Reflective practice, as the word says it all… is the process of reflecting/introspecting/thinking about what you do and how you do?

• Understanding learners– Reflective practice helps teachers, understand the abilities and needs of their learners; as the teacher gets into the students’ shoes while reflecting on his/her methodologies.
• Develop reflective learners– Reflective teachers are instrumental in developing reflective learners. Imbibing the practice of reflection, helps students becomes independent learners, by analyzing, evaluating and improving their own learning.
• Professional Development-Self-reflection allows teachers to create and experiment with new ideas and approaches to gain maximum success for their learning and development.
• Humility – Self-reflection, needs to be done with utmost honesty. Honest with ourselves on our choices, our mistakes, our success, on what could have been done better. This practice acts as a self-reminder to stay humble and continue working hard.
• Enhances innovation – when a teacher sees that her students interest is waning, she is bound to innovate new methodologies to make the class interesting.
• Enhance problem solving- The practice allows teachers (and tutors) to devise strategies and map out personalised techniques for their struggling students.

• Self-questioning: Questioning self on the effect and efficiency of teaching
• Discussing with peers: Drawing on support from peers will allow to cement understanding and get involved with others’ ideas and best practice.
• Student feedback: Teachers must interact with students and reflect together. This provides scope for the students to play an active part in learning
• Reflection journal: Instructors might consider capturing a few details of their teaching in a journal to create an ongoing narrative of their teaching across terms and years.
• Teaching Portfolio: Though less focused on classroom practices, a portfolio is an opportunity to reflect on teaching overall.

With the 2021 CBSE board exams being cancelled owing to COVID 19, students, parents and educators alike have been worried about the course of academics and evaluation.

Putting all speculations and concerns to rest, CBSE has unveiled an alternative assessment policy for the session 2021-22, that has allowed all stakeholders involved to heave a sigh of relief. The new examination policy is in line with the NEP’s focus on the core concepts and competencies of the students.

Incidentally, for the session 2021, CBSE hasmade changes in the class 10th and 12^th syllabus, reducing the course load by as much as 30%, to help students achieve the specified learning outcomes conveniently within the limited timeframe.

Let us talk about the key highlights of thebrand new CBSE exam pattern.

Division of academic year

The AY 2021-22 will be bifurcated into two terms, with about 50% course load distributed systematically to each term. The syllabi will be rationalized in line with the previous session. The examination will be held at the end of each term by the Board to assess students on the learning outcomes outlined. Teaching delivery will continue virtually till the schools are allowed to open physically by the government.

Internal assessment

Credible Internal Assessment/ Practical/ Project work will be conducted by schools as per the Board guidelines. Internal assessment for classes 9-10 will include 3 periodic tests spread over the year, practical and project work, and student enrichment activities. For classes 11-12, internal assessments will include unit tests at the end of each topic, practical and projects. The internal assessment marks will have to be uploaded by the schools on the CBSE portal.

The Board will provide the schools with resources like assessment samples, question banks, training for the teachers, etc. to make the internal assessment process smooth.

Flexibility over exam schedule, pattern, and weightage

The term-I examinations will be held on a flexible schedule over November-December 2021. The 90-minute test would pose MCQs, of assertion-reasoning and case-based types. CBSE will set the Question Papers, and the exams will be supervised by board-appointed observers. The answer scripts will be evaluated by the school and uploaded on the CBSE portal. Marks obtained in the first term examination will add up to the final year-end score of the student.

The term-II examination will be held around March-April 2022, at Board-specified examination centres. This will be a descriptive examination of a two-hour duration with case-based open-ended short answer and long answer type questions. In case the situation doesn’t allow for a descriptive test, CBSE will conduct a 90-minute MCQ-type test.

In a scenario where students have to attempt the term-I examination from home, and Term-II exams are held at the schools or centres, then the weightage for the former in the final year-end score will be reduced and the latter increased. In an alternate scenario wherein the term-I exams are held at schools but the term-II exams are attempted from home, the weightage of marks of the term-I exam will be increased in the year-end final score.

In the unfortunate situation wherein students have to appear for examinations of both terms from home, the results will be computed based on the internal assessment, practical and project work and marks obtained in the term-end exams.

In all the above scenarios, data will be moderated and analysed to ensure that the integrity factor of both internal assessments and home-based exams are maintained.

The new assessment policy of CBSE comes at the right time when the students are grappling with the uncertainty of the times and educators are worried about the learning takeaways of their mentees. At AZVASA, we heartily welcome this initiative of CBSE to beat the pandemic without disrupting the flow of education.

Amidst the shutdown of academic facilities due to the pandemic during the AY 2020-21, the Indian education sector witnessed the much-anticipated announcement of the National Education Policy (NEP). The new policy is looked upon to herald a paradigm shift in the archaic education system in India. At the same time, a UNICEF report revealed a staggering figure of 247 million students in the country whose education was affected due to COVID-19.

Currently the second-most populous country in the world, India is expected to take the first position by 2030 with a population of 1.5 billion. A considerable segment of this figure will comprise of young Indians perched at the threshold of their career. This decade is crucial for the country to prepare the said future workforce with the knowledge and skillset needed to drive growth and development in its goal to emerge as the economic superpower.

NEP, with its ambitious vision of transforming India’s education landscape through multi-disciplinary, skill-based learning for the holistic development of its youth, is expected to be instrumental in achieving this feat. However, the path is fraught with challenges, some due to policy implementation hiccups and some thrown up by the unforeseen pandemic.

The Challenges

The closure of physical schools and the shift to online learning has laid bare the enormous digital divide that plagues India. A whopping 30 million children do not have access to devices for attending classes, resulting in a learning loss. To top it, the economic instability of families caused by the pandemic has also led to the rise in school dropout figures. Not to forget that a sizeable section of schools was initially unprepared to handle online education delivery.

However, with governmental intervention and the pro-activeness of educational institutions, digitally empowered Indian students, starting from elementary to higher education stages, have embraced the new normal of going through academic rigours virtually. Though, the plight caused by the unavailability of digital devices persists among the underprivileged children.

The other most significant challenge present in the Indian education sector today is the confusion regarding the full-fledged implementation of NEP. In the current situation wherein the schools are closed in most states for almost 20 months, the enforcement of the new policy has not been possible. Some schools though have taken pioneering steps in adopting the principles of the NEP, but a complete transformation is yet to happen.

Looking Forward

The NEP 2020 is looked upon to eliminate the prevalent rote learning culture that highlights qualifications rather than skill development, leading to unsustainable education and overall unemployability. Moreover, NEP recognizes the importance of technology in academic delivery and hence envisages a hybrid model of learning to make education accessible by anyone, anywhere and at any time. Let us look at the expected promising outcomes of NEP that has got all educationists excited about the future.

Personalised Learning Powered by AI

The conventional attitude of ‘a fish should climb a tree, and a monkey swim’ towards education will change with more focus on personalising education according to individual interests and inclinations. AI will play an important role in this process, customising education to suit the students’ needs.

Bringing Vocational Education to the Forefront

Traditionally, vocational education has been sidelined to give more mileage to career options like engineering, medical, and law. With the vision to cater to individual interests, NEP aims to bring vocational education into the mainstream so that a career choice does not become a burden to the future workforce.

Encouraging Skill and Knowledge Building

Rote learning kills creativity and the drive to question. With the implementation of NEP, Indian students will once again rise above the mediocrity of mugging up notes to apply their knowledge to solve practical problems, thus prepping for real-life issue resolution later.

Focus on Research and Development

Achieving academic excellence and a culture of innovation through enhanced focus on research and development is another notable anticipated outcome of NEP. This way, it is expected that the constant brain drain that is dogging India owing to the lack of research scope can be arrested.

Raising the Bar for Teaching Professionals

With hybrid learning replacing traditional classroom coaching and the shift from the age-old system, it is imperative that the role of teachers should change from mere lecturers to that of mentors of future leaders. As such, training the trainers to raise the bar of education delivery is the way forward.

Inclusivity

NEP aims to bring under its purview, everyone starting from the elementary to higher education levels, irrespective of the socio-economic background or any disabilities of the students. With this principle in practice, India can hope to eradicate illiteracy from its vocabulary.

The Samsidh Group of Schools lauds the NEP 2020 and has initiated measures at its institutions to bring into effect the much-needed changes proposed in the education system.