Teachers are nation builders. The strength of every profession in any country grows out of knowledge and skills that teachers help to instill in our children. Teachers possess a great power to influence young minds. Considering the contributions of a teacher, we need to pay enough attention towards consistently enhancing their teaching skills. Recognition, empowerment and enhancement of competence facilitate engagement of and ownership by the teachers. Teaching is an art that needs to be sculpted, practiced, improved upon and worked towards. By upskilling our teachers, we will ensure successful communities. Skilled teachers will have all capabilities to overcome the challenges like poor teacher – student relationships, handling various other tasks along with the core teaching-learning activity, absence of a focussed capacity building program, unstructured processes to evaluate the performance of competent teachers and lack of motivation for deserving individuals to adopt school teaching as a career option.

Schools need to:

1. promote understanding of the importance of each teacher’s individual contribution and empower them to determine constraints to performance and to take initiatives without fear.
2. recognise and acknowledge teachers’ contributions
3. enable self-evaluation of performance against personal objectives
4. promote collaboration and facilitate sharing of knowledge and experience

All the above can be achieved if the school management allocates resources for their teachers to learn, improve and keep themselves updated with the changing trends.

Teaching skills need to be regularly assessed and upgraded. An assessment of teaching skills should be a continuous process because it becomes a significant determinant of the areas for improvement and an effective teacher would always want to know what and how she needs to improve her teaching in line with the learning needs and expectations of the 21st century students.

While a lot of emphasis has been laid on in-service training in the last decade or so, not much attention has been given to the evaluation of that in-service training. The in-service training requires measures that quantify the outcomes of this training and knowledge upgrade. The educational scenario also requires a revamp with a bent of corporatisation ushering with itself a new age competitiveness.

The Assessment and Certification of teachers in various strata of the educational ecosystem would lead to an effective end – to evaluate the learning and process of skill upgrade.The “Teaching Skills Certification” is a teaching-skill program designed by national and international experts at COAE . The program is aimed at testing the aptitude of a teacher in various spectrums of teaching and learning and recognising the efforts of skilled educators through certification.

COAE has been making efforts to help the teachers by assessing and enhancing their teaching skills and competence through this robust assessment and certification scheme.

The three key components of effective teaching skills covered under this framework are:-

1. Delivery & Assessment of Learning

• Learning Theories and Learning Styles
• Teaching Strategies and Instructional Approaches
• Lesson planning & Differentiated Instruction
• Teaching through Technology
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Assessments - Types and Purpose

2. Learning Environment

• Mapping behaviours to learning outcomes
• Classroom Management Strategies
• Factors that contribute to a conducive learning environment
• Parent Teacher Partnership

3. Student Centric Education

• Importance of motivational strategies
• How goals affect student motivation
• Understanding the relationship between teacher engagement and learning activities
• Self-development and professional development of the educator

A highly effective assessment of the above three components of teaching skills provides a detailed report to the teacher/ school which is used to set a clear path for teacher development programs and realistic goals. The assessment is carried out in three phases viz. an online assessment, classroom observation and interaction with an expert. Her lesson planning is evaluated based on the clarity of Lesson objectives, recognition of learner needs, and specific outcomes, Assessment integration within the lesson, constructive feedback provided and plenary. All practical as well as online assessments follow a pre-set pattern and are based on the competence mapped to skills required in the effective delivery of education.

A teacher is provided with the opportunity to improve the maturity levels of her teaching skills through reassessments to empower her with the delivery which is innovative and engaging. Teaching skill assessment can foster a number of skills, such as reflection, critical thinking and self-awareness – as well as giving students insights through an effective teaching-learning process which ensures the holistic development of the 21st century learner.

Teaching skill assessments and certification is the only solution to all the challenges which hinder the students’ skill building process. With this skill certification, educators don’t just get a recognition, but they also get to know what they need to work on. The teachers certified under this scheme are able to perform one or many of the roles as a teacher, facilitator and mentor for all grades. A teacher certified under this Certification scheme will be adept in- Pedagogy, Instructional Planning, Instructional Strategies, Differentiated Instruction, Assessment Strategies, Use of Assessment Data, Positive learning, Academic Stimulation, Communication, Interpersonal Skills and Social Skills.

This scheme for the certification of teachers was designed with an aim to support the skill enhancement mission of the Government of India and the policy makers world-wide. Through this initiative, COAE ensures the provision of an empowering platform for the educators so that they can confidently strengthen the lifelong learning outcomes of their students. We aim to create a global skill exchange platform which will be developed through engaged and forward-thinking educators who believe in transforming every learner into a great citizen.

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