Impact of in-service training (cluster meeting) on primary teachers classroom practice

Abstract

Teacher is one of the best teaching tools to attain, ensure and sustain the quality of education in any country. For this, teachers have to be trained. The trainings include both pre-service and in-service training, and continuous training for professional development. This study focused on the impact of in-service training (cluster meeting) on primary teachers’ classroom practice at the English in Action (EIA) intervention schools. This research adopted the “grounded theory” approach. Here, the researcher attempted to develop a theory inductively from various sources of data which is the basis of the grounded theory. For the convenience of the research and conducting this study, the researcher mainly collected open-ended data from the respondents through observation schedule, a semi-structured interview schedule and a focus group discussion guideline. The collected primary data were transcribed and developed into categories or themes of information and composed into figure or visual model that portrays the general explanation. In this respect, the study was qualitative in nature and conducted according to the grounded theory. The population of the study was all the teachers and students of primary grade of Paba upazila of Rajshahi district. The researcher worked with the students of the primary schools (grade I to V) and their English teachers. Two cluster meetings (CMs) were attended and observed. From those meetings, five English teachers were selected purposively and finally three English classes of each of those teachers (5x3=15classes) were observed for the study. After classroom observation those teachers were interviewed individually. Focus group discussions were conducted with the students of those observed classes. Eight students were present in each group who were selected purposively. The study was carried out in the schools of pilot phase of EIA programme. Data were collected from 31 March to 28 June, 2012. The teachers, who have responded in this study, are highly educated and attended cluster meetings and various other similar trainings. The cluster meetings had multifaceted objectives which provided them with ideas for warming up, reviewing and reflecting, micro teaching and extending activities for improving teaching and learning capacities of teachers. The cluster meetings were held in different venues or conference centres. The meetings fulfilled approximately 80% of their needs, especially in terms of solving classroom problems through sharing practical experiences and disseminating knowledge. It also helped for developing English teachers’ speaking fluency. Respondent teacherslearnt many new things in the cluster meetings. Some of them include: giving instruction in English, easier ways of teaching English, easier ways of teaching prepositions, playing games, using of teaching aid such as audio or iPod, Logitech, flashcard and posters, and writing paragraph by mind mapping. Most of the teachers used to take classes in their own ways before getting training from EIA. After being trained in cluster meetings, respondents applied and implemented new ideas and methods in their classrooms. Now they use audio, textbook and posters, which help students learn quickly and speak English without difficulty. Most of the teachers liked using English as the language of instruction in the classroom, showing posters and pictures, conducting group works, using audio, word games and board. Students mostly liked to listen to audio (songs, rhymes and poems), writing on the blackboard, playing word games and other group activities. In general, teachers and students like almost the same activities in English classes. But in some cases, it was found that the instructions given by the teachers, were not clear to students. A majority of the respondent teachers faced some problems in introducing EIA techniques in the classroom especially while using posters, Logitech and audio. Students on the other hand did not understand some parts of the audio. Teachers’ also faced some challenges for excessive class load, big size of classes and lack of supervision and monitoring. Having faced these challenges, many teachers return to their previous practice of teacher-centred methods such as lectures instead of using modern technologies.