1. Our work with RGF Moving towards assessment for learning
A DIET- RGF initiative to enhance formative assessment in PSTE course

2. How it started
Representatives of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) visited us for an exposure to the school improvement program(MGML- a DIET-UNICEF project) implemented by our DIET for the past three years. While they appreciated the progress made by the project, we felt that RGF shared our concerns and vision for education and learning of children. During the course of our discussions we came to understand that Teacher Education is one of the focus areas of the RGF as well. One important issues of mutual interest was assessment of student teachers during the PSTE course. We decided to organise a three day workshop in May 2012

3. During this workshop we realised that
the existing assessment pattern of student-teachers was essentially ‘summative’; formative assessment was rather limited.
emphasis on memorising theory and not on growing into a good teacher;
no structured mechanism for the teacher educator to give feedback to the student teacher on the progress s/he has made and what could be done to grow further; and,
finally, there was no space for recording the experiences of the teacher educator with the student teacher.
Given our understanding of the NCFTE paradigm, we felt that the formative assessment or assessment for learning, as against existing assessment of learning, should be enhanced in the PSTE course.

4. Taking this into cognisance, we took a decision to initiate an action research where we would try to introduce certain formative assessment elements in the PSTE course and study the impact on -
the quality of student-teacher preparation,
planning of teacher educators and
capacities of teacher educators.

5. we decided that we would adopt a ‘teaching abilities’ approach to assess the development (formation) of the student teachers, where the student teachers would be assessed for certain desirable teaching abilities and given feedback to grow their abilities further. We then went on to evolve a list of teaching abilities which were eventually categorised into two meta-abilities – Visualisation and Facilitation.

6. Visualisation meta-ability refers to the preparation and planning that a teacher engages in at different stages. It is a combination of several important abilities like ability to assess the learning abilities of each child, ability of understand the curriculum, ability to analyse learning ability of a child with respect to the curriculum and then to be able to visualise learning experiences for the child. Ability to research and integrate is an important element of Visualisation meta-ability as well.
Facilitation meta-ability refers to the actual transaction that takes place between the teacher and student in the classroom and the school. This meta-ability also includes several abilities including ability to create meaningful learning environment, ability to identify, use and innovate different pedagogical tools, ability to manage different types of school environments, ability to observe, document and give feedback to learners, ability to work in a school system, and ability to interact meaningfully with parents and other stakeholders.

7. As a first step, we tried to create an abilities based profile of the student teachers at the time of commencement of the course. For this an induction fortnight was designed that comprised of multiple activities which would enable the teacher educators to observe and document the student teachers in different situations. The activities conducted during the induction fortnight included:

8. The activities conducted during the induction fortnight included:
Orientation to the student teachers about the DIET and the D El Ed program
Overview of education status of Assam and Jorhat
Case discussion to explore societal perceptions of student teachers
Talent search
Organising events for children
Teaching each other (micro teaching)
Teaching in schools
Subject assessments in Assamese, Maths and English
Questionnaire to capture basic profile of student teachers

9. The student teachers were divided into groups of 4-5 and every faculty was allotted a group for observation during the induction fortnight. Observation formats were developed for each activity. The idea was to create a ‘portfolio’ of observation sheets across different situations. An analysis of this portfolio would help the faculty to create an abilities based profile of the student teachers in their respective groups

10. , we had realised that in order to create opportunities for observing growing abilities of student teachers, our pedagogy needed to be diverse as well. As we started reflecting on pedagogical strategies that may be adopted, we felt that our own understanding of the revised curriculum needed to be enhanced. We are now in the process of developing course notes for each sub-unit of each paper . These course notes will encapsulate different content that we would like our student teachers to engage with including theories, information, debates, etc. The boundaries of the course notes will be determined on the basis of our understanding of the abilities that can be impacted through this sub-unit. Once the course notes are ready, the faculty will compile/evolve pedagogic-content knowledge for each paper.

11. Pedagogic-content knowledge is, according to Lee Shulman, ‘
Pedagogic-content knowledge is, according to Lee Shulman, ‘...the particular form of content knowledge that embodies the aspects of content most germane to its teachability.’ It includes ‘.... most useful forms of representation of those ideas, the most powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstrations-in a word the ways of representing and formulating the subject that makes it comprehensible to others.’
Once the course notes and the pedagogic-content knowledge have been evolved, we would be in a position to develop appropriate pedagogical strategies that will enable formative assessment of student teachers.

12. Complementary to existing system
Not looking to replace existing system at this stage, that may happen if the teacher educators feel comfortable with it at some stage and the state agrees
Will strengthen and build upon existing internal assessment provisions and systems of the curriculum
Competency based and not based on subjects of TE course and experiences facilitated during the TE course
The existing system is already testing/measuring subject competency
Teacher educator to play key role in assessment
Allowing for an open and empowering relationship between teacher educator and student teacher
Allow for a good balance between subjective and objective assessment
Teacher educators will have to oriented and capacitated
Semester based tracking of competency levels
Teacher educators will identify the desirable competencies in an ideal teacher
Carry out competency based baseline at the time of entry of new batch
Set competency based targets for each semester for each student teacher

13. This is where we are in our experiment
This is where we are in our experiment. This process has helped us in relooking at our approach to teacher education. We look forward to your comments and suggestions.