In-service Teacher Training for Public Primary Schools in Rural India

The paper represents an amalgamation of different viewpoints of teachers, cluster resource co-ordinators, resource persons, and staff members from district and state level offices of SSA, DIET, Department of Education and SCERT, on the challenges and opportunities usually associated with the in-service teacher trainings in public primary schools. The research methodology employed for this papers follows the mixed-method design, combining qualitative data from individual interviews (n=16) and focus group discussions (n=20), and observations with a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of primary school teachers (n=789) in the two districts surveyed. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations to the local governments and education authorities that it has arrived upon from a consolidation of findings from different sources. It encourages the district education unites to view educational needs of their respective region through an integrated approach. It encourages the local offices to partner with other actors in the field to better understand educational quality and achievement and its determining factors: teacher training, school participation, district level education and budget planning, school environment, and monitoring and evaluation.