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District Institutes of Education and Training - Teacher Education

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<strong>District</strong> <strong>Institutes</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Education</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Training</strong>: A Comparative Study in Three Indian States<br />

Policy issues for the DIET in a context <strong>of</strong> decentralisation<br />

• DIETs <strong>and</strong> their apex body have yet to develop the sense <strong>of</strong> partnership implied<br />

in decentralisation, rather than the hierarchical relationship <strong>of</strong> a centralised<br />

system. If decentralisation is to gather pace, State <strong>of</strong>ficials need to adjust their<br />

role away from supervision <strong>and</strong> towards one <strong>of</strong> consciously nurturing <strong>and</strong><br />

supporting DIETs to assist them in growing into their role. Perceptual barriers<br />

to operating in a decentralised way are constraints as real as operational<br />

obstacles <strong>and</strong> need to be consciously worked through in partnership.<br />

• An aspect <strong>of</strong> innovation <strong>and</strong> change management that emerges from this study<br />

is that when a new structure is introduced, or an old structure takes on a new<br />

role, all <strong>of</strong>ficials need a full induction to the innovation itself, <strong>and</strong> their own<br />

direct or indirect roles in supporting it.<br />

• As Cluster Resource Centres are rolled out, further resolution is required <strong>of</strong><br />

how they <strong>and</strong> DIETs should articulate with one another to achieve meaningful<br />

integration <strong>and</strong> create feedback loops. The trends reported here reveal differing<br />

levels <strong>of</strong> integration <strong>and</strong> underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the need for that integration,<br />

indicating a need for some DIETs to receive more concentrated support than<br />

others to achieve integration with the Cluster Resource Centres.<br />

• The impact on DIETs <strong>of</strong> an external initiative that almost usurped their<br />

functions has been recorded here, <strong>and</strong> noted by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.<br />

Madhya Pradesh has been a pace-setter in achieving convergence through major<br />

institutional reform <strong>and</strong> there may be a need for Gujarat <strong>and</strong> Rajasthan State<br />

Governments also to consider where duplication <strong>and</strong> overlap are creating role<br />

conflicts <strong>and</strong> reducing efficiency.<br />

10.2.7 Pr<strong>of</strong>essional development through collaborative action research with<br />

DIETs<br />

Chapter Seven showed that research was a neglected area <strong>of</strong> DIET functioning,<br />

<strong>and</strong> had hitherto been used to meet the information needs <strong>of</strong> the State rather than<br />

as a means <strong>of</strong> helping DIETs immerse themselves in underst<strong>and</strong>ing local teachers’<br />

concerns <strong>and</strong> how the DIET might respond to them. Collaborative action research<br />

emerged as a tool for pr<strong>of</strong>essional development with DIET staff in the three sites<br />

that opted into this project str<strong>and</strong>. DIET staff initially focused on concerns they<br />

could do little to address <strong>and</strong> made assumptions about teachers that were challenged<br />

by the project team, leading to investigation via action research. Five topics emerged<br />

from the DIETs: a) on teachers’ attitudes to change; b) transmission loss in the<br />

cascade model; c) time management in the DIET; d) teacher motivation; <strong>and</strong> e)<br />

language teaching. Project a) generated a wealth <strong>of</strong> detail that provided the DIET<br />

with clear indicators <strong>of</strong> teacher expectations about their role, underst<strong>and</strong>ings <strong>of</strong><br />

policy messages, <strong>and</strong> current concerns. Project b) prompted reflection on the<br />

relevance <strong>of</strong> training <strong>and</strong> on trainers’ own training needs, <strong>and</strong> revealed a strong<br />

198 DFID

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