COURSES
A five week course – one day a week – designed to re-acquaint qualified teachers with approaches to teaching and learning and offer new ideas to be trialled in their own classrooms. It was run by two trainers, who were able to make school visits. .
The programme started in November 2018 with teachers from a large group of Sikh schools (GHPS) and also a group drawn from government schools in south Delhi.
There was an emphasis throughout on using:
- learning through play
- observation of children
- open ended resources and activities and a learning environment which encourage active learning in young children
- stories and story bags
- physical movement, outdoor space and multisensory activities
2 A two year course to train young women with +2 qualifications (A level equivalent) to become early years’ and infant teachers. The course, requested by The Kaldighar Trust, and led by UK volunteers working for 4 months each with their Indian colleagues was based in Chandigarh, Punjab and ran from 2011 to 2014. It was an enriching, never to be forgotten experience for the volunteers.
The programme achieved its aims through a combination of taught sessions, creative activities course work and extended school experience. The young trainees went on to take BA degrees and most have now been teaching for 10 years in a range of Indian schools.
3 A similar one year course in 2019/20 based in Akal University, Bathinda with a mix of theory and school based practice. Covid suspended this initiative.