How 16500 schools changed their pedagogy

It is the responsibility of the teacher to
create a new generation,
to change the social structure,

from its total preoccupation

with earning a livelihood

J.Krishnamurti
Wednesday 7 October 2009 1

School structures froze... about a

century ago!

Rows and columns

uniforms, competition and

a disconnect between school & life


The Knowledge era
begs for a change
But status quo is
difficult to shake
and structural answers
difficult to find

This is a story of rapid change
Of hope and collaboration
of change in all State Schools in
Tamilnadu
Of People
Of teachers from one school and
trainers from SSA, who did simple
things and took an idea very far

Who ever decided
that children learn
best in the company
of the same age
students?
The School KFI 1998

This question , in 1998,
set in motion events that
we could never have
conceived...


The Junior school moved

to mixed age structure in

1999, classes 1-4 ﬁrst

and then 2-4...


The middle school moved to
a mixed age structure in
2007... classes 5-7.
The pedgogic practices
changed substantially

In the
meantime...

Mr Vijaykumar, Director SSA,
raised a basic question and
pursued it relentlessly...

What is the use of education if
a child cannot read and
understand at the end of 5
years of schooling?


These are multi age
classrooms roughly
resembling Montessori
classrooms...

a remarkable story of
structural and
pedagogic
transformation...

Mr M.P.VijayKumar,
State Project Director
SSA TN asked “Are
such methods &
approaches available
for classes 6,7 & 8?
16


And in one short year,
June 2007 to Apr 2008
Over 16000 schools
moved to
ACTIVE LEARNING
METHODOLOGIES
IN GRADES 6,7 & 8

Change on a very large scale
affecting millions of lives
The same
students and teachers
books and classrooms

But a radically changed
classroom process

All of us know that
change is rarely
easy...
H o w did SSA TN do thi s?
W h a t was th e role of The
S c h o ol, a sm all school in
Wednesday 7 October 2009
C hennai ?
19

Looking back...STEP 1
Th e S c hool ha d evolved a
p roc ess f or the Mixed
A ge Class es of Middle
S c h o ol? Aft er a fu ll y ear
o f a Pilo t progra mme
this was ready for 3
g rou ps i n The school .

Mr Vij ay kumar and
D irectors from SSA TN
v i s i t e d The school. in the
e n d of Marc h 2007. They
l i s tened to the school
t e a c h ers and visited the
pil ot cl assr oom.

But ....
N o t h ing m uch ca me ou t
of thi s vi si t...
SSA wa s looking for
M a t erials that could be
u s ed by c hildren as in
A c t ivit y B ased Lear ni ng.

C o o r dinator Ou treach for
T h e School visited SSA
D i r e c t or with a requ est to
se nd a few te achers for a
L i f e Skills worshop being
or g a niz e d by The School .

Mr V i j aykuma r asked if we
a sked
would do a series of
do
workshops for Block
Resource Trainers of
Resourc e Tra iners
S S A . S umitra M Gautama ,
u m itra Gau tama
C oordinator Outreach
oordina tor
rea di l y agr eed
re adi a gr

10 teac he rs introduced
ACTIVE LE ARNING
M E THOD OL OGIES to the
6 0 t r ainers in Ma y 2007 ,
i n the Ac tive Learning
mo de .. o ver 11 days.

A l l 60 train ers endorsed
ACTIVE LE ARNING
M E T HODOLOGIES for the
U p p e r Prim a ry classes for
State sc hools. It wa s
decided to pilot the
e f f o rt in 120 school s.

What is the
ACTIVE LEARNING
METHODOLGY that so
many people found possible
to accept?

Students read the full lesson,
draw mind maps, raise questions and
discuss with classmates

And once accepted by
SSA and by teachers it was
a matter of working out
how to take the idea
forward...

SSA was determined not to
let anything stand as an
obstacle to movement..
Trainers and staff of SSA
worked in school for over 8
months in an area set up for
the purpose by the school.

This was the only way
SSA trainers would
receive the necessary
guidance from the
teachers of The
School.

And teachers of The School
supported the trainers in the
cracks of a full running
school... a very remarkable
mode of sharing and
transferring skills and
perspectives

MS - ALM
an Approach Developed
by
The School KFI, Chennai

Lesson plans developed by
Teachers and Trainers of SSA
with the support of
Teachers of
The School KFI, Chennai

And a great deal more

emerged from this

interaction and

collaboration.....


DTERT - review of the Teacher
Training syllabus
“From the Useful to the Usable”


Engagement with
SSA helped us
discover that
‘an idea whose time
has come’ has
wings...

Horizantal
transfer
is
possible
and
efﬁcient

Questions have

remarkable

consequences when

pursued

And many
Myths blew
away......

THE SCHOOL KFI
CHENNAI

a little more about
The School-KFI


school timeline
founded in Poes Garden 1973
ﬁrst batch of ICSE students 1985
ﬁrst batch of ISC students 1987
no child ever failed in 36 years
respect, dignity, enquiry at the
heart of educational practice

signiﬁcant educational
innovations
programme for higher education 1996
radical new programme for class 11
students 1997
junior school mixed age classes (grades 1
-4 ) 1999
prevention of child sexual abuse programs
2001
Middle School Mixed Age classes (grades 5
-7 ) 2007

more
educational innovations
Area study as an integrated process of learning
for class 7 students - ‘School and Society’
published 1995
Environmental Studies compulsory for all ICSE
students long before it became compulsory by
law1995
The ﬁrst Environmental Science Syllabus for ISC
classes was crafted by teachers in 1997
junior resource centre for non directed learning,
1998


innovations - fostering
non competitive
interaction
festival of drama and dialogue 1994

symposium 1995

mixed basketball league 1996

innovations in the
social space
Prevention of child sexual abuse programs -
corporation and private schools teachers and
Principals - 2001
Like skills workshops - Workshops for corporation
school teachers - 2004
Alternatives to dissection 1996 - workshops for
school teachers - leading to eliminating dissection
from examinations
The ﬁrst Environmental Science Syllabus for ISC
classes was crafted by teachers in 1997


innovations - teacher
empowerment and growth
teachers chair staff meetings in rotation
1991
teachers involved in teacher interviews -
1992
teachers constitute the school steering
committee 2001
teachers involved in coordination,
committees and conducting parent
meetings (always)

further innovations in the
social space - Outreach
rural
training in computers, millet
biscuit making, organic farming
seed bank
nutrition supplement for
children in village Govt schools


further innovations in the
social space - Outreach
urban
experiencing nature programs
for children of 30 schools in
Chennai
collaboration with SSA for
evolving major changes in the
state educational system

More Endeavours

of

The School KFI


800 children in 5 village schools
have been receiving a nutition
supplement from June 2009 on
each working day.
Disabled children in a special
school in Thirukazhukundram
likewise also receive this
supplement

We are a small school,
small by design
About 350 students
and 35 teachers and
empowering
foundations

The teachers in the
school are
a body of educators,
practitioners who are
learning and sharing,
concerned with educating
students, young and old

We are not

an NGO
or expert body
or consultants

Maybe we are...
a laboratory
or an incubator,
a catalyst for
meaningful change
for the common good

Our work with SSA TN is
dedicated to the dedicated to
the children of ‘today and
tomorrow’
who will have to ﬁnd their
moorings in the world of
knowledge,
needing tools of learning

Tools that they can use alone
and with others,

tools that will help them
internalise the wisdom that
mankind has come upon...

...and generate their own
knowledge and wisdom

... tools to prepare for a
future that is likely to be
very different from today

...tools that can be
applied in many
contexts...

Our inspiration are children
who each come with a message of
hope....

Thank you
educator learners
at
The School
(The Chennai Education Centre)
Krishnamurti Foundation India, Chennai
Oct 2009


How 16500 schools changed their pedagogy

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