integrating transversal) competenciesin...

INTEGRATING TRANSVERSAL

COMPETENCIES IN EDUCATION POLICY AND PRACTICE (PHASE I)

Country Case Study: REPUBLIC OF INDIA

Country Case Studies

Integrating transversal competencies in education policy and practice in Republic of India

Learning Links Foundation – India

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Executive Summary

India is a land of contrasts. On one hand it has some of the finest schools capable of making an international mark, on the other hand, many of its rural schools lack basic infrastructure. The context is complex; the task is challenging and needs for reform is urgent. With a population of nearly 1.27 billion people, 50% of which is below the age of 25 years1, India can dream of glorious peaks of progress if the millions streaming into adulthood and into the employment market are educated, trained and skilled appropriately. This study puts forth some observations on the current changes taking place in the education system with regard to inclusion of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills in the curriculum. It relies on two sources -‐ on writings and publications which have outlined and analyzed the state of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills treatment within the curriculum in recent times; and secondly on a small survey of teachers as well as policy makers in a few urban schools regarding their views on current practice. Admittedly, the sample sizes are small and may not be significant but provide valuable insights and validation of the policy. The analysis shows that National Curriculum Framework -‐ 2005 (NCERT, NCF -‐ 2005), the apex document for curricular matters to be followed in India schools, does not directly mention “transversal”, “21st century” skills but describes a lot of what falls under the non-‐cognitive / transversal category and should be included in the curriculum. The initiative of including non-‐cognitive / transversal skills in the curriculum driven by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) through its Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system that attempts to implement a lot of what has been envisaged for Indian education in NCF-‐2005. The CCE initiative has also been taken up by the state governments to be implemented in the state board schools. CCE is an attempt to move away from rote learning, to a more practical project-‐based, collaborative, inquiry based learning where learners have a chance to acquire and display transversal skills. The alignment in what CBSE describes as / transversal skills and those that have been defined by UNESCO is close as displayed in Table 1.

1 http://www.censusindia.gov.in/

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Table 1: Non-‐cognitive / transversal skills defined by UNESCO (ERI-‐Net) and CBSE

UNESCO CBSE Domains Examples of key characteristics

Critical and innovative thinking

Creativity, entrepreneurship, resourcefulness, application skills, reflective thinking, reasoned decision-‐making

Thinking Skills – self-‐awareness, problem-‐solving, critical thinking, dealing with stress, creative thinking

Interpersonal skills

Presentation and communication skills, leadership, organizational skills, teamwork, collaboration, initiative, sociability, collegiality

Social Skills – interpersonal relationships, effective communication, empathy etc.

Intrapersonal skills

Self-‐discipline, enthusiasm, perseverance, self-‐motivation, compassion, integrity, commitment

Emotional skills – managing feelings/emotions, dealing with stress etc.

Global citizenship

Awareness, tolerance, openness, respect for diversity, intercultural understanding, ability to resolve conflicts, civic/political participation, conflict resolution, respect for the environment

Affiliation with organizations like National Cadet Corps, Red Cross, Scouts and Guides etc . as part of school co-‐curricular activities is encouraged

Optional Physical and psychological health

Healthy lifestyle, healthy feeding, physical fitness, empathy, self-‐respect

Yoga and Health programs; Nutrition programs at elementary stage

CBSE accounts for roughly 12,000 (out of a total of 1.3 million as indicated in ASER Report, 2013) schools in India. A large number of schools come under the governance of individual State Boards which now have a mandate to adopt CCE in their schools so the impact is expected to be considerable in coming years.

The objectives of CCE, as outlined by CBSE are:

• To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.

• To lay emphasis on thought process and de-‐emphasize memorization.

• To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-‐learning process.

• To use evaluation for improvement of students’ achievement and teaching – learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction.

• To use evaluation as a quality control device to maintain desired standard of performance.

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• To determine social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a program and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment.

• To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-‐centered activity.

(Source: CBSE, Teacher's Manual on Formative Assessment -‐ Science, Class IX, 2010)

The initiative is relatively new and a huge planned effort is yet required to get teachers trained in the new system of assessment from summative year-‐end assessments to periodic formative assessments that for non-‐cognitive / transversal skills that now form part of classroom learning. The study analyses responses received from the field study conducted with a few teachers and policy makers and places it in the context of learning from literature review.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge contributions made by teachers, heads of department and principals of the following schools for the study:

• Vidya Valley School -‐ Pune

• Dr. Kalmadi Shamrao High School – Pune

• The Orchid School – Pune

• Kendriya Vidyalaya – Tagore Garden

• Sri Venkateshwar International School – Dwarka Sector 18

• PSBB Millennium School, Gerugambakkam

We also acknowledge contributions made by Dr. Loius Vernal, Dr. Rama Kondapalli and Professor Ramesh Ghanta to the research conducted for the study. Finally, we acknowledge and are thankful for the support provided by ERI-‐NET Team, UNESCO Bangkok team in structuring the report requirements and scope as well providing feedback to refine the content.

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List of Abbreviations

CBSE Central Board of Secondary Education

CCE Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

CISCE Council for Indian School Certificate Examination

ERI-‐Net Education Research Institutes Networks in the Asia-‐Pacific

ICT Information and Communication Technology

MHRD the Ministry of Human Resource Development

NCF National Curriculum Framework

NCRT National Council of Educational Research and Training

RTE Right to Education (Act)

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

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Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... ii

Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... v

List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... vi

Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... vii

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1

2 Research Framework ............................................................................................................................. 2

3 Research context and country information -‐ Socio-‐cultural, historical, economic background information .................................................................................................................................................. 3

3.1 Historical Background ................................................................................................................. 3

3.2 Socio-‐Cultural Background: ......................................................................................................... 3

3.3 Economic background ................................................................................................................. 4

4 Organization of Education in India: ....................................................................................................... 6

4.1 Central and State Governments .................................................................................................. 6

4.2 Curriculum .................................................................................................................................... 6

4.3 Governance ................................................................................................................................... 7

4.4 School Types ................................................................................................................................. 7

5 Need for the Study ............................................................................................................................... 10

5.1 Current Treatment of Non Cognitive Skills – Overview .......................................................... 11

5.2 Study Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 11

6 National policy frameworks for integration of transversal competencies in education ..................... 13

6.1 Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 13

7 Transversal competencies redefined – India ....................................................................................... 17

8 Transversal competences in curriculum .............................................................................................. 19

8.1 Research Findings ...................................................................................................................... 19

8.2 Teachers ...................................................................................................................................... 19

8.3 Policy Experts ............................................................................................................................. 31

9 Analysing challenges in implementation of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in the curriculum .................................................................................................................................................. 42

10 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 44

11 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 45

12 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 46

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13 Annexes ............................................................................................................................................. 48

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1 Introduction

The Indian education system, like the country, spans the spectrum from the sublime to the ordinary. To paraphrase Dr. Amartya Sen, anything one can say about the education system, the opposite is also true. On the one hand India has some of the finest schools capable of making an international mark, on the other hand, a majority of rural schools lack even basic infrastructure. While India has a rich and age-‐old tradition of learning where the teacher is given the same status as God, today large segments of children do not have access to education and the declining quality of teachers is cited as one of the key impediments to progress of education in India. However, the context is complex; the task is challenging and needs for reform is urgent. With 1.2 billion people and most of them young, India, at the same time can dream of glorious peaks of progress or stare at a dark abyss of stagnation. The famous demographic dividend can easily turn into a millstone if the millions streaming into adulthood and into the employment market are not educated, trained and skilled. Hence it is imperative that the education system should respond rapidly and strongly to quality education needs of the country.

This research study provides vignettes of ways in which the education system is addressing various issues related with transversal skills in schools – how they are addressed by the curriculum and subsequently implemented in schools.

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2 Research Framework

The research framework is guided by the following questions:

• How are transversal competencies defined in education documents? • What is the definition of transversal competencies elaborated in the National

Education Policy, currency of definition and its relevance in current times? • What are the overall approaches and desired outcomes of integration of transversal

competencies in education, according to the policy documents?

This report puts forth some observations on the current changes taking place in the education system vis-‐à-‐vis inclusion of non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies. It relies on two sources. Firstly, on literature and publications for the discourse on non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in Indian schools in recent times and secondly on a small survey of teachers in a few urban schools as well as policy makers regarding their views on current practices and policies. Admittedly, the sample sizes are small and may not be significant but provide valuable insights and validation of policy.

The report is based on secondary research and a small sample of field research data. India has a complex education structure so the research study will track broad trends only. Schools for email questionnaires were selected to represent diversity in demographics -‐ private, and some government to represent diversity in ground reality of handling non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in the country, but responses got were largely from private schools. A lot of data gathered has been analysed qualitatively.

Policy makers / educationists / school administrators were also surveyed using questionnaires. A limited number of responses were received due to time constraints.

The responses collected from the field research were valuable in informing the study since inclusion of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills is a relatively recent phenomenon in the India school curriculum. The questionnaires used were designed by the UNESCO ERI-‐NET Secretariat – some modifications were made to accommodate Indian terminology and school scenario.

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3 Research context and country information -‐ Socio-‐cultural, historical, economic background information

3.1 Historical Background

Historically, four distinct influences have shaped Indian education systems –two are indigenous – the Brahmanic and post-‐independence influence within the country and two imposed – colonialist and missionary that together have shaped contemporary classroom practice in this vast and complex country (Kumar, 1991; Alexander, 2001).

The Brahmanic influence traces its origins to over 3000 years ago when the caste system was born with the Brahmins as the priests being at the top of the pecking order. They were responsible for spearheading education and were the repository of knowledge. The system was narrow and not easily accessible but it deeply grooved in the Indian society a rich tradition of respect for the teacher as well as respect for learning and education. Parents, even today, are known to go through extreme sacrifices to ensure education for the children because it is seen as a vehicle to break economic and class barriers. This element of hope in education is very precious. There were several monarchies in India which organized this Brahmanic tradition and founded schools and colleges in their provinces thus making their own contribution in improving access to education. Important fallout of this influence was that education became the privilege of a few and many got marginalized and left out of the realm.

The Christian missionaries arrived before the East India Company but gained power and legitimacy as the British colonized India beginning 19th century. They founded a Convent based education system which was modern, western and had Christian overtones. It was an attempt to evangelize at the grass roots but a positive impact was that a distinct segment of top class education system got established even though it was accessible to few.

The British colonization also made a significant contribution; it developed an education system with the objective of feeding the bureaucracy which was critical to govern the millions of natives by the thousands of British. It introduced a structure, an examination and assessment system and formalized education in India. This still did not make education widely accessible as the objective was not to educate but just to recruit. The other gaps during these times were the lack of technical education, over reliance on an alien language, out of context curriculum and creation of an elite segment of schools accessible to only the fortunate few.

3.2 Socio-‐Cultural Background:

Two cultural features that impact education in India are the caste system and patriarchy. These have significantly shaped the way education is perceived in the country. Children of a

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higher caste are more likely to go to school than those of lower caste, as are boys when compared with girls. Children from the richest 20% of the population have 11.1 years of schooling on an average, while children of the poorest 20% have 4.2 years and only 3 years for rural poor girls (UNESCO 2010 cited in Huisman, Rani and Smits 2010). Colonialism only worsened the inequalities in education. Thus policy is defined by the language of equity where it is not enough to make education equally accessible to all, but to provide specific schemes to encourage the marginalized to become educated.

Gender disparity is also very pronounced in India. The government has had to launch several incentive schemes for girls to be educated and to continue education after primary level too. But the average Indian family has an education ethic – parents want to educate their children no matter what the level of their income and will go to any length to support children in schools. Even households below the poverty line increasingly prefer to send their children to private fee-‐paying schools rather than to free public schools (Pradhan and Subramanian, 2000 cited in Huisman, Rani and Smits 2010). However, the education ethic in the family unit tends to be biased in favor of the male child. Early or child marriages also result in withdrawal of girls from schools before they can complete their school education.

3.3 Economic background

India has a population of more than 1.2 billion people and is the fourth largest economy in the world (World Bank, n.d.b). India has a large population that still does not have access to education or meaningful education that can lead to employment. The country’ education system needs to be shaped such that it becomes responsive and responsible to the needs of the economy, industry, society so that the growing population of learners has access to education system in a meaningful context.

Currently the government is focusing on “inclusive growth” in its 12th Five Year Plans which makes it essential for citizens to participate in the growth process through improved wages and employment (Murlidharan, 2013) . As well research shows that what matters most for growth are not years of education but quality of education and learning outcomes and skills.

Thus given the fact that India needs to meaningfully educate its population very quickly to gain from its favourable demographic profile, discourse on education has begun to review the qualitative aspects of education. The system is experiencing a surge in public-‐private-‐partnerships to reach the unreached and empower the disadvantaged, for that is where India lives.

Rising economic pressures and widening inequalities often adversely impact the long standing education ethic. Families succumb to economic pressures and push growing

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children into the unskilled labour markets to become additional bread winners for the family. India expenditure on education is 10.5 %( World Bank, n.d.a) of total expenditure, and this shows up as wide deficiencies in the infrastructure and resources available for schools. The teachers remain underpaid causing a flight of talent and the gradual depreciation of quality, so essential to ensure quantitative and qualitative outcomes as mentioned above. Without a doubt economics trumps history and culture are the biggest challenge to improving education and pedagogy in India.

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4 Organization of Education in India:

The right to education is a fundamental and is enshrined in the Constitution of India. The education system which makes this fundamental right accessible is complex and has evolved over the decades after independence. It is described below across the following dimensions:

1. Central and State Governments 2. Curriculum 3. Governance 4. School Types

4.1 Central and State Governments

India has 29 states and 7 union territories. The states have their own elected governments while the union territories are ruled directly by the central government. Education in the country is the responsibility of the central and the state government. School education policies and programs are suggested at the national level by the central government education bodies and implemented by the state education bodies which have a lot of freedom to choose how they wish to implement. At the helm of affairs is the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) which provides for policies on education through its Department of School Education and Literacy. The funding for Schools may come from the Centre, State or even the Municipal levels.

Long term planning for education and providing a framework for the government-‐funded education system are initiated with two main Plans. These are the Five Year Plans of the Planning Commission of India for National Development and the National Policy on Education (NPE)2 1986, with its Program of Action (1992). As a result of the NPE policy initiatives, changes have been made on the ground for massive infrastructure development and teacher recruitment drive. NPE (1986) focused on the need for improvements to school environments (including building conditions, availability of tap water and toilet facilities), instructional material and teacher training to name a few.

4.2 Curriculum

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is responsible for curriculum matters in school education in India and is the architect of the national

2 With the adoption of the National Policy on Education in 1986, many programs have been initiated that focus on achievement of universal elementary education and total literacy, as well as increasing access to education and improving quality in education.

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Curriculum Framework (discussed later in this paper) of the country. Its counterpart in states is called State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

4.3 Governance

There are various “Boards “which oversee the practice of school education in India. The important ones are outlined below:

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is that largest national board in the country. It conducts two examinations, one at the end of grade 10 (now made optional for schools) and the school leaving exam at the end of grade 12.

• The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) is a national but private Board. It also conducts two examinations – one at the end of grade 10, the other at the end of grade 12.

• The State Government Boards – majority of schools in the country are affiliated to these boards. These boards also conduct examinations at the end of grades 10 and 12.

• International schools affiliated to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program and/or the Cambridge International Examinations.

4.4 School Types

The school system in India has four levels: lower primary (age 6 to 10), upper primary (11 and 12), high (13 to 15) and higher secondary (17 and 18). The curriculum in the first 10 years of school education is common for all and largely undifferentiated. Specialization is possible at the higher secondary level – students select their subjects of specialization in grade 11. Students throughout the country have to typically learn two or three languages (this could be a combination of English, Hindi and a vernacular or foreign language). However, the medium of instruction in schools varies greatly – state board schools instruct in the state language, but there are many schools that have English as the medium of instruction as well.

There are mainly three categories of schools in India – affiliated to one or the other Boards of study mentioned above.

• Central Government Schools

• State Government Schools (where majority of the students are enrolled) • Private Schools

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Central Government Schools: Schools in this category are governed by the CBSE. These are national boards in the country and schools can be affiliated to them across geographic locations – even outside of India.

A number of schools called “Kendriya Vidyalayas” (KV) -‐ governed by an administrative body called the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, were set up in many urban areas around the country under the aegis of CBSE to look after needs of transferable parents. According to current estimates there are 1093 KVs in the country. KVs follow a common schedule so transferred students get a consistent schedule in any part of the country.

Much like the KVs, the central government schools include the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) run by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. The JNVs are schools run under the talented and gifted scheme for rural children and falls under the Central Government authority. These schools are run for children from class VI to XII, also affiliated with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). According to estimates there are 560 JNVs in the country.

The CBSE schools use textbooks published by the NCERT. Over passing years, a number of private schools in the country have aligned themselves with the CBSE and though they may use different text books and follow different teaching schedules they are governed by the guidelines of the Board. The CBSE also has affiliated schools in foreign countries catering to the needs of the Indian population there. It is estimated that there are 9,500 private CBSE schools in country and 4000 government CBSE schools.

State Government Schools: Each state in the country has its own Department of Education responsible for running education related matters usually through SCERT -‐ the state equvalent of NCERT.

The types of schools that each state has are likely to fall under one of the following categories:

• Government schools owned by the government and the staff members are government employees.

• The privately owned schools that charge higher fees but prescribe to the state board curriculum.

• Government aided schools receive an aid or grant from the state government but are run by a private enterprise. The government aid helps in reducing fees, making these schools affordable for poor families.

State education ministry also coordinates education programs at local (district and village) levels. City school boards are under the supervision of both the state education ministry

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and the municipal government. In rural areas, either the district board or the panchayat (village council) oversees the school board.

Private Schools: In addition to the above, there are a relatively small number of schools that are run by private enterprise and follow either the CBSE or CISCE curricula. These schools have good infrastructure, more facilities for extra-‐curricular activities, better paid staff and a higher tuition fee and are independent in deciding the pedagogy that teachers must follow to deliver the curriculum.

The National Curriculum Framework, the apex curriculum document in India issued by NCERT, acknowledges that schools “range from the high-‐cost ‘public’ (private) schools, to which the urban and elite send their children, to the ostensibly ‘free’, poorly functioning local-‐body run primary schools where children from economically and educationally deprived communities attend and that in recent years schools in rural areas have seen the growth of multi-‐grade classrooms to fulfill a school within a km requirement, not supported by the necessary curricular concepts or clarity on materials or pedagogy”(NCERT, NCF-‐2005, p.27) . Such developments as noted in the document, “unintentionally reinforce privilege and exclusion in education and undermine the constitutional values of equality of opportunity and social justice”.

Given the diverse nature of the education scenario, there is an urgent need to put together a common agenda for all students who are indeed prospective earners of a livelihood and rely on the education system to provide them with skills to do so.

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5 Need for the Study

This study is needed to inquire into why non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies are important for India, how can a change deliver social and economic goals for the country and how is education getting better aligned with employment via education policy as well as the non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies’ integration in schools. There is an old saying -‐ “it is not about what you know but it is about what you do with what you know” that provides simple yet profound guidance for outcomes a society should expect from education and learning. Education must contribute towards the creation of value, both economic and social. It should progressively deliver a higher standard of living and a higher quality of life. The economic indicators like GDP, per capita and social indicators in health, life expectancy etc. should reflect this progression. All this needs to happen against a backdrop of globalization, interconnectedness and competing uses of available resources.

The commensurate development of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies is very important from the point of view of inclusion in a country like India. Although not the subject for discussion in this study, it cannot be ignored in a country like India where an overwhelming 83.3% male and 84.7% female employment occurs in the non-‐formal sectors (ILO, 2012) non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies become important from the perspective of employment.

Cognitive skills are reinforced by non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies and improve the chances of success of a less-‐advantaged individual in a context that has economic and social barriers. To dismantle these barriers a change, in education structure, to accommodate cognitive and non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies, is needed. The fact that nearly 60% (World Bank, 2011)3 of children do not make it to the secondary education institutions, competencies of the non-‐cognitive kind will help them negotiate their life and indeed their livelihood – currently this large volume acquires their skills through informal means -‐ family members / family owned small business enterprises, through basic apprenticeships so on – can this be the road to a qualitative uplift?

Apart from the economic and social imperatives, if we believe that learning is most effective when it responds to the social and cultural contexts in which it occurs, then again we must appreciate how important it is to leverage the synergy between the simultaneous acquisition of cognitive and non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies.

3 This study also states that curriculum and teaching practices need to be upgraded to impart more relevant skills – reasoning, problem-‐solving, learning to learn, critical and independent thinking.

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Devoid of non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies, the economic and social value of education is in danger of being diminished.

Therefore this study comes at an opportune moment where it is necessary to understand what, if at all, is changing within the education system to make it more equitable and relevant for all. Although the study does not dwell upon the connection between acquisition of transversal competencies and increased chance of employment, it touches upon this aspect in questioning the research subjects on whether or not they think this is one of the reasons behind recent reforms and whether or not this is the agenda the government should pursue going forward.

5.1 Current Treatment of Non Cognitive Skills – Overview

As mentioned in the introduction, historical factors, socio-‐cultural influences and resource constraints have shaped the evolution of the country’s education, pedagogy and evaluation systems. In the past, its key driver has been to service the requirements of urban centred industrial enterprises. To keep to those requirements the earlier system delivered in a very linear and resource efficient manner. As a result pedagogy was text book led and exam oriented. Employability was a key outcome as opposed to success after employability. The stakeholders like parents and future employers are still committed to this paradigm and further reinforce it.

Some changes have been made by new policy initiatives implemented by the Central Board of Secondary Education through its Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation, recently. It is difficult to make a definitive statement on the status of non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies education in India, but what can be said is that reforms in the assessment system are creating a churn within the education system, changes are being made to existing system but effectiveness is not yet known. The reform initiative is relatively new and has been discussed in greater depth in the following sections of this paper.

This study also attempts to gauge opinions of education experts and teachers and makes certain recommendations to develop further, the narrative on this important subject.

5.2 Study Objectives

Objectives of this study are to: 1. Explore how the Indian education system defines and integrates the concept of non-‐

cognitive skills / transversal competencies in its education policy and curriculum framework;

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2. Investigate the way non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies are integrated in select areas of education policy and practice, pertinent to the country context, such as learning/teaching materials, teacher training, pedagogy and assessment;

3. Identify emerging trends in current practices and challenges that need to be addressed; and

4. Build recommendations to inform policy.

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6 National policy frameworks for integration of transversal competencies in education

6.1 Literature Review “Ideally education is supposed to encourage students to analyze and evaluate their experiences, to doubt, to question, to investigate – in other words, to be inquisitive and the think independently” (NCERT, 2006a). Not doing this undermines an innate human quality called “rationality”. An education system is defined by the assessment system it conforms to. Roots of the assessment system (prior to reforms spearheaded by CBSE in 2009) lay in colonization where exams were an essential constituent of British colonial ideology to disempower the Indian teacher while lending weight to the prescribed textbook and exam structure (Kumar 2005). The system continued and created disquiet within those it is meant to benefit. It was time for the structure to be questioned for we were promoting an education that discouraged innovative thinking. Shouldn’t we move away from a life that could deprive students of richness and quality that they are capable of? However, an analysis of literature from within policy brings forth a very current and liberal view of what education should be. It breaks away from cognitive constructs and seeks to build-‐in a multiplicity of skills that are relevant in the world today. The key question that any policy debate must address is whether such skills have a significant role to play in the delivery of productivity and competitiveness at the workplace? Indeed, there is a range of competencies beyond just cognitive skills which influence success at the workplace -‐ whether this workplace is in the informal or formal domains or in the industrial, services or agricultural sectors. Some of these are:

Functional competencies that are acquired through a study of core subjects and builds allied competencies like analytical thinking, logic, and tools of management.

Social competencies related to inter-‐personal management, learning to work in teams, preserving independence whilst working together, persuasion, influencing and learning to empathize as well as sympathize.

Self-‐management competencies relate to the development of self and have enormous implications for an individual’s attitude, an orientation to learning, adaptability, flexibility, self-‐control and indeed a positive self-‐image.

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Finally there is a category of competencies related with achievement. These relate to getting a job done, the drive for results, initiative, innovation, information seeking and tenacity.

Success at the workplace is inextricably linked to the interplay of all the above competencies albeit with different balances in different situations. Overdependence on just cognitive or functional competencies or skills is akin to taking a very narrow approach to building capability. Hence, from the point of view of creation of value for human resource development, it is imperative that an optimal balance is achieved between cognitive and non-‐cognitive / transversal aspects of education. The competency discourse also addresses the differences between the needs of the industrial and the knowledge economy. The fact that focus is shifting from learning information to accessing information when required with key skills being sifting, sorting, evaluating and analyzing data to get information is a given. No longer are these skills required by managers, consultants and economists only, it is required by real-‐estate agents, travel agents, car agents, retailers, personal secretaries and so forth (NCERT, 2006c). Within the Indian education context, this NCERT paper sets the tone for the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system reform that brings skills other than subject mastery, into the folds of assessment and provides for creativity in teaching and reducing examination stress in students to enable them to work on developing other competencies as well. NCERT (2006a) puts forth the view that education “… must encourage children to cultivate the scientific temper (that is the tendency to follow their reason beyond the dictates of culture, tradition and community) and also teach them the … values of humanity”. The National Curricular Framework (NCF) alludes to the problems that exist in the current system. While it does not mention terms “non-‐cognitive”, “transversal”, “21st century” skills required for education today, it acknowledges that current system of education has water-‐tight compartments of learning that needs to be reformed by introducing into the curriculum a variety of skills not just subject mastery. There is a need, according to policy, to seamlessly integrate learning for children irrespective of time and place. NPE-‐2005 details life skills as critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, and skills to cope with a variety of situations and to manage oneself – all these are critical in dealing with challenges of everyday life. Policy has always been articulate about assessment reforms and as early as 1986 the National Policy on Education-‐ 1986 stated that “Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

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that incorporates both scholastic and non-‐scholastic aspects of evaluation, spread over the total span of instructional time” needs to be brought into schools. (CBSE Ch. 1, pg 2). In 1997, The Report of the Task Force on the “Role and status of the Board of Secondary Education” observed that in the scheme of things, it is the School Boards which are expected to play the central role in the academic renovation of the school system. In other words, leadership has to come from the Board. (CBSE Ch.1, pg 3). Thus the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), one of India’s largest boards, brought in assessment reform in 2009 in all schools affiliated with it to include non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies along with cognitive subject based competencies in school assessments. The reforms now provides for two types of assessments – formative and summative. Formative assessment allows for periodic review of progress of each student in cognitive as well non-‐cognitive / transversal /co-‐curricular domains and summative assessment is the year-‐end assessment in curricular subject domain. Assessments now need to be “continuous” and “comprehensive”. Continuous is supposed to provide an evaluation of student progress periodically, to enable diagnosis of learning gaps, remedial measures, and feedback to learners and teachers so latter can adjust instruction according to former’s need. Comprehensive attempts to cover scholastic and co-‐scholastic aspects of student learning – attitude, aptitude and ability. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Act 2009 supports continuous and comprehensive assessments to “ensure the all-‐round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning”. RTE 2009 has far reaching implications because it applies to all schools across the country, even the government / government-‐aided schools that are in a majority in India4. Thus “CCE” is now a buzzword as most schools in the country begin to implement it! The implication of the reformed assessment system for schools is that teachers are now back-‐pedaling and relooking at classroom pedagogy, curricular subjects along with classroom activities that support learning, timely and meaningful assessment. Since teachers need to assess skills in the non-‐cognitive / transversal domain, efforts are on to get them re-‐trained in and inducted into different pedagogies to deliver effective learning – encouraging more participation from learners. Opportunities for co-‐curricular

4 Almost 80% schools in the country are government / government-‐aided schools (Technopak, 2013)

16

participation has increased in schools and non-‐cognitive skills are now recognized as the skills needed to deliver 21st century learning5.

521st Century Skills in this context broadly are critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, leadership, adaptability, oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing Information, curiosity and imagination

17

7 Transversal competencies redefined – India For this study, a working definition was developed by UNESCO ERI-‐Net, per Table 2. Non-‐cognitive/ transversal skills are part of holistic development of learners, often not taught explicitly in classrooms and not assessed in conventional exams. They are categorized into four types: (1) critical and innovative thinking; (2) inter-‐personal skills; (3) intra-‐personal skills; (4) global citizenship and (5) physical and psychological health (optional) (Table 3).

Table 2: Holistic development of learners

Promoting acquisition of foundation, specialized and transversal skills

Foundatio

n skills

Specialized

skills

Non-‐cognitive/transversal skills, competencies and values

1. Critical

and

innovative

thinking

2. Inter-‐

personal

skills

3. Intra-‐

persona

l skills

4. Global

citizenship

(Optional)

Physical and

psychological

health

Examples of key characteristics of each domain of non-‐cognitive/transversal skills are defined as follows: Table 3: Key characteristics of non-‐cognitive/transversal competencies

Domains Examples of key characteristics 1. Critical and

innovative thinking


2. Interpersonal skills


3. Intrapersonal skills


4. Global citizenship


Optional 5. Physical and

psychological health


18

CBSE classifies non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies as “Life Skills”, “Co-‐Curricular Skills”, “Attitudes” and “Values”. These are quite well-‐aligned with the UNESCO definition. Table 4 represents the CBSE UNESCO ERI-‐Net definition equivalence. Table 4: Comparison of definition between UNESCO ERI-‐Net and CBSE

Domains Examples of key characteristics CBSE Critical and innovative thinking


Thinking Skills – self-‐awareness, problem-‐solving, critical thinking, dealing with stress, creative thinking

Interpersonal skills


Social Skills – interpersonal relationships, effective communication, empathy etc.

Intrapersonal skills


Emotional skills – managing feelings/emotions, dealing with stress etc.

Global citizenship


Affiliation with organisations like National Cadet Corps, Red Cross, Scouts and Guides etc. as part of school co-‐curricular activities is encouraged

Optional Physical and psychological health


Yoga and Health programs; Nutrition programs at elementary stage

Currently, assessment reform that pushes a continuous and comprehensive evaluation in schools is the way that transversal competencies are finding a place in classrooms across schools in India. The aim is to create good citizens possessing sound health, appropriate skills and desirable qualities besides academic excellence. Evaluation that becomes continuous and is intertwined with instruction can be leveraged to provide feedback on progress of learning to learners as well as to improve instruction to deliver more effective learning by teachers.

19

8 Transversal competences in curriculum

8.1 Research Findings

Teachers and policy experts were surveyed for the purpose of this study via questionnaire

detailed in Annexure A.

8.2 Teachers Thirty-‐one teachers were surveyed for this study. Most teachers were from private schools and two from central government school. All schools involved in this study are affiliated with CBSE. The main intent of this research is to understand whether or not teachers have understood assessment reforms that have been initiated, are integrating evaluation of non-‐cognitive skills’ in their classrooms, challenges they face in doing so, changes they have made in their teaching style, changes they see in their students post so on. Transversal Competencies When teachers were asked what could be the rationale for the reforms, 55% teachers surveyed replied that the most important reason for the government having initiated integration of non-‐cognitive skills6 in the curriculum is in response to the increased international competition. There are two trends that are now noticeable in Indian school system that could have somehow been the reason for this response. One -‐ number of schools offering international curriculum (IB, IGSCE etc.) is on the rise. These curricula are seen as programs that offer holistic education that is age appropriate, contemporary, relevant in the world today, engaging as well as challenging. Two – there is a trend that is now visible, being discussed in reports, of increase in number of private schools particularly in the smaller cities and towns because of a rise in demand for good quality education. According to the Technopak Report, “While private schools account for 20% (.26 million) of the total number of schools (1.3 million), they provide education to more than 30% of students. The increasing demand for quality education is also backed by the willingness to pay for it.” (Technopak, 2013). This report also discusses the rise of IB schools in India. From 8 IB schools in 2001, the report estimates there will be 900 IB schools by 2020.

6 The questionnaire that was circulated used the term “non-‐cognitive” skills. Adoption of the term “transversal” competencies as being the more appropriate term was an after-‐thought – during discussions at the ERI-‐Net meeting in Bangkok in October 2013. Hence this report uses terms “transversal skills” and “non-‐cognitive” skills together, separately or interchangeably in different parts of the report, but it denotes the same meaning.

20

To the same question, 48% teachers responded with “excessive pressure on students for academic excellence” and “meeting a social demand” as reasons for integration of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills in the curriculum. 32% also believe it was the decline in student achievement that was responsible for such an integration. (Figure 1) All of these responses make sense when viewed against the backdrop of the older ‘exam-‐oriented’ system in India. With that system evaluation was extrinsic to the learning throughout a school year – exams were conducted after the period of learning was over and was less of reflection on the process of learning, more of cramming prowess. Hence it caused stress to children who may not have been up to performing in such an evaluation system. Reformation was needed to ease excessive academic and examination pressure on students and make learning joyful as well as holistic. Figure 1: Rationale for Integration of Transversal Skills in the Curriculum

To the question regarding clarity of non-‐cognitive skills’ definition in policy documents (Figure 2), 26 % teachers felt the definition is very clear and 55% (majority) somewhat agreed to clarity of definition. Policy documents are very articulate in their expression of what education needs to deliver, they do not define the “how” as clearly.

55%

48%

16%

32%

48%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Increased interna`onal compe``on

Mee`ng social demand

Boos`ng economic development

Declining student learning achievement

Excessive pressure on students for academic excellence

21

Figure 2: To what extent do you think the definition of non-‐cognitive skills is clearly stated in policy documents?

When asked about the pedagogical approaches that best describes their classroom style (to accommodate changes in assessment practices and curriculum), most teachers mentioned the “constructivist approach” followed by the “inquiry or problem-‐based approach” to teaching (Figure 3). Figure 3: Which of the following pedagogical approaches best describes your style in the classroom?

26%

55%

10%

3% 6%

Completely agree

Somewhat agree

Somewhat disagree

Completely disagree

Do not know

84%

58%

77%

48%

55%

32%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Construc`vist approach

Game-‐based approach

Inquiry or problem-‐based approach

Real-‐`me forma`ve approach

Informa`ve or self-‐directed learning approach

“Banking” style approach – where teacher narrates and student listens

22

When asked to further explain which combination of approaches works best in their school situation, teachers came up with a variety of approach combinations. “A healthy blend of activity, discussion, explanation, interaction and further reinforcement through use of media, questioning or worksheets. Explanation technique has taken a back seat. Innovation, interaction, digital intervention and a multi-‐faceted approach to learning have become the highlights of a classroom teaching” (Teacher 7, Classes VIII-‐X, CBSE). “I believe in bonding between a child and the adult is a must. The main focus is on developing skills and not the subject alone act as facilitators and let the children get their answers by discussing hands-‐on or information got by children and presented in front of the class. No discrimination between girls and boys. Unbiased attention to each and every child including the ones with special needs… Due to the NCF route, learning was replaced by learning and understanding. Subjects will be learnt by children but skills need to be focused on. My teachings have started revolving around this back ground without gender discrimination.” (Teacher 13, CBSE). “I believe in the self-‐directed learning approach as in the class I do not always give the answers to my children. I’d like to work along with them to reach the learning outcomes…” focus shifted to the students understanding and application of the concepts learnt into real life situation”(Teacher 14, English, CBSE). When asked whether or not they see their roles as changed / changing with assessment reform, 66% of teachers felt that the role of a teacher has changed. They feel that teachers now more than before use activity based pedagogy to deliver real learning in the classroom and have become facilitators to guide students in this process. There is also greater scope for creativity in the new scheme of things because non-‐cognitive / transversal skills’ can only be observed / assessed through new / more contemporary teaching methods like project based learning and two-‐way communication between teacher and student. At least six teachers polled used the word “facilitator” to denote the changed role of the teacher – they view themselves as moving into that role. Only one teacher surveyed said that there was no change in a teacher’s role. Some remarks from teachers, given below, indicate different roles they see themselves playing in the classroom – these also communicate the process of change – and what the teacher is ‘expected’ to be or what they are becoming. “The teacher today is expected to be digitally literate, resourceful, have good communication skills, be empathetic, proactive and be learners for life.” (Teacher 7, Classes 8-‐10, CBSE).

23

“The role of a teacher and not just complete the portion but also to develop a responsible citizen and human being. The idea is to make the child aware of his/her skills and work on that.” (Teacher 12, CBSE). “I have become more careful about conveying the rubrics of the assessment to the students. I have started giving periodic feedback of their classwork also.” (Teacher 25, Classes 9-‐10, CBSE) “Archaic methods of teaching and one-‐way communication from teacher to student can never cater to objectives set by the new policies.”(Teacher 29, Classes 3-‐4, handles a class size ranging from 53-‐57 students). Teacher 27(Classes IX-‐XII) writes “It is no longer subject specific but integrative, need to multitask, develop and apply our managerial & entrepreneurial skills even in a school situation and address the varying needs of the society and all stake holders.” Teacher 1 simply stated “Teachers are facilitators (now)” and this sentiment is echoed by Teachers 9, 11, 20, 21. Most remarks, as above, by teachers represent a forward outlook as they introspect and articulate about their changing roles. Evidently, the group of teachers surveyed have understood and are in the process of negotiating change in their classroom pedagogy. Impact of the new curriculum Teachers were asked how they judged changes in their students following the new curriculum (Figure 4). 22% teachers felt that the new curriculum has had a “positive impact” on students and 68% felt that there was a lesser degree of positive impact. These can be seen as favorable responses given that these are still early days for assessing impact of the reformed system. Suffice it to say a beginning has been made, trend is promising, change is inevitable – confirmed by the following articulation. “I have taught more competitive based exercises in a group. More of technology like internet (used) in the class and (use of) e-‐boards is happening in our teaching” (Teacher 2, Classes 8-‐10, CBSE). “With CCE there are different ways in which the same concept is taught and tested. The teachers are innovating … to make learning enjoyable and bring variety in teaching.” (Teacher 6, Classes 9-‐10, CBSE).

24

“Assessment has become continuous and holistic. Each day hence requires proper planning, execution and reading. Activities have become an essential part of assessment too… Explanation technique has taken a back seat. Innovation, interaction, digital intervention and a mulit-‐faceted approach to learning have become the highlights of a classroom teaching” (Teacher 7, Classes 8-‐10, CBSE). Figure 4: How do you judge the changes in your students following the new curriculum?

Schools surveyed have integrated non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies at school with regular subjects – the skills that are brought out / assessed through these subjects are showcased in Table 5.

23%

68%

3%

3%

Very posi`ve

Somewhat posi`ve

Somewhat nega`ve

Do not know

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

25

Table 5: Summary of Responses on Teaching Practices for Non-‐cognitive Skills Integrated by Subject

Curricular Subject Non-‐cognitive / Transversal Skill Development

Math Data handling, critical thinking, problem solving, conceptualisation, build logical outlook, thinking skills by integrating with other subjects, logical reasoning

Natural Science Project based learning, excursion, exhibition, group activity, environment sensitivity, experiments, surveys, interviews

Social Science Exhibition, spatial intelligence, sensitisation to the world, relating issues, role plays, heritage walks

National Language Group activities related to expression, love for country, debates

Foreign Language Conducting cultural activities related to other nationalities, respect other / inter-‐cultural view, conversation

Moral / social studies Workshop on moral values, group discussion, personality development, moral character, role play, talks, trips and tours, film shows, story telling

Arts – creative arts, music, drama Singing, dramatization, solo and group activities, exhibition, creativity, aesthetic skills, performances in groups and as individuals

Others Student Council, Class charter activities, integration of various activities under co-‐scholastic activities to strengthen the scholastic through different clubs and houses and formative assessment, use of ICT leadership and visual performing arts, scientific and literary activities

Source: Collated Responses from various teacher questionnaires Implementing the reformed curriculum In order to implement changes brought about by assessment reform, it was our expectation that teachers should have received some sort of training / induction into the new system. Teachers were asked this. 65% of teachers felt that they received sufficient training. 22% said that while they have received training, it is not sufficient. Only 3% said they had not received any training.

26

It may be of interest to readers that CBSE has developed detailed manuals for teachers to understand the concept of CCE and have provided details of the new assessment pattern and how these need to be performed in and out of a classroom. CBSE has empanelled certain agencies to conduct CCE related training – the training piece has been thought through by CBSE and is an important part of the CCE implementation program as it helps to entrench the system in schools. According to this study data schools surveyed have done a reasonable job of training their teachers. However, well trained teachers are, introducing reforms is no easy task. There are bound to be challenges that become more complex given the variability of India education system. Teachers were asked about major challenges faced by them in implementing the reformed system with a special focus on their teaching style in the classroom. Figure 5: What are the major challenges in implementing the new curriculum and teaching style in your classroom?

Lack of teaching & learning materials for implementing reforms and lack of understanding among parents (for whom academic achievement seems to be the only thing schools must focus on) stand out as the main impediments. This response comes as no surprise because Indian parents is quite deeply involved in the education of their child and will go to lengths to assure their children a good education. In the recent past there has been a growth in the number of private schools in rural and semi-‐urban areas that assure parents a better quality education. Many of these private schools are affordable and parents from poor households too prefer to send children to fee-‐paying

10%

19%

35%

13%

29%

10%

39%

6%

2%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Lack of knowledge among teachers

Lack of experience among teachers

Lack of understanding amongst parents

Insufficient guidance for teachers

Unclear assessment standards

Resistance from students

Lack of teaching/ learning material

Lack of informa`on or implementa`on

Lack of balance of syllabus and `me

27

private schools than to free public schools – they prefer quality over “free" education -‐ indicative of the fact that parents want good education for their children. (Huisman, J. et al, 2010). That parents are paying for an education makes them demanding and competitive. This observation is also made in the policy document that takes cognizance of the increasing commercialization of education, inadequate public funding for it and the official thrust towards ‘alternative’ schools. These factors indicate a shifting of responsibility for education from the state to the family and community, creating pressures to commodify schools, making them increasingly competitive and driving up aspirations of parents – this places a tremendous burden of stress and anxiety on all children that is hampering inculcation of joy of learning. (NCERT, NCF-‐2005, pg. 11). With this as the background, parents being an impediment to the reforms that are meant to relax the system and inculcate joyful learning, assessing “non-‐cognitive” (hence non-‐academic) parameters is an understandable phenomenon. Lack of knowledge of the new system from teachers and resistance from students recorded a low percentage of votes for hindering the integration of the new system. When teachers were asked to list the support they expected from government to enable them to improve teaching methods and use new ideas, teachers want clearer guidelines (58%), more in-‐service training (52%), better information sharing (52%) and more teaching learning materials (29%) from the government as support for new curriculum integration (Figure 6).

28

Figure 6: What do you suggest the Government should do to support teachers to help improve teaching methods / ideas as dictated by policies/curriculum?

On the subject of whether or not they had received training and if so whether or not it was adequate, 71% teachers said they had received adequate training, 25% said they had received some training but not enough. Teachers were also asked whether they received specific guidelines and/or handbooks to implement the new curriculum. 45% teachers said they had received enough materials and guidance, an equal percentage said they had received some guidance and materials but not enough, only 7% teachers mentioned receiving no guidelines / materials. Although many of the private schools polled have initiated their own training effort, answers from teachers indicate they would also like more support from government to implement the new curriculum.

52%

58%

29%

42%

52%

A. More in-‐service teacher-‐ training

B. Clearer guidelines

C. More teaching/learning materials

D. Mentoring

E. Informa`on sharing among teachers

29

Figure 7: What skills and competencies are important to develop in your students?

Since one of the things that the assessment reform has initiated is inclusion of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in the curriculum, a pertinent question to ask is what non-‐cognitive skills do teachers consider as important to develop in their students. According to teachers, important non-‐cognitive skills are: creativity, leadership, self-‐motivation and discipline, and application skills that are inculcated while negotiating the curriculum through co-‐curricular activities – projects, competitions, games, sports, exhibitions (Figure 7). Many transversal competencies regarded as important for 21st century learning such as – media literacy, presentation skills, civic / political participation etc. have not been accorded importance by teachers in this survey. This may be indicative of the fact that while change has set in, the bandwidth for incorporating all competencies is limited so far as implementation goes. Given time, this may change. A similar question put to policy experts evoked a significantly different response – see Figure 10.

42%

3% 6%

45%

10% 6%

45%

0%

35%

13% 10% 10%

23%

0%

10% 16% 13% 10%

29%

0% 6% 3%

10% 13% 13% 6% 0% 0%

10% 3%

13%

Crea`

vity

entrepren

eurship

Resou

rcefulne

ss

App

lica`

on sk

ills

Refl

ec`ve thinking

Reasone

d de

cisio

n-‐ Problem

solving

Presenta`

on sk

ills

Com

mun

ica`

on

Leade

rship

Organisa

òn skills

Collabo

raò

n Self-‐m

o`vaò

n M

edia/in

form

aòn

Digita

l Lite

racy

Decision

-‐making

Working with

others

Career p

lann

ing

Self-‐d

iscipline

Enthu

siasm

Preseverance

Com

passion

Integrity

Com

mitm

ent

Awarne

ss and

Tolerance

Ope

ness

Intellectual

Ability to re

solve

Civic/ p

oli`cal

Respe

ct fo

r the

30

Figure 8: Do you think that learning objectives related to non-‐cognitive skills are clearly described in the curriculum for you to plan lessons?

Majority teachers only somewhat agree to the clarity of the learning objectives for non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum to enable them to plan daily lessons successfully. Only 25% teachers completely agree and a few have also disagreed with the question. This is a cue to policy makers – policy proclamation / documentation to be followed up with implementation details to a level of granularity -‐ containing implementable modules -‐ that is understood with clarity at school level and. Last but not least, we asked teachers what was their incentive to make the required changes. The question received a series of interesting answers – while some teachers said they were self-‐motivated, others said that positive comments from parents was their motivation, yet others said that to see the children perform in the new system was motivation enough. Teachers feel encouraged to develop non-‐cognitive skills in their students because it would help students succeed in the future. Some mentioned the appreciation they receive from parents and teaching awards given by schools as motivation for doing so. “For me, my children i.e. students who become skilled and competent is itself an incentive” (Teacher 13, CBSE)

25%

54%

9%

3%

A. Completely agree

B. Somewhat agree

C. Somewhat disagree

D. Completely disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

31

“Positive reinforcement in the form of feedback, notes to parents and positive comments” (Teacher 14, CBSE) “Appreciation as well as love and respect from Parents” (Teacher 23, CBSE). “I am motivated by the noble drive of developing academically sound, socially fit, emotionally stable individuals who would be the bright future for our nation.” (Teacher 25, classes 9-‐10, CBSE). From being self-‐motivated to seeking external motivation, teachers’s responses lead us to believe that appreciation of any kind helps in effecting change. This survey reveals that implementation of the new curriculum sparked by CBSE’ new assessment reform, is currently underway in schools. Teachers surveyed for this study know about these reforms and are getting enculturated in the new system. This, although a thin slice of the overall picture, could be indicative of a trend in the reformed system but needs to be better understood by probing deeper into pockets and schools that are not so well served by their management. Perhaps a more detailed survey including state government schools (that represent the majority of India schools) is needed to understand more issues related with assessment reforms.

8.3 Policy Experts “Policy Experts” are people involved with organisations that influence policy making, school administrators that implement policy, education experts who understand and interpret policy, education consultants working with schools and school program managers.

Sixteen policy experts were surveyed for this study. Their experience ranges from 3 to over 30 years.

Rationale for integration of non-‐cognitive skills

To the question of whether or not non-‐cognitive skills are important in education today, most experts (67%) responded that non-‐cognitive skills were extremely important in education. They felt that increased international competition, meeting social demand and excessive academic pressure on students were reasons for introducing non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum. Noticeably, among all reasons that could well be the cause for the introduction of non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum, least priority was given “boosting economic development” (Figure 9).

32

The debate on non-‐cognitive skills currently, in India particularly, is pitched around workplace requirements, employability and “demographic dividend” advantage that the country has, making “boosting economic development” a viable reason for reform. Perhaps establishing a direct link between non-‐cognitive skills and economic development is not a simple deduction, one that is certainly not top of the mind for educators who are keen to see immediate effects of reform on children like holistic, joyful and stress free learning to achieve desired outcomes. It may be fair to draw a connection only for the higher secondary years when youth leave school and are ready to join the work force.

Figure 9: What is the Rationale behind integration of Non-‐cognitive Skills in the Curriculum?

The experts were asked what skills and competencies are promoted by policy. As showcased in Figure 10, all listed competencies are treated as important by policy documents in the understanding of experts.

55%

48%

16%

32%

48%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Increased interna`onal compe``on

Mee`ng social demand

Boos`ng economic development

Declining student learning achievement

Excessive pressure on students for academic excellence

33

Figure 10: Skills and competencies promoted by policy

These were the same skills and competencies that teachers were asked to comment upon as important to develop in children (Figure 7). The answers of the two sets of respondents are significantly different. While the expert responses emphasises the fact that all skills and competencies are promoted by policy, teachers did not accord all of them same importance. Instead they considered only a few as important to develop in students.

It is not immediately clear what the reason for this variance in response is? Is it that policy is not clear in its articulation of what skills should be developed in students at school level? Are teachers not clear in their understanding of how these skills should be developed in their students through the curriculum, hence, they chose only those that they are comfortable with? Is it still early days for teachers to begin understanding the role all of these competencies play – perhaps a few years down the road their understanding and response would be different? Time and a deeper probe can help us analyse this further.

93%

73% 67%

93% 93%

80%

93% 93% 93% 87% 87% 87%

67% 67%

87%

73% 73% 73%

87% 87% 80% 80%

100% 93%

87% 87% 87% 80%

73%

Crea`vity

Entrep

renu

rship

Resourcefulness

Applica`

on sk

ills

Refle

c`ve th

inking

Reason

ed decision

-‐making

Prob

lem so

lving

Commun

ica`

on

Leadership

Organisa

òn skills

Collabo

raò

n

Self-‐mo`

vaò

n

Med

ia/in

form

aòn

literacy

Digital lite

racy

Decisio

n making

Working with

others

Career plann

ing

Self discipline

Enthusiasm

Perseverance

Compassion

Integriry

Commitm

ent

Awaren

ess a

nd re

spect for

Tolerance

Ope

nness

Ability to

resolve confl

icts

Civic / p

oli`cal par`cipa`

on

Respect for th

e en

vironm

ent

34

Changes introduced in curriculum

Experts were asked about changes that have been made in the existing curriculum to integrate non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies (Figure 11).

67% of them said that assessment of certain skills and capabilities and introduction of group activities have increased. This is in accordance with the nature of the reform that is essentially an assessment reform. Making changes in assessment processes in school to include cognitive and non-‐cognitive skills is the cornerstone of this change. Experts understand this and also indicated that to achieve assessment of skills and competencies in the non-‐cognitive domain group activities need to be introduced in classrooms allowing children the freedom to learn in a more informal manner, perhaps along with peers and by doing. This is in sharp contrast with the ‘chalk and talk method’ associated with end-‐of-‐year examinations held as part of the earlier system that allowed no flexibility in learning or evaluation style.

Figure 11: What major changes have been made to integrate non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum?

53% of experts indicated that subjects have been merged / integrated for effecting integrated learning, new subjects, particularly in the co-‐scholastic domain, have been introduced and increased use of ICT is being leveraged to foster 21st century skills in schools.

53%

0%

53%

40%

0%

13%

53%

47%

67%

40%

67%

New subjects introduced

Number of subjects reduced

Subjects were merged/integrated

Subjects modified explicitly incorporate non-‐cogni`ve skills

Total lesson hours increased

Total lesson hours decreased

Use of ICT increased

Textbooks revised

Introducòn/increase of group ac`vites

Intoducòn/ increase of experts

Introducòn of assessment of certain skills and capabiliès

35

As shown in Figure 12, majority of experts felt that “character development” of students is an outcome most desired by policy documents post reform. CBSE makes a direct connection between holistic character development and Life Skills with a program rolled out for classes IX & X students in schools that outlines specific Life Skills that must be developed in children that helps them to make an identity for themselves, manage emotions, build relationships, resist peer pressure, communicate and negotiate safe life situations (CBSE, Life Skills Education & CCE). Together, these capabilities provide for a sound character in students. The second highest priority is accorded to “increased international assessment ranking”. India does not have a very successful record with international assessments. Two instances of Indian participation in international assessments -‐ once in TIMSS in 2003 and PISA in 20117 show dismal results for India students. In the first case, Indian students from two states that participated in PISA in 2009 emerged 72nd and 73rd just ahead of Kyrgystan. In 2003 the TIMSS study ranked India 46 among 51 countries. With this record of performance in international assessment, ‘increasing international ranking’ is an understandable outcome of reforms. While international assessment ranking is seen as an important outcome by 27% policy experts, increased international competitiveness is not – only 6%. Figure 12: What is the desired outcome of the Government reform measures, as stated in the policy documents?

7 TIMSS – Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study PISA – Program for International Student Assessment

38%

6% 27%

29%

"Character" development of students

Increased interna`onal assessment ranking

Development of knowledge-‐based economy

Increased interna`onal compe``veness

36

Almost equal percentage of experts (29%) think that development of knowledge-‐based economy is a desired outcome.

Since the changes in the system is primarily driven by assessment reform, it is little wonder that experts feel many changes that most significant changes that have been made to integrate non-‐cognitive skills have something to do with the introduction of assessment procedures for certain skills and capabilities (Figure 13). In order to accommodate assessment of a variety of skills, group activities – group projects / group discussions / group presentations, are beginning to find a place in classrooms. This helps teachers to observe children in circumstances that would otherwise not come to the fore – leadership, peer interaction, communication so on. The underlying premise is the children are actors on stage and teachers their facilitators.

Figure 13: What are the major changes introduced in the curriculum to integrate non-‐cognitive skills?

Many see increased use of ICT as a change that is helping integrate non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum. Increased use of ICT as a change agent should be viewed in the light of government’s “ICT in education” policy that has a vision of “preparing youth to participate creatively in the establishment, sustenance and growth of a knowledge society leading to all round socio-‐economic development of the nation and global competitiveness”8. Although policy aims to address access, equity and education quality issues prevailing in secondary and higher secondary schools, the positive effects of ICT in supporting non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies is common knowledge.

8 National Policy on ICT in School Education (2012).

53%

0%

53%

40%

0%

13%

53%

47%

67%

40%

67%

New subjects introduced

Number of subjects reduced

Subjects were merged/integrated

Subjects modified explicitly incorporate non-‐

Total lesson hours increased

Total lesson hours decreased

Use of ICT increased

Textbooks revised

Introducòn/increase of group ac`vites

Intoducòn/ increase of experts

Introducòn of assessment of certain skills and

37

Anderson, J. (2010, p.34) in a study conducted for UNESCO outlines the essential 21st century skills that students are going to need going forward and how ICTs have the potential to facilitate the process of acquiring these skills. In addition to most 21st century skills of UNESCO (and CBSE) outlined earlier in this document, Anderson speaks of media literacy skills (information literacy, media literacy and ICT literacy) that students must acquire in the 21st century which is going to be driven by media. ICT not only has the potential to ignite “Creativity and Innovation”, “Critical Thinking”, “Problem Solving” and “Communication and Collaboration” – it is the medium for these skills to play out in given situations. That said there are many issues of access and equity within the country but the government has a plan and a vision to tackle these.

A significant number of experts mentioned new subjects being introduced to support non-‐cognitive skills’ development and assessment. New subjects that have been introduced in the curriculum are – Socially Useful and Productive Work (SUPW), Yoga, physical education (as these build leadership quality, interpersonal skills, cooperation, moral values) debates and elocutions, nature walk, life skills, school cinema (develop multiple intelligence)9.

Further, experts were asked if after-‐school activities, community activities, School Council activities, volunteering, local cultural activities contributed towards acquisition on non-‐cognitive / transversal competencies. 80% of them voted in favour of all these activities.

In response to the question of the kind of partnerships should be built by schools to integrate non-‐cognitive skills, experts are of the view that schools should aim for greater involvement of communities (44%) and participation from families (37%). Some schools have programs where parents participate actively and engage with students informally to inculcate / educate them on various facets of life. Encouraging such participation makes schools amenable to support from parent community and children can then go out and complete meaningful curricular / co-‐curricular projects with their support.

On the question of challenges faced in implementing non-‐cognitive skills as part of government policy, respondents rated insufficient teaching and learning material, lack of time for conducting activities and lack of understanding among parents as the important ones (Figure 14). Lack of teaching / learning material as a prime challenge was also teacher’s concern (Figure 5).

9 Collated from questionnaire responses for experts.

38

Figure 14: Challenges in Implementing Non-‐Cognitive Skills

Introducing reforms in a well-‐established, deep-‐rooted system is no easy task. When that happens to a system as diverse as the Indian education system, the task becomes even more complex. To accomplish even a slight bit of movement in the right direction or hint of a change, a huge machinery needs to be deployed to effect change. For this, several dimensions need to be addressed, the articulation of which by policy experts is showcased in Figure 15.

Since the reform is essentially an assessment reform, it is the new way of assessing students that has created space for non-‐cognitive skills to be integrated with cognitive skills in classrooms. Experts support the fact the reformed student assessment system, in-‐house training of teachers, guides developed for teachers along with pre-‐service training of teachers are initiatives that have enabled schools to integrate non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum. (Figure 15).

40%

27%

33%

60%

67%

60%

27%

Lack of understanding among teachers

Lack of capacity among teachers

Lack of training among teachers

Lack of `me to conduct various ac`vites

Insufficient teaching/learning materials targe`ng of development of non-‐cogni`ve skills

Lack of understanding among parents

Resistance from students

39

Figure 15: What was done to integrate non-‐cognitive skills in the curriculum?

Going forward, the government plans to further implement the reformed system across all schools in the country and ensure deeper entrenchment and understanding of the new & reformed assessment procedures. According to experts, the government will also be looking into reforming teacher education in the country alongside increasing in-‐service training for teachers to understand the reformed system. (Figure 16).

Figure 16: What are the government's future plans for integration of non-‐cognitive skills in education?

53%

67%

73%

67%

80%

80%

60%

Reformed the course/ curriculum standard

Revised textbooks

Developed teaching guides for teachers

Reformed pre-‐service teacher training

Conducted in-‐service teacher training

Reformed the student assessment system

Advocated to parents and stakeholders

40%

33%

47%

47%

47%

40%

Revising textbooks

Devleoping teaching guides for teachers

Increase in-‐service teacher training

Reforming pre-‐service teacher training

Reforming the student assessment system

Advocacy for parents and other stakeholders

40

The fact that experts still think “reforming the student assessment system” is one of government’s future plans could be because reforms are not complete till all schools in the country implement it -‐ the government needs to continue to push reform across all schools – a large number of schools fall under state governments and efforts are on to include those schools under the reformed system as well. It is no surprise that reforming in-‐ and pre-‐service teachers is on government agenda for future – while this study surveyed teachers of private schools who are essentially trained by private school management identified agencies, ( we know from teacher survey that most teachers have received adequate training on reformed assessment system), the government schools and teacher training colleges rely on government for training support.

The quality of training and experience of trainers will bear on the way teachers understand and internalise the system. Currently there is fear that most assessments are relegated to templates provided for them by CBSE – they are not a true reflection of learning as teachers struggle to understand “what to assess” and “how to assess”. It is one thing to understand the letter of reformed system and another to implement the spirit of it (Rao, M.P., Rao, P. T. 2013).

When asked what areas require more research so that government could strengthen policies related with integration of non-‐cognitive skills, experts outlined “pedagogy” and “curriculum evaluation” as the main areas followed by “value of non-‐cognitive skills”, “student assessment” and “teacher training”.

Figure 17: What are areas that require more research and evidence for Government to strengthen policies related to integration of non-‐cognitive in education?

53%

60%

53%

53%

20%

40%

60%

40%

Value of non-‐cogni`ve skills

Pedagogy

Student assessment

Teacher training

Teacher evaluaòn

School evaluaòn

Curriculum evaluaòn

Textbooks

41

It is important for a curriculum10 to be evaluated from time to time to keep it current and relevant. The time taken to action for the current assessment reform is long.

10 Curriculum evaluation in the context of this study should be understood as the assessment of the merit and worth of a program / course of study

42

9 Analysing challenges in implementation of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in the curriculum

Effective assessment of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills in classrooms is a task that requires training and deep understanding of the curriculum and assessment procedures, “what to assess” and “how to assess” in the absence of which teachers could find negotiating the reformed curriculum arduous.

An adverse pupil-‐teacher (being as high as 43:1 in some government schools), lack of know how amongst the teacher community (due to inadequate training), ambiguity of the scope of non-‐cognitive / transversal skills’ education (since it is “new”), academic pressures of an examination and evaluation system of cognitive learning (difficult to brush off the old tried and tested way) and the position of the stakeholders (parents are one of the barriers to this change as this research shows) are factors that make implementation of the reformed system an uphill task.

While there is strong alignment in various policy proclamations about the need to enhance education through inclusion of non-‐cognitive / transversal learning in mainstream education, schools do not appear to be implementing uniformly across board. CBSE has addressed this to some extent, state governments are doing it too, but is it really getting translated to the desired learning at classroom level? There may exist some gaps that need to be identified and addressed – otherwise issues and challenges will continue to mount.

Some issues highlighted by Drs. Manjula Rao and Purushothama Rao (2013) in their study conducted on some Tamil Nadu schools11 are:

• Evaluation practices carried out in schools may still be rooted in conventional practice – more training and time needs to be given to teachers to internalise the new system

• Despite teachers receiving in-‐house training, there appears to be lack of awareness on what is to be evaluated and how it is to be evaluated particularly in the area of personal and social skills. These skills are generally assessed through observation, for which teachers need training as well as time to observe. An overloaded curriculum does not afford them the time.

• Assessments do not give a realistic picture of what students have actually mastered as much of these assessments are done through standard templates of competencies provided by CBSE for ease of evaluating. Hence, currently the approach is marked by sameness and lacks individuality.

11 Tamil Nadu was one of the first states to adopt CCE

43

• There continues to be undue reliance on recall, rather than transfer and application of learning in different situations.

• Formative feedback and identification of learning difficulties are not usually followed by remedial measures.

In another study conducted for CCE implementation in Kerala, authors Kothari, R., J. and Thomas, M., V. (2012) report considerable variance in number of formative assessments carried out for non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies (some teachers carried out 1 others 2 and 3 per academic year). There was also a considerable difference reported in number of periods allotted for co-‐curricular activities (through which non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies are evaluated) – the number ranged from 5 to 7 per week.

Among problems reported in implementing the non-‐cognitive learning under CCE, the study reports –

• Lengthy syllabus cut short co-‐curricular activities associated with CCE (ultimately the year end examination is important).

• Most teachers handled class size of 40 students and above and found it difficult to implement the evaluation as desired in CCE format.

• Teachers were unclear on how to make individual assessments for children and how to bring out individual attributes for each child – need more information and training.

Policy is articulate on what is required, concrete steps have been taken in the formulation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) by CBSE for all its affiliated schools. With the Right to Education Act (RTE-‐2009), all state government schools are required to adopt CCE as well. The government must ensure flawless implementation to ensure success.

Only implementing a system like CCE is not the answer, its effectiveness has to be measured through impact studies that should report on learning outcomes. Eventually the system will need to report on whether or not it is releasing trained people for a competent future workforce with sound cognitive and non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies.

44

10 Recommendations Some recommendations:

• More and in-‐depth training is a common strain. Continuous professional development can be facilitated through technology enabled e-‐learning programs. Schools may not have the time and bandwidth to spare teachers for regular face-‐to-‐face training sessions. These could be handled through self-‐paced online sessions. Also, in order to provide extensive training to all teachers -‐ enlist support of non-‐governmental organisations to step up training support for teachers, administrators and parents in schools, if required.

• All most all surveyed for this study have cited “insufficient training materials” as a bottleneck to successful implementation on non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies assessment. It is recommended that teachers should be provided explicit training manuals / reading material for the purpose.

• The tedium of evaluating a variety of skills in a classroom can be resolved through judicious use of technology – providing teachers with appropriate technology for such evaluation can go a long way in easing the situation.

The study recommends more relevant training for teachers, reduction of class size, development / distribution of appropriate tools for evaluation, consideration of e-‐tools for handling individualised evaluation. A deeper probe to test the impact of the reformed system on effectiveness of learning outcomes is desirable.

45

11 Conclusions

A reformed assessment system that provides for continuous and comprehensive evaluation is well underway in Indian schools surveyed. Teachers are aware of the inclusion of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in the curriculum. Not all schools have implemented the program uniformly and there are a few gaps as the study shows. Given the variability of schools, it is only pertinent to expect differences in implementation. Some evaluations conducted for the new system have indicated that teachers may be using standard templates, provided for the purpose, without really understanding the spirit of reform. The system needs to ensure that it is not pouring old wine into new bottles (old assessments in new formats) and that it is able to report skill effectiveness and plough relevant feedback into the system to help students improve and provide them with support to become wholesome participants in their learning process.

Stop Press: In his annual New Year letter (Jan 2014)12 to all affiliated schools, CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi lauded the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) policy introduced during his tenure, saying that it is "bearing fruits". The chairman wrote, "The first batch of students who have undergone CCE appeared in their Std. XII examinations and their performance was markedly better than the previous batches". Quantitative data to support this statement is not available.

12 Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/CCE-‐is-‐bearing-‐fruits-‐says-‐CBSE-‐chairman/articleshow/28353008.cms

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12 Bibliography Anderson J.. (2010). ICT Transforming Education -‐ A regional guide. Available: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001892/189216e.pdf. Accessed 15th September 2013. CBSE. (). Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation -‐ Chapter 1. Available: http://www.cbse.nic.in/cce/cce-‐manual/chapter_1.pdf. Accessed August 2014. CBSE. (). Life Skills Education & CCE -‐ Class IX & X. Available: http://www.cbse.nic.in/cce/life_skills_cce.pdf. Accessed October 2014. CBSE. (2010). Teacher's Manual on Formative Assessment -‐ Science, Class IX. Available: http://www.cbse.nic.in/cce/cce-‐manual/CBSE-‐FA-‐Class-‐IX%20(Science)%20Final.pdf. Accessed October 2014. Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD. (2012). National Policy on ICT in School Education. Available: http://www.itforchange.net/sites/default/files/ITfC/revised_policy%20document%20ofICT.pdf. Accessed 15th September 2013. Huisman. J, Rani . U., Smits, J. (2010). School characteristics, socio-‐economic status and culture as determinants of primary school enrolment in India. Available: www.ru.nl/publish/pages/516298/nice_10109.pdf. Accessed 20th September 2013. ILO - Department of Statistics. (2012). Statistical update on employment in the informal economy. Available: http://laborsta.ilo.org/applv8/data/INFORMAL_ECONOMY/2012-06-Statistical%20update%20-%20v2.pdf. Accessed 18th August 2013. Kothari, R. G., Thomas, M V. (November 2012). A STUDY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTINUOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION IN UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOLS OF KERALA. MIER Journal of Educational Studies, Trends & Practices, Vol. 2 (No. 2), pp. 168-‐176. Murlidharan, K. (2013). Priorities for Primary Education Policy in India’s 12th Five-‐year Plan. Available: http://pdel.ucsd.edu/_files/paper_2013_karthik.pdf. Accessed 12th August 2013. NCERT. (2005). National Curriculum Framework 2005. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/nc_framework.html. Last accessed October 2014. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)_Position Paper -‐ National Focus Group. 2006 a. Aims of Education. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/aims_of_education.pdf. Accessed 12th September 2013.

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National Council of Educational Research and Training. (NCERT). National Curriculum Framework 2005. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/framework/english/nf2005.pdf. Accessed 10th Aug 2013. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)_ (2005). National Curriculum Framework 2005. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/framework/english/nf2005.pdf. Accessed 12th September 2013. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)_ Position Paper -‐ National Focus Group. 2006b. Health and Physical Education. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/health_prelims_final.pdf. Accessed 11th August 2013. National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)_Position Paper -‐ National Focus Group. 2006c. Examination Reforms. Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/examination_reforms.pdf. Accessed 12th September 2013. Pratham. (2013). ASER Report 2013. Available: http://www.asercentre.org/Keywords/p/205.html. Accessed 11th September, 2013.

Rao, M.,P.,(Dr.), Rao, P., T., (Dr.). (2013). EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTINUOUS AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OVER THE EVALUATION PRACTICES OF TEACHERS. Available: http://conference.nie.edu.sg/paper/Converted%20Pdf/ab00673.pdf. Accessed 18th September 2013. Technopak. (2013). Indian education Sector Outlook. Available: http://www.technopak.com/files/Indian_Education_Sector.pdf. Accessed October 2014. World Bank. (n.d. a) Indicators. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS. Accessed: 22nd September 2013.

World Bank. (n.d.b) India Overview. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview. Accessed: 22nd September 2013.

World Bank. (2011). Education in India. Available: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2011/09/20/education-‐in-‐india. Accessed 11th August 2013.

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13 Annexes Annex A Note: A similar questionnaire was designed for teachers as well.

Research Questionnaire

1. For policy makers (e.g., government officials and administrators) and experts Background information

1) What are your major responsibilities? 2) How long have you been working in the current position?

Section 1: Policy review

1) According to the policy documents, how important is integration of non-‐cognitive/transversal skills in education?

1. Extremely important 2. Very important 3. Moderately important 4. Slightly important 5. Not at all

2) If the answer to the above question is “no,” what do you think should be

done? (Please select all that apply.) ! Further research on non-‐cognitive/transversal skills ! Identification of skills and competencies lacking in the current

education system ! Curriculum reform ! Teacher training reform ! Others (please specify) ! Do not know

3) What are the key policy documents on integration of non-‐cognitive skills /

transversal competencies in education and what is the time frame for the new policies to attain expected results specified in the key documents? (Please provide links where possible.)

4) In your opinion, what is the rationale behind your Government’s move towards integration of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies? (Please select all that apply.)

! Increased international competition ! Meeting social demand ! Boosting economic development ! Declining students’ learning achievement

49

! Excessive pressure on students to achieve academic excellence ! Response to employers’ demands to increase “employability” of

students ! Others (please specify) ! Do not know

5) What skills and competencies are promoted by these policy documents?

(Please select all that apply.)

! Creativity ! (Career) planning ! Entrepreneurship ! Self-‐discipline ! Resourcefulness ! Enthusiasm ! Application skills ! Perseverance ! Reflective thinking ! Compassion ! Reasoned decision-‐making ! Integrity ! Problem-‐solving ! Commitment ! Presentation skills ! Awareness and respect for

diversity ! Communication ! Tolerance ! Leadership ! Openness ! Organization skills ! Intercultural understanding ! Collaboration ! Ability to resolve conflicts ! Self-‐motivation ! Civic/political participation ! Media/information literacy ! Respect for the environment ! Digital literacy ! Others (please specify) ! Decision-‐making ! Working with others

6) What levels of education is covered by these policy documents? (Please

select all that apply.) ! Primary (ISCED 113) ! Lower secondary (ISCED 2) ! Upper secondary (ISCED 3) ! Others (please specify)

7) What is the desired outcome of your Government’s reform measures as

stated in the policy documents? (Please select all that apply.) 1. “Character” development of students 2. Increased international assessment ranking (e.g., PISA, TIMSS) 3. Development of knowledge-‐based economy 4. Increased international competitiveness 5. Others (please specify) 6. Do not know

13 For definitions of ISCED levels, please refer to UNESCO-‐UIS (http://www.uis.unesco.org/EDUCATION/Pages/international-‐standard-‐classification-‐of-‐education.aspx).

50

Section 2: Curriculum framework 1) What are the major changes introduced to your curriculum framework in

light of the attempt to integrate non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in education? (please select all that apply.)

! New subjects introduced ! Number of subjects reduced ! Subjects were merged/integrated ! Subjects modified to explicitly incorporate non-‐cognitive skills /

transversal competencies ! Total lesson hours increased ! Total lesson hours decreased ! Use of ICT increased ! Textbooks revised ! Introduction/increase of group activities ! Introduction/increase of experts ! Introduction of assessment of certain skills and capabilities ! Others (please specify) ! None

2) Are there specific (separate) subjects especially designed to nurture non-‐

cognitive skills / transversal competencies? Which skills are they addressing? How much time is allocated to those subjects?

3) According to the new curriculum, how is teaching of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies integrated in regular subjects? Math Natural science Social science National language Foreign language Moral/social studies Arts (e.g., creative art, music, drama, etc.)

Others (please specify)

4) What are students encouraged to do in order to nurture non-‐cognitive skills /

transversal competencies outside of regular school hours as extra-‐curricular or co-‐curricular activities? (Please select all that apply.)

! After-‐school sports and arts activities ! Community activities

51

! School council activities ! Volunteering ! Local cultural activities ! Others (please specify) ! Nothing

5) Are there guidelines for teachers to implement the new curriculum? If so, for

which subject/grade? Section 3: Achievements and challenges

1) What was done to integrate non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in education? (Please select all that apply.)

! Reformed the course/curriculum standard ! Revised textbooks ! Developed teaching guides for teachers ! Reformed pre-‐service teacher training ! Conducted in-‐service teacher training ! Reformed the student assessment system ! Advocated parents and other stakeholders ! Others (please specify) ! Nothing

2) What are your Government’s future plans for integration of non-‐cognitive

skills / transversal competencies in education? (Please select all that apply.) ! Revising textbooks ! Developing teaching guides for teachers ! Increase in-‐service teacher training ! Reforming pre-‐service teacher training ! Reforming the student assessment system ! Advocacy for parents and other stakeholders ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

3) What kind of partnerships have been built in order to integrate non-‐cognitive

skills / transversal competencies in education? (Please select all that apply.) ! Private sector ! Communities ! Families ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

4) In your opinion, what are the bottlenecks to implementing these government

policies? (Please select all that apply.)

52

! Lack of understanding among teachers ! Lack of capacity among teachers ! Lack of training among teachers ! Lack of time conducting related activities ! Insufficient teaching/learning materials targeting development of

non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies ! Lack of understanding among parents ! Resistance from the students ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

5) In your opinion, what are the areas that require more research and evidence

for your Government to strengthen the policies related to integration of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in education? (Please select all that apply.)

! Value of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies ! Pedagogy ! Student assessment ! Teacher training ! Teacher evaluation ! School evaluation ! Curriculum evaluation ! Textbooks ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

2. For teachers

Background information

1) Which subjects do you teach? 2) Which grades do you teach? 3) What is your gender? 4) How many students do you have in your class? 5) How many classes per week do you teach? 6) How long have you been working in the current position?

! Less than a year ! 1-‐3 years ! 3-‐5 years ! 5-‐10 years ! More than 10 years

7) How long have you been working as a teacher? ! Less than a year ! 1-‐3 years

53

! 3-‐5 years ! 5-‐10 years ! More than 10 years

Section 1: Policy review

1) What do you think was the rationale behind your Government’s reform to integrate non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in education? (Please select all that apply.)

! Increased international competition ! Meeting social demand ! Boosting economic development ! Declining student learning achievement ! Excessive pressure on students for academic excellence ! Response to employer demands to increase “employability” of

students ! Others (please specify) ! Do not know

2) To what extent do you think the definition of non-‐cognitive skills /

transversal competencies is clearly stated in policy documents?

1. Very clear 2. Somewhat clear 3. Somewhat unclear 4. Very unclear 5. Others (please specify) 6. Do not know

3) In your opinion, what skills and competencies are important to develop in

your students? (Please choose the top five)

! Creativity ! (Career) planning ! Entrepreneurship ! Self-‐discipline ! Resourcefulness ! Enthusiasm ! Application skills ! Perseverance ! Reflective thinking ! Compassion ! Reasoned decision-‐making ! Integrity ! Problem-‐solving ! Commitment ! Presentation skills ! Awareness and respect for

diversity ! Communication ! Tolerance ! Leadership ! Openness ! Organization skills ! Intercultural understanding ! Collaboration ! Ability to resolve conflicts ! Self-‐motivation ! Civic/political participation ! Media/information literacy ! Respect for the environment

54

! Digital literacy ! Others (please specify) ! Decision-‐making ! Working with others

4) Under the new policies, do you feel that the role of teachers has changed?

1. Very much changed 2. Somewhat changed 3. Unchanged 4. Others (please specify) 5. Do not know

5) If the answer to the above question is (1) very much changed or (2) somewhat changed, please describe how your roles have changed following the new policies?

Section 2: Curriculum framework

1) How did the implementation of the new curriculum framework change the ways in which you teach?

2) Do you think that learning objectives related to non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies are clearly described in the curriculum for you to plan lessons?

1. Completely agree 2. Somewhat agree 3. Somewhat disagree 4. Completely disagree 5. Others (please specify) 6. Do not know

3) How do you judge the changes in your students following the new

curriculum?

1. Very positive 2. Somewhat positive 3. Somewhat negative 4. Very negative 5. Others (please specify) 6. No change 7. Do not know

4) Did you receive specific guidelines and/or handbooks to implement the new

curriculum in your classroom?

1. Yes, we have received enough materials and guidance

55

2. Yes, we have received some but not sufficient 3. We have not received any additional materials 4. Others (please specify)

5) Have you received training to implement the new curriculum in your

classroom? 1. Yes, we have received enough training 2. Yes, we have received some but not sufficient 3. We have not received any additional training 4. Others (please specify)

6) What are the incentives for you to develop non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies in your students?

Section 3: Achievements and challenges

1) What kind of partnerships have you or your school sought/strengthened to help implement the new policies/curriculum (please select all that apply)?

! Private sector ! Communities ! Families ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

2) Do you think that your classes are being carried out in accordance with the

(annual) curriculum plan? 1. Faster than planned 2. As planned 3. Behind schedule 4. Do not know

3) What are the major challenges in implementing the new curriculum in your classroom? (Please select all that apply.)

! Lack of knowledge among teachers ! Lack of experiences among teachers ! Lack of understanding among parents and other stakeholders ! Unclear definition of non-‐cognitive skills / transversal competencies ! Insufficient guidance for teachers ! Unclear assessment standards ! Resistance of students

56

! Lack of teaching/learning materials ! Lack of information on implementation of the new curriculum ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

4) After implementing the new curriculum, how do you perceive changes in the

students? (Please check each item.) Increased No change Decreased Critical and innovative thinking

1. Students developing critical thinking

2. Students can analyze and evaluate information

Interpersonal skills 1. Students can express what

he/she think/feel

2. Students can summarize and present own ideas

3. Students can present 4. Students can discuss with

others

Intrapersonal skills 1. Students with motivation to

learn

2. Students with regular study habit

Global citizenship 1. Students with understanding

of local environment and society

2. Students interested in global issues

3. Students respect diversity Others 1. Students with good acquisition

of basic knowledge and skills

2. Students understanding facts clearly

3. Students behind class 4. Students who feel tired 5. Learning achievement as a

student group

6. Gap in academic performance

57

among students

5) What do you suggest the Government should do to support teachers to implement new policies/curriculum? (Please select all that apply.)

! More in-‐service teacher training ! Clearer guidelines ! More teaching/learning materials ! Mentoring ! Information sharing among teachers ! Others (please specify) ! None ! Do not know

integrating transversal) competencies*in*...

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integrating transversal) competenciesin...