Search

This is a report of the Two-Day National Seminar on New Directions in Higher Education, organized by the Kerala State Higher Education Council on 12th and 13th July 2010. The objective of the seminar was to deliberate upon the reforms being undertaken by the Government of India in Higher Education. Reputed scholars from within and outside the state of Kerala participated in the seminar held in the Senate Chamber of Kerala University. The author was a delegate of the seminar and had closely followed the presentations and has attempted to document them. The main issues discussed by the speakers and a gist of the comments offered by the audience is included in the report. Most of the speakers had circulated the text of their presentation. Significant observations included in those circulated papers have also been included in the report. The entire proceedings of the seminar was being recorded and is likely to be published by the Kerala State Higher Education Council. But that may take some time.

Higher education equips people to inculcate the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today's world. In India, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focuses on key reforms in higher education that make ready the next generation to flourish and succeed in the new digital age. So the higher education system should ensure the quality meets the same. In this regard, the system needs to instill in students the hope for their success. Despite this, some students are lacking it because of the prevailing educational practices. The pass percentage of undergraduate students is not so high. This means that higher education is lacking something. The present paper reports on a qualitative exploration study using sequential semi-structured interviews on the perceptions and attributions of academically failed undergraduate students from the Malappuram District of Kerala (N=10). Reasons for their academic failure attributed to the Teacher, Curricular, Transactional, Learner and Institutional related practices in their undergraduate programme were identified and suggestions there for improvement of higher education practices were derived. The recommendations by the young learners can be implemented to make the higher education system more learner-friendly and the findings here will help to enhance the curricular reforms and improve the excellence of higher education.

Timely analysis of trends and issues in TVE can help TVE stakeholders cope with rather than oppose them. Educating in the direction of the trend and resolving the important issues can maximize TVE's chance of success. The purpose of this paper was to identify trends and issues in the TVE in 10 Indo-Pacific countries. To achieve this purpose, a cross-country analysis with a word cloud analysis was employed. Consequently, the following nine trends were identified: (1) Accelerated adaptation to emerging technologies and the evolution of industry; (2) Improving or diversifying TVE accessibility and increasing the enrollment rate; (3) Enhancing alignment between the TVE and higher education sectors; (4) Promoting employment-based, work-based, or competency-based learning models; (5) Strengthening TVE educators'/trainers' practical skills, industrial working experience, or qualification requirements; (6) Gearing TVE with lifelong learning; (7) Encouraging employer or industry involvement in TVE; (8) Enhancing quality assurance and autonomy in the TVE system; and (9) Providing more career counseling or career exploration. In addition, the following six issues were identified: (1) TVE does not have the same positive public image as academic education; (2) Insufficiency of qualified TVE trainers/teachers; (3) Extreme challenges to teach hands-on skills online; (4) Weak involvement of social partners; (5) Fragmentation of TVET management; and (6) The continued lack of a well-constructed qualification framework and quality assurance system.

Taking the premise that construction or meaning making largely depends on the existing knowledge and experience, this paper uses an analogy of learning the culinary art and learning to teach. This paper attempts to clarify the characteristics of signature pedagogy of teacher education focusing on the threshold concept of constructivism by using the analogy of culinary skills as the contextual/environmental element. It is assumed that the analogy helps the student teachers to comprehend the meaning of the abstract idea of constructivism because in the cultural context of Kerala most student teachers are clear about what it means to learn how to learn cooking. This paper fits into the theme of this conference as future teachers and teacher educators would learn how to relate something as abstract as constructivism with something intimately connected with life and cultural environment as learning to nourish oneself and the younger ones. While cooking facilitates nourishment of body, teaching facilitates learning and development of mind. Building upon the analogy between these two essential process of sustaining and developing human life and culture, this paper augments its arguments with the concepts of signature pedagogy and threshold concepts and elaborates on how these ideas would help to further clarify and improve the theory and practice of constructivism in teacher education. [This paper was published in "Environmental Psychology: Perspectives on Teacher Education" p19-28 2017 (ISBN 978-81-933464-0-2).]

In view of the strengthening momentum in efforts to reforms in examinations in higher education of India and Kerala in particular, and holding that teacher education is in privileged position to initiate examination reforms in higher education by virtue of its link with both school education and the higher education, this paper focuses attention to a number of practical challenges in the scoring of answer scripts of B.Ed degree examinations. Investigating the length of answer scripts, reading speed of teacher educators, and requirement of number of scripts to be evaluated by teacher educators, this paper further explores the criteria applied by evaluators in scoring the scripts and the match/mismatch between the type of question included in the examination and the real scheme of scoring applied while evaluating the scripts. Employing analysis of question papers and answer scripts, and structured interview with evaluators in a centralized valuation camp in one university of Kerala, the study found that with an average speed of 136 words/minute in reading answer scripts among teacher educators, and length of answer scripts from 2352 to 3696 words depending upon the paper, the estimated time for reading a script ranges from 17.29 to 27.17 minutes. The actual time (7.85 minutes) spent on evaluation is less than half the estimated time. Evaluators reports valuing on "points only' "scanning for terms and phrases" "scoring by habit" etc. though the question papers frequently require the students to explain, describe, distinguish, define, bring about meaning, how and why questions apart from what questions, listing and outlining. Conducting and evaluating online examinations, multiple-choice-items and development of evaluation competencies and further strengthening of contents of measurement and evaluation at M.Ed level may help remedy the situation.

The context of this paper is studies worldwide on influence of phonological factors in language development of children. Such studies reveal the significance of Phonological Awareness in development language skills: including, predictive value of phonological short-term memory for reading skills in Grade 1. This paper throws light on factors in language learning that associate to failure in completion of lower primary grades in their first school. This paper analyses data obtained during a longitudinal study of school and pupil factors that leads to language difficulties in lower primary classes. The sample was cohort of students enrolled in grade 1 in the year 2010, in 11 coastal primary schools in Thrissur district (include government and aided schools). The sample was followed until 2013, through four academic years. This paper analyses phonological awareness and letter reading in Grade 1 of two distinct groups in the initial sample of 199 lower primary students. One group consists of those who successfully were promoted to Grade 4 in the same school by fourth academic year. Second group is of those who dropped out, retained or transferred to another school, before the completion of the first four years of schooling. Thus, this study tests difference, if any, in the performance of Phonological awareness and letter reading skills of groups that succeed and fail to successfully complete lower primary grades in their first school. This paper adds to understanding the problem of drop out and stagnation, which is traditionally attributed to poverty, child labour, malnutrition, and diseases among other societal and school factors. Implications are added. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

The instrument of pre-service teacher education is to ensure that entrant teachers holistically understand the concept of education. It is premised that after the pre-service preparation, teachers will be competent and committed to their task of developing values in the future citizens by providing younger generation with learning experiences for holistic development of mind-body, intellect and emotions. The most potent resource for teachers to develop values in their students is time and curricular prescriptions at their disposal in schools. Students imbibe values, if their teachers use these resources with required sense of purpose, planning, and commitment in different teaching acts like explaining, questioning, projects and assignments, examination and evaluation, feedback and reinforcement, dealing with student problems and, of course, in their less formal interaction with students. It is in this context that this study explored the preferred teaching behaviors of student-teachers who have almost completed their pre-service secondary teacher education course from University of Calicut, Kerala. The findings suggest that the student teachers are inconsistent in their preferences with respect to different aspects of teaching - like set goals, lesson planning, classroom explanation, questioning, reinforcing the student behaviours, giving projects, scoring the scripts, and student evaluation and self-evaluation. The paper argues that this inconsistent preference among student-teachers, if allowed to persist in their classrooms, will affect their students' ability to form coherent personalities with well-knit goals, actions, and preferences. Hence, the paper suggests teacher education curricula to give more opportunities for reflective practice such that future teachers formulate better-integrated styles of teaching (2 tables and 8 references included).

The paper is the outcome of an experiential learning episode encountered by a teacher educator (the author) with a group of student-teachers under his mentorship during a session of the practice teaching programme (2006-07) at the secondary school level. The crisis faced by a student teacher in connection with the development of a lesson template based on Brunarian theory of concept development and Joyce and Weil's formulation of Information Processing Family of Models of Teaching turned out to be an occasion of "Eureka" to construct a new version of Concept Attainment Model (CAM) of teaching. Here the practitioners involved in the exploration proposes a twist to Concept Attainment Model of teaching, namely Mutual Comparison Reception Model of CAM, which seems to be highly suitable for the learning of those secondary level science concepts which are interlinked in the conceptual ladder. The field level experiences of the student teachers with the proposed model of teaching (2007-09) are also reviewed in the paper. The paper also annexes a selected lesson template developed by the student teachers based on the proposed model. (Contains 1 table and 2 footnotes.)

This paper examines the ICT curriculum in the teacher education programmes of Kerala in the context of globalization. Globalization indicates interconnectivity of technologies (Kushner. 2008). The quality of education is a direct outcome of the quality of teacher education system. Due to globalization, the last five decades witnessed several attempts to change and modify the inherited system of teacher education. The technological advancement had affected these modifications. The ICT curriculum implementation is one such change. The paper compares curriculum in India and other developed countries and it was found that the developed countries have a much more highly technological oriented curriculum than India. Personal interviews and discussions were conducted among the teacher educators who are handling ICT in the teacher education colleges. On the basis of interviews and discussions many problems in dealing with the ICT in teacher education programmes are found. It is found that there exists a wide gap between the ICT curriculum and changing needs of the society when looking things in a global perspective. It also examined the reason behind the gap between the ICT curriculum and changing needs of the society. The teachers are not competent enough to handle ICT paper in teacher training colleges there was no specialist teacher to handle the ICT paper. It also found out lots more problems behind. Finally the paper looks into the challenges and issues faced by teacher educators in the fullest utilization of information and communication technology. Since globalization is creating fast paced, competitive environment through technology and communication which education must keep up with. The coming generation cannot be effective in tomorrow's world if they are trained in yesterday's skills.

This paper addresses gender specific issues in mentoring through a focused review of mentoring literature. It highlights the relevance of cross gender mentoring in the context of women's career growth in Indian business organizations. The paper concludes by recommending relationship constellations as an innovative solution to the problems associated with cross gender mentoring dyads. Implications for mentoring in Indian organizations are discussed in light of the proposed recommendations.

Gender discrimination in India affects poor women's socio-economic development. This paper describes and interprets recurrent themes indicating that the Indian government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other international human rights organizations show growing concerns regarding gender inequality in India. As it is not within the scope of this paper to cover India's vast continent, only certain states will be highlighted. [For complete proceedings, see ED491481.]

Difficulties in mathematics learning are a multi-faceted issue and the role of language in it is crucial. Language of mathematics includes mathematics text, discourse in classroom and language used in evaluation situations with its specific verbal, symbolic expressions, structure and function. Ambiguity arising from the difference between formal language of mathematics and the multiplicity of meanings in everyday language aggravates concerns related to the linguistic factors in mathematics learning. A distinction between difficulty from lack of knowledge of concepts and processes of mathematics and difficulty arising from fluency of expressing such skills in appropriate language is often vague. Hence, difficulties faced by students in relation to language of mathematics in different vernacular contexts is to be thoroughly studied for helping teachers to successfully impart the process of mathematization. This paper reports a preliminary diagnostic investigation through descriptive survey, with a mathematical language test to identify difficulty arising from language related aspects of mathematics learning in Malayalam language at elementary level. The sample consisted of 200 students in 7th standard (age 11-12) of Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala. Association between perceived difficulty in learning Mathematics and difficulties in mathematics language is also analysed. Excluding semantics, all others components of language of Mathematics are highly difficult. Furthermore, difficulties generated by all the components of Mathematical vocabulary, Morphology and pragmatics are contributing to perception of maths as a difficult subject. Unquestionably, the challenges in learning mathematics go beyond the language issues, but the linguistic challenges need to be addressed for students to be successful in attaining aims of mathematics learning.

The diversity in educational contexts found in India should be viewed as a valuable feature and as a unique challenge. In an era of greater globalization and educational standardization, of policy borrowing and of international comparisons of achievement, there is a high demand and need to respect context and to appreciate how countries with different traditions and resources deal with the challenges of teacher education. For example, Indian cultural traditions have much to say about the virtues needed of teachers and the roles teachers played in developing its age old rich heritage. Reports say that Singapore seeks to draw upon its links to Asian traditions while it simultaneously appropriates ideas from Anglo-Saxon and continental traditions. This is not simply a matter of ensuring representation but a unique and distinct way of integrating traditions within which education and pedagogic systems are embedded that can provide valuable insights. Both researchers and policy makers want the same thing--high quality teachers. Both want evidence of what is likely to work best. While the practice is to rely on the best available evidence and scholarship, it is equally important to clearly set out some propositions to guide policy choices. The balance has been difficult to achieve; however, it is hoped that it could be achieved to a reasonable extent. In the context of curriculum revisions happened in the country as per NCTE [National Council of Teacher Education] norms, the present paper tries to find out whether the new direction tries to chisel out a workable quality assured teacher preparation scenario in the country.

Mathematics is an indispensable subject of school curriculum and is important in daily living as well as in the study of other subjects. However, there is a common belief that majority of the students dislike mathematics, owing to an array of factors related to instruction and learners' cognitive, affective and psychomotor attributes, subject matter and the learning environment. This paper elaborates on the affective factors influencing learning of school mathematics as perceived by the learners. A questionnaire survey was conducted on a random sample of 51 standard IX students to obtain data on their mathematics related expectancies, task value beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, epistemological beliefs, goal orientation, interest and anxiety. Among these students, 88% selected mathematics as the subject hated by them and only 6% report they like mathematics. Major reasons to dislike mathematics were related to difficulty in understanding the subject matter, and teacher or instructional related factors. When 20% rated mathematics as a very difficult subject, 54% reported medium difficulty, with only 10% considering it as an easy subject. Around 42% fail to identify the ways to solve problems provided in their textbook. A large division of students use blind strategies in learning mathematics and possess less adaptive self efficacy beliefs and epistemological beliefs. Implications are added.

In India, the concept of inclusive education schools is gaining importance to provide equal opportunities for education for all. Aims of schools in India has is to include students with special needs in the regular classrooms. However, biggest challenge they face is lack of awareness among teachers about inclusive education. Educationists across India have felt the need to make teachers aware about inclusive education. This research paper discusses about the effect of inclusive education awareness programme, developed to create awareness among preservice teachers. Methodology used was quasi-experimental design-pretest and posttest non-equivalent group along with factorial design to study the interactive effect of moderator variables on treatment. Questionnaire on awareness about inclusive education was prepared, it comprises of 48 items, and its reliability index is 0.85 by Split-Half method and 0.88 by Cronbach's Alpha. Purposive sampling technique was used and sample consisted of 77 preservice teachers in the experimental group and 53 in the control group from two colleges offering D.T.Ed (Diploma in Teacher Education) Course. Treatment, inclusive education awareness programme was implemented using different interactive teaching methods for 52 hours across five weeks. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics t-test, ANOVA (Two-way), Wolf's test. Findings revealed that preservice teachers from experimental group have gained awareness about inclusive education to a moderate extent. No significant interactive effect of gender, socio-economic status, social intelligence, emotional intelligence and treatment was found. This confirms that treatment given to experimental group was effective.

Numerous researches have demonstrated the enormous role of teachers in achievements of students. Educated and motivated teacher that cares about the success of students devotes more effort to preparing the lesson and thus provides the students better conditions for achieving results. The problem occurs when teachers are not equally qualified, motivated and prepared so it is justified to ask why some people even opt for the teaching profession if they have no motivation for this noble profession. The purpose of this study is to highlight the diversities of the admission requirements to teacher colleges in developed and developing countries. Diversity of admission requirements will show that the selection of candidates can affect students' later academic achievements. Comparative analysis between developed and developing countries, precisely Finland, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Croatia, India, Russia and Turkey, determines if there are any differences in the admission requirements among the selected countries. The analysis and the qualitative approach to the statistical indicators of PISA tests conducted in 2012 show which group of countries achieves better results and points to the correlation of students' achievements and the admission requirements. Research results show that the developed countries have strict entry requirements to teacher colleges and have better understanding of the importance of selecting the best candidates into the teaching profession. Developed countries achieved better results in PISA tests which indicates to a connection between the selection of more capable candidates for teaching profession and student achievement. Research confirms that the role of the teacher is very important and that the future reforms of primary education should be extended to higher education, that is teacher education because teachers play a major role in the educational process. [This paper was published in "2nd International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences and Arts SGEM2015, Conference Proceedings, Book 1, Psychology & Psychiatry, Sociology & Healthcare, Education" (vol 2, p17-24). Sofia, Bulgaria: STEF92 Technology. doi: 10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2015/B12/S3.003.]

A Green school is energy efficient, higher performing school that can be environmentally beneficial. Importance of Green school lies in the environmental friendliness value it upholds. Service learning has emanated out of philosophies of progressiveness and pragmatism. Service learning enables students to grow and learn through active participation in community service activities that are clearly connected to their academic program. (Bringle R.G., 1996) The "Haritha Vidyalayam" Project in Kerala is resonant with the Greening of schools adopted in the western countries in 1990's. The "Swach Bharat Abhiyan" can be entangled to service learning activities and green school projects because it's based on Article 51A. The probable question that shoots out of research is how the green schools are related to the service learning? The critical answer for this is the distant aim that both green school and service learning projects "the welfare of the community." The clubbing of society and the school can bring about a greater good for the environment through sustainable development. The Green school as an extended arm of service learning can cater to the needs of the school, society and each individual human being involved within. This paper elaborates upon the "Haritha Vidyalayam" project and steps to enhance green schooling as part of service learning.

An English teacher uses Skype to connect his high school students in an Indian village with international teachers to help them interact and converse with them in English. Each international teacher interacts with the students in English once for 40 minutes. The teacher does that daily, and each day an international guest teacher is from a different country. The aims of this study are to report the effects of this kind of intercultural exchange on students' English language skill development and cultural and global awareness. Results showed many benefits for the students: Listening and speaking skill enhancement, getting used to different native and non-native accents, improved pronunciation, and learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures. The students also learn names of countries, their location, flags, currency, cities, people, and exchange information and pictures about the local and target cultures. They learn about the foreign country's educational system, history, antiquities, food, art, traditions, and costumes. They are taken on virtual field trips to some historical places and museums. They learn about natural phenomena such as the northern lights. Sometimes they receive books, T-shirts and pens as gifts from foreign teachers. Shortcomings of such intercultural exchange and suggestions for improvement are given.

Chemistry is widely perceived as difficult. Specialized language, mathematical and abstract conceptual nature, and the amount of content are often cited reasons. Researchers have been trying to explain how students should be helped in learning chemistry better. This paper reports the results of a survey to identify the chemistry units in standard nine that are perceived as being difficult by students in Kerala state stream. The sample consists of 1382 standard X students, both males and females, from three high schools from that many revenue districts in Kerala. Six chemistry units were listed in a chart and presented to students so that each student may opt any one unit that s/he thinks the most difficult. The result shows that majority of pupil faces difficulty mainly in the unit on Periodic Table and Chemical Bonding. Since conceptual understanding in chemistry is related to the ability to explain chemical phenomena through the use of macroscopic, molecular and symbolic levels of representation; the authors suggests that innovative learning strategies be used by teachers at all levels of chemistry education to enhance the students' motivation to learn chemistry. Innovation in science education can contribute to the favourable learning environment in schools. Adopting innovative instructional strategies appropriate to the nature of the topic can create a good and favourable environment in classroom. This may in turn make further learning easier for students. (Contains 1 Table and 1 figure.)

In the era of globalisation, provision of quality education is increasingly gaining importance across the world. Like elsewhere, it has already been realised in India that equal attention is needed simultaneously on access, equity and quality to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education. It has also been experienced that although the majority of children in India today have access to school education, all of them are not receiving quality education for various reasons, leading to poor learning level, repetition and gradual exclusion from school education. Large achievement gaps are found among different groups of children attending schools located in different regions and managed by government and private providers. Using the primary data collected from 88 schools of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, this paper attempts to critically examine the extent to which the quality of school affects access and participation of children particularly in rural areas. It also investigates problems of inadequate infrastructure and academic facilities: how these are affecting the quality of education; who are the children most affected by poor quality schools and therefore facing problems of locational disadvantage; and the influence of gender and social background of children on their access to quality education. (Contains 2 footnotes, 9 figures, and 34 tables.)

This paper discusses the need for new model and approach to solve the problem of illiteracy of the most backward section of the society-women among scheduled and other backward classes. The empirical support for the study is testing, interview and observation conducted on the present status of 100 from among 1,500 adult learners who attended a total primary education programme designated as "yothirgamaya Programme", in Nilambur Grama Panchayat in 2007, the first local body to be declared as acquired "Total Primary Education" in the most literate state of India, i.e., Kerala. While the participants of the programme commented positively about the impact of the programme, the specific retention of the acquired abilities in terms of reading and writing of Malayalam and functional use of arithmetic is found too feeble. Though the programme has employed the mass movement through campaign mode, utilizing nearly one local facilitator per every 10 adult-learners, based on well-prepared study materials and the strategies that are known to generate involvement of the participants, spending almost 15 hundred rupees per the learner; the outcome is found not retainable. Impediments in the development of literacy among the most backward classes are discussed and a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for literacy assessment is recommended.

Quality education aims at the full participation by all learners. This requires identifying the strategies for overcoming the barriers to full participation for individuals and groups, which experience discrimination and marginalisation. Social inclusion is strengthened when hitherto uncovered and excluded population is brought into the mainstream of the social structure. National Curriculum Framework 2005 called for a different model for teacher education in order to make teacher education setting more inclusive. To be ready for future, we must prepare teachers who are inclusive, who are inclusive in their mental set up and who can meet the needs of all students. But, "do inclusion rather than exclusivity characterize the teachers of future?" This paper reports a study which employed sociometric technique to probe the affiliations among classmates on a representative sample of 214 future-teachers, belonging to seven classroom groups who have nearly completed their B.Ed degree. Results show that, in all the seven groups irrespective of their subjects of study, socially and economically backward students tend to be excluded from the inner core of the classroom group. Social acceptance of the socially and economically backward members is weaker among prospective teachers. Teachers themselves have not learned to practice inclusive philosophy. The findings calls for a new curriculum model consisting of collaborative planning, co-operative learning, group process skills and collaborative evaluation that helps teachers in developing and implementing education in more inclusive settings. (Contains 2 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to link the notions of language learning and leadership, using Gandhi as a case study. Theoretical Framework: This work is studied through a constructivist lens, and is further influenced by Educational Leadership thinkers such as Michael Fullan (2006). Methodology: Choosing a broad general theme of interest (e.g. Leadership). Choosing a role model with that field. Conduct a case study of the role model, focussing on his or her language learning. Presenting the findings. Reflecting on the process. Conclusions: Gandhi provides an excellent case study for those interested in language learning and leadership. This example may be extrapolated for classroom use. Additional data: Classroom activity included. A bibliography is also provided.

Higher education professionals generally work in an information and communication technology (ICT) rich environment. In this paper, we present the findings of a study of computer competencies of higher education teachers working in the arts and science colleges of Puducherry region. The present research is aimed at answering the research questions about the extent and frequency of the faculty members use of computer applications for teaching learning processes, their main concerns regarding using technology in teaching and their preferences of technology training methods for professional development. Questionnaires, designed to provide an overview of the above said research parameters were administered to the 120 higher education teachers teaching in the arts and science colleges of Puducherry region. These results showed that faculty members are moderately competent in using internet, e-mail, word processing, presentation software, and transparencies and less competent in various other areas of technological tools. Their frequency of use in the moderately competent areas is high when compared to other tools. Therefore, a larger dose of training is required on the use of other technological tools. The main concern of the faculty members in using technology is they do not have proper and adequate technical support and most of them preferred workshop as their training strategy over methods. It can be concluded that with limited knowledge and resources these teachers were able to incorporate technology in their teaching-learning process and if they are provided with adequate training on the advanced technological tools to raise their level of competencies, no doubt they would bring innovations in their classrooms. (Contains 5 tables.)

Archbishop Mar Ivanios (1882-1953) was a visionary and his educational vision has relevance for today. He emancipated the socially marginalized and disenfranchised people of his time through his educational vision and practice. This article is the story of a small community of Christians and their leader who made a difference in their society. Hence, this paper examines, at first, the educational vision of Mar Ivanios in the context of Malankara Catholic Church in Kerala, India; second, it situates his vision in the context of the social ecology of the community in which Ivanios' educational vision took flesh; third, it looks at the education of women in his community and the disenfranchised segment of the society; finally, it delineates the realization of his vision and ends with some concluding remarks. [This article was published by "Public School Monitor" (Associates for Research on Private Education) v31 n2 Spr 2010 under the title, "Educating the Disenfranchised of India: The Story of Mar Ivanios and His Community."]

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have brought new possibilities to the education sector, but at the same time, they have placed more demands on teachers. They now have to learn how to cope with computers in their classrooms, how to compete with students in accessing the vast body of information chiefly via internet and how to use the hardware and software to enhance the teaching/learning process. Therefore the teachers have to spend more time for their Professional Development in order to reach the benefits of ICT to the learners. Ability of teachers in the uses of ICT for education entails sharing of knowledge among teacher educators, intra and Inter-institutional collaboration, and support from principals and administrators. These factors must be in place for the mother teacher educators, accepting their problems and stress they face in order to bring change in the classroom they handle through ICT. Mother teacher educators require ongoing support and opportunities to experiment with new skills and strategies over time. A professional development programme should therefore include more time and special provisions for developing leadership skills, such as decision-making, team building, communicating, and problem solving for mother teachers considering stress factors. Mothers Teachers Professional Development in ICT therefore face number of challenges. This paper discusses various critical components and challenges for professional development of mother teacher educators in ICT.

Information and Communication Technology in education is changing the way we teach, learn and conduct research. Today we have WIRE, WEB and WINDOWS leading to CONNECTIVITY, NETWORKING and APPLICATIONS. Not surprisingly the National Council of Teacher Education, (NCTE) India, decided to make ICT Literacy a compulsory part of the Pre-service course at the Secondary level. For any new programme to be of value, quality assurance should be ensured through appropriate steps right from the planning stage till the feed back stage. Unlike developed nations, India which cannot afford to invest heavily in ICT literacy for Pre-service courses. The paper suggests that networking of Teacher Education institutions can play a crucial role in maintaining quality. But what should he the nature of the input, process and output of ICT enabled Teacher Education? What involves in the Planning, Implementation, Monitoring, Supervising and Evaluation of an ICT integrated Teacher Education programme where Networking plays a key role? The author proposes a CCC formula (Creativity, Collaboration and Cooperation) to approach these questions. He also draws up a feasible plan for integrating ICT in Teacher Education programmes and goes on to suggest ways of drawing the rewards of Networking.

The present research endeavor was aimed to assess Gender differences in Mental Health Status of M.Ed. students in Kerala. The sample of the study consisted of 314 M.Ed. students, of which 49 were males and 265 were females in Kerala. The method used for the present study was survey method. Mental Health Status Scale (M.H.S. Scale) was used and t-test was used for the analysis of data. The statistical results of the study indicated that, there was no significant difference in each of the components of Mental Health Status with respect to Gender among the students in Kerala. In general, there was no significant difference in Mental Health Status with respect to Gender among the students in Kerala. Based on the findings obtained, the present study provides educational implications for better educational outcomes as well as for further researches in the research area based on the findings.

There is increasing realization that mathematics-related self-efficacy expectations are a strong predictor of an array of significant mathematics outcomes. It is also evident that the curricular practice in schools largely neglects development of a student understanding in the unique language of mathematics. Consequently, this study probes how much influence difficulties with different forms of Terms, Symbols, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics of Mathematics language exert on Self-efficacy belief in learning mathematics of upper primary Malayalam medium students. Mathematical language test administered on 200 standard VII students in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala provided 21 categories of language related difficulties. Learner report on self-efficacy in learning Mathematics was summarised as "can learn" or "cannot learn" mathematics. Chi square analyses revealed that difficulty with every components of Mathematics language other than semantics increases the risk of low self-efficacy in learning Mathematics. In general, the risk of low self-efficacy belief in mathematics is observed in nearly 50% to 25% more students with difficulty in Terms, Symbols, Morphology, Syntax, and Pragmatics of Mathematics language than among those without difficulty in these elements of mathematics. This study reiterated the significance of language of mathematics and its various components in achievement and performance of mathematics principles and skills as well as for affective factors, especially self-efficacy beliefs, which in turn impact student motivation to learn mathematics further. Along with suggestions to strengthen language of mathematics among the students, the study indicate to the importance of further exploring and analysing the difficulties arising while teaching mathematics in diverse language settings including Malayalam.

Aspects that influences mathematics learning is widely studied and language factors have been identified as a key backer to difficulties in learning Mathematics. It is evidenced that not only cognitive factors but also affective factors have vital role in learning mathematics. Such affective beliefs sources from various aspects of mathematics teaching learning process. This study explored influence of linguistic challenges that students encounter while learning mathematics on their attitude towards mathematics learning. A descriptive survey in a sample of 200 students in 7th standard in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala with a mathematical language test provided categories of language related difficulties in mathematics learning among Malayalam medium students. The test contained items on 21 areas of difficulties. Students rated their like towards Mathematics learning on a 3 point scale, which is later dichotomised for chi-square analyses. Analysis of association between Difficulties in components of mathematics language and Attitude towards mathematics learning revealed that difficulty in terms- Discipline specific terms, common terms, common terms with specific meaning and Morphology of mathematics terms influences students' attitude towards Mathematics learning. Difficulties related to Mathematical symbols also influences student's attitude towards mathematics whereas mathematical statements are influencing the same to a lesser extent. Giving attention to terminology, symbols and syntactic structures in mathematical statements whether in common or mathematical language should be part of mathematics teaching-learning. This will help to develop positive attitude towards mathematics learning among younger learners which is an important goal of mathematics instruction.

We are living in an era where pollution and contamination is very high. Rapid and senseless urbanization and industrialization created so many problems for our environment. The deeds of men are making not only his life but also the lives of other creatures on the earth horrible. Having a good knowledge regarding the problems caused by our actions, however small it is, and acting accordingly will help to make the world a better place to live in. The major aim of education is to help one live a better and full life. Thus education in the present century must be founded on the principles of sustainable development and ecological awareness. Teachers are the people who have to create such awareness among the children. Unless one possesses deep knowledge about these areas in its pure sense, he/she cannot teach it. Thus teachers must have good knowledge about the issues and problems caused in the ecosystem by the interventions from the part of human beings. Only then can they educate the children accordingly to make the lives of the future generation safe and better. In his thought-provoking book, Goleman (2009) defines Ecological Intelligence as "individuals' ability to apply what they learn about their impact on the environment to make changes in their behaviour and live more sustainably". The study was aimed to find out the level of Ecological Intelligence of the teachers from the state of Kerala. Cross sectional Survey was carried out using an Ecological Intelligence Inventory (Najmuddeen & Areekuzhiyil, 2013), to collect data from 300 teachers working in Kindergarten to college level, selected through convenience sampling technique. The results of the study showed that teachers possessed higher level of Ecological Intelligence, with female teachers possessing higher level of Ecological Intelligence than the male counterparts. Trained teachers were also found to possess higher level of Ecological Intelligence than those who were not trained. But there was found to be no significant differences in the Ecological Intelligence of the teachers with different duration of teaching experience, age, subject taught and the type of management of the institution. There was found to be no significant differences in the Ecological Intelligence of the teachers with different educational qualifications, but teachers who taught in secondary and higher secondary classes were found to possess higher level of Ecological Intelligence than those who taught in colleges.

Adopting an experiential learning explanation for varying student interest in the three sciences, out-of-school experience questionnaire, scale of interest in science and Kolb's learning style inventory were administered on 775 higher secondary students in Kerala. Despite their similar achievement levels, boys had higher interest in physics, and girls had higher interest in biology and chemistry. Higher interest of girls in biology relate to their more out-of-school experiences (OSE) like observation of animal, insects and birds as well as with domestic medicine, and gardening related experiences. Girls' higher interest in chemistry associated with their OSEs in domestic cleaning using chemicals and experiences from cooking. Likewise, higher interest of boys in physics is related with their higher experiences with electronic gadgets, electricity, batteries, magnets, mobile phones and domestic tools. The advantage of girls in biology through OSEs is more for convergers and assimilators. In chemistry backing from OSEs is more for converger girls. Girls with divergent or accommodating styles are able to some extent compensate their disadvantage in physics through their OSEs. The findings further highlight the significance of relating science topics with life experiences, in consideration of student learning styles. The findings indicate the ways for curricula to avoid gender stereotyping of the topics by pointing to examples, illustrations, assignments and the like that apply equally for boys and girls.