Democratising Teacher Education Research in India

Abstract

This paper argues for the need to adopt a more participatory and research-based approach to teacher development in India. Drawing on the experiences of a participatory teacher educator development project in three States, we discuss processes of developing a democratically orientated qualitative research team to work with teachers and teacher educators, highlighting the interplay between their education and socialisation and the demands of the methodology. In the second part of the paper, aspects of developing collaborative action research projects with teacher educators in the context of District Institutes of Education and Training are discussed. Both these approaches require the development of autonomy and critical re exivity, and although there are tensions in this process, these emerge as vital components of developing a more democratic approach to teacher education.

Multilingualism and multiliteracy in primary education in India: A discussion of some methodological challenges of an interdisciplinary research project

“…The role of pedagogical traditions in India is further analysed in Brinkmann (2015), who notes that teaching is still very teacher-centred despite efforts on the part of teacher training to develop more child-centred pedagogies. The development of critical thinking is not prioritised either (Dyer and Choksi, 2002), and there is little room for creativity or expression of independent thought (Jambunathan, 2005). On the more positive side, impressive initiatives to improve basic literacy and arithmetic skills among primary school children in India are undertaken as part of Pratham's large-scale ''Read India'' initiative (Banerji and Chavan, 2016).…”