PATHETIC STATE OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING

As an Educator engaged in teaching since1965 and as a Teacher-Educator &

Administrator since 1977; it has been my earnest endeavour to improve my
teaching, to grow professionally and to share what I had learnt with others. I
have lost count of the number of Seminars, Extension Lectures and
Workshops that I attended for the purpose.

After 1980 I had the opportunity of organising these Workshops for Pre-
Service and In-Service teachers. I experimented with different approaches
to training of teachers, including the Diagnostic Remedial Approach in
Training Teachers in Skills of Teaching.

I owe a lot to the experts from NCERT, IGNOU, CBSE, UGC and other
Agencies; with whom I interacted, learnt a lot (if I did not learn more, the
fault was mine and not of the experts) and tried to put it into practise.

The best opportunity came my way from 1979 to 1991, when I was the
Founder Principal of Vishwa Bharati College of Education, Srinagar and again
in 2002, when I joined Darshan Education Foundation- Delhi and had first
hand experiences of training teachers on Activity-Based Teaching,
Classroom Management through DA Agreements, Buddy System, Key-
Priority Areas, Practice and Review Techniques and Scores of other Topics.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all my colleagues at the Vishwa Bharati

College of Education, Srinagar and to Madam Suzanne Lauber, Director,
DEF; who became my Role-Model of a Teacher Educator/Trainer. We also
had opportunities of interacting with dozens and dozens of Experts from
India and Abroad and from them we had Sessions on Memory, Study Skills,
Time Management, Team Building, Leadership, School Administration,
System Management, Quality Circles, Value Education Models, Non- Violent
Communication, etc.

During the last 20 years, I have conducted Workshops for thousands of

teachers across the country. It has been a privilege to interact with teachers
at Srinagar, Jammu, Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Gwalior, Aligarh, Hathras,
Rohtak, Sampla, Hissar, Ambala, Ludhiana, Kolkatta, Kaithal, Pune, Varanasi,
Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Datia and Delhi. In the recent
past, I have conducted Workshops for the Quality Council of India, at Delhi,
Gurgaon, Chennai, Ahmadabad; on “How to prepare a School for
Accreditation,’ and on ‘Training Accreditation Assessors.’

In the process, I have met teachers and Principals of the reputed and
prestigious Public Schools of Delhi and of other cities, of Air Force Public
Schools, of Kendriya Vidyalaya, of Residential Schools and also of Schools
trying to establish their identity in the community.

What I have observed and experienced is, that although the Teachers and
Principals show a lot of enthusiasm, are willing to learn, participate actively,
deliberate and contribute during the workshop; although their Feedback is
very encouraging; but what really is transferred to actual classroom
situations is not even a fraction of what the teachers were trained in and for.

This is appalling! An in depth study and discussion with Principals revealed

that these workshops were an eye-wash and each School had an ulterior
motive behind the conduct of the Workshops. Most often the workshop was
organised to publicise the School through press and Media. Sometimes the
Principal organised these workshops to prove to the Management that he
was on the job of Professional Growth of Teachers and in most of these
workshops, he was the one who was not a participant. Workshops were
being used for Image Building, Publicity, for inviting authorities from the
State Administration, Boards etc; and even for providing an opportunity to
the Publishers to talk about their publications and how their Text-Books
were better than those of other Publishers.

As a result there has been a Mushroom growth of so-called Experts in

various areas and the Quality of Workshops conducted desires a lot. The
teachers are on the receiving end. Workshops are held on Holidays, Sundays
and during Vacations. The Workshops are dull and boring. These are far
from the realities of classroom practices and situations. Most of them are
Lectures or presentations. There is hardly any activity which the teachers
could take up when they return to schools. Managements are least bothered
about professional growth of teachers. No one bothers to keep the teachers
abreast of the latest in the field of teaching-learning.

What again is disturbing is that the teachers and Schools seem to act on
herd mentality and suddenly experts spring up from nowhere to conduct
workshops on: Blue Print of a Question Paper, Parenting, Counselling, De
-stressing, Motivation, Teaching without Burden, HOTS and now the CCE,
Inclusive Education, RTE etc.

It looks as if one school is trying to outdo the other. The Focus is lost. No
one seems to remember the Objective behind the Workshop. Customised
workshops or Need-Based Workshops are not possible in the absence of a
seasoned Expert teacher trainer. Question and Answer sessions have been
forgotten. A lot of precious time is wasted in introductions, reception, report
about the achievements of the school, a few words by the Chief Guest, a
vote of thanks at the end, which usually is a summary of what the person
has understood at the workshop rather than what the Expert tried to
convey. The poor expert has no other alternative but to cut on the activities
for Hands-on -Learning and deliver a talk and thus we have been talking at
the teachers.

Some Board Members have asked me occasionally as to how the workshop

is going to benefit the School, or how have the Workshops conducted so far
benefited the teachers. This is obvious since their is a dichotomy between
what the teachers learn at the Workshops and what they are required to do
at the School.
In such a situation how do we expect sound Educational, Pedagogical and
Psychological practices in our schools? We come across a plethora of
teaching techniques and many are not even able to justify these or speak of
their relevance. What is going on in the name of teaching is..........TRASH! A
good practice here and another there are an oasis in a desert of dead habit.

Kindly give me the benefit of your opinion and advice to remedy the
situation.
If I am wrong in my assessment of the situation, please correct me and let
me have your experiences.