District Institutes of Education and Training - Teacher Education

District Institutes of Education and Training: A Comparative Study in Three Indian States
Chapter 9 Research into Action: The New Textbook
Training Programmes in Gujarat
9.1 Introduction
This chapter reports on research carried out with the Government of Gujarat,
which was in the process of revising its primary textbooks and had organised a
cascade training programme so that all Year One teachers would be introduced to
the new textbook. As part of the continuing dialogue about the teacher educator
resource, the research team was invited to follow the cascade and report back to
the government. Suggestions were discussed and incorporated for the Year Two
training planned for the following year, which the research team also followed.
Through DIETs, teachers had received Special Orientation to Primary Teaching, and
training in competencies and assessment. The Government of Gujarat felt that
among primary teachers, as a result of their training, there is now a general
acceptance of the appropriateness of an activity-based approach to primary
education, and awareness of the concept of competencies. However, teachers still
have practical and conceptual difficulties which include: a certain lack of clarity about
competencies (particularly relating to assessment); difficulties in relating TLM to
subject content, as well as in making and using TLM; and difficulties in classroom
management, particularly in multi-grade situations. The new textbooks were
designed as the base for helping teachers to implement the new approach to teaching
and learning. The programme would help teachers work with confidence with the
new books, since they would become familiar with the contents and intentions.
The cascade model was selected to cover the numerical demands of orientating
thousands of teachers to the new textbooks before those books were introduced to
schools. The staffing of the cascade tiers is explained in Figure 9.1.
9.2 The new textbooks and the training programme
9.2.1 The textbooks
In 2000, Gujarat introduced two new Year One textbooks: one in Mathematics
and the second in Language combined with Environmental Science (EVS). The
new textbooks support the competency-based curriculum that has been introduced
across the State, and present the competencies involved in each lesson and
activities to help children attain them. The decision to combine environmental
science with language was made because EVS is heavily dependent on language
skills, and those skills in turn could be developed through a focus on EVS content.
Year Two books were introduced in 2001.
The creation of these textbooks departed significantly from previous practice, in
which the writing of books was entrusted to specialists selected by the State
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