Our School organised an In-Service Training Programme for teachers on 25 March, 2013 in the AV room. The workshop was a CBSE Initiative and was conducted by Ms. Geetanjali Kumar and Ms. Pooja Yadav from CBSE.
The purpose of this workshop was to further familiarise the teachers with the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of the CCE. They were also to be made aware of the different areas under which Life Skills, Attitudes and Values and Health and Physical Education are judged. All these aspects were discussed with the help of activities, which was a fun- filled way to comprehend each of these.
At the outset, the teachers were handed a questionnaire which had 50 multiple- choice questions. The questionnaire served the purpose of evaluating their existing knowledge in different areas of the CCE.
The workshop began with a talk by Ms. Kumar on one of the most sensitive issues in a childs life, that is, adolescence. The teachers were instructed on ways to deal with different problems pertaining to children in this special phase of their lives. This discussion was followed a by one on the Right to Education (RTE) Act which says that all children have the right to free, fair and equal education.
The workshop focussed on the issue of inclusive education as well. It laid stress on a very important point, that, curriculum must be in conformance with the values enshrined in our constitution. The curriculum should be one that lends itself to the holistic development of children. A lot of useful information was also given about the Child Protection Act and the IT Act, 2010.
[gallery columns="2"]The discussion adequately charged now had the tone set for a healthy interaction of inputs and views from the teachers.
Another aspect that was talked of at length was Life Skills. Life Skills are behaviours used appropriately and responsibly in the management of personal affairs. Here, teachers were spoken to, about different types of life skills like empathy, problem- solving, critical-thinking, creative thinking, inter-personal relationships, intra- personal relationships, managing stress and emotions, decision-making and self- awareness. Each of these skills has been categorised into 3 categories, namely, Thinking skills, Social skills and Emotional skills. In each category, there are 10 descriptive indicators. The concept of Life Skills was made clear with the help of a story, Birbals Secret. In this tale, Birbal was found to be an object of ridicule for his dark complexion in the court of Akbar. But Birbal known for his sharp mind dealt with the situation most judiciously. He simply said that when God decided to give looks, brains and wealth to all, others were busy in grabbing beauty, whereas he grabbed intelligence! But naturally,through this story, the teachers were able to identify the various life skills that Birbal possessed! The aspect became clearer with another example wherein students were asked to draw a web diagram so that they could easily identify which web it was that drew their parents, relatives or their friends. The objective of drawing this web of relationship was to test their inter-personal relationships.
The teachers were also given a fair idea about Attitudes and Values and how they are judged under CCE. An attitude is an expression of favour or disfavour towards a person, place, thing or event. It can be formed from a persons past and present. It is actually very difficult to measure attitude. It can be positive and negative and is difficult to change. Attitudes are to be assessed under the following heads.
1. Attitude towards teachers
Under this heading, the childs attitude can be judged in terms of his/her relationship with teachers. Whether the child shows deference and courtesy to the teachers or not,nwhether the child demonstrates a positive attitude towards learning or not, etc. Under this head, there are 10 descriptive indicators and the students would be rated out of 5 for each descriptive indicator. 2. Attitude towards students
Under this, the childs attitude is judged in terms of his/her relationship with his/her peers in school. This category also has 10 descriptive indicators and the students would be rated out of 5 for each descriptive indicator. 3. Attitude towards school programmes and environment
In this particular category, the childs attitude towards his/her school programmes and environment is judged.The childs participation in school activities for the elevating of the environment can be judged. Also whether the child participates enthusiastically in school programmes or not, can be judged under this head. This category also has 10 descriptive indicators and the students would be rated out of 5 for each descriptive indicator.
The teachers were given a detailed presentation about Value System. Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. As such, values reflect a persons sense of right and wrong or what ought to be. There are 10categories of Values and each has 4 descriptive indicators. The children would be given a score out of 5. Through this, the teachers would be able to rate the students on the basis of 10 different values.
The values included in the Value System under CCE are:
1. To abide by the constitution and respect it's ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem,
2. To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired the freedom struggle,
3. To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India,
4. To defend the country and render national service, when called upon to do so,
5. To promote harmony and spirit of unity, brotherhood amongst all the people of India,
6. To value and preserve the rich heritage of our culture,
7. To protect and improve the natural environment,
8.To develop a scientific temper and the spirit of enquiry,
9. To safeguard public property and to abjure violence,
10. To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity which leads to a higher level of performance,
During the workshop, the teachers were asked to relate these 10 values to their individual subjects. They were also instructed about thehealth and physical well -being of their students. The teachers were shown how to judge their students under the next category, namely, Health and Physical Education.Under this category, out of 8 physical activities, the students is to be assessed in any 2 in which he/she is proficient. The students health status is also to be taken into consideration under this heading. The teachers need to assess height, weight, blood group, vision and the dental hygiene of students.
The workshop was indeed an eye opener as it cleared doubts and brought to light many aspects that are important for fair and effective implementation of the CCE. The interaction was informative as well as entertaining as it had a wide variety of interesting activities for teachers. For this purpose, the audience had been divided into groups of 10 each. Each group was given a different activity to be discussed and then a representative from every group was asked to share it with the larger audience. Every activity held relevance as it gave practical knowledge and a hands- on experience to the teachers on how to deal with diverse aspects.
Towards the end, yet another important issue of the CCE was dealt with, namely, the Recording as well as the Documentation of these records. The teachers were made aware of the up- scaling policy of scholastic grades on the basis of co-scholastic grades, alongwith gaining an understanding on how to give scores to students on the basis of different Life Skills, Attitudes and Values and Health and Physical Well being.
The teachers dispersed in great gratitude for the enormous enrichment.
Filed by Gandharvi and Shyamalee.
[nggallery id=145]
In the Press
Admissions
