Under the mentorship model unthrea-tened by audit-style evaluation teachers are likely to experiment, innovate and improve classroom management and lessons planning and delivery, Prachi Bhardwaj

Upgrading the quality of teaching-learning in India’s 17,000 teacher training colleges is one of the most important prerequisites of introducing academic rigour and improving students’ learning outcomes. This is acknowledged in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Under the new policy, every school teacher is obliged to undergo professional development training for at least 50 hours per year. This necessity is also recognised by the country’s 9-million-strong educators’ community.

According to Union education ministry data, 1.72 million principals and teachers have already signed up for continuous professional development programmes and 2.3 million educators have enrolled in online programmes. Yet there is no clarity about who is accountable for the quality and sustained implementation of these programmes. In the circumstances, there’s a urgent need to examine the quality of teacher development programmes and the methodology of assessing teachers’ learning outcomes.

In their book Continuous Professional Development (2003), David Megginson and Vivian Whitaker describe continuous professional development as “a process by which individuals take control of their own learning and development, by engaging in an ongoing process of reflection and action. This process is empowering and exciting and can stimulate people to achieve their aspirations and move towards their dreams”. It’s important to note the key words “ongoing process of reflection”.