DIET teachers undergo training

[sajiv]

DIET teachers undergo training

CHENNAI: A group of nearly 50 District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) trainers and teachers have been acquiring a new set of skills over the last two days to help them evaluate how much their students have actually understood of what has been taught in school.

Though national-level surveys are being conducted by different central government agencies and non-governmental organisations, the State's Directorate of Teacher Education Research & Training (DTERT) thought it was important to have more frequent evaluations that could be carried out by the teachers independently.

In a training programme organised in the city on Monday and Tuesday, Avtar Singh, Professor and Head, Department of Educational Measurement and Evaluation, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), had discussions with the participants on how to design testing tools that would bring to light students' level of understanding.

Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Prof. Singh said that the NCERT conducted performance assessment surveys at a national level for classes III, V and VIII to have a national picture of students' level of learning vis-À-vis the inputs given to them by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) wings of different states.

"In Tamil Nadu, we found that the students of classes III and VIII did very well. However, the standard of class V students was a matter of concern. Over these two days, we have also been having deliberations on what and where things went wrong."

Otherwise, Tamil Nadu's education system has been doing well, he said.

"In fact, after the implementation of the ABL and ALM, other states have been keenly following the progress."

Over the two days, Prof. Singh shared information on international assessment practices with the participants.

"It is believed that with this exposure, Tamil Nadu will go ahead in conducting these studies at their own level to have quick intervention made whenever required."

On the advantages of such assessments by states, Prof. Singh said it would help get a better micro picture. "In our national surveys we would to be able to cover all the districts in every state. Now, that is possible."

The results should prompt appropriate intervention by teachers. "Even the NCF envisages a very active and vibrant role for teachers, which will allow them to design their own teaching methodologies suitable to the class and so on."

On whether teachers would be able to evaluate students objectively, he said that the NCERT as a partner in the exercise would ensure that the assessment was carried out effectively.

Honorary adviser to the SSA, M.P. Vijayakumar, said teachers were brainstorming several ideas such as introducing multiple choice questions in lower classes.

"We are looking at aspects such as how to test, what to test, how to administer these tests and how to interpret the results. It will be valuable and help us correct our course whenever it is needed."