Teach for India: De-professionalization of Teaching
Author(s):
Debi Talukdar (submitting) Smriti Sharma (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
WERA Focal Meeting
Format:
Paper

Session Information

WERA SES 11 E, Teacher Education: Instructional Models and Methodologies

Paper Session

Time:
2015-09-10
17:15-18:45
Room:
3008. [Main]
Chair:
Mustafa Yunus Eryaman

Contribution

This paper is situated in the broader historical, social, political, and economic context of India and attempts to analyse the intervention of Teach for India (TFI) as a program aiming to reduce educational disparities. It lays out the philosophy and the administrative aspects of the TFI program. The analysis of the program is based on the information gathered from the program website and interviews with ten people presently involved with or having been involved with TFI in varying capacities. A closer look at the Teach for India model as an educational intervention revealed how it is actually encouraging the de-professionalizing teaching. This is argued at four levels – from the perspective of teacher preparation; the qualifications of contributing philanthropists, program managers and team managers; teaching being a 2 year social work stint; and the assessment of the fellows and the program. Ramifications of the TFI model on the existing educational system have also been explored. The paper also attempts to scrutinize the vision of quality education as implied within the TFI model and further looks at what this might symbolize in terms of policy educational reforms.  Lastly, the paper looks at TFI as a philanthropic venture. 

Children’s access to education is deeply influenced by the stratifications and inequalities in Indian society. This is evident in the disparities in educational attainment between different social and economic groups and the highly divisive nature of public versus private education. A crucial compounding factor is the severe shortage of teachers in public (government) schools. Contractual or para-teachers who often do not have any training in education, are often employed as a quick-fix solution to the number crisis. The situation continues to be dismal even after the Right to Education Act (2009) mandates employment of teachers with proper qualifications.

Recent policy documents pave the way for realizing some of the challenges we have highlighted. TFI is also being analysed in the light of these progressive policy recommendations. The National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education 2009 marks a major epistemological shift in the preparation of teachers while recognizing that revamped pre-service teacher education and continued professional development of school teachers need to be key long-term investments for achieving Universalization of elementary Education. While attempting to establish teaching as social practice, the curricular framework attempts to redefine not only the curricula and pedagogy of teacher preparation by envisaging re-structuring existing institutional provisions for the same but goes on to envision new institutional arrangements to break the intellectual isolation of school teachers; calls for establishing schools of education in institutes of higher education to help develop education as an interdisciplinary enterprise and urges for developing a professional cadre of elementary teacher educators.

Teach for India (TFI)  is a recent branch of the Teach for All (TFA) program that has been born out of response to a common global problem: “where children are born determines the kind of education they’ll receive and ultimately their options in life” (http://teachforindia.org). Launched in 2007, by CEO Shaheen Mistri, TFI is looking to reduce education inequity by bridging the opportunity gap in India. It is based on the Teach for All philosophy of educational leadership. Teach for India is a not-for-profit organization which recruits college graduates and working professionals to serve as full-time teachers in low income schools. Their mission is “building a movement of leaders to eliminate educational inequity.” After serving two years as a fellow in school, the fellows became part of the alumni movement. Currently TFI operates in 5 Indian cities - Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad. They are about to expand to Bangalore.

Method

This critical research study is a basic qualitative study (Merriam, 2009) that focuses on how the TFI fellows interpret their experiences of being on the program and what meaning they attribute to their experiences. It also highlights the pushes against power TFI tries to exercise in the areas they operate in and critiques its work in the context of the larger Indian society. In a convenience sample through personal networks for interviews, ten people were selected to participate in this study. The criteria for participation was having been involved with or are currently involved with TFI, either as fellows or program managers. Documents were also collected, like lesson plans that the fellows prepared for their classroom teaching; the schedule for the Summer Institute training program; and assessment tracking documents for the children that determine what constitutes grade level achievement. Details and statistics on the TFI website as well as online marketing on the same website were also collected. The interviews were semi-structured with three basic questions about the participants’ experience at TFI, their motivation for joining, and their perception of the organization. The reason for this was to allow fellows to speak about their experiences without being prompted to think in a certain direction. Part of the analysis was in seeing similarities in themes that the participants brought up without any prompting. The interviews were conducted and recorded via Skype and lasted about an hour each. The analysis for this basic qualitative study was thematic (Merriam, 2009). The transcripts of the interviews, the TFI website, and the documents were analysed to identify themes that related to de-professionalizing teaching. Some analysis points for Teach for All and Teach for America speaking to the concept of de-professionalization were used to understand Teach for India since TFI emulates the TFA model and there is a dearth of TFI specific literature.

Expected Outcomes

A closer look at the Teach for India model as an educational intervention reveals how it actually de-professionalizes teaching. We argue this at four levels: 1. Teacher preparation: Teach For India operates with the understanding that adult learning occurs through experience, some through peer coaching and learning, and little through formal training. This underpins their 6 week training module. The fact that there is not much impetus on or room for a philosophical understanding of education, is reflective of the same criticism that has been levelled against teacher education in the rest of the country. Teaching is viewed as a technical skill, rather than an inclusive and democratic community endeavour. The corporate model of leadership has become a euphemism for teaching and learning. 2. The qualifications of contributing philanthropists, program managers and team managers: There are very few people representing the field of education either in TFI. Most of the selected TFI fellows do not have any prior training in education (Vellanki 2014) either. An academic background in education doesn't necessarily makes one a great educator, but it does raise questions of the credibility of the people running the program in terms of conceptual and theoretical support. 3. Teaching being a 2 year social work stint: In the larger educational scenario, viewing teaching as social work drastically affects the social status of the teacher in the society. This threatens damage the motivation of regular teachers (Dey 2014) and contribute to the already declining status of teaching as a profession, further dissuading talented people from joining the profession. 4. The assessment of the fellows and the program: The heavily privatized state of education and the focus on raising test scores in India is being encouraged by TFI. Larger conversations surrounding social justice and equity are being ignored in the bargain.

References

Alexender, K., Bhatt S. et al. (2012). Measuring Effectiveness and Impact of the Teach For India Program. Retrieved from https://sipa.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/Teach_for_India_Final_Report_20Aug2012%20_TenPagesOnly_0.pdf Bandyopadhyay, M. (2012). Social disparity in elementary education. Seminar, (638). Retrieved from http://www.india-seminar.com/2012/638/638_madhumita.htm Batra, P. (2011). Education in Contemporary India: Perspective and Opportunities. Education and Human Development: Perspectives and Vision for the Future, UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.teindia.nic.in/e9/pdf/Poonam%20Batra%20Education%20in%20Contemporary%20India_June%202011.pdf Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Powerful teacher education: Lessons from exemplary programs. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. Dey, J. (2014).Teach for Who: Are you ready for a challenge. The Scribbler. Retrieved from https://scribbler.co/r/530b36ff80ac9700000e3669/teach-for-who Donaldson, M. L., & Johnson, S. M. (2011). Teach For America teachers: How long do they teach? Why do they leave?. In Phi Delta Kappan, 93(2), 47-51. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/10/04/kappan_donaldson.html Friedrich D. (2014) Global Questions, Local Answers. Café Dissensus. Retrieved from http://cafedissensus.com/2014/11/01/global-questions-local-answers/ Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2012). Vision of Teacher Education in India: Quality and Regulatory Perspective. Retrieved from http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/JVC%20Vol%201.pdf Kumar, K. (2005). Political agenda of education: A study of colonialist and nationalist ideas. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Merriam, S. (2009). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. 2nd Ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass National Council for Teacher Education. (2009). National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education: Towards preparing a Professional and Humane Teacher. Retrieved from http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/pdf/NCFTE-2010.pdf Majumdar, M. (2011). Politicians, civil servants or professionals? Teachers’ voices on their work and worth. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8(1), 33-65. Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. USA: Oxford University Press. Radhakrishnan, P. (1990). Indigenous Education in British India: A Profile. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 24(1), 1-27. Sheth A., Bhagwati A., Rekhi G. (2013) India Philanthropic Report 2013 Bain and Company: Delhi Retrieved from http://www.bain.com/Images/BAIN_REPORT_India_Philanthropy_Report_2013.pdf Sriprakash, A. (2011). Being a teacher in Contexts of Change: Education in reform and the Repositioning of teacher’s Work in India. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8(1), 5-31. Teach for all. http://www.teachforall.org/ Teach for India. http://www.teachforindia.org/ Vellanki, V. (2014). Teach For India and Education Reform Some Preliminary Reflections. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 11(1), 137-147. Zeichner, K. (2013, October 10). Why the ‘GREAT Teachers and Principals’ Act is not so great. Op-Ed. WashingtonPost. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/10/why-the-great-teachers-and-principals-act-is-not-great/

Author Information

Debi Talukdar (submitting)
University of Washington, Seattle
College of Education
Seattle
Smriti Sharma (presenting)
University of Delhi
Department of Elementary Education
Delhi

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