Most of the teacher education programmes in India are outdated in terms of curriculum and pedagogy. Classrooms across geographies are subject to teachers’ incompetency as well as incapability of individuals to become teachers.

1. New possibilities – Post graduate diploma in
learning and teaching
Most of the teacher education programmes in India are outdated in terms of
curriculum and pedagogy. Classrooms across geographies are subject to
teachers’ incompetency as well as incapability of individuals to become teachers.
This is indeed a big systemic setback that needs urgent attention. In order to
address these concerns related to classroom learning and teaching, it’s
imperative to re-imagine what’s desirable in ‘teacher education’. In this, I Am A
Teacher (IAAT ) is a new possibility.
In an attempt to create a unique model that responds to the needs and concerns of teacher
preparation, I Am A Teacher (IAAT), a non-profit professional organization based in Gurgaon,
was founded in 2014. The title ‘I am a teacher’ was consciously coined to infuse a sense of
pride within teachers about their profession and about their identity as a teacher. The overall
attempt of the organization is to bring a new paradigm shift in the way people view the teaching
profession.
Cause for concern
Every year, almost 93 percent teachers in India fail the Central Teacher Eligibility Test. In this,
our teachers are not failing; we are failing our teachers; we are failing our children! High
absenteeism, low motivation of learners and teachers, poor subject mastery, rote learning, low
achievement levels of students, lack of infrastructure, resources and inadequate classroom
practices—these are characteristics of our schools and classrooms and this has been the big
sad story of Indian education since decades with very little positive changes taking place.
While several reasons can be attributed to the current status of education in our country,
teaching quality has been noted to have a huge influence on student learning. In the recent
years, this has been reiterated in the National Curriculum Framework (GoI, 2005), which

2. highlighted that ‘the quality and extent of learner achievement are determined primarily by
teacher’s competency, sensitivity and motivation’. Despite policymakers attributing considerable
importance to the role of teachers, very little evidence exists to show that adequate measures
have been taken at an institutional level to curb this challenging issue.
One-year diploma
As an alternative and practicebased model, IAAT offers Post Graduate Diploma in Learning and
Teaching (PGDLT), which is designed into an innovative, practice-based teacher education
programme that has the potential to fundamentally transform the ways in which teachers are
nurtured and catalyzed a system-wide improvement.
Conceptualized by Smriti Jain, an alumnus of Harvard Graduate School of Education, this
oneyear training programme is based on activities which the student teachers get into through
real classroom situations, building a strong connection of theories and practices. Like the way
no medical institute exists without a hospital, no teacher education institute should run without
being attached to a school.
PGDLT is inspired by the ‘Residency Model’ prevalent in the US, where teacher preparation is
fast changing from traditional theory-based model to a more practice-based model. The National
Center for Teacher Residencies, which is an apex organisation in the US, has a network of
more than 20 residencies and is IAAT’s thought partner in this endeavour. The programme has
some of the most eminent academics, researchers and educationists as its permanent faculty
and some progressive educational thinkers as guest faculty. The curriculum is benchmarked
against some of the best teacher education programmes of the world. The admissions cycle to
the programme is from September to April.
Practice oriented
Tied up with some credible academic partners, such as
Boston Teacher Residency; JodoGyan, an organisation working on math curriculum and
pedagogy and The Heritage School, IAAT aspires to raise the bar on quality teacher education.
Under the PGDLT, the student teachers are placed in a host school. For this year, it is The
Heritage School (Gurgaon) where the trainees will be spending the whole session in classrooms
teaching alongside experienced mentor-teachers who model best practices. Student teachers
are intensively mentored and guided throughout the year on training session by a clinical
teacher educator who is present in the field. Besides classroom practice, they have coursework
throughout the session that helps them integrate theory and practice, and eventually earns them
the PGDLT.
How is PGDLT different? In conventional teacher training programme in gurgaon, one finds
classes may or may not be linked to practical issues in schools, unlike the seamless blend of
practices and theory in PGDLT. Moreover, PGDLT emphasises on ‘creating a positive learning
environment, fostering inquiry, differentiation, lesson planning and making learning relevant.’
Demonstrative pedagogy, collaborative learning, comprehensive and continuous assessments
throughout the course, planning and teaching gateways, observation and self reflection are
some of the core structures of the programme.
Course structures

3. Structures for the PGDLT programme are a mix of foundational and methods courses along with
certain important enrichment modules planned to develop understanding about education within
the residents. The methods courses are designed keeping in mind the preparation of teachers
towards the early years or elementary age groups. Journey of a PGDLT student teacher begins
with Mindful Personal Leadership sessions in which student teachers begin to be aware of
themselves, connect with their true self, introspect, question their beliefs and assumptions,
reflect on their own ideas about learning and teaching and re-ignite their curiosity about
themselves in relation to the world around them, leading them to develop fresh perspectives.
While Self Awareness is a continuous process, they subsequently embark on a quest to develop
and hone their ‘knowledge and skills’ both as learners and educators. Since the approach
towards learning and teaching is based on fundamental principles of experiential learning,
demonstrative pedagogy and active involvement and ownership of learning by the students,
IAAT makes this happen through group tasks, group study, hands-on experiences, dialogue,
workshops and so on.
Meaningful mentoring
Mentoring system at IAAT is an evolving framework and is designed to ensure a seamless
blend between the content studied in the class and the teaching practiced inside the classroom.
In order to achieve this, a comprehensive process of planning, teaching, formal and informal
observation and one-on-one coaching is practiced to improve learning in the classroom. In the
structural components of monitoring, one student teacher gets attached to one mentor and one
class for the whole year; and he/she has the opportunity to visit other classes too, depending on
the need. Practice teaching starts in the beginning of the year and is carried on till the end. All
student teachers practise inside the classroom for three days a week and have theory classes
two days a week. Apart from main classroom teaching, they participate in all the other
processes, be it planning, reflection, assessments, parentteacher meetings and so on. A
teacher educator is attached to 10–12 residents for closely mentoring the student teachers.
Ready to teach
By the end of the IAA’s PGDLT programme, student teachers are able co-construct their
knowledge about children, learning and teaching, build a repertoire of effective practices and
are ready to teach and lead in their classrooms. By the culmination of the programme, student
teachers are grounded in the experiential learning pedagogy that helps them build lifelong
bonds with children, peers and the community at large. The programme adapts to the contextual
needs of different schools and communities that it works in collaboration with. Finally, the intent
is to set up a model of excellence in one context and replicate it across several contexts, be it
progressive private schools, affordable private schools or government schools.
Article Source:- http://www.progressiveteacher.in/new-possibilities-post-graduate-diploma-in-learning-and-teaching/