By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Thirteen from Madhya Pradesh who were shortlisted among the 57 Indian teacher educators left for the United States of America along with others in the wee hours of September 10 from New Delhi airport for a three-month residency at Arizona State University (ASU), under the India Support for Teacher Education Program (In-STEP).
This is the second group which is visiting USA. The first cohort of 53 teacher educators completed their training at ASU in the fall of 2013.
Among the 13 teacher educators from Madhya Pradesh travelling to USA, six are from Bhopal, two from Indore, one each from Ujjain, Khandwa, Satna, Nowgong and Mandsaur. They are: Farrukh Saleem Khan, Senior Lecturer- Institute of Advanced Study in Education (IASE); Mrs. Rana Mujeeb Khan, Senior Lecturer District Institute for Education and Training (DIET); Mrs. Shewta Sharma, Lecturer (Education Technology), DIET; Mrs. Sarla Shrivastav, Lecturer, DIET; Dr. Mohammad Arif Junaid Khan, Lecturer, DIET & Manoj Kapoor, Lecturer, DIET (all six from Bhopal); Devendra Kumar Soni, Sr. Lecturer, DIET, Bijalpur & Mrs. Taramani Toppo, Lecturer, DIET (both from Indore); Dr. Manisha Thakur, Sr. Lecturer, CTE, (Ujjain); Keshav Kumar Parashar, Sr. Lecturer, DIET (Khandwa); Rajendra Prasad Pandey, Sr. Lecturer, DIET (Satna); Rajeev Mishra, Sr. Lecturer, DIET (Nowgong) & Dr. Alka Agrawal, Lecturer, DIET (Mandsaur).
The intensive training course will cover a range of topics including teaching methods, in-service and pre-service teacher education, and assessment techniques. As part of this customized program, Indian educators will observe American schools and educational best practices. In addition, the Indian participants will work closely with ASU professors to prepare proposals for reform in specific areas of education, which they would then be able to implement in their respective states. The ultimate goal is better-trained teachers and improved educational outcomes for Indian students.
The Indian teacher educators are expected to internalize and apply the practices and teacher education methodologies learned at ASU in their home institutions, where they will be adapted to Indian contexts and used to enhance the capabilities of India’s current and future teachers.
It may be mentioned here that supported by the United States Agency for International Development, (USAID), and the Government of India Ministry of Human Resource Development, the $4.3 million In-STEP initiative offers a three-month, customized training for 110 Indian teacher educators at ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. ASU’s training imparts innovative, state-of-the-art teaching methodologies and tools that are applicable and relevant in the Indian context, enabling the teacher educators to offer high quality training to Indian teachers upon their return.
It may be pointed out here that it is being increasingly realized that teachers and those who educate them (teacher educators) are the key human resource in the education system, the quality of their preparation and on-going support is appropriate starting point of reforms. The challenge is to recognize and enhance the role of teachers and their educators in shaping the social transformation India is witnessing. The goal is to have collaborative engagement of the energies and resources of local, national, international communities and stakeholders to transform school and teacher education to build in quality, equity and inclusion, rigour and robustness, professional development, teacher learner resources and support services-academic, administrative and financial.
While at ASU, the Indian teacher educators will complete a customized core course in the learning sciences, plus four required and three elective courses. They also will experience Teachers College’s nationally recognized iTeachAZ student teaching residency by spending up to 70 hours in local K-12 classrooms.
As part of their curriculum, learning to write long-essay reform proposals will inspire the Indian educators to think like change-makers. In addition, they will learn the benefits of opening their classroom doors and collaborating with one another in order to become more effective teachers.
Perhaps most beneficial for the visiting teachers will be their exposure to ASU’s world-class educational research and clinical faculty, including Nobel Prize winner Leland “Lee” H. Hartwell.