District Institutes of Education and Training - Teacher Education

District Institutes of Education and Training: A Comparative Study in Three Indian States
follows the format of learning to deliver a model lesson; and knowledge relates to
learning and/or reinforcing subject content. Many DIET staff are reluctant to
model the approaches they lecture about.
Transferability of what is learned in training, from both pre- and in-service programmes,
to multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-ability and multi-grade primary classroom
contexts remains problematic. Teachers report the lack of relevance of training and
have often developed low expectations of its being able to make any difference.
Another issue that is hampering quality improvements is the pattern of once-off, offsite
training courses for teachers. The current approach to teacher development
through DIETs is focused on the individual teacher, and short-term inputs of technical
skilling. Training of this nature is not able to challenge teachers’ often negative
assumptions about the intelligence and capacities of children from lower socioeconomic
strata, which create barriers to their will to change their practices. Training
that comprises skilling and content reinforcement is failing to engage teachers with
training ideas, and sees elementary teachers as mere ‘classroom technicians’. Further
thought needs to be given to how training can work towards developing teachers’
potential as creative practitioners, and validate and extend their existing knowledge.
There is a pressing need to improve the ‘ecological validity’ of the training offered
to teachers through DIETs, to improve its contextual relevance. The current
model, even if improved significantly in quality, lacks the capacity to be
contextually sensitive and thus has shortcomings in relation to the professed aims
of establishing DIETs as responsive local institutions. However, to enhance the
transferability of what is learned during in-service training under current
arrangements, further thought must be given as to how inputs from DIET training
courses articulate with opportunities for peer reflection offered at the Cluster
Resource Centres. Effectiveness of DIET training would be enhanced by advance
planning of how Cluster Resource Centres can assist in working with teachers on
transferring training messages into practice by experimentation and discussion in
a supportive peer group; and the DIET’s role in this process.
In the longer term, it is desirable that these structures shift towards providing
support to a strategy of whole school, rather than individual teacher, development.
Whole school development offers greater potential to address in a integrated way
current concerns about enhancing community participation, embedding schools
into their socio-economic context, and improving internal efficiency.
Recruitment of primary teacher educators
Recruitment criteria for DIETs specified that staff should have two Master’s
degrees and seven years of elementary teaching experience. Few elementary
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