IIPM Publications-The education sector today needs a concerted push so that best teachers are recruited for the greater good of the nation

In another study on evaluating teaching performance, Professor Michael B. Paulsen of the University of Iowa, says that the careful consideration of the qualities of effective teaching is an important task. “No universally accepted definition of effective college teaching exists even though countless attempts have been made to identify the characteristics of effective teaching using a variety of theoretical perspectives and a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches.”

In OECD’s three-yearly PISA test of the abilities of 15-year old secondary-school students, Finland has established its reputation as one of the world’s leaders in the academic performance of its secondary school students. The OECD 2010 report focuses on salient characteristics of Finland’s education system that makes it different from other OECD countries. It talks about the incredible Finnish success in education by excluding the factors that are almost common in all the OECD countries.

The full-service schools that provide health and dental services, offer guidance and psychological counselling, and access to a broader array of mental health and other services for students and families in need, are becoming increasingly common in western countries, including Finland. Teachers there enjoy a relatively high degree of freedom. They are expected to assess students on an ongoing basis, using the assessment guidelines in the national core curriculum and textbook. Students, on the other hand, are expected to work collaboratively on projects.

India’s National Curriculum Framework (NCF) proposes five guiding principles for curriculum development. ‘Connecting knowledge to life outside the school, ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods, enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks, making examinations more flexible and ­integrating them with classroom life and nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.’ These guidelines are largely in sync with the practices of the top performing countries.

According to the NCF 2005, the fact that knowledge is constructed by the child implies that curricula, syllabi and textbooks should enable the teacher in organising classroom experiences in consonance with the child’s nature and environment, and thus providing opportunities for all children. “Teaching should aim at enhancing children’s natural desire and strategies to learn. Knowledge needs to be distinguished from information, and teaching needs to be seen as a professional activity, not as coaching for memorisation or as transmission of facts.” Read full article