SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Presenting the second article in series on NEP 2020 from Paper to Practice? The first article received good response/feedback from experts, principals, parents, students, teachers, professionals, bureaucrats, almost all resonated with the article and shared a primary concern on missing “How” aspect of the policy and the secondary concern was on the somewhat unclear about the “What” aspect, the tertiary concern was about its transition and sustenance. However, almost all seemed to welcome NEP 2020.
In this article we will attempt to cover few but critical “WHAT” aspects of the policy and attempt to operationalise the same, drawn from our longitudinal research, available constructs and models from journals with due respect to their copyright and the intention being purely academic to explain the concept and no way leading to the copyright infringement.
1.
WHAT IS THE CORE OF NEP 2020?To understand the core we have picked up key words from NEP 2020 policy, it reads
“Recognising, identifying, fostering unique capabilities of each student, Foundation literacy and Numeracy, flexibility, no hard separations, multi disciplinary, holistic education, conceptual understanding, creativity and critical thinking, ethics and human & Constitutional values, multilingualism, regular formative assessment for learning, extensive use of technology, diversity, local context, equity and inclusion, synergy in curriculum, teachers and faculty at heart of learning process, light but tight regulatory framework, outstanding research, continuous review, rootedness and pride in India, education in a public service, substantial investment in a vibrant public education system”.
A good education institution where every student feels welcomed and cared for, where safe and stimulating learning environment exists, where wide range of learning experiences are offered.
Each highlighted word or words mentioned in the “CORE of NEP 2020” has depth and is an intervention by itself. We will examine them in detail.
2.
What is the underlying BELIEF of NEP 2020?NEP 2020 is a “Transformative” intervention in the educational system which will empower each student to identify, nurture their uniqueness and not treat them as stastically same, it will also move away from the existing belief of “Marks = Talent = success”.
To make NEP successful (intended results orientation as envisaged in the Policy document) we need to first understand the following “Results-pyramid” construct [1]
For “Results” and “Result orientation” to happen, mere “Action” or “Action Taking” (like releasing notification to implement NEP or Training Teachers) is just not enough one needs to go one layer down to understand the prevalent “Belief system” which is embedded into individual and collective psyche and this powers the action to achieve results or deviate from it.
The existing belief system about education in India and Indian context plays a very crucial role in both Macro and Micro socio economic framework, for the sake of explanation we will refer the Kuppuswamy socio economic scale [2]
1) Occupation of the Head of the Family
2) Education of the Head of the Family
3) Total monthly income of the Family
In all the above factors “Quality Education” seems to be the key driver.
However, in a rural setting “UdaiPareekh” - Socio economic scale (SES) [3] has the following parameters
1) Caste
2) Occupation (high scores for independent/cultivation/service.
3) Land
4) Social participation
5) Material possession
6) House
7) Education
Implies in a rural setting “Education” is not a strong driver as compared to that in Urban setting. This will create different the push and pull for NEP’s internalisation by students, teachers, parents, bureaucrats and politicians in Urban and Rural setting.
A layer below “The Existing Belief System” is “Experimentation” which means a scientific and systemic intervention and if that happens on a critical mass only then the existing belief system will be shift.
Also as NEP will unfold it will start challenging the “Existing Belief System” hence one needs to be equally prepared to manage constructively the frictions arising outit.
But the priority for now is to design the “Experiment of execution” in Indian context which has several socio-cultural-economic domains with uneven educational infrastructure and pedagogical human resource.
2)
What is “Uniqueness” or “Unique capabilities?We will use the following models/ constructs to explain “Uniqueness” [4]
Uniqueness for sake of understanding has 3 dimensions namely the “DRIVERS” also known as motivators (there are 6 motivators) and they are unique to each individual generally 2 are very strong, 2 are moderate and 2 are indifferent.
The second dimension is “CAPACITY” also called “KASH” the hard skills, we teach/learn (“KASH” - Knowledge, Attitude, Skill and Habits)
The third dimension is “CAPABILITY” the application part which is generally demonstrated/observed in terms of behaviour at school/work place towards - Problems & Challenges, Influencing people/others, Pace of work/study and compliance to rules, regulations.
All the above will be unique for each student, teacher and parents.
3) What is a “Career”/“Job” (wide range of learning /experimenting experiences)?
If careers/jobs had power to speak/express itself, it would share 3 important dimensions namely its purpose/ intent, its scope – the job/role description and the way it needs to be done -the work process.
This will also be unique for each career /job at each level of the hierarchy.
4) What is “Stimulating and safe learning environment?”
We will use the “VARK” model [5] to explain “Stimulating” teaching/learning environment.
Now that we know uniqueness (refer point 2) which is applicable to student as well as teachers, parents a stimulating, safe environment means that that there is an objective and subjective awareness about the learning and teaching preferred styles which differs from person to person and educational system should factor this in their ecosystem while preparing for the teaching session which will lead to a stronger communication, engagement, management and motivation among students and Teachers.
For holistic understanding the VARK model can be deployed for teaching various subjects for example Science can be best taught/learned using Kinesthetics, Language can be grasped by Auditory and reading, Geography can be learned better using visuals.
If we integrate point 3 specifically the motivators and behaviour it will give insight to the emotional stability which if channelised will create “Safe” environment.
5) What are life/Employability skills?
We refer to the point 3 which states that each career/job is built on 3 dimensions however
An appropriate term should have been “Competency” instead of “skill “
“ A competency is an underlying characteristic of an individual (student/teacher/parent) that is ally related to criterion – referred effective and /or superior performancein a career/job or situation”[6]
In short competencies are those qualities in an individual which predicts success in a career/job/assignment.
Competencies are categorised as Threshold and Differentiating
The skills (competencies) mentioned in NEP are – Conceptual understanding, logical (analytical), problem solving, creativity & innovation, attention to detail, practical Intelligence these are basics/fundamental sector or career agnostic hence they are “Threshold” which means a strong foundation on these will facilitate the student to explore the career of his/her choice in short find the “Ikigai” [7]
6) What is “Regular formative assessment/Continuous review”?
We will share “Millers model” [8] which will explain the regular formative assessment more subtly.
Regular formative assessment will track the progression of each student through stages namely “Knows”,”knows how”, shows “how” and “Does” which can be further extended towards “Excels”.
7) What is flexibility/ multidisciplinary/holistic education?
Flexibility/multidisciplinary education implies providing options, opportunities for each student to actively experiment, seek wide variety exposure, experience on a continuous basis which facilitates students, parents and teachers to identify and harness the uniqueness of each student (refer points 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and help the students to pursue careers which blend with their uniqueness, we have “Atal Tinkering labs but it is limited to Science & Technology, we need similar labs for other subjects as well.
8) What is extensive use of “technology”?
One example stands tall for optimally and innovatively deploying Technology to make quality education available for the deprived and marginalised in a cost-effective way - the “Hole in the wall experiment” of the TED13 awardee Dr. Sugata Mitra - Computer scientist and educational theorist.
India has 15 lakh schools, about 25 crore students and 89 lakh teachers about 15000 vocational schools and with the socio-eco-geo-political diversity and a significant demographic dividend untapped and latent, we have a race against time, Covid forced us to migrate to Technology, the digital adoption is fast increasing in rural India total active Internet population is likely to touch 900 million by 2025 almost 45% growth what we need is a reliable, high speed and consistent connectivity both in urban and rural areas.
Also, the NEP aims at Teachers to move towards “Transformation Coach” if considerable portion of teaching is outsourced to Technology it will give required space, time for Teachers to focus on their new role.
As per findings of UNESCO every additional year of Education raises individuals’ income by 10%. The choices we make today are going to influence our generations to come and in our 3rd article we will share the “Execution model/framework” for the “How” aspect for NEP 2020.
We once again invite you for the continued engagement through your feedback, comments and suggestions.
References
[1] 364 days of Transformation: Chapter 2 “The Black Box”
[2] 2021 (IJFCM 202; 8 (1):1-3) following factors impact the socio economic status in a Urban setting.
[3] Udai Pareekh SES scale: Pareek U, Trivedi G. Manual of Socio-Economic Status Scale (rural).
[4] The Iceberg Model of personality – Framework by Sigmund Freud
[5] VARK LEARN LIMITED
[6] Competency at work – Chapter 2 (Author Lyle M Spensor Jr)
[7] Ikigai - Book by Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles
[8] Millers Model - psychologist George Miller’s framework for assessing clinical competence
Article compiled by
Mr Kishore M Shah - Managing Trustee, GDP Foundation
Mr Shivram Krishnan – Director, GDP Foundation
Col Sukhaman Singh (Retd) – Deputy Director, GDP Foundation.
www.gdpideaz.org / email – [email protected]
