7 tips for choosing professional development programs

1. Alignment to school goals. What are you looking to accomplish, and how does professional development align with that? 

2. Focus on communication. A very robust communication plan goes hand-in-hand with alignment. Along with new directions in the curriculum, it’s important to communicate how a new initiative meets learning goals because this will make professional development more effective for educators. How does the professional learning you’re using align with goals?

3. Emphasise competency. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all professional development. Professional development should empower teachers to identify where they are, what their target is, and what steps they should take to progress to the target.

Solar power for schools is much more than energy savings!

The Solar PV system at The Fabindia School, Rajasthan

Rooftop solar PV systems is an effective solution for addressing the increasing retail electricity tariffs and power outages across the country. India, over the past seven years, has witnessed an annual increase of 5 – 10% in retail electricity tariffs which is also the primary driver for rooftop solar PV projects. While industrial and commercial consumers in over a dozen states are victims of very high tariffs (over INR 8.5/units), institutional consumers (including schools, colleges and hospitals), though beneficiaries of partial cross – subsidised electricity, are currently paying tariffs of up to and above INR 7.5/unit across multiple states in India. Investments in solar energy provide schools with some benefits that appeal to a broad set of stakeholders. The administration and management of educational institutions have started to recognise the value of solar energy in providing a long-term hedge against increases in electricity tariffs and have been gaining affinity towards the technology’s ability to deliver cost savings. Solar also presents teachers with a great educational opportunity. Finally, the increased use of clean energy technologies like solar can help significantly reduce emissions of pollutants that can harm human health and the environment.

Quality in Education

A country is as developed as its' Education Sector is. We in India should make 'affordable quality education' our development mantra and this alone will help us develop as a great nation. No matter what path we take to economic development, the speedbreaker will always be the quality of education!

We have Public Schools, Independent Schools, and Government aided schools. To provide an all-round education it is best to be financially independent and beyond the pale of direct government control, to be free to innovate and keep education alive.

Quality in education consists of happy teachers, a good student- teacher ratio, modern equipment, adequate space and classroom facilities.

We Partner The Fabindia School

The Fabindia School is a co-ed private school for pre-school through Class XII, located in Bali, Rajasthan. Starting with 11 students in 1992, today there are 500 students with near 49% female enrolment. The school emphasises a holistic approach to education, offering extensive extracurricular programs along with comprehensive academic courses. While focusing on the local culture, the school frequently welcomes visitors, trained specialists and volunteers from across India and overseas. 

Going to School

#MyGoodSchool

Do we ever graduate from the school of learning? 

Many may say that when they graduate from a school to move up the employment ladder, our school life comes to an end! This, in fact, is just the beginning, as when you are in knowledge acquisition mode you are the receiver and this is what our schools today deliver. When we move on to learning for life, get the real and valuable application of knowledge at work or in life, our 'wealth of knowledge' starts growing dramatically. While K-12 is often thought of as the schooling process, in reality, it is just the infancy. Yes some gifted and genius young minds are way ahead of many, yet the learners work their way up the ladder and as we grow in life all move to the infinite zone.

Knowledge is infinite, it is not defined by a score and so how can we ever leave school! The school is where learning is embedded and life itself is the biggest learning. Acquisition of knowledge is really the developing of a fertile mind, and as our mind crosses the frontiers of learning we move on in life. Words and language are the tools of knowledge building, it is only when we have our extra sensory perception evolve do we actually start getting the dividend of 'going to school'. Yes, learning is the biggest giver of joy and freedom to an individual and the key to quality in education. As we grow we find that the best part of school was the fun and the carefree nature of life. For us to grow our mind we must be in the mode of appreciating the joy of learning and not just consider 'going to school' as a basic necessity of our modern society.

Learning is a gift and more we value this, more will we appreciate the meaning of life. Life begins with learning, flowers with learning and never ends. When we look at the philosophy of the creative infinity mind, we will see that the school of learning empowers us by taking us on a journey of finding ourselves. Successful are the people who are able to delve within, reflect, learn and lead their own lives. Education is freedom with responsibility, and learning is the bedrock of education.

Yes, we build schools…but that isn't enough. To create lasting change, we must never graduate from the learning environment and this is what we all must appreciate about the schooling process. A school is an environment and not a structure, it is an ecosystem and it will indeed be apt to say that life is the school for the living!

The views of the Sandeep Dutt as the author are his personal views, please. Kindly email him for comments if any, sd@ebd.in

The Vision For A School In Transformation

If we do not change our direction we're likely to end where we're headed.

The most important feature of a transforming organisation is that it has a 'Vision' or what I would like to call the school's desired future. We have to make the school an important societal change agent for the future, to bring about any transformation in learning and social development in any community or country. 

First and foremost we must list what a school vision must be:

1. The Vision must be initiated by the leader and developed with school personnel and all stakeholders.
2. It must provide future orientation.
3. Set an overarching direction.
4. Evoke an image of the future school.
5. Provide a standard of excellence, an ideal.
6. Is the vision, the basis for the unique contribution to students, to school personal, community, and society?
7. Vision should be shared and supported by the internal and external stakeholders.
8. The vision must be compelling and inspiring.
9. Finally, the vision must be living and even evolve further as the process of change creation rolls out.

Steve Jobs said, " Innovation requires a team, and you cannot inspire a team of passionate evangelists without a compelling vision; a vision that is bold, simple and consistently communicated."

Reading my lessons from Schools Can Change and understanding the work of Learning Forward, I have been able to crystallize a vision statement for The Fabindia School, and this is how the vision could read. "The Fabindia School will become a national leader in innovation by implementing new technologies in learning and offer affordable quality education." Another way to state the school vision could be "The Fabindia School will become a national leader in schools and become the favored destination for English learning in rural India." The first statement is compelling and inspiring, the second seems to me a statement of purpose, and explains to all the stakeholders what is in it for them. This perhaps is our goal and is indeed a part of our vision wherein we have set out to become an institution of excellence, and there is an element of dynamism in what we are doing. The vision thus sustains over an extended period of time and is the direction for the ongoing mission.

Learning Forward India Academy

Learning Forward India delivers a  structured Professional Development Programme (PDP) with the help of visiting faculty and experts, who take time out to work with the school staff and provide in-service training. The focus of the Learning Forward Academy is to have passionate educators train teachers to become learners. Please note this is not a brick and mortar project, the Academy is a learning environment, an ecosystem, we deliver the training with the help of blended learning, that comprises of online and offline.

Learning Forward Academy is an extended and profound learning experience that immerses members in a model of enquiry and problem-based learning. Academy members work collaboratively to gain knowledge to solve significant student learning problems in their schools, districts, or organisations. At The Learning Forward Academy, we seek to understand individual members' needs and then assist them in meeting objectives through a collaborative learning environment and the support of experienced coaches.

Duration

Four hours a week (three weeks a month) = 12 hours X 8 months = 96 hours.
Also, in the school holidays, a training camp for six hours a day for 24 days adds up to 144 hours.

Process

The training programme comprises of workshops, lectures, conferences, exchanges, research, outward bound excursions, eLearning and finding solutions to not only teach but learn and help the school deliver better.

Outcome and Certification

240 (96+144) hours of training will empower an educator/school staff to deliver better in the Classroom and upgrade their skills on the job.

Step up the PDP ladder!
96 hours - Bronze Level (Level 1)
144 hours - Silver Level (Level 2)
240 hours - Gold Level (Level 3)

We acknowledge each level of achievement by the teacher with a Certificate. This offers the necessary challenge and the rewards the teachers for the extra effort put in, beyond the call of the duty at school.

For further details, please contact Devanjali by email schooleducation@outlook.com.

The First Princi.pal

"Our minds are shaped by the books we read. Our characters, by the people we meet. Our spirits by the love we give", - Robin Sharma 

This prompted me to share the lessons from the book The First Princi.pal - Based on the life and times of PS Mani Sundaram and presented to me by Sunil Malhotra the author himself. Am taking the liberty of quoting from the book as this is a requiem for leadership, it is a story of the teacher in each of us, the leader within and the principles of the Principal.

Princi is that invisible great walking along a crowded beach as the waves wash away the footprints in their wake. His are the only footprints that will endure stubbornly. Like the man himself. Leaving his stamp of greatness on eternity. 
10 Lessons for school leadership:

1. Great leaders act decisively.

2. Empower people and provide the enablement to allow them to discover their own potential.

3. Keep the environment clean to induce orderly and productive behavior.

4. Let them be but don't let go of them.

5. Get the job done instead of trying to change people.

6. Measure the extent of social integration by the integrity of your culture.

7. An institution is built on values that last beyond the lifetimes of its makers.

8. Spirit of the law is more important than the letter.

9. Never let personal friendship compromise over professional responsibility and vice versa.

10 No act of kindness is small. Acts of caring can turn lives around.

Finally, the lyrics of Pink Floyd will top it all!

We don't need no education,

We don't need no self control,

No dark sarcasm in the classroom,

Teacher leave them kids alone.

Learning Is Moving From Isolation To Collaboration

Learning happens when we begin our journey in the world as individuals and learn to collaborate. No learning will ever occur in isolation; learning is nothing but a collaborative exercise that perhaps helps you become a thinking person. Knowledge is a product while learning is the relentless pursuit of developing one's abilities and an effort to understand the ways of the world.

Learning is a process and not an event, individuals accomplish it, is indeed a highly personal experience, involves developmental growth and is best understood as the change we go through in our journey of life. Most important point to note is that ‘learning is greater than change.' For learning to thrive, we need to adapt, mindset and behavior itself need to change.

In isolation we are cocooned from the need to move beyond our comfort zone, we need to break out and learn to challenge ourselves to deliver as a team player. The community is indeed a reflection of individuals that make up the society. It is how we collaborate, that brings about transformational change and helps us grow as individuals and community too. A school of ants can work to move the largest obstacle, in isolation a single ant may not have all the wherewithal to make a difference.

Ant societies have a division of labor, communication between individuals, and ability to solve complex problems.These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Humans are social beings and need to connect, communicate, collaborate to create. Learning will only happen when we work together. The human form is itself brought about when the isolated sperm meets the egg, thus further confirming the fact that ‘isolation’ is not the DNA of any life form.

Reading At The Heart Of Education & Learning

"By reading we read" and this is true. We also learn to write by writing - the more practice children get, the better they become. There is the a classic saying 'Practice makes a man perfect!

With persistence, one can get the hardest rock with the softest rope and with practice the heaviest brain likewise becomes super  ...only if you read will you become good at whatever you want to learn, and in todays world where the attention spans are being reduced to split seconds, the ability to read and comprehend tends to get lost. 

Having had the honour and privilege of running one of India's premiere bookstores, there is not a day when I have not had a parent or an individual requesting for help to guide them to enable their child to start reading books. Reading is the heart of education, the knowledge of almost every subject in school flows from reading. One must be able to read the word problem in math in order to understand it. If you cannot read the science or social studies chapter, you cannot answer the questions at the end of the chapter. The complicated computer manual is essential to its operation, but it mud be read. Reading is arguably the single most important social factor in any society.

“@RoomtoRead: “When a book is good, people want to talk about it. Therefore, bookstores themselves are social spaces”

Innovation and Design

Is the Education system helping us innovate or are we simply preparing the students to do assembly line work? The more we put in place uniform systems, curriculum and structure, our education will deliver less innovation and design. When you give a block of wood, with two basic tools like a mallet and a chisel to a young person, you will make the person think design and evolve. If you give Lego blocks, a kit to assemble an aero-model or simply use templates, you will stifle design and creativity. The kits and uniform building blocks are good business sense for marketeers, less effort for teachers and easily help build prefab models which are misinterpreted as creation in our education system.

When children are given a container full of play dough or our good old plasticine, they make shapes and put thought to action. If you provide moulds/ templates with the play dough you will make them use the shape and create a mere cast! Design is an evolution of vision and free thought, from chaos to order, from fuzzy logic to logic. The essence is freedom and the evolution of the mind. 'Jugaad' our frugal and flexible approach to innovation has been the true spirit of an Indian. Innovation helps us do more with less, generates original ideas and pioneers growth. It all begins with the honest and true action guided by a free spirit of the young mind.

Principal As The Chief Learning Leader

Should the principal be the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) with due qualification and degrees? Are owner driven schools, which look at the school purely as a business enterprise better than schools run by charities? Such questions always make us think and we do debate this matter often. Many good schools are owner driven and do not have the principal with the degree of an academician. What is most important however that the Principal / Head of the School should be the Chief Learning Leader.

Image courtesy danpontefract.com

Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves. Learning is not compulsory; it is contextual. It does not happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. ~ Wikipedia

Identifying Student Needs

Image - community.Pearson.com

How does your child learn best? 

In an educational setting, a learning needs analysis helps students identify where they are in terms of their knowledge, skills and competencies, versus where they wish to be - what are their learning goals?

''Adults learn better when they can see a reason or relevance as to why they are following a programme of study. By conducting a learning needs analysis with prospective students, the learning provider can identify what programmes are needed. Including learners from the outset will help ensure that course content, schedules, etc., are in line with the needs of the student. By assisting the learner to identify the gaps in his/her own learning, the provider will be better able to support the student''. ~ Learner Centred Methodologies, by Rhonda Wynne, Ireland

A learning needs analysis will help:

• Identify what skills and knowledge the learners already have
• Highlight skills/knowledge/competencies that need developing
• Identify clearly what students wish to achieve
• Outline and define expectations and goals
• Establish need and demand for the course you have in mind
• Determine what can realistically be achieved given the available resources
• Identify any obstacles or difficulties which may arise
• Increase the sense of ownership and involvement of the students
• Provide information about your student group - know your audience
• Achieve a correct fit between the provider and student, i.e., the course matches student needs and expectations
• Identify the content that best suits students needs
• Determine what is the most appropriate delivery format - class based, online or a mix of these and other formats
• Determine what skill set and knowledge base is required of the tutor
• Develop a budget and cost benefit analysis
• Establish when is the most suitable time to deliver the programme and over what time frame
• Ascertain the most suitable evaluation mechanisms
• Outline what results can be expected and if/how these can be measured

"Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that last forever" Antonise Crawford. As in a garden we need the right environment for the seed to flower, our students will need much more than just the right environment to flower. We as mentors need to first map the needs of each child, as each of us is different and often it is said no two people in the world are alike. The biggest challenge to help a child to learn is thus in taking the right steps to help him/her to grow not only in mind and body, but in heart and soul too. Complete education is only possible if we really know what are the true needs of the students. There is no 'one size fit all' when it comes to a curriculum. The teaching methods are what matters and not simply the content forced on to the students. The methodology must fit the needs of the individual student.

 Image courtesy www.sfccmo.edu/

At a very early age our current system of education starts working like an assembly line, and the curriculum rolls out the 'one size fits all' approach. This is where the inherent challenge lies, continuous learning will only happen when we can identify the student needs. The only constant is change, the needs also go through a catalysis and this makes the challenge even bigger. Student needs push us to explore new vistas of learning - study, skills, service and sports all offer avenues for us to find out the needs of the students. Once we have the interest of the student at the core of learning, we will see a quantum leap in learning and will empower the seed of knowledge to develop into holistic learning. The needs of the parents, teachers and all stakeholders will have to supplement the needs of the student alone and not vice versa. We have different forms of learning delivery and most places the mentor as the one who leads the learning process. Need for us to offer the lead to the student and the mentor is there only in a supportive role.