Report on: Teaching Pedagogies Training Course

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

At the onset, I would like to thank Almighty Allah for giving me a chance to develop a network with new teachers’ community and blessed me passionate to share my learned knowledge, skills and experiences with the teachers.  

I express my special gratitude to my supervisor and CEO Dr. Genevieve Chabot who gave me a chance to arrange the training course for the new employed teachers in Baltistan. You scholarly advice, timely feedback, constant encouragement and friendly behavior always helped me in accomplishing new milestones.

I want to express my heartiest gratitude to Mr. Ghulam Mohammad managing director Baltistan and staff members who physically remained present in opening and closing ceremonies of training course. Your presence helped me to conduct the training course in a peaceful environment. You also provided all technical support which enabled me to conduct a training course in a smooth way.

            My gratitude also goes to Mr. Saleem Abbas operation officer for his excellent work during the training course. He purchased all required training materials and developed all the printouts/handouts of the session for the course participants from bazaar at the end of the training course. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of my friend Mr. Mohammad Hussain Pasha for the training course. He remained with me throughout the training course and provided technical support for me. He also informed all the teachers from their schools and villages on time for the training course.

            At the end, I would like to extent my gratitude to all the administration and supporting staff of Snow land Palace for their hospitality during my stay in Baltistan. The food, hotel services and arrangements made for this training course superb and impressive.

Thank you all,

INTRODUCTION

Iqra Fund aims to achieve the quality education through professional development of teachers. Therefore, Iqra Fund arranged a one week training course on “teaching pedagogies” for its new employed teachers in Basha Shigar valley of Baltistan. The Program Director of Iqra Fund designed the course module and conducted the training as per the needs of teaching and learning. It was assumed that all the new teachers are untrained and did not have exposure to attend any training program. Sixteen teachers from Basha valley and four teachers from Hushe and Basho were the course participants of the training course. The Basha valley is one of the remotest and academically backward areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. The cohort included three female and seventeen male CPs. The CPs were from public and private middle and primary schools of the region and had varied academic and teaching experiences. Their academic qualifications were from matriculation to master degree level while their teaching experience ranged from zero to five years. Some of the CPs acquired a B.Ed. degree while the rest were professionally untrained. The training commenced from April 14, 2015 and concluded on April 18, 2015 in Snow Land Palace Skardu. The program director of Iqra Fund facilitated the training course.

This report includes the overall objective of the training course; themes presented and discussed, instructional strategies, qualitative assessment and analysis, evaluation and achievements, challenges, recommendations and conclusion are part of this report.

OBJECTIVE OF THE TOT PROGRAM

The main purpose of this training course was to develop basic teaching skills among new teachers. Another purpose of this training course was to orient new teachers with various teaching methods, teaching strategies and teaching techniques so that the overall quality of education provided to children in the Basha valley could tangibly improve. The expectation was that at the conclusion of the training course the course participants would: 

·         Gain insights on the modes of teacher education programs;

·         Orient basic teaching methods, teaching strategies and teaching techniques;

·         Explore the notion of reflection and would have some hands-on experience on writing reflection; 

·         Develop skills on lesson plans;

·         Enhance their understanding on the participatory and learner-oriented teaching and learning activities;

·         Enhance their understanding of how children learn in the best ways and learning styles;

·         Review the importance of classroom management and know about some of the strategies of classroom management;

·         Familiarized with the notion of students’ motivation and types of motivation;

·         Develop an understanding on curriculum enrichment and experiment of low cost no cost teaching materials.

THEMES PRESENTED AND DISCUSSED

In order to identify the training needs of course participants, the facilitator sought the expectation of course participants on the first day of training course. As a result, the following themes were identified and covered during one week training course. The weekly plan and topics covered are attached with this report (see Annexure). 

·         What is education? What is teaching and what learning?;

·         Reflection and what are reflective practices

·         Classroom management and preparation of low-cost and no-cost teaching materials;

·         Innovative teaching strategies and teaching techniques;

·         Lesson planning, learning styles and classroom activities;

·         How do children learn in best ways

·         Motivation and types of motivation

·         Curriculum enrichment,

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

The facilitator used various effective teaching strategies to share the contents with CPs. The below list shows the various instructional strategies used in the training course: 

·         Reflection (conducted on daily basis to help CPs to examine and critique their previous days learning);

·         Brain storming on the topics to be introduced and generate discussions on the themes to be presented; 

·         Multimedia presentations, discussion and linkages with CPs experiences

·         Think-pair and share;

·         Group work followed by presentations, demonstration, role plays and question-answer 

·         Showed video clips on different themes;

·         Provided handouts and reading materials on relevant topics; and

·         Hands-on activities).

QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS

The course participants were assessed through reflections, classroom participation, informal talks, and pre-session and post-training tests. CPs shared their written and verbal reflections on regular basis that reflected their current and previous learning. CPs learning was also assessed through their classroom participation in different activities. In pair the facilitator conducted the sessions and made records about CPs participation in group and class activities. The facilitator mingled with the CPs during the tea and lunch intervals and conversed with them about their learning. Such informal talks helped to obtain their individual feedbacks on their learning.

EVALUATION AND ACHIEVEMENTS

During an informal talk three of the participants mentioned that “It is the first time exposure for us to attend any training course on teaching and learning.” They further added that the learning environment was very conducive for them and the facilitator was very kind, helpful and humble.

During a tea break session one of the CPs mentioned about his learning that “I was totally unaware about the notions of many educational terms i.e. reflection, teaching methods, teaching strategies but attending these sessions I got valuable insights on these themes and Inshallah! I will try my best to make it a part of my learning.” In some parts of Gilgit-Baltistan there is acute shortage of human power. So in such area choosing education as a career is not by choice and mostly the teachers are hired or recruited on need basis and most of them are unaware about the complex and technical aspects of teaching and learning. There was convincing evidence that the training course contributed to the sense of professionalism and commitment of course participants.

CPs were provided opportunities to share their written or verbal reflections on the previous day learning and its relevance in their context. One of the CPs reflected that “The major issue for me was how to motivate students to take interest in their lessons, often I used to force children to read. Now, I realized that exerting force is not an effective way to develop their motivation. It requires careful and attractive activities that can engage students in learning.”

Initially, the attitude of the CPs in class toward each other was a bit unfriendly; some of them tried to dictate others to make presentations. However, with the passage of time they were helped to understand the significance of using social skills and be supportive to each other.

During the first day session, very few CPs were actively taking part in activities but with the passage of the time the CPs participation increased significantly. Each and every participant
took part in presentations, sharing reflections and taking part in role plays.

A male teacher mentioned in her reflection that “During my student life I was bit shy and I lacked confidence. Several times, I got corporal punishment from my teachers which shattered my confidence. But here I had a different experience; the facilitator encourages us even when we make mistakes. “He appreciates our tasks and provides us opportunities to make presentation in front of our colleagues.” I repeatedly observed that lack of confidence, restricted teachers to share their knowledge and experiences in the class. Therefore, it is necessary to boost up teachers confidence level through encouragement and constant support provided to them.

The pre-test and post-test scores (see Annexure) of the CPs shows that a significant improvement between previous understanding of the CPs and understanding after the training course. Most of the participant found the workshop content was very relevant to their needs and useful. And they thought the session was presented effectively and the trainer involved every participant in the classroom activities. The CPs agreed that the trainer stimulated participants’ interest in the sessions and the trainer gave effective support and guidance to promote their learning. Moreover, the course participants felt that the sequence of the session was consistent and coherent. Most of the CPs desired for more sessions for their professional development and they were hopeful to be able to use the ideas gained from this course in their schools.

Commenting on their learning one of the CPs stated that “I have learned so many things in a short period of time. The program director and staffs of Iqra Fund are very co-operative and professional. I pray that Iqra Fund should perform such a wonderful program in future also.” They also felt that the training time was too short. Two of the CPs thought that the English should be the medium of instruction in the class.

Overall, the CPs found the training program highly productive and very useful but they felt the course duration and time factors for activities were not sufficient.

CHALLENGES

The facilitator faced some of the challenges during the training sessions. The following were some of the noteworthy challenges:

·         Low qualification of the participants was a challenge which made the facilitator repeatedly explain the meaning of words as well as basic concepts. 

·         Some of the participants were even unable to comprehend Urdu words and phrases; therefore, it was challenging for the facilitators to communicate.  

·         Available materials were mostly in English and it was not possible to translate them all into Urdu within the short time available. 

·         Initially, there was a gap in the allocated times for activities, and time taken by participants to complete the given task.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the experiences gained from the training program I suggest the following recommendations for such future program: 

·         A complete profile of course participants must be provided to facilitators prior to the training; 

·         A need assessment should be carried out before conducting any session on teacher education; 

·         I recommend timely follow-up of CPs in their own work spaces to provide them support in implementing plans; 

·         An experienced teacher of Iqra Fund can be invited as a guest speaker to the session to share their working experiences in the field.

CONCLUSION

The one-week training course concluded successfully and the desired objectives were achieved. The CPs were oriented with some components of teaching and learning in a different way. CPs were satisfied with the proceedings and the contents and pedagogies used for the training course on teaching pedagogies. They repeatedly showed their optimism and assured us to apply their new learning in schools. One of the CPs expressed his feelings about the program in the following words:

“Training was brilliant and a highly successful event for me. I learned many things, before this I did not know. I feel like, I am one of the luckiest persons to attend these sessions. I will apply my learning in my own classes and share the learning with teachers in my school.” However, there is always a room for improvement and hence I would like to see the duration of the training course to increase for future courses. The training can be made more effective and vibrant by assessing CPs contextual needs and planning accordingly.