Nexus of Good: Unwavering pursuit

As the Ola cab pulled into the wet, crowded lanes of Malvani, a suburb in western Mumbai, the driver told the facilitators from The Teacher Foundation (TTF) team, “Ma’am, the name of the school that has been mentioned as the final destination does not exist on Google Maps! I can’t go any further.’’ The team had similar experi-ences on many occasions in the past. Hence, it trudged along undeterred till it reached Holy Mother English School surrounded by shanties, dark slums and noisy places. Rafiq Siddiqui, the affable principal, greeted the team with his now-famous one-liner, “You have to be a confirmed lunatic to open a school in Malvani!’’ Howev-er, the team was even more convinced that TTF’s 3M (Method, Magic and Mastery) would work for every school and every teacher in any part of India!

The school soon became a part of the 1,100-teacher cohort of the Teacher Accelera-tor Programme (TAP) in two years. TTF had previously worked with a cohort of 500 teachers through a donor-funded project, and gained invaluable experience — ena-bling teachers drawn from the most under-served, under-resourced affordable pri-vate schools.

Work with the second cohort of teachers commenced in 2019. A baseline evaluation of teaching practice was done, undertaking school visits and delivering training ses-sions with rigour and meticulous planning. School heads, having got convinced about the “method in madness”, wholeheartedly involved their school communities in it.

Half-way through the programme, Covid-19 struck and took the world by storm. The immediate fallout of this was a mass closure of all educational institutions. Slowly, but hesitantly, schools recognised that the shutdown was there to stay for a consid-erable time, and that new modes of teaching-learning would have to be reckoned with.

At TTF, attention was turned towards finding ways and means to help teachers con-tinue and engage learners through ‘online teaching’. The concerns, at this time, were the odds that teachers and students from the schools involved in the programme were grappling with — lack of resources, the technological divide and, more im-portantly, complete unfamiliarity with ‘non-classroom’ modes of teaching.

After undertaking extensive research, TTF developed modules to help teachers un-derstand the basics of online teaching. Various digital tools and strategies were evolved to engage learners, assess learning online, and also to design effective online learning plans – both synchronous and asynchronous. Tools, resources and online platforms that were ‘free’ to use were curated so that all teachers and stu-dents who were part of TAP would be able to leverage them. Of course, this also meant that TTF first needed to build the internal capacity of its own team. Through hours of discussions, explorations and practice during the early days of April 2020, TTF found its footing for supporting teachers effectively for online teaching.

The entire TAP was shifted online. Tools and platforms like Google Classroom, Jam-board, Picker wheel, Edpuzzle, Flipgrid, Google forms, Google slides etc., became a part of every TTF online training session. The TTF team went out of its way to help and orient teachers on accessing and using these tools effectively. Kudos to teachers for overcoming daily challenges of survival and yet persevering in terms of their own learning! During this time, training teachers on modules such as ‘Collaborative Learn-ing, Tools for Teaching, Using Text-books effectively’ was continued online. Classes were observed online and support was provided to every teacher who was part of TAP, with suggestions and ideas. The road was rocky but the determination to see it through was ‘rock solid’!

By the end of the programme, every teacher was not just using online tools, but also focused on effective student engagement. Teachers and schools were reaching out to share with us success stories and ideas that worked for them. They sought help and assistance from the TTF team who were ‘always’ available and responsive.

The outcome of the programme was so unprecedented that the donor of the project funded training for a third cohort of teachers – however, they insisted on it being completely in the ‘online’ mode! From 2021-23, TTF on-boarded another 1000+ teachers from 37 schools for the third phase of the project. Modules on blended learning were included so that teachers could continue to leverage online tools and techniques in conjunction with classroom teaching. TTF also measured the impact of training on student learning outcomes through carefully planned and administered assessments in English, science, social studies and mathematics. A noticeable change was observed in student competencies from the baseline to the endline rounds over two academic years. Through TAP alone, TTF has impacted 2500+ teachers, 100+ school heads and 20,000 students.

Sreeja Nair, principal of PVG’s Vidyabhawan Nerul, says ‘‘TTF has changed the way our teachers teach. We now see more vibrant, colorful and exciting learning spaces’’. In the same vein, Kiran Kamat, trustee of JES, Jogeshwari, found that learning con-tinued in spite of the pandemic-induced setback. Shifa Saudagar, a teacher from Vanita Vishram School feels that students are more excited to come to school than ever. Zulekha Siddiqui, Principal of Anjuman AA Khatkhatay English School, Vashi remarks, “Just like an artist who uses different brushes for drawing/painting, TTF has upgraded our teachers with different skills which could be used both for online and offline modes of teaching and learning.’’

Meanwhile, TTF replicated the appreciable success of the online-TAP with the Online-English Encounter Programme for 2,000 government school teachers across Karnataka to enhance their functional English. The challenges and the territory were now familiar and we plunged into it confidently! Through specially developed online blended training content, we have enabled teachers to become more confident and articulate communicators in English.

The Teachers Accelerator Programme (TTF) is a wonderful example of Nexus of Good. The model is already being scaled through public-private partnership and has the potential to scale further.

Views expressed are personal