Higher secondary teacher training to resume after long gap

Workshop held at SCERT stresses need to adopt interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary approach and for use of technology in teaching.

With higher secondary teacher training set to resume in the State after a gap of six years, a concept formulation workshop for the training has stressed the need for classroom teaching to adopt interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary aspects and factor in the recent changes in the higher education sector such as four-year undergraduate programmes and common entrance examinations.

The workshop, held at the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) here on Thursday, pointed out that as nations moved towards the goal of knowledge society, the importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary sectors was increasing.

Interdisciplinary models were coming up even in teaching.

It emphasised the role of teachers in ensuring that each student acquired 4Cs of 21st century skills, that is creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

They also had to impart design thinking, soft skills, leadership skills, Industry 4.0, and Education 4.0 to children.

The workshop underlined the need for teachers to use technology intelligently, especially owing to its increasing use in teaching, assessment, and development of learning material. It pointed out the rapid strides in arti…cial intelligence and the need for teachers to be familiar with it.

Psychological approach

The training should also cover classroom management through novel psychological approaches as some higher secondary students experienced excessive anxiety, depression, learning di†culties, and drug problems. As they were adolescents, teachers should be given regular training in managing them during this challenging phase of development.

The workshop also called for teachers to be made aware of the impact of changes in textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training at the national level over the past two years in the classrooms in the

State that use NCERT textbooks and how to address these gaps.

Training should be provided to all higher secondary teachers as is done for teachers of classes I to X. According to the department, only 5,300 higher secondary teachers have been provided training since 2018-19 till now, it was pointed out at the workshop.

It was decided to provide four-day non-residential training to all higher secondary teachers, except in the case of rare subjects for which residential training will be given.

In all, 28,028 teachers in 14 districts will be provided training beginning May 20. It will cover changes in curriculum at the national and State levels, changes in teaching methods, use of AI in teaching, novel assessment possibilities, adolescent education, and changes in higher education.

A special training will be held for higher secondary and vocational higher secondary principals and education department o†cials.

Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty attended the workshop.