1. Innovations in Pre-service Second Language Teacher Education for Elementary Level in West Bengal Ms. Kuheli Mukherjee

2. Overview  Context of change in Elementary teacher education in West Bengal  Innovations introduced in revised D.El.Ed. Curriculum  Is the existing elementary teacher education system capable of implementing the innovations?  Steps necessary to make the innovations successful

3. Elementary Teacher Education in West Bengal (before 2013) School Education in W.B Directorate SCERT Autonomous bodies i. WBBPE DIETS & PTTIS Academic aspect Administrative aspect

4. Elementary Teacher Education in West Bengal (since 29/01/2013) School Education in W.B Directorate WBBPE (conducts D. El. Ed. exam) SCERT DIET S Academic & administrative PTTIs Academic Administrative

5. SCERT in the new context 20 th March 2013 - the finalization of draft of Revised D.El.Ed Curriculum for the State of West Bengal in light of NCFTE’2009 Organized workshop From Feb. 25 th -28 th & on March 6 th 13 th -18 th, 2013 for aligning and calibrating the D.El.Ed curriculum for the state of West Bengal in the light of NCFTE’2009

6. Outline of the revised D.El.Ed programme (2yrs)  24 courses are “Theory” based  6 courses are “Practicum” based  4 semesters containing 7 curricular areas distributed in 30 courses.

7. Second Language Teacher Education (Elementary) Consists of 3 courses under Curriculum & pedagogic studies 1. CPS01- Proficiency in English (Sem. 1) 2. CPS09- Pedagogy of English Language I (Sem.3) 3. CPS10- Pedagogy of English Language II (Sem.4) Type: Theory Credit: 3(15hrs/cr) 3hr/week FM:50 Teaching Practice -2 courses

8. Latest West Bengali textbooks of ESL encourage constructivist classrooms where teachers ask open ended questions higher level thinking is encouraged students develop problem solving attitude through dynamic process of discovery, inquiry, investigation, discussion & reflection CCE is the mode of evaluation Brooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993).

9. Appropriate Teacher Education Curriculum Curriculum should “provide provisions of a variety of learning experiences in institutionally based sessions and in real school and classroom, with an emphasis on awareness raising, collaborative learning, reflection and learning from Experience”. Wright, T. (2010)

10. Introducing constructivist approach in teacher education Mode of transaction proposed:- Participatory/Interactive learning Through *Classroom discussion for developing conceptual understanding based on Closed reading of text materials/ research papers *Individual and group presentation

11. *Debates & Discussions *Interaction *Group learning *Peer learning *Workshop/Seminar

12. Practical exercises based on first hand data i. Case study through interviewing children and guardians ii. Assignments based on intensive reading and relating that with real classroom situations iii. Writing report on peer observation, school visit

13. iv. Writing journal v. Project work vi. Role play vii. Internship The proposed activities and transactional modes are introduced to encourage student teachers to reflect on practical experience and to learn from them

14. Innovations in Evaluation In order to enable the student teachers to implement CCE in classroom they themselves should experience such methods and find them to be helpful in their own learning. Wright, T (2010)

15. Existing scheme of evaluation :  Course end written evaluation &  Internal assessment (Micro &Macro teaching) o There is variety in marks allotment of internal assessment in different courses o Student teachers depend on rote learning to answer questions in written evaluation

16. Proposed evaluation scheme i.Continuous Evaluation ii.Course -End written test Continuous evaluation based on  Course based assignments (both theory & practical courses)  Development of portfolio  Project work- group & individual  School based practical activities

17. Any of these modes may be used for internal assessment in each semester as found appropriate for the specific courses being studied. Thus initiative is taken to use reflective practices in transaction as well as in evaluation But The marks division for theoretical courses will be 30% for internal and 70 % for external evaluation. 15+ 35 = 50

18. Effective reflection would be impossible unless a sound grasp of its basic principles is established and a mastery of the discourse norms and features of the community is established. Akbari, R. (2007) The Question is :- How prepared are our institutes to implement these innovations appropriately?

19. Findings based on data collected from SCERT /DIETs / PTTIs There are 16 DIETs 22 Government PTTIs 22 Government Aided & Sponsored PTTIs & 115 Private PTTIs to take care of elementary teacher education in West Bengal

20. Coordination ? SCERT looks after the academic aspect of DIETS PTTIs are controlled by West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) and Department of School Education T. Ed. institutes for upper elementary and secondary level are under Higher Education Department Department of School Education has no connection with these institutes

21. WBBPE is empowered only for lower elementary (I-IV) level in schools Hence lack of coordination and lack of accountability in the elementary teacher education system of West Bengal However D. El. Ed. evaluation is conducted by WBBPE

22. Faculty Strength To teach 4/5 classes per week There are only four permanent faculties of English in 16 DIETs Most of the PTTIs have no permanent faculty in English Teachers are locally arranged either from English teachers of Govt. or Govt. Aided schools or from retired faculties of Teacher education institutes.

23. Qualification of ESL Teacher educators M.A. In English Literature & B.Ed. Only one has M.A. Ed None of the English faculties have specialization in ELT or in Linguistics ? How equipped are these faculties to enable student teachers to reflect and construct concepts such as

24. Ing second language acquisition  ‘Factors affecting Second Language Acquisition’  ‘Four skills of language and its relation to Acquisition and Learning’  ‘Using portfolio for subjective assessment’  ‘Planning and developing material’  ‘Critical analysis of existing material and designing supplementary innovative tasks’

25. The classroom reality Mode of classroom transaction - Lecture method Occasional use of power point presentation At times student teachers may reflect after activities in feedback session No scope for structured reflective activities as the new curriculum proposes

26. Only one faculty informed about using journal writing and peer observation “Internal assessment is done without proper evaluation criteria” Peer observation is done informally without proper guideline about objectives and hence no learning through reflection

27. Principals opined that existing faculties are not well versed in application of reflective practices “Appointing properly qualified and experienced teacher educators is a must to enable student teachers to implement constructivist approach in L2 Teaching”

28. JRM Report on WB, April 2013 “....teaching practice was happening in didactic mode based upon the curriculum that professed behaviorist pedagogy.” “Teachers also expressed how the teacher training followed the dominant paradigm and did not reflect or relate to the real situation and context.”

29. Korthagen, 2001 If the children to be taught by student teachers need to develop a problem solving attitude for their whole life they need to develop reflection skills. The student teachers’ learning to reflect on their own experiences is an important preparation to enable their students to grow capacity for independent and continuous learning.

30. Steps being taken :- 1. “The SCERT is actively engaging the Teacher Educators of INSET to this purpose. A pool of teachers will be shortlisted by using the British Council developed platform for selection of trainers. They will be giving support to the institutes as of now. ”

31. 2. “The Government in School Education is also actively pursuing for regular appointment with WBPSC. This is particularly in sync with the recommendations of the JRM constituted for Teacher Education”

32. From my long experience in West Bengal it seems very difficult to identify enough properly trained INSET teacher educators who would be able to do justice to the innovations proposed. Mere short term “training” by British Council will not be empowering enough to enable INSET Teacher Educators to help student teacher construct and reconstruct concepts on pedagogy of English

33. Suggestions 2. Faculties coming with masters in Literature should be allowed to obtain DELTA/DELT/ PGDTE from appropriate institutes. At the time of appointment preference should be given to candidates with these qualifications. 1. Appointing permanent faculties of English with NCTE approved qualification should be immediately initiated.

34. 3. The existing faculties as well as newly appointees must be properly oriented in using “reflection in action” and “reflection on action” (Schön, 1987) as tools to learn from any experience 4. There should be a coordination between elementary teacher education institutes and those catering to upper elementary and secondary level teacher education.

35. 5. In the present era of ICT distance learning mode may be used to cope with the dearth in second language teacher educators

36. References Akbari, R. (2007). Reflections on reflection: A critical appraisal of reflective practices in L 2 teacher education. System. 35/2 pp. 192-207. Brooks, J. & Brooks, M. (1993). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Korthagen, F. A. J. (2001). ‘A reflection on reflection’. In Linking Practice and Theory: The pedagogy of realistic teacher education. Mahwah, N. J. Lawrence: Erlbaum Associates.

37. Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Sanfransisco: Jossey Bass. Report of the Joint Review Mission on Teacher Education, West Bengal, 2013. Accessed on 04/01/2014 from: http://www.teindia.nic.in/Files/jrm/JRM_Reports/JRM_Report_WB.pd f Richards, J. C. (2008). Second language teacher education today. RELC Journal. 39/2. pp. 158-177. Wright, T. (2010). Second Language Teacher Education: Review of recent research on practice. Language Teaching. 43/3. pp. 259-296

38. kuheli.mukherjee@gmail.com Thank You Ms. Kuheli Mukherjee