective and subjective tests, presentations, quizzes and final term paper. That one paper marking system is long gone and now students can perform a little in each task and score overall a good grade.

Identification of Weakness and Strengths: Grading system let the students identify their weaknesses and strengths. Teachers grade children’s skills of writing, reading and listening. Which means that students can easily know about their lacking abilities through the assigned grades and work on them to improve overall performance.

Easier Studies: The grading system has made studies easier in many ways. Those who only want to pass can simply make lesser efforts to achieve passing grade. And those who want to score higher can divide the effort per task and achieve the overall targeted grade easily.

 

Disadvantages

Just like advantages, grading system has also some disadvantages such as:

Decreased Performance: Due to grading system, children tend to perform less. They know that they will achieve the targeted grade even by making a few mistakes. For instance, if a student targets the grade A that involves the range from 90% to 100%. He will know that even if he scores 90, grade A will be assigned hence he doesn’t require to score 95 or 100.

Demotivation: Grading system demotivates the students who perform higher because they stand equal to those making less efforts. For instance, grade A will be assigned to all those scoring from 90 to 100. So students who made no mistakes and those who made a few, all will stand equally at one grade.

Increased Lethargy: As grading system has divided the marks among different tasks such as assignments, presentations and final exams, the students become lethargic due to it. They score enough in assignments and projects and become lesser active in final exams.

Types of Grading Systems

There are 7 types of grading systems available. They are :

Norm-Referenced Grading Systems

One method of grading compares student achievement to that of her peers, a system called norm-referenced grading. In this grading format, the number of students who can earn a particular grade is predetermined by the instructor or departmental rules. For example, a department may decide for purposes of placement into advanced courses that only 15 percent of a class may earn the highest grade possible. A norm-referenced grading system relies partially on student performance and partially on the performance of classmates.

Advantages:

           Norm-referenced systems are very easy to use.

           They work well in situations requiring rigid differentiation among students where, for example, program size restrictions may limit the number of students advancing to higher level courses.

           They are generally appropriate in large courses that do not encourage cooperation among students but generally stress individual achievement.

Disadvantages:

           One objection to norm-referenced systems is that an individual's grade is determined not only by his/her achievements, but also by the achievements of others. This may be true in a large non-selective lecture class, where we can be fairly confident that the class is representative of the student population; but in small classes (under 40) the group may not be a representative sample. One student may get an A in a low-achieving section while a fellow student with the same score in a higher-achieving section gets a B.

           A second objection to norm-referenced grading is that it promotes competition rather than cooperation. When students are pitted against each other for the few As to be given out, they're less likely to be helpful to each other.

 Criterion-Referenced Grading Systems

Unlike the norm-referenced system of grading, a criterion-referenced system focuses on specific information that students attain through the learning process. In this system, the instructor determines which skills are necessary for students to learn, what tasks students must perform to learn those tasks, and a system for assessing student learning outcomes. These grading types commonly matches a percentage of points earned with a letter grade. In some schools, for example, 70 to 79 percent of points earned would give a student a letter grade of "C."

Advantages:

           Students are not competing with each other and are thus more likely to actively help each other learn. A student's grade is not influenced by the caliber of the class.

Disadvantages:

           It is difficult to set reasonable criteria for the students without a fair amount of teaching experience. Most experienced faculty set these criteria based on their knowledge of how students usually perform (thus making it fairly similar to the norm referenced system).

Mastery-based grading

Mastery-based grading  is an innovative system for assessing learners that promotes deeper learning. The idea behind this fresh grading concept is to structure your courses in a way that allows learners the time and flexibility to focus on mastering a standard rather than achieving a certain number or letter grade.

 

Narrative grading

The Narrative Evaluation System (NES) is a nontraditional grading system, which provides constructive feedback on student’s performance using a narrative format.  In construct, NES draws heavily from Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm theory. 2  The theory states that narration and storytelling are the basis of all human communication. 2  In the NES system, the evaluator takes into account the objectives of the course when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a student’s performance

Peer grading

 In some classes, a portion of a student's grade is determined by peers' evaluation of his/her performance. If students are told what to look for and how to grade, they generally can do a good job. Agreement between peer and instructor rating is about 80%. Peer grading is often used in composition classes and speech classes. It can also be a useful source of information for evaluating group work; knowing that group members have the opportunity to evaluate each other’s work can go a long way in motivating peers to pull their weight on a project and to reassure group members that their contributions will be recognized. If used, peer evaluation should always be done anonymously

 

Internal assessment

Assessment of learner's behavior changes qualitatively by the way of internal judgment is known as internal assessment.

           Internal assessment is continues periodic and internal.

           Internal assessment does not necessarily replace the examinations.

           Internal assessment demands that the outcomes of learning a particular subject.

           The main purpose of introducing internal assessment is to integrate teaching and evaluation and to test those skills and abilities which cannot be tested through a written examinations at the end of a course.

 

Definition:

 • Internal assessment refers to the process evaluating students or staffs by the people who govern it.

           No external authority or office is liable to interfere with the test given to the members of the institution. The only governing body is the head of the institution.

 

Basic principles of internal assessment

           Should be continuous and made by subject teacher, it does not replace exam.

           It uses suitable evaluation tools and techniques.

           Fix proportion of marks according to hours of instructions and importance of subject to nursing.

           Used as a feedback to improve teaching.

           Students should know their internal assessment marks before their final exams.

           Give opportunity to students to improve their internal assessment grade by additional tests, assignments etc.

           Results must be studied statistically.

           Improve a number of components.

 

Components of internal assessment

           Subject wise assessment.

           Assessment of co curricular activities.

           Assessment of personality traits.

 

Need for internal assessment

#To give credit in final assessment.

#To reduce tension associated with final examination.

#To provide link for feedback in teaching.

 #To evaluate sphere of activity this cannot be alone through public exam.

 #To provide opportunity to the teacher to evaluate his/her students.

 #To induce students for continue learning.

Advantages

 •No undue weight age is given to annual or external exams.

 •Students will be engaged in study throughout the year.

•They will be more regular, alert and science in students.

           Eleventh hour preparation in exams will be reduced to minimum.

           Internal assessment helps to reduce anxiety and prevent nervous breakdown in students.

Disadvantages

           A teacher may misuse it.

           It can cause a great harm in the hands of an inexperienced, insincere teacher.

           It will lose its validity if favourism, personal prejudice and subjectivity.

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)

CCE stands for Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. It is a system which was introduced by CBSE in India to assess all aspects of a student’s development on a continuous basis throughout the year. It covers both scholastic subjects as well as co-scholastic areas such as performance in art, music, dance, sports, athletics and other cultural activities. Those students who are not good in academics can show their talent in these fields.

 

SEMESTER SYSTEM


  Introduction         

Ever since the inception of an educational system, it has never been consistent all over the world. Through exposure and elevation in the knowledge for new ideas and concepts, the educationalists keep looking for feasible manners to pass the knowledge. There have been innumerable reforms in the educational system leading to greater results. The idea of these reforms has always been to have a comprehensive approach to education. As a product of these investigations, the semester system of education was introduced replacing the annual system.

What is the Semester System of Education?

A semester system is an academic tern that divides an academic year into two terms or parts. The word semester literally means six-month period. In most of the Indian colleges, the six-month semester system is followed. So, a three-year-long bachelors degree comprises 6 semesters and a two-year-long master’s degree consists of four semesters.

Some of the objectives of the semester system are many-

1. To broaden the outlook of the students and instill in them a sense of confidence and responsibility.

2. The student gets more chances to remain well versed.

3. Unit tests act as model tests for the final examination.

4. A detailed account of the student’s progress graph can be produced in semester system.

5. To acquaint the students with different forms, styles and thoughts in other parts of the country and beyond.

6. The semester system allows greater interaction with teachers and the students will be more focussed on preparing throughout the year.

7. It is also part of the current trend in education system in other parts of the country and beyond.

How to evaluate students under semester system?

1. Change Weighting Scale

When calculating a final grade for report cards, teachers use student assignments, tests, quizzes, and exams collected over the semester. Each type of assessment holds a certain “weight” in the overall grade. Exam results might be worth 50% of the entire grade, while daily assignments are worth 20%. For students with instructional accommodations and modifications, teachers can adjust the importance or weight of an assessment activity.

   2. Use Informal Observation

Observing students throughout the school day can give important insight into their learning needs and progress. Collecting data through notes, checklists, sticky notes, and audio notes can help teachers keep track of student strengths and needs. Moreover, informal observations alert teachers to issues and information that one can’t provide on a written test.

   3. Allow for Self-Assessment

Give students an opportunity to assess their own learning and reflect on the progress they are making. They can identify their own gaps in skills or knowledge, revise their work, and set realistic goals. This process also helps students stay motivated and interested in their own learning.

 4. Provide Multiple Test Formats

Tests do not need to be restricted to pencil and paper formats. Students with written output issues can be given oral-response tests. Teachers can use multiple choice, long answer, short answer, diagrams, charts, fill-in-the-blank, and other graphic organizers to have students answer questions about material.

           There are hundreds of ways that teachers can assess students over the course of a school year. Giving students numerous ways to demonstrate their learning can give teachers a clearer picture of student progress than with written tests alone.

   Advantages of Semester System

There are many merits of this semester system. They may be as follows,

1. It is good for the student community. As these students are the futures of society.

2. It creates awareness of the parallel streams prevalent in various parts of the country.

3. It keeps the students in touch with the books the whole year. It can prove beneficial for the students.

4. The compulsion of tests in between has made the students presence in the colleges all throughout the year. In present world there are too many distractions available for the youth to go astray. Engagement in tests and examinations in the colleges can keep them busy in more fruitful works, which will be personally beneficial for them too.

5. The students will be constantly evaluated and the depth and breadth of their knowledge will improve.

6. It allows greater interaction with teachers and the children will be more focused on preparing throughout the year.

7. This will give the students to cooperate in the future with the universities, most of who run in the semester system. There shall follow continuity in the imparting of the education and examination system with the introduction of the semester system.

8. For some students, it will be better as there will be fewer courses as compared to annual.

9. The semester system allows the students no luxury of studying at the last moment and still getting good marks in the final exams. So one has to be on his toes throughout and cannot bunk classes or afford to take your studies lightly. This is certainly a good point of the semester system and it will keep everyone working all through their college life seriously rather that turning to just last minute studies which many students resort to because of the structure of the current evaluation system.

10. The other plus point of the semester system is that it means that the student gets tested on very small sections at a time, so when he gives the final exams where the whole curriculum is assessed, one is in a position to write an even better exam than with the current system as this means he is already aware of the problem areas and by the time of the final exams, you will have a chance of improving your percentage in the final assessment.

11. When students go to undergraduate colleges after school, they are compelled to revert back to annual system. Introduction of semester system now will no more shock the students about the system.

Disadvantages of Semester System

1. Semester system faces inadequacy of time. Most of the times teachers fail to complete the syllabus in time. Students who join late will face lot of difficulties to catch the subject and complete the revision.

2. Semester system increases the workload as the evaluation process is conducted twice a year.

3. Semester system does not give any scope for extra classes due to lack of time.

4. Semester system restricts co-curricular activities as most of the time teachers are engaged in completion of syllabus and students are involved in the revision of completed syllabus.

Conclusion

        Most of the institutes and universities in India follow the semester system as it improves the quality of education. Though students feel pressure in the semester system, it facilities them to study regularly which develops reading habit among the students.Many a time, because of having to manage assignment deadlines and exams simultaneously, students feel academically burdened. But, this system has been proved to be better at grading assessment than the annual system.

PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT

      Portfolio are a specific type of performance assessment that involves the systematic collection of a student's work products over a specified period of time according to a specific set of guidelines (ARE etal.,1999)

      A portfolio is a collection of student's work selected to serve a particular purpose such as doccumentation of student growth. Portfolio is a purposeful collection of pieces of student work.Portfolios are sometimes described as the portraits of a person's accomplishments.A portfolio is a collection of materials assembled by students to demonstrate achievements. A portfolio is a collection of a students work covering an external period of time.Portfolios can include works in progress as students just work or work of which the student is most proud.

     Portfolio can be used in daily instruction by teachers and assessment of student progress. It provide information to teachers about student achievement as they move from one grade to the next.They can be used as the basis for determining grades and for reporting student achievement and progress to parents.

 Types of portfolios

 Portfolios are of many different types each of which can serve one or more specific purposes as part of an overall school or classroom assessment programme.

1.  Working  portfolio : This . type of is also known as the documentation portfolio. A working portfolio is a planned compliation  of work done by the student which is to be assessed for attainment of learning objectives. One of the purpose of a working portfolio is diagnosis and the teacher will be able to trace the students level of understanding of the content area by evaluating the samples submitted.

.2. Showcase, Display or Best work portfolio : This type of portfolio are useful to assess mastery of learning concepts and skills.It highlight the best products over a particular time period or course. Best work portfolios contain what the students selects as their exemplary works. This portfolio displays best work of a student, decided on by discussion between student and teacher. The show case phortfolio is used to display photographs, videotapes and electronic records of student's completed work. It also include a return analysis and reflections by the student on why he chose displayed items.

3. Evaluation portfolios : The  assessment of portfolio documents what the students have learned through the year. Test, experiments, laboratory records, descriptive answers, science quizzes,  articles, projects and other artefacts etc  can be included in assessment of portfolio.This type of portfolio records student learning on specific curriculum outcomes. It is designed to help teachers determine whether the students have established standards of performance.

4.Representative portfolios : It contain a broad representative sample the students work.

5.Growth or Learning Progress portfolios : This type portfolio includes  selections that illustrate the student progress over the academic period.

Portfolio Assessment

    Portfolio assessment is the systematic purposeful recollection of students work created in response to a specific objectives and evaluated in relation to some criteria. Assessment is done by measuring the individual works as well as a whole against specified criteria with a specific purpose.

Importance of Portfolio Assessment

1. Portfolios are a form of authentic  assessment in which students progress is measured over a period of time in various contexts.

2.Portfolio  assessment is closely linked to instruction. By linking assessment to instruction we can measure what we taught and can identify any weakness in instructional practice

3.It promote positive  student involvement.

4.Teacher can individualized instruction for the student.

5. It familiarise an evaluation format to the student.

6.It provide opportunities to involve parents in learning.

Guidelines  for developing portfolio assessment

1.Decide on the purpose  of the portfolio.

 a.  Enhance learning.

 b.  Assign grades

c.  Some combination  of the two.

2.Decide on what type of items will be placed in the portfolio.

 a. Best works

 b.  Representative  products.

 c.  Growth or learning process.

 d.  Evaluation

3. Decide who will select the items to include in the portfolio.

 a. Teacher

 b.  Student

 c. Teacher and student collaboration.

4. Establish procedures for evaluating or scoring the portfolio.

  a. Specify  the evaluation criteria.

  b.  Provide specific standards.

  c.  Decide on holistic approach.

5. Promote  student involvement  in the process.

Benefits of portfolio  assessment

For students :

1. Selecting items to include in the portfolio.

2. Engaging  in a non competitive activity.

3.Experiencing a collaborative  climate among students.

4.Having ownership and tangible evidences of learning.

5. Building self esteem.

6. Reflecting and judging their own works.

7.Clarifying expectations.

8.Having ongoing  feedback regarding their works.

9. Enables to demonstrate  others his/her learning and progress.

10. Student becomes an active participants in the learning and assessment  process.

For teachers :

1. Connecting assessment  and instructions.

2. Providing diagnostic  information about a student's strength and instructional needs.

3. Generating meaningful examples of student growth constructing  knowledge of what constitutes high quality  work.

4. Having concrete  example of student performance to discuss with family members.

5. Provides a cumilative records  of growth and development  of a skill or competency in an area over a period of time.

For parents :

1. Viewing student progress overtime.

Strength of Portfolio Assessment

1. Learning progress can be clearly shown.

2. Focus on students best work provides a positive influence on learning.

3. Provides for adjustment to individual differences.

4. Provides greater motivation.

5. Self assessment  skills are increased.

6. Provide clear communication  of learning progress to students,  parents, and others.

7. Students take responsibility for their learning and become reflective learners.

8.provide a cumilative record.

9.Students become active participant in the learning and assessment process.

10.  Portfolios are strengthens the relationshipEssa between  instruction and assessment.

Weakens of Portfolio Assessment

1. Scoring portfolios in a reliable manner.

2. Conducting portfolio assessments properly is a time consuming and demanding  process.

3. Portfolios being collection  of artefacts and samples can be unwieldy and burdensome to handle.

Steps in Portfolio Assessment

1.Identify the portfolio content.

2. Develop evaluation  procedure.

3. Holding  portfolio conferences.

4.Countinous updating.

5. Structuring of portfolio material accompanied by a reflective journal.

6. Clear labelling and numbering of content for easy reference.

The Portfolio Process

The process of facilitating successful student portfolios can be broken into four steps:

         collection

         selection

         reflection

         connection

Collection

Although the first step, collection, is straight-forward, it is not always an easy step to facilitate successfully. It simply requires students to collect and store all of their work. Three challenges at this step are common.

One, most students and many teachers are not accustomed to documenting and saving all class work. Two, there is seldom an obvious place to put the work as it is collected, particularly when artwork or lab work is involved. And three, it is not always obvious how to generate artifacts from things like field trips, community service projects, jobs, and sports. The key skill in this step is to get students accustomed to collecting and documenting whenever possible..

Selection

How one facilitates the second step, selection, depends on the kind of portfolio (process or product oriented) and to what degree a teacher stipulates portfolio requirements. In this step, students will go through the work they collected and select the artifacts for their portfolio. This may be done by the student alone, with peers, and/or with the teacher. Many characteristics about the curriculum come to light in this step, particularly the nature of the work students are doing in class. For instance, if all students have to show are quizzes and tests, the portfolio will be rendered almost meaningless by failing to shed light on anything other than a student's ability to take exams. If, however, students have a more diverse set of work such as audio/video recordings, artwork, projects, journals, computer work, homework, compositions, etc., as well as exams, the portfolio will come to life. In this manner, portfolios provide a great deal of motivation to diversify approaches to teaching and learning.

 Reflection

  Most agree that the third step, reflection, is perhaps the most important step in the portfolio process. It is what distinguishes portfolios from mere collections. Reflection is often done in writing but can be done orally as well, particularly with younger children. Students are asked to explain why they chose a particular artifact, how it compares with other artifacts, what particular skills and knowledge were used to produce it, and where he or she can improve as a learner. The importance of this step lies in having the student take an active role in the assessment process. Students can observe more directly the quality of their own achievement and internalize more clearly where improvements are needed.

Connection

   The last step, connection, has two related facets. The first is a direct result of the reflection process. Upon reflecting on their own achievement and identifying the skills and knowledge they applied in producing the artifacts, students can answer the perennial question for themselves, "Why are we doing this?" They are able to make a more concrete connection between their school work and the value of what it is they're learning. Furthermore, students may come to understand the wider curriculum more deeply. To a teacher's delight or chagrin, depending on the teacher, students may take more active and informed roles in evaluating the effectiveness of the curriculum.

The second facet is about connecting with the world outside the classroom. Many successful portfolio programs have students formally present their portfolio to a panel of peers, teachers, parents, and other community members. In some cases, students are defending their work, much like a graduate student might defend a thesis. In others, students exhibit their portfolios in a more celebratory manner. In either case, the resulting connection between the students and the greater community creates an invaluable celebration of student achievement and a rare dialogue about the quality of learning at the local school.

Indicators of Portfolio Assessment

   The following indicators can be useful for portfolio assessment.

1. Clarity of concept

2. Internalisation  of concept.

3.Appreciate design.

4. Completion.

5. Originality.

Continuous And Comprehensive Evaluation ( CCE )


Introduction:

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) was a procedure of assessment, directed by the Right to Education Act, of India in 2009. This proposal to assessment was introduced by state governments in India, as well as by the Central Board of Secondary Education in India, for students of sixth to tenth class and twelfth in some schools.

Meaning:

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all features of students’ development. It is a developmental process of assessment that stresses two-fold objectives i.e. on continuousness in evaluation and assessment of broad-based learning and behavioural outcomes on the other.

According to this scheme, the term `continuous’ is meant to accentuate that evaluation of identified aspects of students’ growth and development’ is a continuous process rather than an incident, built into the total teaching-learning process and spread over the whole duration of the academic session.

The second term `comprehensive’ means that the scheme tries to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students’ growth and development.

Aims of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:

           The main aim of CCE was to assess every aspect of the child during their presence at the school.

           CCE helps in minimizing the stress on children.

           Make assessment comprehensive & regular.

           Provide space for the teacher for prolific teaching.

           Provide a tool for detection & corrections.

           Produce learners with greater skill

Objectives of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:

Various are the objectives of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:

           It makes the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity.

           To make the assessment process an essential part of the teaching-learning process.

           To make a fair judgment and take timely decisions for learner’s growth, learning process, learning pace, and learning environment.

           To provide scope for learners for self-assessment.

           To use the evaluation process for improving student’s achievement through detection and correction.

 Features of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:

           The ‘continuous’ aspect of CCE takes care of ‘continual’ and ‘periodicity’ features of assessment.

           The ‘comprehensive’ elements of CCE takes care of assessment of all-round development of the child’s personality.

           The continuous and comprehensive evaluation includes both  Scholastic as well as Co-Scholastic aspects of the pupil’s growth. Scholastic aspects cover curricular areas or subject-specific areas, while co-scholastic aspects consist of Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values.

           Assessment in Co-Scholastic areas is done using the number of techniques on the basis of recognized criteria, while assessment in Life Skills is done on the basis of indicators of Assessment and checklists.

Functions of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation:

           CCE helps the teacher to systematize efficacious teaching strategies.

           Continuous evaluation serves to detect weaknesses and permits the teacher to ascertain certain individual learners.

           Through continuous assessments, students can know their strengths and weaknesses.

           CCE helps in identifying changes in attitudes and value systems.

           CCE provides information on the progress of students in scholastic and co-scholastic areas which results in forecasting the future success of the learners.

Aspects of CCE:

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation considers both the scholastic and co-scholastic aspects.

Scholastic assessment: Scholastic aspects include curricular areas or subject-specific areas. These areas focus on oral and written class tests, cycle tests, activity tests, and daily class performances of all subjects in order to improve writing and speaking skills. Scholastic assessment should be both Formative and Summative.

Formative Assessment:

The formative assessment consists of diagnostic testing, which is the extent of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to alter teaching and learning activities to improve student achievement. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that is the basis of the details of content and performance. It is commonly compared with summative assessment, which attempts to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external responsibility.

Features of Formative Assessment:

           It makes provision for effective feedback.

           It provides a plan for the active involvement of students in their own learning

           It helps the student to support their peers’ group and vice-versa.

           It helps in integrating diverse learning styles to decide how and what to teach.

           co-scholastic aspects include Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values.

           It provides the student with a chance to improve their scores after they get feedback.

           It helps in the detection and correction of the assessment process.

Summative Assessment:

 Summative assessment is an assessment of students where the focus is on the consequences of a program. The goal of summative assessment is to assess student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against a norm.

 

Features of Summative assessment:

           It can be done at the end of a unit or semester to display the sum of what they learn or whatnot.

           This is the contrasts with formative assessment, which summarizes the participants' development at a particular time.

           It is a conventional way of assessing students' work.

Co-scholastic assessment:

Co-Scholastic Areas of Assessment: The areas of Co-scholastic assessment focus on increasing the skills of a student in general knowledge, environmental education, physical education, art, music and dance, and computers. These are evaluated through quizzes, competitions, and activities.

School-based continuous and comprehensive evaluation system helps a learner in the following ways:

           It reduces stress on children.

           It makes evaluation comprehensive and regular.

           It provides a tool for the detection and correction of action.

           It provides space for the teacher for creative teaching.

           It produces learners with greater skills.

Characteristics of School-Based CCE:

School-based CCE has the following characteristics:

           It is comprehensive, broader, and continuous than the traditional system.

           It aims primarily to help learners for orderly learning and development.

           It takes care of the needs of the learner as responsible citizens of the future.

           It is more translucent, advanced, and provides more scope for interconnection among learners, teachers, and parents.

Paradigms/Criterion of Assessments:

 Assessment of Learning: The ‘assessment of learning’ is defined as a process whereby someone tries to describe and measures the quantity of the knowledge, attitudes, or skills organized by another. In this type of learning teachers’ directions is most important and the student has meagre involvement in the design or execution of the assessment process in these situations. In this assessment teacher designs learning and collect proofs. A teacher also judges what has been learned by students or whatnot.

Assessment for learning: The assessment for learning involves an increased level of student freedom, but not without teacher instructions and cooperation. The assessment for learning is sometimes seen as having a relation to ‘formative assessment’.More emphasis laid towards giving useful advice to the student and less emphasis on the giving marks and grading function. In this assessment teacher designs learning and designs evaluation process with feedback to the student.

Assessment as learning: This assessment may be more connected with diagnostics assessment and can be constructed with more importance on peer learning. It generates chances for self-assessment and peer assessment. Students take increased responsibility in producing quality information about their learning and of others. Teachers and students construct together learning, assessment, and learning progress.

Tools and technique of learning:

There are two main purposes of evaluation. The first is to provide developmental feedback to the learner, secondly, it is to qualitatively classify a learner on the basis of their learning outcome against a set of norms.

Multiple tools can be used for assessment. Similarly, more than one assessment tool can be used in various assessment techniques. Assessment tools can be of two types i.e. standardized and non-standardized.

Standardized tools of assessment:

These tools have the characteristics of objectivity, reliability, validity, and quality of discerning between a high performer. Different types of validates, e.g. construct, content and concurrent validity take care of balance and pertinency. Speed is a factor in some tests, but not a common element in all tests. Psychological tests and inventories like intelligence and aptitude tests, interests and study habits inventories, attitudes scales, etc have those properties.

Non-standardized tools:

Non- standardized tests are teacher-made tests, rating scales, observation schedules, interview schedules, questionnaires, opinionnaires, checklists, etc. Now we will deal primarily with the tools of assessment set in the context of techniques. Some of the tools and techniques of evaluation are:

Portfolio: A student portfolio is a collection of academic work and other forms of educational proofs assembled for the purpose of evaluating coursework quality, learning progress, and academic achievement and determining whether students have met learning standards or other academic requirements for courses, grade-level.

Anecdotal Records:  An anecdotal record is an examination that is written like a short story. They are the explanation of occasions or events that are important to the person perceiving. Anecdotal records are short, objective, and as correct as possible.

Checklists: Checklists usually offer a yes/no format in relation to student illustration of particular criteria. This is similar to a light switch; the light is either on or off. They may be used in recording observations of an individual, a group, or a whole class.

Rating Scales: Rating Scales allows teachers to show the degree or frequency of the behaviours, skills, and strategies displayed by the learner. To continue the light switch analogy, a rating scale is like a feeble switch that provides scope for performance levels.

Assignment: Assignments are a type of refinement to a variable. It is a task given to students by their teachers to be completed out of class time.

Observation: In observation information about a child is collected in a natural setting in and outside the classes with the help of observation.

Questions: Questions are the frequently applied tool for finding out what children know, think, imagine, and feel. A teacher, in the course of teaching, coming to know of learning difficulties in children by asking questions. Questions may be of various types like essay type questions, short answer type questions, very short answer type questions, objective type questions.

Document analysis: Document analysis is a type of qualitative research in which documents are appraised by the analyst to evaluate an estimation theme

PROBLEMS AND ISSUES OF SECONDARY AND SENIOR SECONDARY IN INDIA


INTRODUCTION

Education is the birth right of every child in India. Although India has made significant progress in various fields, we have been facing various problems of children viz., child labour, malnutrition, child abuse etc. which can be solved with the light of knowledge. The Central Government and State

Governments have formulated various schemes to ensure that no child remain uneducated. However, there are various problems faced in our education system. Although there has been a significant increase in the number of school going children, they face a number of problems. The problems of Senior Secondary school education are dealt with in this chapter. We must make consistent and concerted efforts to remove the obstacles and find solution to the problems. Secondary education spreads over the age 15-18 years. These years of transition and adolescence are the most crucial years of the student life. Students’ physical structure undergoes a fast change during this period and there are various sort of emotional transformation and mood swings. This Is the stage where students have to shift from education to the world of work; secondary education must equip the students by sharpening their skills and talents to make this transition quite smooth. The girls have to experience more difficulties in this transition because of age-old beliefs, social bias, prejudice and taboos prescribed for females in the society. As there has been a sharp decline in female sex-ratio in most of the states of India in the recent decades, efforts should be made to develop a gender friendly curriculum. The curriculum must be designed to nurture natural talents and capabilities of the students, viz. language, logical and analytical ability, physical fitness, sports,  general awareness, nature and environment etc. These crucial years in student life must offer suitable opportunity for nurturing and honing their inherent skills.

Various commissions pointed out the defects in secondary education from time to time. It has been generally felt that secondary education in India gives more emphasis on academics and fails to enable students to handle the problems of day-to-day life efficiently; it does not prepare them for pursuing higher education adequately. Many of the students tend to fail in the first year of their degree course, in the examination conducted by the university. The students don’t find themselves confident and suitable to enter life confidently. The training and education available there don’t equip the students well so as to get a good and respectable job helpful in leading a good life.

Problems of senior secondary educations are given below:

1.         Undue importance on examination

2.         Teachers status in society

3.         Lack of trained and dedicated teachers

4.         More emphasis on English language

5.         No emphasis on practical training

6.         Lack of facilities to improve personality

7.         Lack of provision of a proper environment

8.         Lack of participation by all stakeholders in education

9.         Lack of adequate infrastructure

10.       Less emphasis on extracurricular activities

11.       Lack of career guidance

12.       Lack of sports  facilities and motivation

13.       Parents indifference and lack of supervision

14.       Peer pressure

15.       Lack of balance between academics and values of life

16.       Students indiscipline and lack of interest

17.       Lack of supervision and control by teachers

18.       Lack of qualified and committed teachers

19.       Partiality and indifference attitude of teachers

20.       Mental health problems

21.       Lack of education in gender equality

22.       High pupil –teacher ratio

23.       Lack of education in

PROBLEMS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN INDIA 

1.Determination of Aims:

Secondary schools in India where established by the Britishers to prepare and train educated officials and clerks for conducting administrative work. Unfortunately the aim continued to remain more or less the same for a long time. Except preparing the students for entrance into the university, the secondary education had got no definite aim.

 

After the recommendations of S.E.C. secondary education is being treated as self-sufficient and independent unit in itself and not merely complementary to university education. For the first time this commission prescribed certain aims for secondary education keeping in view the needs of the independent and democratic India.

 

It is expected that the secondary education should therefore, seek to fulfil all these many sided aims of education by inculcating in students the qualities of democratic citizenship and leadership, and developing their faculties as complete units so that they might make their own contribution to the prosperity and enrichment of national life in all possible respects.

 But it is most depressing that most of the present secondary schools are not fully conscious of their essential duties and fall short of the expectation in fulfilling these aims. Neither the students nor the teachers are very much serious in fulfilling these aims. Hence it is of primary importance that the teachers must realize the supreme and magnitude of those aims at the time of imparting instruction to the students, lest everything will be fruitless.

 

2. Deterioration of the Standards of Education:

Since the introduction of the compulsory education the enrolment at the elementary level of education has increased to a considerable extent. As a result of this, the number of students reading in high schools has been enormously increasing. Thus the increase in the number of students is bound to affect the quality of education in general and secondary education in particular.

 

Teachers, educational administrators, parents and politicians have been complaining that the standard of education at different stages of education has been going down in recent years and secondary education is no exception to it.

The other factors responsible for the low standard of education are: low salary of teachers, growing discontentment among the teachers towards their profession, the lack of necessary requirements and equipment’s in the school, inefficiency of the managing bodies and their interference in the internal affairs of the institutions, negligence of the education department, the wretched financial condition of the institutions, growing lack of the sense of responsibility among the teachers and their attitude of negligence towards their duties, indifference of the guardians and the general public towards the numerous educational problems. To improve the present backward condition of education in the country the expansion of education is no doubt desirable but it should not be at the cost of ‘quality’ education. Each secondary school should be well-equipped with regard to teachers and instructional materials in order to maintain the standard and quality.

 

The basis of admission should be on merit. Therefore, in the expansion of secondary education proper correlation between enrolment and standard should be maintained. Adequate scholarship facilities should exist for poor but meritorious students. The problem requires proper solution and immediate measures should be taken to produce such young person’s as might prove ideal future citizens of the country in all respects.

3. Inappropriate Curriculum:

In order to meet the various problems of the secondary education, it is the responsibility of the educational planners to attack the problems from all the sides. They will have to modify the school curriculum in order to copy with the urgent educational needs of future development. The scientific knowledge is advancing so rapidly that the present curriculum may not be relevant to the present needs of the students.

 

Many political, economic and technical changes are taking place in the country at different intervals, but the education in general and secondary education in particular is unable to keep pace with the changing limes. Though steps have been taken at the later stage to introduce diversified curriculum at the secondary stage yet the difficulty lies in relating it to the real and practical life of the child and his environments. As much emphasis is given on the external examination, the students follow the curriculum mechanically without curiosity, understanding or appreciation, as the immediate aim is to get through the examination and be admitted to higher class. Various commissions pointed out the defects of the curriculum at different times but the problem has not been tackled radically.

 

The recent trend is to give the curriculum vocational and scientific bias by introducing certain vocational and technical subjects, so that the students should be encouraged and trained to choose subjects according to their ability, interest and aptitude. Nearly 82% of the population of India lives in rural areas.

 

Hence the curriculum should be so formulated as to be related to the main rural occupation, i.e. agriculture, dairy, animal husbandry, and other rural industries. Whatever is added or deleted in the curriculum, it must be individually meaningful and socially relevant. It must create a thirst for knowledge among the students.

 

Involvement of a new curriculum will not be so helpful in eliminating the shortcoming that exists in the present system. Its success depends upon the personnel who are involved with the responsibility of implementing it. They must have the ability to change the teaching technique in such a way that the students acquire intellectual curiosity, inventiveness and decision making ability.

 

The present day education needs a band of teachers who will be vigilant students of current trends in progressive society, understand and interpreted new movements of thought and vitalize their instruction by adopting the latest technique, and initiative to play an important part in the regeneration of education. No educational reform will succeed without improving the quality of our teachers.

 

4. The Lacuna of Private Management and Administration:

At present secondary schools are controlled and managed by different types of bodies, i.e. Government, local board (District Council’s Municipal Board) as well as private managing committees at places. There is no uniformity in management of the schools and it varies from state to state. So far as the private management is concerned this state of affairs is far from being satisfactory. Majority of the schools under private management suffer from financial crisis.

 

They have neither good building nor other physical facilities. Keeping aside the low standards of education there are certain conspicuous defects prevalent in these institutions which are detrimental and pernicious for the growth of secondary education in the country. To some extent the weaknesses in the management of institutions are owing to the laxity and inefficiency of the officials of the education department and specially those belonging to the inspecting group.

 

Their slackness amounts to inefficiency. At present school inspection has become a routine work and mainly confined to show and paper work with no impact what so ever. But it is expected that the supervision of school should be regular and effective and must result in improving the quality and standard of education.

Challenges of Providing Quality Secondary Education

The Knowledge Challenge: The question, ‘What should be taught to the young?’ derives from a deeper question, namely, what aims worth pursuing in education? The answer is a vision of the capabilities and values that every

individual must have and a socio-political and cultural vision for society. The essential purposes that needs to be pursued by the school education relates to social life, lifelong learning and the world of work. In is widely recognised that mathematics and science should have a claim as quality indicators because they provide essential knowledge tools and foundations for lifelong learning skills. However, there is also a need to reemphasise that social studies, foreign languages, ICT and arts and crafts,

work related generic competencies (such as critical thinking, transfer of learning, creativity, communication skills, etc.) also depict their essential position in the curricular areas as well as in the world of work. All of these areas of knowledge and skills present major challenges for the teaching profession and to the content of teaching in initial and in-service training. Change requires rethinking, reappraisal; re-evaluation of accepted practices, challenging what has always been done and accepted. Change often requires both restructuring and recapturing of organizations. It imposes new demands on hierarchies status and relationships.

The Curriculum Challenge: The Knowledge challenge as discussed abovelead us towards the curriculum challenge in school education. All indicated areas of knowledge emphasise that the curriculum needs to provide experiences that build the knowledge base through a progression introduction to the capabilities of thinking rationally, to understand the world through various disciplines, foster aesthetic appreciation and sensitivity towards others, to work and to participate in economic processes.

Curriculum experiences need to be designed from the point of view of the need of the learner and from the larger perspective of the challenges facing humanity and the nation today. The secondary schools in India have

following diverse categories of adolescents:

a. Those who have successfully completed eight year of schooling (may need less teacher’s time and enriched curriculum)

b. Those who have completed eight year of schooling but still posses gaps

in terms of fundamental concepts, skills and behavioural attributes

 (may need more time and a curriculum which not only work as a remedy to their learning gaps and but also help in learning higher concepts)

c. Those who have left the mainstream for one or more years after completing eight year of schooling and now entering in the secondary education (may need bridge courses to bridge the learning gaps). Even under these categories there exist two broad sub-categories such as boy

and girl and rural and urban and further these broad categories also include other categories such as first generation learners, learners belonging to

migratory population, learners belonging to Scheduled Caste(SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories, differently abled learners, etc. So there may be a differently abled girl belonging to Scheduled Caste residing in remote rural

area, entering in secondary education with many gaps in her learning after two years. This girl has multiple disadvantages. What kind of curriculum and

pedagogy we provide her to overcome her learning gaps and remain in the system? This is a curriculum challenge, which needs to be addressed.

The Resource Challenge: Presently the serious resource challenge lies in the intelligent and cost-effective use of resources. Experiences of Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan (SSA) and other programmes have shown that although there are

substantial expansion of facilities but at many places these facilities are under utilised e.g. Computers; laboratory equipments in many cases are not used properly at secondary stage. The reason relates to the knowledge and

curriculum challenge. Unless we bring comprehensive  andserious reform in curriculum incorporating the concerns related to pedagogy of science, mathematics, language, ICT, health, arts, etc. generating the need for the use

and sharing of resources, the resource challenge will continue to be aconstrain for improving quality.

The Challenge of Decentralisation: In order to realise the constitutional mandate of decentralise democracy and development almost all the stategovernments enacted their state Panchayati Raj. Moreover, in every

educational scheme and programme of Govt. of India has decentralized planning component. However, there are huge ambiguities and overlaps in the functions and tasks to be discharged at different levels. These ambiguities

often result in conflicts between the three tiers, especially with respect to:Who plans? Who decides? Who selects? Who accords approval? Who implements? Who releases funds? Who monitors? Indeed there is no role

clarity between the functions at the different levels.

The Challenge of Data and Comparability: Benchmarking is a way of thinking about national performance, about local and regional effectiveness and performance at the level of individual schools. Benchmarks can be used

diagnostically and formatively to inform policy and practice but are sometimes also viewed as threat.

The challenge of comparability is to create an open and positive climate for dialogue. Comparison, which is perceived as unfair, becomes detrimental to the positive and constructive use of benchmark data. The obvious place to start with standards attained by children at school- their outcomes on leaving school, their acquisition of basic skills at key stages of development. Data on pupil attainment at given ages is , however of limited use to policy

making without knowledge of the conditions in which attainment is raised and of limited value without an understanding of factors which contribute to

good teaching and effective learning. This raises the question of availabilityof comparative data.

While selecting indicators and benchmarks it is important to see which are most effective and stimulating and open policy dialogue, one which looks forward to policy implications of data and available for further enquiry in the

future needs to be selected for work.

Strategies

Our goal of quality secondary education requires following strategies to be

adopted at the national, state, district and school level:

Curriculum Reforms

a. Evolving a mechanism at state level to bring curriculum reform in tune with the emerging curricular vision as suggested in NCF-2005 in terms of flexibility, contexuality and plurality.

b. Evolving a mechanism to provide all the adolescents an opportunity for meaningful learning and successful completion of secondary education by creating enabling school environment and inclusive curriculum.

c. Making structure of education uniform as mandated in the NPE-1986.

 Assessment and Examination Reform: Evolving a scheme of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) leading to examination reforms at secondary level along with a mechanism for its implementation in letter and

spirit.

Reform in Teacher Education at Secondary Stage

a. Teacher Recruitment Policy : This requires evolving state specific recruitment, deployment and transfer policy for recruitment of quality teachers under the broad  guidelines provided by the national agencies

b. Pre-service Teacher Education: This requires overhauling of preservice teacher education programme at secondary level adding the component of pre-service teacher education at higher secondary level which is an untouched area and need attention with regard to the

future vision of RMSA to provide senior secondary education to all

c. In-service Teacher Professional Development: This requires designing the modalities for continuous in-service teacher education in view of the emerging curricular vision of flexibility, contextuality and plurality for school education. The modalities must focus on the significant changes in each subject area as informed by the recent

curriculum reform. The modalities must also take care of the emerging national, social and systemic concerns such as gender inequality, sensitivity toward marginalized groups, inclusive education, examination reform, vocational education, art and aesthetics, peace, work and health. In order to achieve the above required reforms, there

is a need to evolve a mechanism of continuous in-service teacher education for all the teachers at secondary level involving various management structures with the help of modalities designed incorporating emerging curricular vision and continuous in-service training for all the Heads/Principals on effective academic leadership

and administration.

Guidance and Counseling: There is a need to evolve a mechanism of providing students intervention/awareness to deal with the problems of adolescents’ health (with special focus on the health of girls) and adjustment and also to guide them for their future career as per their interests and engagement in various subject areas.

Environment Building: There is a need to evolve mechanism for building the environment and generate public opinion in favour of universalisation of

secondary education to implement RMSA. It is only through environment building that community can be mobilized. This is particularly necessary to ensure participation of girls, scheduled castes, schedule tribes, other backward classes, cultural and linguistic minorities and the disabled. Without involving all and each of them, USE will remain another elusive dream.

Open Schooling: There is a need to evolve a mechanism of providing secondary education of comparable quality to even those adolescents who are out of school and are not able to join formal schooling due social and economic factors.

Monitoring: There is a need to strengthen the mechanism of monitoring interventions provided at various levels on various aspects of the secondary education and also introducing a feedback loop to support the functionaries at

all the levels if required.

Research: Promoting a culture of research/inquiry in view of providing inputs to policies and scheme related to secondary stage and also the aspect of programme evaluation should be strengthened.

 Innovation: Efforts should be made for promoting innovations, both at micro

and macro levels in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy, teacher education and assessment and evaluation.

 Community Participation and Public Private Partnership: The school needs to explore opportunities for active engagement by parents and communities in the process of learning as well as ensuring equity in the school. This can be done in many ways. For instance, parents and community members could come into the school as resource persons and share their knowledge and experiences in relation to a particular topic. Schools should allow community to transfer oral history (e.g. folklores, migration, environmental degradation, traders, etc.) and traditional knowledge (sowing and harvesting, traditional

crafts etc.) to learners; influence the content of subjects by providing local, practical and appropriate examples; support learners in their exploration and creation of knowledge and practise of democracy; monitor the realisation of children’s rights as well as violations of these rights; and participate in setting criteria for vocational training. Parents and other members of the community may also be invited to attend a lecture by academic mentor or expert from the University on equity issues such as gender discrimination, and other discriminations to spread awareness and building environment for sending their children for secondary and further

education. School can also take initiatives to organizer nukar natak’ and role plays with the help of students, teachers and community members for

environment building. There can be an understanding that  school space can be shared with the community for local events. Community involvement can also be sought for maintaining the school and its facilities.  The RMSA recognises public-private partnership as an important tool for improving the quality of certain aspects and facilities which contribute to the overall quality of education provided in schools. The framework mentions

that wherever possible, philanthropic investment by private organizations should be utilized for improving school infrastructure and resources such as libraries, science labs, audio-visual and ICT facilities, art and craft

workshops, sports facilities and equipment, drinking water and toilet facilities. According to RMSA framework around 58.86% of high schools are run by private sector and out of these 31.08% of high schools are classified as private

unaided schools. A partnership model for utilizing the services of these private schools for running second shift for the children of the under privileged section may be explored where grant-in aid towards teachers salary

and other expenditure related to cleanliness and the learning resource material for these children can be provided by the government. Public-Private Partnership may also be explored for ICT enabled secondary

education and vocational training of secondary students. Similarly transport arrangement for students particularly for girls can be outsourced. Certified vocational sites (both private and public) in each district may be

identified for the acquisition of core work skills and experience where students can receive vocational training However, care must be taken that children are not exploited. Private sector may also be involved in designing

curriculum and in designing a testing and certification system so that the demand for appropriate skill by the industry can be met.

Nature and forms of inequality :Dominant and minor


groups

Inequality

Educational inequality is the unequal distribution of

academic resources, including but not limited to; school

funding, qualified and experienced teachers, books, and

technologies to socially excluded communities.

 

Nature of inequality

• There are two types of inequality: natural (or physical)

and moral. Natural inequality stems from differences

in age, health or other physical characteristics. Moral

inequality is established by convention or the

consent of men.

Causes of Inequalities:

There are several causes which give rise to inequality of

incomes in an economy:

(i) Inheritance:

(ii) System of Private Property:

(iii) Differences in Natural Qualities:

(iv) Differences in Acquired Talent:

(v) Family Influence:

(vi) Luck and Opportunity:

• Inequality is an inescapable feature of modern

society.”

• The most common inequality is gender.

Men and Women are treated different in a number of

ways such as in wages and in sports. This has been

the same for centuries.

• All human societies from the simple to the most

complex have some form of social inequality. In

particular, power and prestige are unequally

distributed between individuals and groups.

• Inequality is concerned with disparities in the

distribution of a certain metric, which can be

income, health or any other material or non-

material assets.

• Inequality is closed linked to the ideas of equity,

which has two contrasting concepts: equality of

opportunity and equality of outcome.

Forms of inequality

Five types of inequality

• political inequality;

• differing life outcomes;

• inequality of opportunity;

• treatment and responsibility;

• shared equality of membership in the areas of nation,

faith and family.

Dominant groups

A dominant group is "a social group that controls

the value system and rewards in a particular

society" is called a dominant group, or dominant

social group.

A social group that controls the value system and

rewards in a particular society and who have more

power in a society that any of the subordinate

groups.

Seapegoat theory,. Developed initially from

Dillard's(1939) frustration -aggression

theory,suggest that the dominant group will

displace its unfocused aggression on to a

subordinate group

Minor groups

Sociologist Louis wirth(1945) defined a minority

group has any group of people who because of

their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled

out from the others in the society in which they live

for differential and unequal treatment, and

who therefore regard themselves as objects of

collective discrimination.

Dominant group - not a majority, but group with

power, privileges and social status.

Minority- people

Minority- people who are singled out for unequal

treatment and who view themselves as objects of

collective discrimination

Minority, a culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct

group that coexists with but is subordinate to a

more dominant group.

Eg. Those people belongs to schedule caste,

schedule tribe, women, transgender etc ..are comes

under minor groups,

To correlate to the concept that the dominant group

is that which holds the most power in a given

society,while subordinate groups are those who

lack power compared to the dominant group.

According to charles wagley and Marvin Harris

(1958) a minority group is distinguished by five

characteristics

1) unequal treatment and less power over their lives

2) distinguishing physical or cultural traits like skin

colour or language.

3) involuntary membership in the group.

4) awareness of subordination.

5) high rate of in - group marriage.

According to Dworkin and Dworkin there are 4

qualities of minority groups

1) identifiability. 2) differential power. 3) differential

and pejorative treatment. 4) group awareness

The social differences between dominant and

minority groups is called stratification. social

stratification term is the study of

inequality.stratification is a word that comes to us

from geology and describes the layering of strata of

rocks; therefore, stratification concerns the ways in

which society is layered and how that layering

affects the life chances of groups and individuals

within those groups.

 

People in all societies experience some level of

stratification - there is no society in the world that

is completely egalitarian even in the most equal

societies, men usually have authority over women

and the older have authority over the younger.

If there is a minority group in a society, then there

will also be a dominant group as well. the dominant

group is the group that has power privileges and

social status. they have the ability to discriminate

against the minority groups. Dominant group

members benefit from the inequalities and unequal

arrangement accorded to minority group

members.Dominant groups are present in all

societies.

 

GENDER INEQUALITY


 

Gender inequality refers to health education, economic and political inequalities between men and women in india. Various The concept of gender emerged as a reaction to the marginality of women in existing critical framework, and sought to initiate changes in the substantive context and philosophical theory of knowledge of these disciplines. In social sciences it has become natural to analyze the society in terms of caste, class, race, and religion alone and was not sufficient because it neglected to take into account relations of asymmetry between men and women. gender is inspired by the number of studies on different aspects of human lives but the interface of this explanatory paradigms has remained a complex issue. The universal association of gender with inequality is one such rendering, where gender is read as coterminous conflict between the sexes and issued to go beyond patriarchy.

“Patriarchy refers to the male domination and female’ s acceptance and internalization of the dominance. Patriarchy is a system of social structures and practices in which men dominates, oppress and exploit women. Women have been socialized in such a manner that they love being dominated. Feminists claim that the home and family are responsible for women’s oppression.”

  Gender inequalities is a socio - cultural term referring socially defined roles and behaviours assigned to males and females in a given society. the term “sex ” is a biological and physiological phenomenon which defines man and women which defines man and women. Gender inequality may be defined as discrimination on the women based on their sex.

CAUSES OF GENDER INEQUALITY

1.Poverty and lack of education

2. Patriarchy system

3.Lack of sanitation in schools and public places

4. Un equal pay

5.Domestic violence

6.Huge dowry

7.Abolishing the child in the womb

8.Discrimination within children in the family

ROLE OF SCHOOLS IN CHALLENGING GENDER INEQUALITY

  1. Schools make up the biggest proportion of public bodies covered by gender duty and have crucial role to play in ensuring that girls and boy’s benefit from equality of opportunities in all areas of life.

 2. Action to challenge stereotyping needs to be a key component of whole school curriculum and in particular careers work related learning, citizenships and personal, social, and health education at both primary and secondary schools.

3.Schools play a key role in shaping the values and attitudes of children and young people and should take a lead in challenging gender based harassment, bullying and violence ,if schools are to be forefront of promoting gender inequality in terms of outcomes for pupils ,they also need to be forefront of gender equality for promoting equality for their workforce .

4.Many schools have taken positive steps to address gender inequality , many barriers that prevent pupils from achieving and making the most of their opportunities remain . it is vital that the difference between boys and girls experiences , attitudes and achievements in schools are understood so that policies and practices can begin to break down these barriers.

5.Schools should take action to Eliminate unlawful sex discriminations and harassment and

6.Promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

GENDER IMPACT ASSESSEMENT

A gender impact assessment is a tool that can help schools take right action to ensure that neither gender are disadvantaged by school activities and to help identify opportunities to promote gender inequality. A school’s gender equality scheme needs to include the details of how the impact (or likely impact) of their policy and practices on gender equality will be assessed. A good screening is processes will help you to identify those policies that are most relevant to gender inequality.

Examples of policies /practices that schools should impact assess include those relating to:

1.Curriculum

2.Uniform

3.Bullying

4.Every child matters objectives

5.National Healthy school status

6.Admissions

7.Disciplines

8.Sports

9.Careers/works experience

ROLE OF PEER GROUP IN CHALLENGING GENDER INEQUALITY

.  Peer group is a social group that consists of individuals of the same social status who share similar interest and are close in age. peer groups serve as a venue for teaching members gender roles . unisex peer groups don’t have much to do with gender inequality . Peer group which gives equal opportunities for group members in a group will enable to reduce gender inequality. Peer group interactions will reduce gender stereo typing that will reduce gender inequality.

ROLE OF PROMOTING GENDER INEQUALTY

1. Teachers help to promote gender equality in education not by treating boys and girls the same but by appreciating and supporting their different aspirations and potentials in the classroom

2.  Gender discrimination and inequality in education will persist if teachers are gender biased or fail to appreciate the diversity the different needs aspirations of boys and girls bring to the classroom.

 3. Teacher must be gender sensitive and responsive to appreciate and respond to the different learning and developmental needs of girls and boys in an inclusive manner.

4.Teachers must be supportive in all respects in order to bring about developments of their student’s, full potential to achieve gender equality in education.

5.To challenge gender inequality teachers can Challenge traditional male and female stereo types when giving examples to students

6.Aims to use neutral language eg it, their, they

7.Actively encourage students to encourage in activities that might sit outside their genders comfort zone .

8.Encourage mixed gender group works and seating arrangements

     GENDER INEQUALITY AND CURRICULUM

A gender sensitive life skills approach to curriculum transactions includes all the skills necessary for day to day functioning and covers areas such as family life education, legal literacy, lifesaving skills ,etc. the POA ( Programme of action ) emphasizes the need to revise textbooks to remove gender bias and gender sensitize all educational personnel so that equality between sexes could be internalized through gender inclusive curriculum and its transaction.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CURRICULUM THAT PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY

1.The curriculum should reflect the needs and life experiences of boys and girl’ s .

2.Girls must participate and achieve equally with boys in mathematics and sciences and boys in all disciplines such as literature and history.

3.The curriculum should provide promote peace and equality for boys and girls regard less of their caste, creed, disability, religion or ethnic background.

4.There must be activities such as sports, cultural, events organized by the teachers and/ or students intend to eliminate gender discrimination and promote fair and mutually supportive gender friendly culture in school’s.

5.Curricular/extracurricular activities must equally attract the participation of both boys and girl’s.

6.There must be activities to counter existing social stereotypes about boys and girls.

 

PRACTICES FOR ACHEIVING GENDER EQUALITY IN THE CLASSROOM

1.Call on girls as often as you do boys, and be sure to ask girls some of the higher level cognitive question. research shows that both male and female’s teachers more interactions with in higher cognitive levels.

2.Have high expectation of boys and girl’s students. Do not encouraged help ness by over nurturing the girls.

3.Encouraging girls to be active learners by using manipulative and providing hands on learning experiences .

4.Use gender free language in classroom discourse

5.Make eye contact with all students and call by name

6.Provide adequate wait time, perhaps 3 or 5 seconds before calling a students to answer the question.

7.Mentally divide the students into quarants. If students do not respond ,you can say “lets hear from someone in the back right corner”

8.Balance competitive and cooperative activities . research says that most girls learn readily in cooperative situations .

9.Stress safety precautions instead of dangers girls will sometimes be releculant to participate in lab activities if they seems to dangers

10.Sponsors a girls technology club. plan activities that use technology in real life situations .

Address inappropriate behaviour with a fair and respectful attitude , regard less of gender , race ,ethnicity, or socioeconomic class of students . videotape yourself to monitor your actions .

11.Provide learning experiences for girls to develop spatial visualization skills .

12.Use gender inclusive languages

13.Analyse curricular materials for bias and supplement as needed.

14.Diversify classroom resources to include females and diverse races.

15.Help female students value themselves girls often have a severe drop in self – esteem during the middle school years .

16.Women teachers need to model a healthy self respect and male teachers need to have respect for both girl students and female colleagues.

 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS


Public schools in India are the schools which are run by the government or government bodies. Public schools in India also provide afternoon meals to the students. There are well established public schools in India which offer world-class education which are run and controlled by the states.

among institutional spaces where peripheral or subalternate communities represent a majority in India, public schools are significant. However, this was not always the case. Public schools have undergone a considerable change in character over the last three decades. Until the 1980s, public schools were the preserve of the middle and upper classes, catering to children of bureaucrats, politicians and other elite groups. Starting from the early 90s, India witnessed a strong drive towards the universalisation of elementary education. This was anchored first in the World Bank-funded District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), followed by the Indian Government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The enactment of the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) in 2009 introduced statutory provisions guaranteeing free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 6-14, along with a concomitant set of guarantees relating to access and quality in education. With the help of these policy measures, gross enrolment at the primary school stage became nearly universal. In 2005, the Indian Human Development Survey showed that school enrolment for every social group in India was higher than 90%.

Concurrently, elite groups began to pull out of public schools, shifting to private schools, which were perceived to deliver better educational outcomes. Along with private schools that catered to the elite, a new class of affordable or ‘budget’ private schools also began to proliferate. These schools marketed themselves effectively, with the teaching of English prominently featured. The thought that anyone who can afford to send their child to a private school will do so became a common refrain. As a result, public schools now cater overwhelmingly to those who cannot afford an alternative –  the poor, and socially disadvantaged groups.

In this situation, it is pertinent to examine the state of public school education in India with a view of systemic factors that influence the composition of their student bodies. This calls into question whom the public school system is serving, with what aims, and how it is mobilising and distributing resources towards meeting said aims.

Even as enrolment has improved, child labour continues to be a challenge. In 2014, Human Rights Watch reported that 13 million children in India were working and not going to school, and the majority among were children belonging to Dalit, Adivasi and minority communities. Further, enrolment in public schools has not shown a positive trend in recent years. By one set of recent estimates, 40 percent of public schools in Indian are functioning with less than 50 students, while 10 percent have fewer than 20 students. In response, many states are carrying out consolidation or mergers of schools in large numbers. However, these exercises are often conducted carelessly, without due consideration to factors such as physical distance of schools from children’s residences. In Bengaluru, where many public schools are functioning as ‘zero enrolment schools’, the state government’s efforts to attract children with incentives like free meals and bicycles have not worked.

These trends reflect widespread perceptions that public schools do not provide quality education. Such perceptions are ostensibly reinforced by several points of evidence. Public schools have become notorious for poor infrastructure and underqualified or absentee teachers, despite provisions in the RTE Act guarding against the same. The legislation, while well-intentioned, has been found to be lacking in terms of both design and implementation. A recent review of nationally representative datasets reveals that school-going has risen after the RTE Act was passed. Test scores have declined, however, in both public and private schools, and the decline is slightly larger in public schools. There has been no discernible effect on infrastructure or Pupil-Teacher Ratio, although the education level of teachers has increased.

The Annual Status of Education report (ASER report), which presents nationally representative data on reading and arithmetic abilities of children enrolled in elementary school (classes I-VIII), has consistently shown worryingly high learning deficits in the last decade. While high deficits are also registered among children in private schools, public school students fare worse. For instance, in 2018, only 40% of class VIII students in public schools could do simple division, compared to 54.2% of private school students.

Public education has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent decades, as many families are exploring other education options, like homeschooling, private schools and charter schools. However, public schools still serve a significant role in preparing the next generation of world leaders. Check out these 10 potential advantages a public school education can provide.

 Cost

 The cost of a public education can’t be beaten. Although some parents might complain about the recently added expenses of supplies and participation in sports teams, these schools are still much more budget-friendly than their private counterparts.

Availability

 Public schools provide access to an education for every child in a community. The Huffington Post notes that by law, public schools cannot turn students away based on academic performance, income level or disability. This ensures that every student in a neighborhood has the same educational opportunities as the neighbors down the street, regardless of their current personal or financial situation. Since education is frequently seen as the great equalizer for society, the availability of education for all is a key benefit these institutions offer.

Diversity

 Because public schools admit all children in the community, those that attend the schools are more likely to be in classrooms with other children that don’t think, act or look exactly like them. Students are more apt to be exposed to students from different cultures or income levels. They may learn to work with other students with mental and physical disabilities. The diversity of the student body can be an important learning experience in itself for all of the children that attend a particular school.

Class Sizes

 According to the website for New York Schools, funding for schools is often dependent on the number of students in a school, with consideration for smaller, more manageable classroom sizes. Typically, class sizes in public schools tend to remain smaller in the early years, from kindergarten through about third grade. At that point, classes may gradually grow in accordance to the students’ age and ability to work independently.

Academic Opportunities

 Public schools often have the resources to offer more academic opportunities like advanced classes and courses in specialized subjects like technology and the arts, according to Education Bug. Options might include gifted and talented programs, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes. Students that want to excel will find various chances to do so, while those not inclined to academic acceleration find choices at their ability level as well.

Extracurricular Opportunities

In addition to the choices in the classroom, students in public school often have more options in activities after the last bell rings for the day. From athletics to music and theatre, most schools offer a variety of extracurricular activities to keep students learning and excelling in the areas they are most interested in.

Services

 By law, public schools are also required to provide certain services to students. Some, such as transportation to and from school, are offered to all the students. Others, such as reduced-price lunches and academic assistance, are provided to students who qualify. Because the services are required, public schools have a staff of special education teachers and learning specialists at the parents’ and students’ disposal. Private schools may not offer such services because they are not required to admit students that meet these needs.

Teacher Qualifications

 According to PublicSchools.org, teachers in public schools are required to be certified by the state. Certification also requires ongoing education and periodic renewal of credentials. Charter schools and private schools do not have this requirement, which means parents don’t always know the level of training attained by the teacher in their child’s classroom. In some cases, these schools might not even require teachers to have a four-year degree to work in the classroom.

Accountability

 By the same token, public schools are held accountable by the state for their academic performance. While some have complained this has led to an overabundance of standardized testing, the schools do at least have a higher authority they must answer to. This prevents abuse and leads to management of failing schools much more quickly than if the school did not have such accountability.

Results

According to the Huffington Post report, students in public schools score comparably on standardized tests to students in private schools. In some cases, they outscore students in charter schools. While some public schools turn up relatively poor results, those results are often found in areas with high poverty rates. When comparing apples to apples in terms of student demographics, public schools are right up there with other types of schools.

Private schools

According to current estimate, 29% of Indian children are privately educated. With more than 50% children enrolling in private schools in urban areas, the balance has already tilted towards private schooling in cities; and, even in rural areas, nearly 20% of the children in 2004-5 were enrolled in private schools.

 

Most middle-class families send their children to private schools, which might be in their own city or at distant boarding schools. Private schools have been established since the British Rule in India and St George's School, Chennai is the oldest private school in India. At such schools, the medium of education is often English, but Hindi and/or the state's official language is also taught as a compulsory subject. Pre-school education is mostly limited to organised neighbourhood nursery schools with some organised chains.[citation needed] Montessori education is also popular, due to Maria Montessori's stay in India during World War II. In 2014, four of the top ten pre-schools in Chennai were Montessori.

Many privately owned and managed schools carry the appellation "Public", such as the Delhi Public Schools, or Frank Anthony Public Schools. These are modelled after British public schools, which are a group of older, expensive and exclusive fee-paying private independent schools in England.

According to some research, private schools often provide superior results at a multiple of the unit cost of government schools. The reason being high aims and better vision. However, others have suggested that private schools fail to provide education to the poorest families, a selective being only a fifth of the schools and have in the past ignored Court orders for their regulation

Private schools have an edge over the government schools because they work hard and their concerted efforts help the student to get good grades and students also learn basic etiquettes and ways of socialization as well. Every child gets proper attention of teachers and can ask for help from the teachers. People also prefer their children to attend private schools; different advantages of private schools are discussed in this article.

The teachers in private schools are dedicated and professional

This is the main advantage of private schools. All the teachers are well educated and hold teaching certifications and diplomas. They treat all the students equally and pay attention to all the students of the class. The teachers of private schools communicate with all the students in a polite way and students also learn in a relaxed environment.

Private schools have improved academic opportunities

There are different educational courses and programs are being offered to students in private schools which help them grown and learn in a nice way. There are extracurricular activities, internal diploma programs and gifted programs which train students for their professional life. The students of private schools are good at general knowledge and lead a memorable student life.

The students of private schools are confident

Every student gets equal representation in private schools which boost their confidence and self-esteem. These students take an active part in debate competitions and other activities. Their communication skills are highly developed and they are quite expressive because of the nice environment of private schools. Students of private schools are always encouraged by their teachers whenever they come up with innovative ideas or participate in classroom activities, therefore; they have high self-esteem and are quite confident.

Smaller classes of private schools are easy to handle

There are smaller class of private schools and that’s why teachers can easily handle their students. Teachers make portfolios of each student that contain their scores of education and other extracurricular activities. These portfolios help students to work hard to improve their grades and students compete for their class mates in a positive manner.

Frequent parents teacher meetings keep parents aware of their children

There are frequent parents teachers meetings in the private schools which keep parents aware of their children’s educational record and they also get to know the behavior of their kids in schools. The parental involvements also help teachers to formulate policies and plans for each student independently.

Private schools have no security issues

Parents feel safe by sending their children to private schools. They have the latest security system which ensures the safe environment of the school. People are screened properly before entering the schools.

These are some of the benefits of private schools. The teachers are professional and encourage the student to learn and grow. Each student is being monitored independently and records are maintained. The students of private schools are confident with well-groomed and cultured personalities. These students also get better professional chances in future.

Rural School

Ultimately, the technical definition of a rural school corresponds to our general understanding of rural areas; they are characterized by geographic isolation and small population size. All schools are categorized into four locales by their size, population density and location. The National Center for Education Statistics External link  (NCES) defines these locales by the school’s proximity to a city an “urban-centric” classification system. The four locale categories used by the NCES’ urban centric classification system External link  are city, suburb, town and rural. Rural schools are then broken down into three subcategories based on the Census Bureau External link ’s definitions of urbanicity. Rural schools are also all classified as high need schools.

As of 2008, the National Center for Education Statistics reported an estimated 7,757 rural school districts across the country External link , with about 11.3 million students enrolled in primary or secondary rural schools External link . The NCES offers a table of the percentages of public primary and secondary schools with teaching vacancies External link  in different subjects. The table shows high percentages of job vacancies in rural schools in subjects ranging from special education to vocational education. Furthermore, after the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 External link , schools were met with new requirements and standards to increase the quality of education. The act required states to, among other educational reforms, guarantee that every teacher is qualified in their subject area. All core classes (science, history, math, English, etc.) are required to be taught by qualified teachers. Qualifications entail the necessary degrees and certifications for teachers mandated by the Department of Education, and for rural schools, this demand proves difficult. The act set deadlines for schools to institute a plan that ensures their teachers are “highly qualified.” The jobs are there: rural schools need teachers, and if you’re looking to make a tangible difference and have a lasting impact on students’ lives, you should consider teaching at a rural school. It’s true, the average salary of teachers in rural schools is less than in other areas External link , with base salaries ranging from $44,000 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree, to $51,600 with a doctorate. But then again, the cost of living in these areas is also lower. Teaching in a rural area may also pose other difficulties for teachers. Rural schools face challenges in attracting and retaining teachers and administrators, limited financial resources and issues with long-distance transportation. However, some of these difficulties are being addressed. The United States Department of Education External link  has instituted two programs to increase federal funding and supplement these shortages: the Small Rural Schools Achievement Program External link , and the Rural and Low Income Schools Program External link . In 2008, the Rural and Low Income Schools Program gave $85.9 million to rural schools External link  and the Small Rural Schools Achievement Program gave around $86.7 million External link . Wherever you teach, entering into this profession requires talent, dedication, perseverance and a desire to make a difference that transcends localities. Teaching isn’t always easy, but it requires passion, and if you’re serious about teaching, you have a passion for education that is able to stand up to these difficulties. Everybody needs an education, and many teachers find the most satisfaction and gratification in teaching the students who do not have such easy access to the benefits of education.

URBAN SCHOOL

 

When thinking of high need schools, the first thing that comes to mind for many people is the image of an inner city school, crowded and poorly funded. The truth is, while this is a stereotype and many urban schools perform exceptionally well, there are still urban schools across the country that are in high need of teachers and resources.

At the most technical level, urban schools are classified as city schools by the National Center for Education Statistics External link  (NCES). The NCES categorizes all schools into four locales by their size, population density and location in relation to a city. This is an “urban-centric” classification system. The four locale categories used by the NCES’ urban centric classification system External link  are city, suburb, town and rural. Urban schools are then broken down into three subcategories based on the Census Bureau External link ’s definitions of urbanicity:

Large: Inside an urbanized area and principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.

Midsize: Inside an urbanized area and principal city with a population of 250,000 or less.

Small: Inside an urbanized area and principal city with a population of less than 100,000.

Urban schools are always in need of talented, passionate teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of their students. However, some schools are located in designated high need areas due to their difficulty in attracting and retaining teachers. As of 2008, almost one hundred percent of urban schools had job vacancies External link  for teaching positions ranging from special education to vocational education that they could not fill.

Sadly, the schools that need teachers the most are the ones that have the most difficulty finding teachers. Urban schools need dedicated educators who will remain committed to their students. The jobs exist, but many teachers are intimidated by the idea of working with limited resources, teaching in impoverished areas or leading overcrowded classes. The general conception of urban schools is that their lagging performance has to do with teachers who are not dedicated, as well as students facing a range of issues including truancy, inattentiveness, undiagnosed learning disabilities, language barriers and ill preparedness.

But a great teacher has a passion for teaching that can transcend these difficulties. Great teachers want to make a difference and are satisfied more by the impact they have on peoples’ lives than the tangible rewards.

Besides, there are tangible benefits to teaching in urban schools. The average salary for teachers in urban public schools External link  is $51,200 for an educator with their bachelor’s degree and as high as $58,400 for a teacher with a doctorate. Furthermore, living in a city offers other great advantages as well. From cultural experiences like museums and plays, to active social scenes like nightclubs and restaurants, living in a city is never boring. Some of the most beautiful cities in the United States New York, Chicago, San Francisco have urban schools in high need of teachers. For young teachers just beginning their careers, the city can offer some amazing

 

Tribal Schools

1) "Tribal school" means an institution with an educational program that has as its primary purpose providing education in any grade or grades from kindergarten to twelfth grade and that is controlled by the elected governing body of a federally recognized American Indian tribe in Idaho or by a tribal education authority established under the laws of a federally recognized American Indian tribe in Idaho.

(2) "Tribal educational authority" means the authorized governmental agency of a federally recognized Indian tribe, as defined in 25 U.S.C. section 450b, that is primarily responsible for:

(a) Regulating, administering or supervising the formal education of tribal members;

(b) Facilitating tribal control in all matters relating to the education of Indian children;

(c) Providing for the development and coordinated education programs, including all preschool, elementary, secondary and higher or vocational programs, funded by the United States bureau of Indian affairs and encouraging tribal cooperation and coordination with entities carrying out all educational programs receiving financial support from other general agencies, state agencies or private entities; and

(d) Providing for the development and enforcement of tribal education codes relating to the education of Indian children, including tribal education policies and tribal standards applicable to curriculum, personnel, students, facilities and support programs.

 

Problems of education for girls

    

1. Domestic duty.

       Many societies still believes that proper place for women is to remain at home, serve the husband of family and give birth to children. This function can be performed irrespective of the fact whether the girl is educated or not. The feel that educated girl start demanding. In poor sector of the society girls are required to bring portable water, take food to fields for parents engaged in work and look after siblings. Besides girls are required to work as paid and impair workers.

2. Social factors.

      - Marriage of girls at an early age

     - Socio-economic reasons

3.  Conservation mentality.

      In India women education has been linked with employment. Those people who are not in favour of sending their daughter for employment do not feel the necessity of educating them.

4. Lack of crisis school

   - Number of girls’ schools is very less

 - Many people dislike the idea of co- education.

 - Difficulty for girls to travel long distances.

5. Lack of adequate educational facilities

 - None-availability of a school within walking distance for girls.

 - Unwillingness of many parents to send their daughters to mixed schools beyond the age of 14.

 - Lack of separate sanitary facilities for girls in the mixed schools.

 - Lack of suitable school buildings and equipment.

 - Lack of girls hostels in many schools.

 

6. Lack of women teachers.

It in schools has been very largely responsible for the low standards of girls, especially in the backward states of India.

7. Lack of supervision and personal guidance for women education.

 -Too small number of lady officers to shoulder the responsibility of women education

 -The officers are poorly staffed and ill - equipped

 -They do not have suitable conveyance facilities.

8. Lack of adequate incentives for women education

 - The percentage of literary for women in India is 65.46%. It is much less in rural areas. The ignorance of women and lack of communication create mental barriers for women.

9. Defective curriculum and policies for women education

  - Although gender equality enshrined in constitution, there has been gender bias in the curriculum.

  - The topics have been given in the textbooks depicting girls has home makers, wives and mothers.

  - Girls are shown as no-achievers, passive, and depend where has boys are shown as high achievers courageous, daring and active participants

   - The national policy on education “1986" suggested for sex bases in the curriculum for all respective of all barriers.

10. Women trafficking.

  - trafficking is the act of recruiting , transporting , harbouring and receiving persons through the use of force , coercion or deception for the purpose of exploiting them

 - There are two types of women trafficking that is sex trafficking and labour trafficking.

 - Labour trafficking includes domestic servitude, field labour, child soldiers, factory labour, bridal and reproductive slavery and organ trade.

11. Lack of enthusiasm and interest of the officials in charge of education

12. Fixed schooling education hours

 

13. Child labour

 - Helping domestic work, working household

 - The work that impirges on a child's right to women education, play, leisure besides for mental physical, spiritual and psychological development is child labour.

 

 However, the situation is yet to turn around completely. Let us have a look at some of the reasons why educating a girl child continues to be issue:

Gender discrimination:

Gender discrimination is one of the problems that India is seen to be facing not since decades but centuries. Even in the time of monarchies, men were given a dominant status compared to their female counterparts. This problem is embedded deep within, and need to be eradicated from its roots.

Violence against girls in schools:

Violence against girls is problem that is seen all over India, in both the urban and rural areas of our country. This issue is not only a direct violation of human rights but it also plays a role in denying girls the right to access education. Fear of violence and insecurity including threats, rape, and sexual harassment are reasons for girls dropping out of school.

Lack of funding:

It a sad reality that educating girls still remains as the lowest budget priority, and is also one of the lesser favoured areas in public policy. Poverty stands as one of the biggest reasons why girls, especially the ones residing in the rural areas of India, are denied access to education.

Lack of government schools:

Several governmental authorities fail to take into account girls’ concerns and need for education while planning for rural educational initiatives. Furthermore, travelling long distances (mainly inter-villages) is a big issue for village girls due to safety factors, cultural insistence on female seclusion, etc.

CAUSES OF SLOW PROGRESS OF GIRLS' EDUCATION

Usually following causes of slow progress of girls are mentioned:

    (i) Lack of proper social attitudes in the rural and backward areas for the education of girls.

(ii) Lack of educational facilities in rural areas.

(ii) Economic backwardness of the rural community

(iv) Conservative nature and co-educational aspects.

(v) Lack of suitable curriculum.

(vi) Lack of proper incentives to parents and children.

(vii) Lack of women teachers.

(viii) Lack of proper supervision and guidance due to inadequate women Personnel in the Inspectorate.

(ix) Uneducated adult women and lack of social education.

     (x) Girls as helping hand to parents in various ways including earning

(xi) Inadequate systematize publicity.

(xii) Indifference of Panchayaths.

 

 MEASURES FOR THE PROMOTION OF GIRLS" AND WOMEN'S EDUCATION

Following measures are suggested:

I) Creating Proper Social Attitude and Environment in the Rural and Backward Areas for the Education of Girls: Following measures may be taken

 1. To study the problems relating to women's education and to get detailed scientific data, a thorough research should be taken up by the Institutes of Education and allied institutions in different States and co-ordinated at the national level.

 2. Separate schools for girls at the middle and high school stages should be established where needed.

 3. School Mothers in co-education primary schools should be appointed.

 4. Creches and nursery classes wherever possible should be opened.

 5. Public opinion in favour of girls' education should be created.

II) Providing Adequate Educational Facilities in Backward and Rural Areas: The target should be to have at least one primary school within a radius of one kilometer from every home which is within the walking distance of a child. Following steps are needed:

 1. Hostel for girls at the middle and high school stages.

 2. Maintenance stipends to girls residing in hostels for meeting their board and lodging    expenses, at least in part.

 3. Subsidised transport facilities, wherever necessary and possible.

 4. All priority to be given to the construction of suitable buildings for girl's schools.

 5. Free education for girls.

III. Removing Economic Backwardness of the Rural and Backward Areas: The girls are very useful at home for carrying out domestic duties and so mothers are reluctant to send them to school. A large number of children in the rural areas are under-nourished. They hardly have a square meal a day. Unless the parents are given some kind of economic relief, it will be impossible to achieve the targets.

Following measures should prove very useful:

 1. Free uniforms and free books to the needy and deserving children should be provided.

 2. Attendance scholarships which serve as a compensation to the parents should be given. This will also ensure reduction of wastage and stagnation.

 3. Mid-day meals should be made available free of charge.

IV. Conservative Nature of Parents and Co-education: Parents in rural areas and backward communities tend not to send the girls to co-educational schools. Their apprehensions have to be removed with a thought-out plan of education them in this regard.

V. Provision of Suitable Curriculum: Curriculum, by and large, has not met the requirements of women. Following suggestions made by

 Smt. Hansa Mehta Committee (1962) deserve careful consideration:

 1. No differentiation should be made in the curricula for boys and girls at the primary and middle stages of education

 2. Steps should be taken to improve the instruction of home economics.

 3. Steps should be taken to improve the teaching of music and fine arts and liberal financial assistance should also be made available to girls' schools for the introduction of these courses

 4. Universities should review periodically the provision they have made for the courses designed to meet the special needs of girls and take necessary action to remove the deficiencies discovered.

VI. Proper Incentives to Parents and Girls: The following measures have been suggested

 1. The number of attendance scholarships be doubled in the Tenth Plan.

 2. The allowance of the School Mothers should be enhanced so that qualified women may be attracted to take up the work.

 3. The number of maintenance stipends should be doubled and the rate of such stipends should be adequately increased in view of the rising prices all over the country.

 4. The number of sanitary blocks in co-educational primary schools be adequately increased.

 5. Larger allocation of funds should be made in the budget for construction of hostels for girls.

VII. Provision for Providing Adequate Number of Women Teachers Following steps are suggested:

 1. A large number of training institutions have to be provided for women, especially in the backward States. These institutions should generally be located in rural areas and they should generally recruit their trainees from that area.

 2. Condensed course centres should be started in these backward areas to open up avenues to adult unqualified women for employment as teachers. Wherever possible such centres should be attached to the training institutions.

 3. A large number of quarters for women teachers should be provided, particularly in rural areas. Our target should be to provide at least 50 per cent of the women teachers with quarters in primary schools.

 4. All women teachers employed in rural areas should be given adequate rural allowance.

 5. Special stipends should be given to girls in high and higher secondary schools with aptitude for teaching.

 6. Whenever possible husbands and wives should be posted in the same place even if they work in different departments of the Government.

 7. Free training should be imparted with stipends to all candidates of training institutions.

 8. In-service education training should be given to untrained women teachers who have put in at least two years of service. The period of training of education should be treated as on duty.

VIII. Proper Supervision and Guidance: For providing proper guidance and supervision, following steps should be taken

 a) Increase in the number of women inspecting officers, particularly in the backward States, at different levels including State level and Directorate level.

 b) Provision of adequate transport for all district women inspecting officers.

 c) Adequate office staff and equipments.

 d) Residential facilities to all women officers at the levels.

 e) Adequate funds at the disposal of the State Council for closer contact with rural areas.

IX. Facilities for Education of Adults Women : Girls education and education of adult women suffers on account of lack of social education. This problem can be tackled in the following ways:

 1. By opening adult literacy classes in large number.

 2. By teaching simple skills like sewing, knitting, handicrafts etc., and knowledge of basic principles of health and food habits.

 3. By developing proper attitudes towards community living. Family planning, superstitions, caste,  etc.

X. Eradicating Social Ills: The Purdah system (in some States such as in Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan) and certain other harmful social customs in these States and in others stand in the way of the development of girls' education. In some places caste barriers also contribute to this. Social reformers and other voluntary organisations may be motivated to take up this work.

XI. Wide Systematic Publicity: For educating the parents to take interest in the education of girls, press and electronic media may be used extensively.

XII. Awards to Panchayats: Panchayats should be given some motivation to take up work in this area.

 

Concluding Remarks: The role of women outside the home has become an important feature of the social and economic life of the country and in the years to come this will become still more significant. From this point of view greater attention will have to be paid to the problems of training and development of women. The education of girls, therefore, should be emphasised not only on grounds of social justice, but also because it accelerates economic and social transformation.

 

DIS ADVANTAGED   AND     DIFFERENTLY ABLED CHILDREN


The dis advantaged ‘’is a generic terms for individuals or groups of people who face special problem such as physical or mentally disabled , lack money or economic  support  ‘’ Dis advantaged children are those whose family ,social ,or economic circumstance hinder that ability to learn at school and the term dis advantaged and is used to those children who are economically , economically and socially advantaged .the  type of child include those entitled to free school needs those minorities ,those in familiar on low income looked after and traveler children.

The problems of education for disadvantaged      and differently abled   children

SC, ST, OBC, GIRLS children with special needs (CWSN) and minorities are considered dis advantaged sections or backward classes.

Problems

         Poverty and associated problems

         The challenges of modifying deeply held attitude of  society

         Lack of proper funding

         Un awareness and ignorance

         The challenges of providing adequate level of training to key stakeholders

         Inadequate resources

         Problems of drop outs

         Health related problems

         Defective curriculum

         Social inequalities of cast system

         Teacher apstentisam in remote tribal areas

         Lack of proper coordination between various department

         Lack of properly trained teachers

         Un attractive school environment

         Lack of proper  facilities in schools

         Obsession with marriage

Social dis advantaged

             There are many components in dis advantaged groups like poverty, ill health, poor nutrition, poor housing, and lack of proper education

            Social dis advantaged children especially handicapped by their basic poor cognitive background

           Poor attention

           Lack of involvement in academics

           Pre mature school termination

           Level of aspiration

           Poor school achievement

           Lacks in adjustment

           Depressed

           Anxiety

           Factors influencing the family

a)         Physical factors

Home environment

b)         Economic factors

Poor income, tension, stream  

c)         Social factors

In Indian context who are disadvantaged?

a)         Schedule caste

b)         Schedule tribe

c)         Other backward class

d)         Women /girls

e)         Children with special needs

f)         Minorities

Others

         Sense of insecurity

         Lack of motivation

Lack of motivation changing their back ward conditions and for progress in any direction

         Personal disorganization

Alcoholism, drug addiction marital dieses, sense of irresponsibility, absents of higher sentiments and even inability to deal a normal marital lend family life.

Measure for the promotion of the deprived sections

Remedial instructions

            Students coming from scheduled caste and scheduled tribes also likely to be defiant in the scholastic areas. The school may provide some remedial education programmers. Adaption of instructional strategies’, such as a group learning, monitorial assistance, diagnostic testing and tutoring would help to improve the educational levels of these learners

Provision of outdoor game and activities, co-curricular and work experience activities will also help in the retention of such children in the school and create an interest in terms of continued schooling

Role of the teacher

             The teacher can play an important role in the developing a favorable school climate conductive to the educational progress of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes some suggestion are given below:

         The teachers  own example is his behavior towards students belonging  to these castes is the most effective and powerful way to build up a congenial climates

         The school staff should ensure nondiscrimination between  the  children of schedule castes , schedule tribes  and other communities

         The  school staff should avoid the use of the caste name or derogatory words while calling roll calls or naming children 

         Teacher should provide equal opportunity to all children to participate in the curricular and co- curricular activities of the school including games.

         Special attention should paid to motivating parent to educate the girls

         Teacher should suggest to illiterate  parents the advantages gained by attending functional literacy classes in the center

Removing gender bias in  curriculum and textbook


 

 In Indian context text books are important repository of knowledge. It is an important teaching and learning material that teachers and students really upon across the country.

 Since textual materials are pivotal sources of knowledge it is important that they include issues of equity and equality as both boys and girls from all segments of society access them. The four portrait of gender relation and its contributions are important in the thematic selection pertaining to all disciplines..

 A gender audit of textual material would help in knowing:-

- Whether textile materials related to all disciplines address contributions and achievement of men and women in an adequate manner.

- whether textbooks reflect heterogeneous identities of all groups in an inclusive  manner.

-    whether textbook Bridge or segments of society related to gender,  caste, class, religion and location.

- weather they are cyst in initiating transformatory attitudinal changes among learners.

- whether they help in addressing different forms of conflicts.

- weathered a sensitive on promoting criticism thinking among children for questioning stereotypes,  Miths  and misconception and customary practices degratory  to the status of women.

- in the construction of knowledge in different subjects domains it is important to analyse the content, visuals and exercises of the textbook from a gender perspective.

 Evaluation tool for textbook analysis from a gender perspective

A : Identification of data.

1. Title of the textbook

2. Class

3. Subject

4. Language

5. Authors/ writing team/ numbers of females and numbers of males.

6. Editors

  Numbers of females and numbers of males

7. Month and  year of Publication

8. Total number of pages

9. Tata number of lessons

10. Publishers full address

11. Cover page/ back page from the perspective of gender bias and stereotyping

 Description of visuals and description of content

12. Instead of cover page/ back page from the perception of gender bias and stereotyping.

 Description of visuals

 Description of contents

13. Any other information

14. Suggestions

 

B:    indent and visual Analysis

 

1. Lesson/ chapter/ unit

2. Title/ Theme

3. Total number of pages

     while analysing the content of visual there is a need to look into the following parameters.

a) content analysis should clearly reflect when the release any form of gender bias gender stereotyping or is it gender neutral or gender inclusive.

* content allocation

* adjectives used for men and women in the theme

*  diversity in men and women reflected in the text

* gender  representation of occupation

* rules and men and women both

* value in relation to men and women

* reference to customary practices

* it is given to the contribution and achievements of men women and both

* marginalised groups and their cultures and lifestyles represented

*  Are prejudice mentioned

* does the narrative speak only of a particular caste and class

* how is power relations reflected

* who takes the decision in the area of food education or money matters health occupation and any other.

* best theme reflected diverse areas of contributors of women in a constructive manner.

* how are women reflected in different domains of society in relation to Family,  School, workplace,  society.

* distribution of workload by genders in a framework of fairness.

*  who performs productive activities related to the production of goods and services for income generation.

* who performs activities related to collection of water,  nursing child,  care setting fuel wood and all activities related to the house hold chores.

* who perform community activities, welfare,  related organising meeting, marriage, funeral,  religion, activities neighborhood meeting any other.

* who are shown as agents of change

B  Visuals 

 Representation of men and women

 Active role   

 Passive role

C  Total number of characters in content and visuals

Male       Female       Both 

D      Exercise/ Projects/ Activities

 

* Does exercise explore issues related to gender, class and caste.

* Does exercise attempt  to  question power relation

*  Does they help children to connect with lived  relatives

*  Does it promote critical thinking and problem solving skills

* Does it promotes imagination and creativity among children.

*  Does it encourage Team Spirit and cooperation among them.

E    Overall evaluation of the text books related to content and visual portrayal

Perception of the book from the viewpoint of,

 Gender bias

 Gender stereotyping

 Gender inclusive

 Gender neutral

 Power structure

 Tematic consistency coherence and contextualization

 Reference to technology and its use by men, women and both

 Progression of the discipline and its postaning at various class level

Curriculum and gender

1) Science curriculum

 Give example of women scientists were our relevant to themes were women have contributed.

 In all experiments involving boys and girls

 In all project work involve boys and girls

 Gender inclusive activities can be highlighted in discussion of such as the gender matters, life process etc.

 300 related to animal husbandry may include the role of women in feeding,  breed and in Disease Control..

Themes related to chemical reaction and equation main include home based example such as preparation of pickles, Jams  extra.

2) mathematics curriculum

 Mention names of women mathematician

 Involve boys and girls in conduction of difference activities and projects.

 In themes related to statistics you may present gender disaggregated data on environment dropout and declining sex ratio of India of States.

 In the inside of front and back of cover page of textbook you can include messages on promoting girls education.

3) social science curriculum

 Discuss the impact of French Revolution, Russian Revolution, on the life and conditions of  was collect photograph, messages,  sayings related to these and see how women are portrayed.

 Write a brief biography on the lives of Revolutionary women.

 Organise a discussion on activities done by men and women in agricultural Industrial and service sectors of our economy in the last 5 years.

 Development of teaching aids on Population ratio literacy rate 6 ratio and enrollment and dropout rates etc.

 Posters of modules can be prepared Honda roll of women as concerves and festivals of our habitat. Biographies of women environmentalist can be prepared.

 Graphical representation of elected women in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can be prepared.

4) Language curriculum

 Project on Emirant  women in the field of language and literature.

 Thoughts of eminent Indian thinkers on women.

 Used gender inclusive words such as he or she, him or her.

 Write essay on gender equality.

Gender sensitivity

 Gender sensitivity is commonly applied Chuda general difference between men and women. The historical meaning of gender is things with three differently because of their inherent defences sometimes it is used to technical field as a theory of human nature.

Gender sensitivity mean gender awareness which is mear analytical and critical since if classified issues about gender disparities and gender issues.

 It performs you want effort to show how gender shapes the role of women and men on society including their role in development and how it affects relations between them.

 How to promote gender awareness in parents and teachers

*** Curriculum /text:- all text to reading materials and books be free of notion of gender inequality as bias is embedded in textbooks, interaction with the students.

*** Educational system:- needs to be gender sensitive and gender friendly for girls and boys.

***  Guidings by gender experts:-

 Need for the development of criteria of making gender sensitive guidelines.

***  Educational policies:-

 All policies programs and interventions need to be gender sensitive.

*** Use of gender sensitive vocabulary

*** Teacher training program :- Gender involving training should be mandotry.

***  Should  parents partnership :- needs to be transported to identify gender issues in homes.

*** extra benefits:- benefit must bebenefit must bebenefit must be different in rural areas to promote girl education.

*** gender sensitive organisational culture:-

 Organisational change needs to be statistificationall by promoting gender balance.***  Creation of a gender responsive School:- were the academic, specific needs the academic social and physical environment and its surroundings commonly take into account. The specific needs of girls and boys.

 Role of media reinforces the traditional types of women and men. And this needs to address and promote gender equality.

Allocation of budget educational authorities and call must be provided birth date of Pramote  and sustained gender sensitive agenda.

 Commitment from senior leadership and government

Wastage and stagnation at secondary level


Introduction

Though ‘wastage’ and ‘stagnation’ are two separate words they are considered to be the twin problems of education. This was mentioned in the Committee under the chairmanship of sir Phillip Hartog was established to enquire into the conditions of education in India.since he was the chairman of the committee the committee was known as Hartog committee.This was the first committee which discuss wastage and stagnation in education in India

Wastage "The premature withdrawal of children from schools at any stage before completion of the primary courses”.

Stagnation "the retention of a child in the same class for a period of more than one year is called stagnation".

This  statement does not mean there is no wastage in the Secondary Course and Higher Course. Any student, who receives education at any stage, is expected to complete his education with the prescribed period. If one withdraws from the course before completion, then that individual or individuals are deemed to be wastage to the course.

 Primary Education, the main objective is the attainment of stable literary through five year schooling. If a child entering school leaves it or is withdrawn from school before completing class V, it leads to wastage in education. So wastage is premature withdrawal of children from schools. A rough and ready method to measure wastage is to compare diminution in enrolment from class to class in series of years.

 students do not complete the study of their curriculum and consequently the time, money and energy expended on such students prove to be sheer wastage. Hence the most popular use of the word “Wastage” in education means the wastage of time, effort and money.

 The word ‘Stagnation’ in education means the retention of a student in a class for more than one year.The students at every stage of education are expected to pass the examination after finishing the whole course. But it has been found that in general practice many students are not able to pass the examinations in one class or in more than one class within the prescribed period.Thus, they fail and remain in the same class. These failed students repeat the same class and course whereas their other colleagues pass that class and study in the next upper class. This process has been called the process of stagnation. Thus by stagnation it is meant the stay of students in a particular class for more than one year.

As in the case of primary education, the wastage and stagnation were also eating the vitals of the secondary education. The tremendous loss that is caused because of the problems of the wastage and stagnation will be clear by looking at the results of High School Final every year.

University education everywhere in the country is also not free from the ghost of wastage and stagnation. Probably, the problems of wastage and stagnation exist in a greater degree at this stage of education. It has been remarked that great ‘wastage’ of public money is taking place every year in the University Education.

What is more regrettable is the fact that there is some indifference towards the serious loss of public money. Also no less indifference is shown for the wastage of time, money and energy of the students, their parents or guardians and their ambitions and aspirations in life.

 

Causes of Wastage and Stagnation:

The causes of wastage and stagnation are of 3 categories: Economic, Educational and Social.

Economic Causes

According to Kothari Commission Report, “A child is sent to school between 6-9 years of age because at this age he is a nuisance at home than a help.

At the age of 9 or 10, the child becomes an economic asset, because he can work at home or earn something outside. This is especially true of girls who have to assist the over-worked mother at home. The child is withdrawn from the school and thus he becomes a wastage case”.Parents mostly involve their children in domestic work and this leaves no time to child for study. Financial handicap is responsible for wastage and stagnation. Out of poverty some parents utilize the service of their children to supplement earning.

 

In many cases poor parents find it almost impossible to lose the assistance of children. Poverty of Indian people is miserable that they find themselves unable to meet other expenses connected with the education even against the provision of free education of their children to supplement earning.

In many cases poor parents find it almost impossible to lose the assistance of children. Poverty of Indian people is miserable that they find themselves unable to meet other expenses connected with the education even against the provision of free education of their children during harvest time; children cannot afford to go to school as they are required in the farm. Again, out of poverty children lack minimum diet and are unable to stay for long in schools.

 1. Poor economic condition of the family 2. Supplementing the income of family 3. Helping parents in profession 4. Burden of school fees

5. Burden of providing dresses/uniforms 6. Burden of providing study materials 7. Financial problem to provide tuition facilities

Social Causes

Class and caste distinctions prevail in India, the former in urban areas and the latter in rural areas. Especially in the case of girls custom of early marriages or betrothals stands a bar. There is an opposition to send grow-up girls to schools especially to the mixed schools without women teachers.

Muslim parents exhibit more of orthodox views about their girls. Even in the case of boys some parents due to caste restrictions do not want their children to mix with power caste boys and girls. Co­education of boys and girls in some places is looked with suspicion. And as there is no separate provision of education for girls, deprivation of girls from schools leads to much wastage.

 

1. Too much involvement in social activities

2. Too much involvement in religious activities

3. Apathetic attitude of the society towards education

4. Social backwardness

5. Orthodox mentality

6. Domestic problems

7.Child marriage

Educational causes

Only educational causes are responsible for another 30% of wastage. Government of India admits this in the following words:

“The educational institutions being ill-equipped, poorly housed and with dull and depressing environment unfortunately could not exercise effective counter-acting influence”.

Uncontrolled fresh admissions without consideration of age or time have no permanency. That is, admissions are made of under-aged and over-aged children. Again admissions are done throughout the year. So there is more of wastage and stagnation. That is because under-aged children lost interest in classes, whereas over-aged children remained away from school out of shame.

Lack of adequate accommodation, too much of over-crowding schools with high pupil-teacher ratio become the main causes of wastage and stagnation. Again, increased number of single-teacher schools, inefficient teaching, lack of teacher-pupil contact, frequent transfer of teachers and plural class-teaching disturbed the quality of instruction which ultimately cause much

1. The curriculum of education is not accordance with the real life of children

2. Individual attention does not paid the children

3.The school environment does not meet the psychological needs of children

4. Teaching methods adopted in the school are due and boring

5. Lack of interest of the teachers towards their job

6. Fear of examination and repulsive attitude towards education

7. The provisions for instructional materials are not adequcate

8. There is lack of healthy contact between parents and teachers

9. Defective administration

10. Disengagement

11. Too much stress on the theory but less in practical

l10. Corporal punishment

11. Uninteresting school curriculam

12. Difficulty of some subjects

13. No Parent-teachers’ meeting

 14. Overcrowded classrooms

15. Shortage of teachers

 16. Insincerity of teachers

17. Frequent absence of teachers

18. Teachers’ unfavourable attitude towards low achievers

19. Lack of teaching aids

20. Burden of home task

 Personal Problems 1. Continuous illness of students 2. Association with bad peer group 3. Overage of students 4. Alcoholic addiction of students  5. Drug addiction of student 6.. No specific ambition  7.Low aspiration 8. Improper study habits  9. Disliking for some teachers  10. Fear for examination

11. Medium of instruction (English) being difficult

Problems Related to Home

 1. Lack of parents’ education 2. Lack of parents’ interest and attitude 3. Lack of guidance of the parents  4. Divorce of parents  5. Single Parents  6. Step mother  7. Step father  8. Death of both parents 9. Health problem of family members

10. Death of family members 11. Alcoholic addiction of the parents 12. Drug addiction of the parents 13. Engagement in taking care of small children at home  14. Lack of study facilities at home

15. Unemployment of educated youth of the society Educational Causes

Remedial Measures

Statistics indicate huge wastage at the Primary stage. Of every 100 pupils that enter class I only 40 reach class V and only 20 reach class VIII. So steps are required to be taken for fighting against such alarming wastage those 80 students out of every hundred leave school before they complete age of 14.

1. Stagnation and wastage can be reduced by concentrating on quantitative improvement by

(a) Universal provisional

 (b) Universal retention

 Again attempts should be made for qualitative improvement of pupils.

2. Qualified teachers should be appointed to create better quality in the instructional programme to attract children.

3. Fresh admissions should be made at the beginning of the school session within two months from the date of commencement of school year. And it should not be done throughout the year.

4. As far as possible provision should be made for starting of Pre-Primary Schools to admit children below 6 years of age. So that it will be a sort of pre-registration and preparation of the pupils to get admitted in schools. It will avoid the enrolment of under-aged over-aged children.

5. The curriculum may be made modest, simple and interesting so that it can be implemented most efficiently.

6. Improvement, of the Professional competence of teachers may be made by providing training facilities, both pre-service and in-service. Necessary guide books for teachers and work books for students and other literature should also be provided.

7. Adequate and attractive school buildings should be provided. Necessary equipment and teaching aids should be supplied for making education more interesting and effective.

8. Teacher-pupil ratio may be maintained at such a level as to ensure adequate individual attention to be paid to each individual in every class particularly in class-I. As far as possible only trained and competent teachers should remain in charge of class I.

9. As master of policy it has been adopted that children from class-I may be liberally promoted to class-II and the like without any detention at any stage.

10. Provision of part-time schooling may be made for the benefit of children who cannot attend the school during regular hours on account of domestic and economic disabilities.

11. Effective supervision and inspection may be provided in schools.

12. Best possible use may be made of the existing resources, both human and material. The schools may be graded according to efficiency and standards. This will provide ground for qualitative improvement of schools, which ultimately will go to reduce wastage and stagnation.

13. Special provision should be made for educating the mentally retarded children by opening specialinstitutions in each State or district level.

14.To reduce wastage and stagnation in a bigger way, pupils may be given nutritious diet by introduction of mid-day meals under the School Health Service Programme. Existing mid-day meals system should be carefully regulated.

15.Medical facilities, free books to poor students 16.Providing “Literacy Classes” for a period of one year at  least to all children in the age group                                                                                      11-14 who are not attending schools. 17parent’s consciousness and interest in the education of their wards.

Conclusion

It cannot be denied that in the modern day educational scenario too wastage and stagnation still is a stumbling block. For eradication of the same the Government as well as the society has a vital role to play. Whereas the Govt. should have a think tank to prepare plans and modalities to curb wastage and stagnation, the society at large and for that matter social organizations should endeavour to create universal awareness in the direction.

 

 

SCERT   (   STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING)


         The state council of educational research and training, Kerala  is an autonomous body entrusted with planning implementation and evaluation of all academic programs from pre school to higher secondary levels. SCERT  kerala was established in 1994. The state institute of education (SIE),which functioned as part of the department of general education was converted to from the SCERT, to give a new  trust and direction to school education in the state. The Hon. Minister for education is the chairman and secretary general education department as vice chairman of the governing body of SCERT. Director, SCERT is the convener of the governing body. SCERT is concerned with the academic  aspects of school education including formulation of curriculum, preparation of textbooks teacher handbook and teacher training. It advice the government policy matters relating to school education. The academic activities and programs of SCERT are carried out by the various departments or unite. SCERT plans and co ordinate all academic projects and programs in the state.

                The national council of educational research and training maintains a network of field offices to keep a close liaison with the state government. At present the offices have been established in different states and union territories. State council of education research and training is one of the these offices.

 

SCERT

State Council of Educational Research and Training

O1. To organize and implement the special educational projects sponsored by UNICEF, NCERT and other agencies for qualitative improvement of school education and teacher educators.

02. To prescribed curricula and textbooks for the school and

teacher training institutions.

03. To produce instructional materials for the use of teacher educators

O4. To arrange in-service training for different categories of teachers, inspecting ofticers and teacher-educators and coordinate the work of other agencies operating at the state level

O5. To organize programmes including Correspondence-cum Contact Courses for professional development of teachers, teacher-educators and inspecting officers.

O6. To supervise the working of the Teacher-Training Colleges, Secondary Training Schools and Elementary Training Schools.

07. To provide extension service to Teacher-Training Insthutions at all levels in the state.

08. To conduct studies and investigations on the various probiems of education.

O9. To evaluate the adult and non-formal education programmes entrusted by the Government.

10. To conduct the public examinations specially at termina stages like the end of Class Hl and Class IV etc. with a view to selecting candidates for scholarships through such examinations.

FUNCTIONS OF SCERT

           To organize and implement the special educational project sponsored by UNICEF, NCERT, and other agencies for qualitative improvement of school education and teacher educators.

           To prescribed curricula and textbooks for the school and teachers training institutions.

           To produce  instructional materials  for the use of teacher educators.

           To arrange in service training for different categories of teacher inspecting officers and teacher education and coordinate the work of other agencies operating at the state level.

           To organize programs including correspondence- cum

           contact course for professionals development of teacher educators and inspecting officers.

           To supervise the working of the teacher training college, secondary training school, and training schools.

           To provide extensions service to teacher training I       institutions at all levels in the state.

           To conduct study and investigation on the various  problems  of education.

           To evaluate  the adult  and non formal  education programmes entrust by the government.

 

The SCERT  has the following department

           Department  of pre school and elementary  education

           Department  of non formal  education.

           Department of curriculum  research  and special  curriculum  renewal project.

           Department  of science and mathematics education

           Department of population education.

           Department  of educational technology

           Department  of examination reform and guidance.

           Department  of research  coordination.

           Department  of art and aesthetic  education.

           Department  of publications. 

   

    The state Council of educational research  and training  is established  and maintained  in order to improve the standard of education  in the state.

 

3 Factors That Contribute To Gender Inquality In The Classroom

Contributing Factor #1: Teachers Pay More Attention to Boys

According to a report sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), girls receive significantly less attention from teachers than boys do (1992).

This is due in part to the fact that, in general, boys are more likely to call out answers to questions posed to the class even if they haven’t been called on by the teacher.

This trend may also exist because boys are often perceived as being more mischievous, causing teachers to monitor and engage with them more actively in class, giving a perceived ‘opening’ to speak without permission.

Over time, this can discourage female students from speaking up even when they feel like they have something worthwhile to contribute to a discussion.

Contributing Factor #2: Interactions with Boys are More Public

Teachers often have a tendency to talk to boys from a greater distance than girls. This is possibly due to an expectation that they should communicate in a more nurturing way with girls and a more business-like way with boys.

Because the entire classroom can often hear a teacher’s conversations with boys, this contributes to — at least the appearance of — teachers communicating more often and more casually with boys.

This encourages girls to reserve their comments and questions for private conversations, denying them the chance to participate in primarily male-focused discussions.

Contributing Factor #3: Praise & Criticism Differ Between Boys & Girls

Though teachers aim to treat all students equally, there are often stark differences in the types of things boys and girls are praised or criticized for.

For example, boys are often praised more than girls for sharing correct knowledge, and wrong answers provided by boys are likely to be overlooked.

In contrast, girls are more often criticized for conveying incorrect knowledge, and teachers tend to provide less praise for correct answers given by girls. As with the lack of publicity in teachers’ conversations with girls, this makes knowledge provided by girls less visible. From this, an expectation arises that boys’ knowledge is more highly valued than that of girls, which can convince girls that they are less competent than boys.

Another difference comes in the fact that girls are more often praised for good behavior, whereas boys are criticized more for bad behavior in the classroom.

While this may seem like this difference would benefit female students, this trend actually places a greater emphasis on compliance as being essential to their academic success rather than simply learning and demonstrating knowledge.

6 Ways You Can Promote Gender Equality In Your Classroom

1. Be Reflective and Be Objective

First, pay attention to the trends above and do your best to offer more gender-neutral responses to students.

You may feel like you already do a good job of this, but it can be difficult to judge your own teaching objectively. It may help to record a video of your classroom in order to take a closer look at your own teaching methods and interactions with students.

2. Get Feedback From Colleagues and Students

Consider getting feedback from colleagues on any differences they may notice that you don’t. Further, consider getting similar feedback from the students themselves using an anonymous comment box.

Consider questions such as:

Do you notice any differences in how I treat boys and girls?

What do I need to know about you, in terms of gender, to teach you well?

Have I made you feel good or bad in regards to your gender at any point?

3. Use Gender-Neutral Language When Appropriate

You can also alter the language within your lessons to help expand students’ perspectives beyond gender stereotypes.

For example, in assignments you can challenge students’ expectations by including a female construction worker or soldier, a male secretary or nurse, and other professions typically associated with a particular gender.

Also, when referring to the group as a whole, avoid using gendered terms like ‘guys,’ which may make female students feel excluded. Instead, reach for gender-neutral pronouns like ‘everyone.’

Similarly, you shouldn’t refer to stereotypical characteristics like ‘boys don’t cry’ or ‘girls don’t fight.’ This language lays a foundation that may limit students’ understanding of gender roles.

4. Explain the Context

If you hear students using phrases like ‘you play like a girl’ or ‘man up,’ it’s important to point out the social implications of these statements rather than simply admonishing the use of that kind of phrasing.

The struggle for and history of gender equity parallels similar struggles and histories for race and religious equity. Understanding how individuals and groups become marginalized through the most basic of cultural tools like language can, depending on the grade level of your students, is more important than having ‘clear rules’ to simply ‘protect students’ from bias.

5. Seat and Group Students Intentionally

It’s common for boys and girls to segregate when choosing friends and seating arrangements. Teachers sometimes encourage this by asking girls and boys to form separate lines in the hallway or even organizing separate sports activities for each group.

By creating a dynamic seating chart, you can break up boys- or girls-only cliques and encourage both groups to engage with each other.

6. Use Project-Based Learning

You can also be intentional about integrating a mix of boys and girls within small group projects.

The work can be purely academic, with the lessons on gender equity indirect and implicit. By working together, girls and boys can—if supported well—better understand the nuance of individual behaviors rather than stereotyping ‘girls’ and ‘boys.’

Projects can also be created to explore concepts in and around gender and cultural equity, or to do work in select spaces and communities to nurture the growth of healthy human interdependence.

Conclusion

These trends aren’t true for every teacher or every group of students, but they are worth considering as you attempt to curb gender biases within your teaching methods. Gender disparity is only one facet of a much larger issue of equity within education.

However, by making efforts to break down traditional gender roles in the classroom, you can better prepare students to seek knowledge and participate more fully in discussions and other learning opportunities in many fields, regardless of their gender.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                           

 


 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

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