What we do:
Coach Teachers
Great teachers are not born, they are made. Just like architects, doctors, or lawyers.
Just like them, teachers too need the knowledge and expertise to achieve success in their classrooms. Continual training opportunities help teachers gain such this expertise. However, such opportunities are usually centrally planned and delivered through workshops. There is no in-classroom support and teachers have no way of sustaining what they have learnt. Such trainings have little impact on addressing teachers’ learning needs, or on their rote-based methods of teaching.
In contrast, our teacher learning pathway is ground up: Our teachers are in charge of their pedagogic learning and support each other in improving their practice. Teachers are coached intensively in and outside their classrooms to hone their skills in student centered pedagogies. CEQUE’s unique video-based coaching methodology helps teachers identify how they can improve student engagement, make level-based adjustments in their teaching and use meaningful assessments to ensure that every child learns. The Teacher Pages repository of classroom videos is used centrally during the coaching of teachers.
Teacher Innovator Program
CEQUE’s flagship Teacher Innovator Program coaches teachers from government and low income private schools to learn innovative teaching methods and impact student learning.
The program works in partnership with local education departments. The focus is on Reading-Writing & Math skills in grades 1-8.
The Teacher Innovator Program partners with district administrations to improve the quality of student learning in their districts. 100 schools are selected as Innovation lab schools in each intervention district. The program works intensively and long term with the teachers to help them learn to create engaging and result-oriented learning experiences for their students.
Aligned with the state’s curricula in Language and Math for grades 1-8, the program supports teachers on:
Foundational Literacy & Numeracy
Reading with Comprehension
Numbers and Number Operations
Measurement
Partner with district education authorities to set up district innovation labs
Work for 3-5 years in a block to improve teacher capacity (Grades 1 to 5)
Collaborate with the district education authorities to scale the program.
Above: An informative video about the Teacher Pages Innovator Fellowship workshop of 2018.
Impact
The Impact of the program is measured along 4 indicators:
Teacher Reaction to the relevance of the content to their teaching practice
Teacher Learning that measures their mastery over the new methods learned
Teacher Practice that evaluates the improvement in their teaching practice
Student Competency that measures changes in student achievement.
Currently, the program focuses on the districts of Thane, Mumbai, Nashik, Palghar, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. Over an average lifetime of 20 years of service, teachers we work with will impact the lives of approximately 264,000 children.
Stories of Change
"The video-based coaching has taught me to observe my own teaching in greater detail. I learnt the small things that I need to keep in mind during teaching."
Savita Jagtap, Deonar Colony
Municipal English School, Govandi
"I attended all four webinars on Maths. I now understand how we can use interesting methodologies for Subtraction and how we can stimulate a student’s mind. I am confident that a teacher can reach even the most underserved child easily by using these methodologies. I will definitely use the different methodologies for teaching Subtraction to students and remove the fear of Maths from their minds. Your system of coaching is praiseworthy and thank you for selecting us for this program!"
Pushpa Nalavade, Kumud Vidyamandir, Govandi, Mumbai
“My experience with the programme has changed the way I teach, 100%. The process made me realize that you cannot just expect something from the student, but you need to consider her ability and her pace. This way, I began to think from a student’s point of view. While earlier, I used to focus on students’ answers in class, now my focus is on eliciting a variety of answers and preparing in advance to answer or clarify them.”
Avinash Kulkarni, Mahatma Gandhi High School, Igatpuri
The Jigyaasa Project
Collaboration with ActionAid and Siemens
The Jigyaasa Project aims to build student capabilities in STEM. It coaches government school teachers of Grades 7-10 to teach their curriculum incorporating STEM pedagogy in their classrooms.
Through a shift in pedagogic practices, teachers develop in students’ an ability to think critically, apply scientific principles to real-world challenges and work collaboratively. They foster in students’ scientific temper and promote skills of critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration.
Impact
Teachers are evaluated on their shift in pedagogic practices. Indicators of inquiry based methods of teaching and learning and implementation of design challenges in the classroom are used to measure change in practice.
Currently in its pilot phase, 66 schools with 190 teachers are being reached across 7 locations. These include Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Goa, Thane, Pune, Aurangabad and West Bengal.
