School Improvement in Multigrade Situation (SIMS):
An Innovation of the PDCC
The Professional Development Centre, Chitral (PDCC), since its establishment, is committed to work with its partner education providers for the improvement of quality of teaching and learning in schools. The PDCC believes that effective teaching and learning in primary schools acts as a foundation stone to higher education, which is currently not happening in majority of our primary schools. Multigrade situation (two or three teachers for six classes) in primary schools is one of the many reasons for School Improvement in Multigrade Situation (SIMS), which was piloted in five schools aimed to improve the current Multigrade Teaching (MGT) situation in schools. This study intended to explore some of the successes, challenges and lessons learnt as a result of the SIMS intervention.
The focus of the study was to asses the mentioned intervention for effectively implementing multigrade teaching in multigrade situations. For the purpose of exploration, we used a number of inquiry tools. For example, on-going assessment of teachers during workshops, field visit reports (field notes) of Professional Development Teachers (PDTs) who facilitated the teachers of pilot schools, classroom observation of teaching and learning, formal (interviews) and informal discussions with students and teachers, and teacher reflective journals.
The collected data was brought together in order to develop themes. Through the comparison of the data collected from various sources, it was found that SIMS creates better teaching and learning environment in the classroom, makes school a happy place for the students to be in, and provides opportunity of sharing resources. However, MGT demands for both capacity and will of all the stakeholders, especially the teachers.