Problems leading up to low learning outcomes
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is the main program for universalising primary education in India. It lists as one of its objectives; focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education of life. However, the SSA has by and large become a program for increasing inputs and increasing enrolment in schools, in which it has been successful. However, the lack of focus on quality is evident in the recorded learning outcomes of ASER as well as in the Annual Report 2012-13 of the MHRD where all achievements listed under SSA are input based. There is no mention of learning outcomes achieved by students. The Coleman study (1966) claimed that that learning outcomes were highly dependent on individual race and family background. However other studies posit that within factors that fall into the purview of education, the effectiveness of the teacher in the classroom is the most important. (Wright, Horn,Sanders, 1997). Rowe is even more confident and argues that quality of teaching and learning provision are the most salient influences, regardless of gender or backgrounds. (Rowe, 2003) Low Teacher Quality and effectiveness Now that the importance of teacher effectiveness for learning outcomes has been established, what makes a teacher effective?
Effectiveness of teachers is a complex mix of factors including education, training and availability. (Sood N., 2002) To examine teacher education, Jayanta Chatterje refers to the National University of Educational Planning and Administration survey, which found that close to half of the elementary school teachers, had not completed secondary school themselves. This is much unlike Finland where only the top graduates are considered for a career in teaching. Sood references Shaeffer (1998) in stating that in-service training is strongest when it responds to teacher identified needs.
In-service as well as pre-service training programs prepare teachers based on a pedagogy and curriculum that doesnt serve them well in their actual class environment. More than 78% of primary schools have three or fewer teachers to attend to all grade levels, making multi-grade teaching a necessity. (Blum, Diwan, 2007). Unfortunately, the pedagogy of multi-grade teaching which is vastly different from teaching a single class is given scant importance during the in-service as well as pre-service training programs of the teachers. A lack of training does not seem to be the reason behind the poor learning outcomes. Close to 80% of teachers at a primary level are trained. (Kartik Muralidharan, 2012) This only reflects that the training does not seem to be effective or in line with the ground realities being faced by teachers. For instance, teachers are not trained to teach in a differentiated manner in a class where children vary considerably in ability level or where multiple-grades sit in the same class.
The third factor affecting teacher effectiveness and in turn, learning outcomes, is teacher availability. This would mean teachers coming to school regularly as well as availability of enough teachers to meet the prescribed pupil teacher ratio. In India, Teacher absence has been recorded to be 25% on an average, directly impacting learning outcomes. (Kremer, 2005)
To add to the teacher absence, a shortage of teachers exists to the tune of 19% in rural schools. This impacts the pupil-teacher ratio adversely. 30% of schools dont have more than two teachers. Thus absence as well as the teacher shortfall impacts the pupil-teacher ratio adversely in these schools as well as other schools. A high pupil-teacher ratio in a class with vast differences in learning levels will in turn adversely impact quality of learning and learning outcomes.
By Ankit Vyas