NIEPA
Training Programme on
Methodology
and Techniques of District Planning in Education
Under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan
(Shillong : May 1-6, 2000)
COPY RIGHT: NIEPA/NCERT, New Delhi – 110016, INDIA.
PLANNING
FOR QUALITY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
NCERT,
New Delhi
Under SSA planning for
improvement of quality of education has been equally emphasised as alongwith
the universal enrolment and universal retention, universal achievement is
equally important. This is so because the attendance and retention in schools
depends, to a large extent, on the quality of education. The SSA draft document visualises elementary
education of ‘Satisfactory Quality for
All Children’ by 2010. So efforts
towards achievement of quality should go hand in hand with efforts for
enrolment and retention. As a first
step of planning exercise, the factors affecting the quality of elementary
education have to be identified and the information on such inputs may be
collected from the secondary sources like village records, school registers etc
and by Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with headmasters, teachers and community
members.
Some of the major components of quality aspects of
elementary education on which information may be collected are as follows :
VIII.
Learning
environment and support services
IX.
Teachers’
competency
X.
Opportunity
time
XI.
Curriculum
XII.
Teaching-Learning
Material
XIII.
Classroom
Processes
XIV.
Evaluation
of Learning Achievement
1.
Learning
Environment and Support Services
As the learning
environment of a school affects the quality of learning it is necessary to
collect information on availability of pre-schooling facilities, community
participation, socio-economic background of the students, early childhood care
facilities, current status of the schools in the district, teachers’ position,
financial and other incentives, facilities available to the teaching staff from
different levels of the education department.
All these information help in planning the activities and intervention
strategies for quality improvement.
2.
Teachers’
Competency
The teachers’
competency has a positive effect on improvement of quality of education. This is measured by the knowledge and skill
of teachers in the subjects. Besides
their level of motivation, interest and commitment and ability to interact with
parents and community members also contributes to and influences the quality of
teaching-learning process. As the
assessment of teachers competency is a sensitive issue and sometimes open
assessment may be counter productive, the information on educational
qualifications, years of experience, area of specialisation, pre-service and
in-service training etc. may help in assessing the level of competency. Also it is necessary to collect data on
classroom organisation and management, methods used for curriculum transaction
and the problems faced by the teachers to prepare an effective plan which would
help to improve the overall quality of teaching-learning inputs provided by the
teacher.
3.
Opportunity
Opportunity
time refers to the extent of time given by the children that is actually used
by the teacher in teaching-learning activities. In order to calculate the opportunity time, information is needed
on number of days the school is functioning in a year, number of classes
handled by each teacher, attendance of teachers in a year etc. As availability and effective utilisation of
time is a basic input in children’s learning, information on this aspect will
facilitate better planning for teachers for proper allocation and effective
utilisation of time by teachers.
4.
Curriculum
Development
of curriculum is a continuous process to suit the emerging learning needs of the
children within the broad framework of National Policy on Education. NCERT had developed a “National Curriculum
for Elementary and Secondary Education : A Framework” which is followed in
original form in some states or in modified form in other states to respond to
state and local specific contexts and needs.
Under SSA, the focus is on making the curriculum for elementary
education more and more contextual, adopting a holistic approach to educational
development by incorporating knowledge, skills, values etc. relevant to the
child’s life situation. Although it has
been perceived that educational planning and management may be decentralised
upto the district level but there are some problems in this regard. First to
decide the extent of decentralisation and its methodology and second, to adopt
a flexible mode of curriculum reform.
To plan for curriculum reform, the information pertaining to the present
curriculum and related aspects can be obtained from the schools and education
offices.
5.
Teaching-Learning Material
The
use of teaching-learning material play a crucial role in actual curriculum
transaction both at the primary and upper primary stage, and consequently on
the quality of education. Hence it is essential to assess the type,
availability, suitability and usability of various teaching-learning
material. Information on availability
of teaching-learning material like blackboard, textbooks, workbooks,
teaching-learning aids, teachers’ guides may be collected at the school level
to facilitate the planning at the district level for (i) developing need-based
teaching-learning material; (ii) opening scope for using local-specific
material (iii) involving teachers in developing the material and (iv) providing
scope for capacity building of teachers.
6. Classroom Processes
Since the classroom provides
the setting for all teaching-learning and an opportunity to the child for
exploration, experimentation and communication, the more effective the
classroom process better is the learning outcomes. Hence it is necessary to know how the classroom transactions are
conducted and managed, status of classroom environment, various
teaching-learning strategies used by teachers.
The information on all these can be collected from classroom
observations, interviews with teachers, students and headmasters etc. which
will help in (i) improving interventions for all aspects of classroom
processes, (ii) identifying training requirements for teachers/headteachers,
and (iii) identifying areas for capacity building of supervisors.
7. Evaluation-Learning
Achievement
To ensure meaningful
learning both the outcome and the process of evaluation/assessment are
important and essential. So it is
necessary to measure the learner achievement from time to time in both
cognitive and non-cognitive areas. Any
plan for increasing learning achievement should focus on improving the quality
of education which requires the knowledge about the factors affecting the
child’s learning. The information on
the indicators of achievement can be collected from school records, teachers’
interviews, pupils assessment and evaluation records which would help in (a)
identifying the gaps in the evaluation strategies to develop new and improved
strategies for enhancing learners’ achievement, and (b) adopting and improving
upon existing assessment and evaluation tools.
In the process of planning
for improving the quality of education, a district should have detailed
information about the major indicators and also the issues under different
areas, preferably in a tabular form.
While the quantitative informations like enrolment, retention, physical
facilities can be obtained from school records, the qualitative informations
may be obtained through focus group discussion, quick assessment on different
aspects of quality for which data is not available, learner achievement tests
etc. The interventions or activities to
achieve the quality of elementary education have to be visualised on the basis
of information and be prioritised accordingly.
It is desirable that a perspective plan should address the nature of
activities, strategies etc. within a given time frame. While planning for quality related
interventions needed, phasing of activities should be clearly assessed,
visualised and incorporated, and may finally be shared will all concerned to
make it more realistic, contextual and implementable.