Amukta Mahapatra Director SchoolScape, Centre for Educators

ACTIVITY BASED LEARNING Tamil Nadu, India

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

• Education for All Movement •  In line with MDGs & other

international & national commitments, CRC

• Constitution of India, RtE • A central-state programme

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Indirect Preparation

•  NEP: 1986 Mass Training of Teachers •  DPEP: 1994 – 2001 Textbooks Reworked •  Joyful Learning: 1995 – 2000 Teacher

Active •  Professional Development of the Teacher

Educator (DIET Faculty Training): 2001- 2003 Participatory & Constructive Approach

•  Visit to Rishi Valley satellite schools SchoolScape

ABL Incubation in Chennai Corporation

2003: 10 + 3 schools with photocopied materials for Classes 1 & 2

to 2006: 265 schools for Classes 1 to 4

almost 50,000 children with printed and 3 D material reaching

the most disadvantaged communities of Chennai SchoolScape

Scaled Across State June 2007

Reaching approx: 37,500 schools 120,000 teachers 5,000,000 m children •  Support by Chennai Corporation teachers and

BRTs •  Classes 1 to 4 with printed TLM; 3D materials

given in phases •  Baseline Survey 84% of children are with the government schools in

the state

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An ABL Classroom

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Teacher at head of Class

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Where is the Teacher?

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Transparent Curriculum

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ABL Addresses Issues of:

•  Children not Learning •  Teachers not Teaching •  Dominant Role of the Teacher •  Multi-levels of Learning •  Lack of on-site support for teacher •  Absenteeism of Children

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ABL Base Year Surveys

June 2007 and April 2008 Classes II and IV •  Review of classroom processes &

learning environment available to the child •  Assessment in Tamil, Maths and English •  Reading skills in Tamil for Class II & both

Tamil & English for Class IV SchoolScape

Tools Administered •  School profile format (Format A)

•  Schedule for classroom observers (Format B)

•  Questionnaire for teachers to write in (Format C)

•  Child Interview schedule (Format D)

•  Achievement test papers for Class II & IV in Tamil, Mathematics, English

•  Reading test sheets for Class II in Tamil; Tamil and English for Class IV

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Key Findings 2008

Achievement Class II Class IV Tamil 61.63% 63.19% Mathematics 74.45% 63.01% English 70.62% 52.33% The figures revealed that as compared to the baseline study there was an increase of 25% to 29% in all three subjects in both the classes.

Key Findings Gaps in achievement within gender, location and social groups narrowed down:

Baseline: significant difference in achievement boys and girls urban and rural children and children from different social communities 2008: in Tamil achievement no significant difference found

between rural and urban children and among the children of different social groups;

in English achievement, no significant difference between rural and urban and among boys and girls.

Achievement by Gender, Location and Community - Class IV

•  Mean achievement of children improved significantly in all groups and in all subjects •  Maximum improvement observed among SC/ST and MBC children in all three subjects

Groups  

Tamil   Mathema1cs   English  

Baseline   End  term   Baseline   End  term   Baseline   End  term  

Boys   34.99   61.23Ý   36.65   65.81Ý   26.07   51.60Ý  

Girls   38.45   66.25Ý   39.14   60.97Ý   28.20   52.99Ý  

Rural   35.67   63.01Ý   37.06   63.58Ý   26.36   53.24Ý  

Urban   41.13   65.06Ý   42.70   58.32Ý   31.29   44.16Ý  

SC/ST   33.60   61.01Ý   36.38   60.75Ý   25.60   50.28Ý  

MBC   33.20   62.18Ý   37.07   62.11Ý   24.12   49.95Ý  

BC   43.47   66.51Ý   40.33   66.43Ý   31.92   57.62Ý  

OC   46.15   68.67Ý   50.57   47.80ó   34.88   47.00Ý  

Ý Significantly improved; ó no improvement  

Quality of Achievement during Baseline & End term– Class II

•  Percentage of basic (low) achievers children reduced by 34% to 40% in all subjects •  Percentage of children who scored very high and excellent increased during end term in all three subjects

49.35

8.43

42.48

9.81

44.2

10.85

16.48 8.94 7.14 3.3 11.5 5.85

22.41 25.2

13 9.59

16.6 12.23

9.65 34.64

13 15.35

13 17.66

2.11

22.79

24.38

61.94

14.7

53.4

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Baseline End term Baseline End term Baseline End term

Tamil Mathematics English

Basic Average High Very High Advance

Summary •  Average achievement of children in both the classes and all

subjects increased significantly

•  Gaps in achievement within gender, area and social groups narrowed down

•  More children shifted from low achievement range to very high and excellent achievement range

•  Inter and intra district variations reduced in both the classes

•  Number of children who could read Tamil and English fluently increased substantially in both the classes

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Classroom Environment

Baseline 2008 §  Children sitting in rows 78% 5.47% §  Children sitting in a circle 21% 81%

Teaching and Learning materials

Baseline 2008 §  Supplementary reading materials

other than textbooks 40% 80% §  Materials found to be challenging 3% 80%

Availability of Materials Baseline Findings

Tam

il

Mat

hs

Engl

ish

EVS

Scie

nce

Classroom ObserverStudent Observation

Teacher Observation0

0.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

1

Percentage of classrooms where

materials rated available

Subject

Availability of Materials

Classroom ObserverStudent ObservationTeacher Observation

Understanding Lessons

Baseline 2008 •  Children’s understanding

of the lesson being taught was “high” 32% 89%

•  Teachers gave explanations with examples 30% 50%

In addition, it was observed in 2008 that 97% of teachers provided a child-centred introduction to the lesson

Child Participation

Baseline Findings

•  Students were rarely or never observed asking the teacher a question in almost half of the classrooms

•  Teachers frequently silenced the children - 66% of the classrooms

2008 Findings

•  Teachers asked relevant questions - 54% •  Children were encouraged to ask questions - 48% •  Teachers encouraged children to volunteer answers to

questions - 49% •  ‘Slower’ learners encouraged - 57%

Lessons for Education Community

•  No branding by individuals or organisation but a permeation of ideas •  Involvement & participation of people from

teacher to minister •  Fundamental change, not incremental •  Stage by stage expansion with direction •  Continuous review •  Mix of centralization & ground-up

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Sustained Changes

UNICEF-EI Review in 7 states 2014-16

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand, AP Gujarat, Karnataka TN

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Changed Culture: classrooms

•  Movement in the class •  No heavy benches, no rigid seating •  Children not being pinned down •  Materials are in the class •  Textbooks, workbooks, curriculum

reformatted •  Discussion, decision-making •  Respectful to one another

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Changed Culture: children

§  Talking, moving, freedom in the class §  Not fearful §  Not waiting for teacher, sitting quietly §  A naturalness in talking, discussing §  Confident §  Hungry to learn, thirsty to know

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Changed Culture: educators

•  Teachers not rigid and stiff •  Kinder to children •  An acceptance of children being active •  Spontaneity in children not being stifled •  Using materials, activity, interacting •  Open for discussion •  Debate of issues possible •  ‘Responsibility is ours’

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Goal….

Sustainability of Quality

over

T i m e & S p a c e ????

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Presented by Amukta Mahapatra on behalf of many

schoolscape@yahoo.com http:www.ssa.tn.nic.in

“Feet on the ground, eyes on the horizon,

and with heart in the sky” SchoolScape