On Day 3 of education conference, experts suggest ways to improve teaching

On the third day of the week-long Delhi education conference, organised by the Delhi government, policy experts from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and also from India led a panel discussion focusing on improving professional development for teachers

On the third day of the week-long Delhi education conference, organised by the Delhi government, policy experts from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and also from India led a panel discussion focusing on improving professional development for teachers.

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The panel included education experts Jelmer Evers, learning expert from the Netherlands, Subramanian Giridhar, COO of Azim Premji University, Harry Fletcher-Wood, associate dean at Ambition Institute and an expert in teacher development, and Lucy Crehan, an international education consultant.

Giridhar suggested the setting up a voluntary teacher forum wherein teachers could discuss their work. “A forum where groups of 20-25 teachers take up a topic and come together periodically with a simple focus on ‘Can I teach better tomorrow?’ Administrators should also periodically engage with the local community. They should then identify subject specialists and high performing teachers and welcome them into the system,” he said.

Crehan, who has studied the education model of five countries, said, “In Japan, China, Singapore, the practice of ‘lesson study’ is common. The teachers come together and produce lesson plans on how to teach a certain concept.” Fletcher, a history teacher in England, said teachers must spend time together “to work on their ideas outside of classrooms to refine their teaching plans.”

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said, “Ideas like focusing on quality teacher training, developing good infrastructure and offering a conducive work environment for teachers are important for our government. If we work together, we can implement all these ideas.”