Abstract
Availability of diverse teaching–learning resources (TLR) or curricular materials (CM) is considered a prerequisite for good pedagogical practices in our system, but the understanding with which teachers use these resources in the classroom is detrimental to creative classroom processes and critical pedagogy. Teaching–learning material (TLM) has been a part of popular discourse on school education and teaching practices for a long time. However, what constitutes popular discourse often runs the risk of becoming cliched and hollow. TLM met a similar fate along with other concepts and terms such as ‘joyful learning’, ‘child-friendly approach’ and ‘activity-based learning’. Hence, it is necessary to unpack and analyse TLR to exploit their potential. Is the textbook the sole TLR or is it one of the many resources used in the classroom? What objective do we have in mind when we use a particular resource? What value addition do multiple resources make to the teaching–learning process in the classroom? How does the use of resources affect the classroom ethos? What is the nature and quality of these resources? Do resources have cognitive, cultural and pedagogic relevance? What theoretical perspectives does a particular TLR reflect? Does it have resonance with the way children learn? All these dimensions of TLR need to be analysed threadbare.
The book Teaching–Learning Resources for School Education is fairly exhaustive and consists of 24 chapters divided into six broad sections. Some chapters deal with the conceptualisation of TLR and with theoretical and pedagogical perspectives; some others discuss subject-specific, social context-specific and resource-specific concerns, as well as TLR in teacher education programmes. The coverage of this wide array of topics offers a good overview of path-breaking and innovative work being undertaken by organisations and schools like Eklavya, Digantar, Jeevangram, Centre for Learning and Aksharnandan. The range of TLRs covered in the book include textbooks, children’s literature, drawings, drama, toys made out of trash, Montessori materials and radio and digital resources.
To conceptualise TLR, Disha Nawani lists various types of resources and makes a distinction between good and bad resources based on some broad principles such as understanding how TLR supports and reinforces learning. More importantly, by juxtaposing popular notions of ‘joyful learning’ and ‘activity-based learning’ with TLR, Nawani discusses how the process of learning cannot be devoid of cognitive challenges and children’s agency. The discussion of TLM must necessarily be accompanied by a fleshing out of the notion of ‘activity’. TLR and activities are often reduced to merely being a means of interjecting joy and fun in the classroom, and not much thought is given to reflecting on whether they actually help children understand the relevant content and related concepts.
Preeti Mishra and H. K. Dewan’s chapter on activities critically examines perceptions of TLR-related activities and establishes the rationale for choosing an activity on theoretical grounds, including Piaget’s cognitive perspective and Vygotsky’s perspective of social interaction. They substantiate their arguments by discussing some concrete activities in the context of the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme and Prashika (Prathamik Shiksha Karyakram).
Padma Sarangapani’s article focuses on the cognitive and pedagogic considerations of resources. Based on a three-year-long study on the design and use of TLR among in-service and pre-service teachers, the essay unearths the ground-level realities and issues pertaining to TLRs and argues that TLRs are often reduced to being ‘accessorial’ or ‘add-on’ in character; they are seldom integral to teaching–learning processes. Sarangapani meticulously examines the historical evolution of the conception of resources, tracing the origins to the ideas of the nineteenth-century thinkers like Pestalozzi and Froebel, to Dewey’s learning philosophy of ‘doing’ and reflecting’, and to Montessori’s more didactic resources. However, the relevance of a good resource transcends its subject boundaries. For example, visuals and images in addition to being used in the teaching of geography can serve multiple creative purposes in a language classroom, allowing space for children’s observation and imagination.
Textbooks are an indispensable resource for school education in India, and in spite of the changing discourse of education, they continue to be the sole TLR in most schools. Though analysis of textbooks is an integral part of many teacher education programmes, a nuanced understanding of the textbook regime has yet to be ingrained in the system. Fortunately, C.N. Subramaniam’s essay does precisely that. He discusses at length the idea of the textbook and argues that ‘since education typically has to oscillate between a neat a priori construction and the tortuous path of inquiry’ (p. 131), a textbook needs to reconceptualise the subject with which it deals. Tracing the origin of the textbook-centric culture to the agenda of colonial rule, Subramaniam argues that it was aimed at inculcating a mindset that accepted the ‘civilising mission’ of colonialism. As mass education expanded in the post-independence period, this textbook-centric culture proliferated, resulting in the nationalisation of textbooks. The authority, or stranglehold, of textbooks can be broken only if teachers are exposed to alternative perspectives. Here, it is important to understand that the dominance of textbooks means the intervention of the state, the intellectual disempowerment of the teacher and the denial of the opportunity to children to reflect and participate.
However, textbooks are here to stay. Therefore, it is important to know how to engage with them critically and creatively. H. K. Dewan and Rajni Dwivedi discuss the issues and challenges involved in the development of textbooks, which are also good indicators for evaluating a textbook. Their article examines some state-level textbook development projects in the last decade and a half, but their approach is less analytical and more like process documentation, the relevance of which in a book on TLR is hard to argue for. Second, no discussion on textbook development in India can be complete without a mention of textbook preparation by NCERT in the post-NCF 2005 period and of the textbooks published by SCERT Delhi that preceded the NCERT process. The absence of these two efforts in the article is rather surprising. Indeed, after the Bal Vaigyanik series and the Khushi-Khushi series of Eklavya, Hoshangabad, the textbooks of Delhi SCERT followed by the textbooks of NCERT were practically the first landmark series produced with state funding.
Had the authors identified some specific contents of the state SCERT and NCERT books, it would have made for a better argument for the importance of textbooks as a resource. Third, the nature of the challenges involved in writing textbooks is often discipline-specific, and this aspect needs to be discussed separately. For example, language textbooks are very different in content and objective, and hence merit a separate discussion, especially because language transcends disciplinary boundaries. Some key concerns in a language textbook could be the selection of authentic texts rather than texts developed in-house, the aesthetics of language, the acquisition of registers and the multiple points of entry into a text.
Prachi Kalra’s essay, ‘Books that Worm into You’, looks at children’s literature from the perspective of early literacy and reader’s response theory. No doubt the mainstreaming of these perspectives in our education system is essential, and the significance of these cannot be overemphasised. However, children’s literature cannot be viewed through the prism of ‘connection with literacy’ and ‘reading for pleasure’ alone. While representing life, children’s literature also unfolds the culture of the times and the region. In addition, it exposes the reader to a diversity of languages with respect to style, genre and register. To that end, we need to redefine the boundaries of children’s literature. Not all the categories that are usually identified are exhaustive enough to include diverse kinds of texts. For example, some books, although narrative in format, present information in a creative manner. For instance, Gaon ka Baccha (Eklavya) beautifully highlights the importance of community culture in rural life. Similarly, Mahasweta Devi’s book Itwa Munda ne Ladai Jiti (NBT) depicts tribal (Adivasi) life and culture effectively and realistically through its narrative style. Second, the narratives of children’s literature are often implicitly linked with various constructs and concepts, and thus serve as a scaffold to develop an understanding of the latter in other subject domains as well. The author would have done well to discuss the use of literature across the curriculum. Lastly, the examples of literature referred to in the article are largely those prescribed at the primary level. The inclusion of literature meant for children in the 10–14 years age group would have made for a richer discussion, providing examples of the reader’s response perspective.
Discussing the relationship between text and images, Alex M. George examines different types of visuals that figure in textbooks and serve as a resource. From an insider’s perspective, he makes some insightful points and raises pertinent issues involved in illustrations such as those depicting disability. In contrast, Karen Haydock approaches visuals and drawings from a different perspective. She questions the objectives of teaching drawing in school, since it is largely perceived as copying or creating standard images (e.g., drawing a house with a specific kind of roof or a mountain with an angular top). Haydock looks at drawing as TLR primarily in the context of science, whereas George focuses on TLR in the context of social science. However, drawings, visuals and images also have immense possibilities as TLR in the language and mathematics classroom. Indeed, some examples discussed by Haydock are also relevant from the language perspective. Like doing science, doing language is about using language in different contexts, in different forms and for different functions, as discussed by Michael Halliday, Guy Su Pinnell and Krishna Kumar. Also, children’s art is essentially a visual representation of thought and emotion. At the same time, it can also be a resource for facilitating observation, stimulating imagination, making hypotheses, etc. This role or contribution of visual resources does not emerge in any of the essays.
Based on the findings of an ongoing longitudinal project in Karnataka and Maharashtra, Shailaja Menon and Bindu Thirumalai explore curricular material relevant for early literacy purposes. In their examination of the role of TLR both in the scholarly literature as well as in popular discourse, they also present the perspective supported by Michael Apple and others according to which CM ‘deskill’ teachers ‘by taking important professional decisions away’ (p. 386) from them. Menon and Thirumalai argue that the ‘uneven role’ of TLR could be addressed by constantly updating teachers’ knowledge and learning so that they resonate with current reforms and innovations. ‘If teachers approach the use of new materials with old perspective[s], it is highly likely that they will appropriate and modify the new materials to their old belief systems’ (p. 386).
Mythili Ramchand’s essay is a reality check on the understanding of the role of TLR in the area of pre-service teacher education. Based on a study in some schools in Karnataka, it offers insights into the conceptualisation and use of TLR among students and student–teachers. The study is significant because it examines the underlying challenges in developing a critical understanding of TLRs and their thoughtful and integrated use in the classroom. Answers to the concerns raised by Ramchand can be partially found in Rohit Setty’s essay in which he argues that to teach in intellectually ambitious ways, proficiency in subject-matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and adaptive expertise are needed.
TLRs cannot be a general and neutral object. Their relevance is dependent on the context in which they are used. This important point is convincingly argued in the essay Khel Khel Mein by Surya Pratap Deka, Kanika Saraf and Swapnil Gaikwad. Contesting the construction of the ‘innocent child’, they argue instead for the construction of a sociocultural child who engages in ‘actively creating new meaning in their interaction with the world’ (p.110). The essay, based on the authors’ experience and association with Jeevangram School in western Maharashtra, is essential reading for a nuanced understanding of TLR.
While the book is fairly comprehensive, there is a slight imbalance between the subject area covered and the resources included in the volume. Despite the fact that four chapters focus on language and related issues, some important aspects of language remain unexplored. For example, teaching English in a society like ours is a huge challenge. A sound pedagogy of teaching English based on language-acquisition principles has yet to be developed and mainstreamed. To meet this requirement, we need to not only identify and create suitable TLR imaginatively, but also to facilitate the pedagogic empowerment of teachers. TLRs often have a potential for disciplinary integration, but that dimension somehow is not presented in the book. For example, resources like photographs, advertisements and cartoons have considerable potential for exploration across subjects. Posters of poetry can be used creatively to develop an appreciation of the aesthetics of language and visuals across all levels, from primary to middle to senior secondary classes; they can be a good medium of generating discussion around the issues raised in the text and in visual depictions. Likewise, films can serve as an effective TLR, but they do not figure in any of the essays.
The book is certainly rich in content and vast in range, covering theoretical perspectives as well as practice-tested concrete materials. However, the large number of essays means it is difficult to classify them effectively into different sections given the multiple parameters and subject domains involved. The attempt to address too many issues and explore too many dimensions has affected the organisation of the book. A thinner, more focused, and hence more valuable volume would have been possible if some contributors had resisted the temptation to elaborate on their endeavours. Essays that do not directly help crystallise the concept of resources could have been compiled in a separate volume.
Having said that, Nawani’s efforts as volume editor in compiling and organising the vast array of material are praiseworthy. Also noteworthy is the fact that the book has been brought out as a textbook to keep the cost low and to ensure a wider readership. This also reflects the contributors’ belief in the fundamental significance of the textbook despite their reservations about its excessive and exclusive use as a singular resource in the classroom.
The book makes use of a number of thoughtful illustrations that have been especially prepared to highlight important ideas in each chapter. The illustrators—Swapnil Gaikwad, a design school graduate, and Kavin Ghatak, a young school student—have worked efficiently and closely with Nawani to retain the pedagogic worth of these illustrations, which are not simply used as fillers or to add aesthetic value to the book. Through the clever use of wit, sarcasm and pathos, they convey all that is problematic with our education system, be it the image of an ideal student (one with a finger on her lips), or pressure on the teachers to make her teaching joyful (a senior teacher dancing around in the classroom), or even the futility of stand-alone images in textbooks for visually handicapped students. At the same time, there are positive images that make sensible use of resources and throw up immense possibilities in a space that is little understood and often focused on trivia. Paper of better quality would have made the illustrations more attractive and effective.
On the whole, the volume is significant for three main reasons. First, it is probably the first book of its kind on TLR that is rooted in the indigenous context and every chapter is based on Indian classroom experiences, studies and projects. Second, it addresses many pertinent issues related to pedagogy and classroom processes. It familiarises the reader with many radical ideas that have materialised into fine innovative practices across the country in the past few decades. Third, the contributors come from varied backgrounds, ranging from school teachers, teacher educators, people working for non-profit organisations in education and university academics.
This is an essential and valuable resource for teacher educators, student–teachers, teachers and practitioners. A translation of the book into Hindi and other Indian languages comprising some select articles would be a welcome step.