Soon, teachers in Maharashtra schools will grade themselves

The state education department has introduced self-evaluation tools for teachers.

Often, teachers, who are supposed to be shining examples to pupils, find it hard to admit when they are wrong.

The department has started one-day training programmes to encourage the teachers to use the tools, which enable them to work out where there are gaps in their knowledge and point them in the direction of training and information to help them get it right.

The State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been developing the free online self-evaluation service over the past few years, building on tools that academic institutions have been using with trainees and, occasionally, the teaching community. But, while older self-evaluation systems tended to rate teachers on a scale of one to five and were limited to testing subject knowledge, the new service covers teachers’ knowledge in subjects up to Std X, and their teaching methods.

Project officer Nanda Kumar said anyone can use the self-evaluation system to assess themselves, and either keep the results to themselves, or share them with colleagues. “But it’s not a test or a name-and-shame exercise,” he added. Instead, it has proved a useful way of building mutual support.

The evaluation method is to help teachers assess their growth. They will have to fill up an online form with different questions, some of which quiz the teacher on content knowledge, classroom participation and student retention.

But, teachers can also use self-evaluation to try out new ideas. “During training, we were shown different case studies.  We are asked what we can do differently in class,” said Anita Dhond, a teacher with IES King George School, Dadar.

Nanda Kumar said there was scope to develop self-evaluation further so that teachers do not just assess their knowledge of subjects and teaching skills, but what students get out of the lesson.