Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre

INTRODUCTION

Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre (VBERC) was set up to strengthen Vidya Bhawan institutions, to bring in new ideas to them, make them more conscious of quality and open windows of exposure in them so that they can function more effectively. The Centre also had the objective of widening the area of work of Vidya Bhawan in consonance with its goals and set up networks and partnerships that would strengthen Vidya Bhawan's work. It also aims to distil the experience of Vidya Bhawan and share it with the wider world. The purpose is to use all institutions of Vidya Bhawan as a Resource for promoting and supporting good quality education for all sections of the society. It was with this in mind that a partnership with SIG Group of ICICI was initiated in 2003 with the following major focus areas:

(a) Developing and sharing ideas on orientation and training

(b) Taking up research to understand the school situation, the classroom process, learning of children and other issues that impact on schools and learning;

(c) Documentation and development of books, papers and monographs;

(d) Development of readings with notes and tasks for teachers and pedagogues;

(e) Networking with other Centres of Research and Training and also with teachers and respond to their specific questions and classroom observations;

(f) Attempting to create a forum for discourse on issues in education;

(g) Developing the capability of special groups to improve the quality of their work in different aspects of pedagogy;

(h) Developing alternative materials and methods for schools with consultations among teachers and trying them out in schools; and

(i) Studying and consolidating the innovative and sound pedagogy based efforts in Vidya Bhawan Schools.

Programmes and Activities

The programmes and activities to be undertaken would include:

(a)Critiquing and reviewing the existing work;

(b)Field interaction with teachers-children and teacher trainers both of lower primary schools as well as upper primary and secondary schools;

(c)     (i) Taking up research studies with teachers and on our own;

(ii) Consolidating and analyzing the existing studies and examining the data available and the understanding that emanates from them;

(d) Setting up a documentation centre and a library to serve as a facility for information exchange;

(e) Development of courses for preparation of elementary education pedagogues as well as alternative materials for primary and upper primary classes;

(f) Workshops and seminars to share ideas and formulate new direction; and

(g) Setting up of study groups to facilitate the process of thinking and understanding pedagogy as well as promoting good quality research.

What the Center had done

In the last three years, the concept of the Centre has become clearer and most of the things that were anticipated have been initiated. There are many things that were not anticipated that have also been initiated. The experience of work has also indicated that the opportunities for working in this kind of a role can change rapidly and some of the things that we had planned to do are not being taken up to the same extent. However, the overall work of the Centre has expanded considerably and many unanticipated partnerships have started emerging. Some of these are new dimensions of the partnership with the institutions of Vidya Bhawan. The gist of the work done so far is presented below:

The work with State Government

The purpose of work with State government was to build capacity and learn with them to develop a better understanding of the issues of elementary education. It aimed at highlighting the responsibility for public education and institutionalise processes of moving towards more meaningful teaching-learning process in schools. The steps include working with the State government on all those aspects where opportunities for engagement exist. This could include textbook development, assessment processes, school follow up and support system, planning and management, training of teachers, preparing reading materials for teachers and for children, evolving curricular documents and other ideas for transforming schools. This also includes working with DIETs and SCERTS in various ways. The manner and the kind of work that can be done would depend upon the kind of space that is available. We are engaged in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh in many different ways and are hoping to be able to work in some other States as well. One significant point about these relationships is that these are all in partnership with other organisations. It is important to point this out because one of the major role of the Centre is to bring institutions together on a common platform and to share work to maximise using expertise in different areas. In all these States we are seeking more and more partnerships in order to ensure that they benefit from the contribution and we are able to provide more effective inputs to the State. In addition to the partnerships that have been set up many others had also got initiated, but not sufficiently to set up a long term relationships. The effort however, is to make these also possible.

Apart from the State governments we are supporting and partnering other organisations. These partnerships are sometime very broad and very general and encompass all areas of work and are sometimes limited to work in a few areas. Our efforts are also to help set up and consolidate networks for sharing and learning among a variety of organisations.

Another important objective of our work is to involve people from the Universities in the work of school education and bring those at the forefront of ideas to interact with teachers and people working on the ground in education. Many people from around the world who have interest in school education have been drawn in during this period. Many of them are not only supporting V.B. Resource Centre work but the work of organisations other than Vidya Bhawan institutions.

Work with Vidya Bhawan Schools

One of the major areas of work for Vidya Bhawan Resource Centre has been to release the energy of the institutions under the umbrella of Vidya Bhawan. In interaction with the schools of Vidya Bhawan major gains have been made toward evolving and sharing a clearer vision statement and setting goals. There is also an effort to move towards more meaningful materials in the classrooms and a classroom process that is more engaging for children. We have however many more steps to take before something meaningful can be seen on the ground.

Vidya Bhawan in keeping with its principle of equity has brought in some children from the orphanage to study in the school. The VBERC has been working with these children to identify specific issues that effect their learning and their lives and how can they be supported in the process of learning.

In the Basic School the major effort has been the rediscovery of basic education as a possible mechanism for schools to take up ideas of basic education in the current context. The school team is gradually developing confidence to be able to interact with other schools and explain to them how they can make their classrooms and the school more meaningful. There is beginning of regular reading by teachers as well as work on worksheets for use by children. The worksheets would be developed in forms of workbooks to be used by schools and also made available to other schools. The effort in the nursery and junior schools is towards making possible explorations of new ideas that make such education that has greater space for the children. We have also decided to develop materials for classroom usage that would be of good quality and make them available for wider use as well. The process is being started with materials for English and for Computer learning in elementary classes.

One of the key issues in education is to understand classrooms and to be able to share with teachers models of good classrooms. The video documentation team aims at this. It helps teachers analyse their own classrooms and then gradually to develop confidence on sharing this with a wider set of teachers for peer review and learning. They would also prepare materials that can be used for self-learning, for teacher training and for analysis in workshops with teacher educators and other academicians.

In India, research except for a small set is generally limited to obtaining a degree. In educational research, particularly, the questions that are asked and the manner of exploring them make it irrelevant for the classrooms and teachers. We have explored the idea of bringing teacher educators and teachers together on a joint forum to initiate small contextual studies. There have been many individually insightful studies taken up by teachers and more and more teachers from V.B. schools are getting involved in this effort. This work is in partnership with all the schools and the IASE.

Work with the IASE

The interaction is with the IASE is being explored on the research forum as well as for basic education rediscovery. This has gradually lead to greater interest in some of the other areas as well. There is a recognition of need to modify the B.Ed. programme. Already an exploration has started towards making the teaching-learning process more learner-centric with space for group work and self-learning. Plans have been initiated to consider the possibilities of B.Ed programme which will have a greater emphasis on basic education, a two year B.Ed. programme and an integrated B.A./B.Sc., B.Ed. programme.

Work with Polytechnic and KVK

The work with the Polytechnic and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) has been towards evolving orientation for youth in the village. These programmes include, giving them training in a trade along with general discussions about social, cultural and pragmatic issues concerning their lives and the ability to read and write along with an effort to renew their motivation for the same. The Polytechnic is considering opening a dialogue with industry to understand their requirements for retraining their employees. This is being planned in collaboration with the Rural Institute and the K.V.K. The Polytechnic also is helping develop programme for schools which are be used in the secondary classes of the Basic School.

NFE Certification and other Courses

Another part of our activity is related to reaching rural population. The idea is to open avenues of learning for those functioning on the ground.  These include, opportunities for learning for teachers of the alternative schools, women work with Self Help Group, Accountants of different kinds of small groups and organisations in the rural context and health workers. The scope for this can widen as our confidence and experience grows. The programme that has been initiated is for teachers. This is in three phases and currently two phases of it have been developed. The mechanism for opening the possibilities for these teachers to learn also includes sensitizing them to the idea of working with children in a different manner. The objective is to ensure that they become engaged with books and continue to use the library. The further programmes for other workers will be developed on the basis of this experience.

Building Discourse on Education

In the last 15 years, there have been a lot of macro efforts in India initiated toward improvement in the quality of education. These small and massive efforts have all seen a lot of energy and resources being provided. It may be argued that these resources have been adequate but we cannot dismiss the fact that resources have been made available and are still available. One of the aims of VBERC in a direction similar to the one of working with the State governments and to set up networks, is to enrich the discourse on education. The macro efforts, if the last 15 years have a large public involvement. These have however, been centered-around some key words without an adequate understanding of what these key words. The issue of their linkages with multiple dimensions of education and education system have been ignored even more. It is true that this is a difficult task but we have initiated a few steps.

There have been seminars involving people from India as well as from abroad to discuss some of the key issues concerning elementary school education. The attempt is to build bridges and ensure a dialogue between dealing in theories and academics with those working on the ground so as to make the programmes on the ground richer and better informed. The deepening of this discussions and also include more people in it is one of the goals of the work of VBERC. We have in the last few years held seminars on 'Constructions of Knowledge, 'Science Education' and on 'Basic Education'. Apart from this along with the other institutions of Vidya Bhawan we have had seminar on 'Higher Education - at Crossroad" and are planning a seminar on 'Teacher Education' in March, 2007. We have also held workshops involving people from different institutions and organisations in order to share ideas and to bring reflection on their practices. These have lead to networks developing as well as some issues being widely recognised as important in elementary education among organisations that are engaged in working with the public system. We also would have workshops on specific areas to build capacity of people engaged in elementary education so that they can improve their intervention. Another key area for building discourse is to have ideas and examples that are simple and can be shared with those who are looking to struggle with new ideas. Through these workshops we have created a forum for workshops where participants from different organisations come together to share their experiences and learn. The research forum with teachers as well as the research studies that the Centre is taking up are attempts in this direction. They would not just generate examples and questions but would also formulate methodology on conducting research. It is, of course, clear that would need to go a long way before we can do research on child learning and concept acquisition specifically. The process of building discourse also includes documenting workshop and seminar as well as producing other materials. This is one major area that we want to intervene in. There are many sets of documents in the pipeline being developed as reading and a few monographs are also being developed. The seminars have been documented and the proceedings of one of them printed in Hindi and English. The proceedings for the other are being processed for publication. The institutions brings newsletter about its work which are widely circulated and also people from the institutions contribute to the other magazines and journals.

It is our concern that the elementary education in India is not informed by the quality of the scholars' research available to human society. We are making an effort to ensure that these resources do reach teachers and educators and would also look towards developing programmes that would help build capacities for people to absorb these ideas and use them.  

The dissemination of the understanding from these is through publications, through orientations and interactions in workshops and seminars.