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Essay on Education Without Boundaries

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100 Words Essay on Education Without Boundaries

Introduction.

Education without boundaries refers to a learning system where knowledge is not limited by physical, social, or economic barriers. It is a concept that promotes access to education for everyone, everywhere.

This approach is important as it ensures equal opportunities for all. It breaks down walls of discrimination and promotes inclusivity. It allows every individual, regardless of their background, to learn and grow.

Online learning, open educational resources, and inclusive policies are some methods that facilitate education without boundaries. They make education accessible and flexible for everyone.

In conclusion, education without boundaries is a powerful concept. It promotes equality, inclusivity, and lifelong learning, making the world a better place.

250 Words Essay on Education Without Boundaries

The concept of education without boundaries, the role of technology.

Technology plays a pivotal role in realizing education without boundaries. Digital platforms, online courses, and virtual classrooms have democratized education, making it accessible to all. They break down geographical barriers, allowing learners to access knowledge from anywhere, anytime.

Implications for Learners

For learners, boundaryless education means freedom to explore and learn according to their interests and pace. It also fosters cross-cultural understanding as learners engage with peers from different backgrounds. Moreover, it prepares students for the globalized world, equipping them with skills to navigate diverse work environments.

Challenges and Opportunities

While the idea of education without boundaries presents numerous opportunities, it also poses challenges. The digital divide, language barriers, and the lack of personalized guidance can hinder effective learning. However, these challenges can be mitigated through collaborative efforts and innovative solutions.

In conclusion, education without boundaries is an empowering concept that can revolutionize the learning landscape. It is the key to creating a globally competent generation that can thrive in an interconnected world. As we move forward, it is crucial to embrace this concept and work towards making education truly boundaryless.

500 Words Essay on Education Without Boundaries

Education is the cornerstone of societal progress and personal development. However, traditional education systems have often been criticized for their rigid structures and boundaries. The concept of “Education Without Boundaries” is an innovative approach that breaks away from these constraints, fostering a more diverse, inclusive, and holistic learning environment.

Breaking Down Physical Boundaries

Overcoming socio-economic barriers.

Education without boundaries also addresses socio-economic barriers. Open-source learning materials, scholarships, and financial aid programs have made quality education affordable to a broader audience. This inclusivity allows a diverse pool of learners to contribute unique perspectives, fostering a rich, multicultural learning environment.

Transcending Traditional Disciplinary Boundaries

Traditional education often compartmentalizes knowledge into rigid disciplines. However, real-world problems are interdisciplinary, requiring a blend of knowledge from different fields. Education without boundaries promotes interdisciplinary learning, encouraging students to make connections across various domains. This approach fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills, equipping students to tackle complex, real-world challenges.

Shifting from Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Approach

Embracing lifelong learning.

In a world where knowledge is continuously evolving, the concept of education cannot be confined to a set number of years in an institution. Education without boundaries embraces the notion of lifelong learning. It encourages individuals to continuously seek knowledge, adapt to changes, and remain relevant in their respective fields.

Challenges and Future Prospects

Despite its benefits, education without boundaries faces challenges. These include digital divide, quality control of online content, and the need for a paradigm shift in traditional education systems. However, with concerted efforts from educators, policymakers, and technologists, these challenges can be overcome.

In conclusion, education without boundaries is a powerful concept that breaks away from the constraints of traditional education. It promotes accessibility, inclusivity, interdisciplinary learning, and lifelong learning. Despite the challenges, its future prospects are promising, offering a transformative approach to education in the 21st century.

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Ciencias de la Educación

Cuestiones Educativas

13 de noviembre de 2020

Education without boundaries: setting an inclusive classroom.

Astrid Natalia Rojas Torres

One of the most challenging situations we have currently faced in the world has to do with the pandemic of COVID-19. We could realize the inequality and barriers we have in the world in terms of   accessing to quality education based on the diversity we have in our classrooms. Also, it is believed that the way we are educating students is not the same for all the population. Regarding this, it is crucial to start involving all students in a friendly environment as well as providing teachers with tips to face obstacles, due to the lack of information and training on this issue since they do not know how to manage an inclusive class based on series of circumstances that differ from the face to face classroom.

Over time, there has been a reflection on the importance of inclusive education, which must guarantee education and learning for everyone. According to Dash (2006), inclusive education is a “worldwide movement with the aiming to create one education system that values all children and to devise a classroom that welcome all children irrespective of disability, community background, gender or ethnic background” (p. 6). At present, there is a new concept of children with special needs. Within this new concept, it is not acceptable to consider children as disabled. By the same token, UNICEF (2017) asserts that inclusive education ‘‘includes all students, and welcomes and supports them to learn, whoever they are and whatever their abilities or requirements’’ (p. 1).We must break  inaccurate concepts like less fortunate or children with mental impediment retarded and change it into uniqueness and diversity of individuals.

By the same token, according to UNESCO (1994), “children with special educational needs should be accommodated within an inclusive educational framework that celebrated differences, supported learning, responded to individual needs and urged governments, throughout the world, to implement inclusive educational practices” (p. 5). In this article, we will consider some principles and strategies addressed to English language teachers to assure the education for everyone.

There is a wide range of authors who suggest some principles to set an inclusive education in schools; some experts from Monash University, specially O´toole (2019) proposed some guidelines such as ‘‘diversity, personalised curriculum, students engagement [and ] assessment processes’’ (p. 2)

In regard to diversity, it represents the key of the education process. Laktionova (as cited in O’toole 2019) highlights that “every student is unique and every group of students is different” (p. 1). On this subject, it is essential that teachers understand that classrooms show a piece of the world’s reality, and students who interact there, have different beliefs and belong to varied cultural backgrounds even if they are from the same country. The personalised curriculum is built on the students’ weaknesses and strengths. Laletas (as cited in O´toole 2019) affirms that [the purpose of this is to] “recognise each student” (p. 2) [as unique]. Since students are unique, they have the right to be engaged and considered as such in our classes. They cannot be excluded since they are part of the classroom, Núñez-Pardo (2020) affirms that “students’ life projects are unique subjects” (p. v). Regarding this, it does not matter if they are not working the same topics. We can include them by assigning task based approach on their level and give them the option to interact with others. Finally, the stage of assessment process the teacher must have a constant interaction with parents to give them clear instructions of what students will be doing during the academic term. This part is essential to anticipate what students will be doing during the classes.

In line with these principles, it is pertinent to start from the premise that all students have their own learning style. The following excerpts portray some strategies to consider in an inclusive classroom:

• Think on different ways to teach a lesson: you can teach a new concept by using different ways of representation. Besides, you should consider multiple intelligences to let students accomplish their goals. For instance, you may teach by having students creating a mind map or a drawing (visual); another way is with a reading including images (visual) or by giving a lecture to explain the topic (auditory) or having students acting out what they have learnt (kinesthetic) if you include methodological approaches to explain a concept, students will increase their learning/understanding.
• Build community with your colleagues : have contact with your colleagues or other institutions’ experiences, asking them what they suggest or the way they work. You will enhance your pedagogical practices.
• Listen to your students being aware of their background: teaching and learning is a communicative process. Besides, it encourages students to participate actively by giving suggestions, making questions, or asking questions to activate their prior knowledge. Likewise, their life experiences will make them enjoy their learning process.  From Núñez-Pardo and Téllez-Téllez’ (2020) view, ‘‘It is time for English teachers to critically undertake the scholarly activity of developing ELT materials by creating contextualised ones that respond to the local needs, interests, and life experiences of the learners in their own context’’ (p. 23). The result we could get from this process will improve our pedagogical practice and our class performance as well.
• Create or choose the appropriate materials: it is vital to choose the correct materials for our students that include diverse people, aimed at making students feel identified and aware of all our diversity; besides, teachers must verify that the chosen materials selected let students talk about their context, and what they find in the activities assigned. Include sensorial activities in your class. When students use their senses, they learn better and retain what you have taught to them. According to Thompson (2011), “multisensory learning is effective because it keeps children more engaged and focussed on their learning” (p. 2) Additionally, when materials are created with and for the students, they are more motivated to learn a second language. On this matter, Vargas (2020) asserts that “one way to motivate students and engage them in learning activities is the performance of games and interactive activities, in which students do not feel like having an academic activity” (par.3). Then, contextualized materials for your students make feel them identified and more motivated when learning a second language.
• Create a safe environment: A language must be learnt in a fun way, students should enjoy their classes, to make a psychologically and physically safe environment it is necessary to stablish rules with students. Also, it is acceptable to use the first language when pupils do not get a concept since it helps them to transfer that concept into their first language. It means that they keep receiving their input into the English language, but they could transmit their understanding in the first language at the beginning of the process since it will make them feel more confident.

Concerning the use of the strategies already mentioned, we would enhance the teaching and learning process. Our classroom will be friendly and inclusive bearing in mind that a classroom is a mini multicultural and diverse world in which teachers must reassure accessible learning to each student.

___________________________

Dash, N. (2006). Inclusive education for children with special needs . New –Delhi: Atlantic Publishers.

Grové, C., & Laletas, S. (in press, 2019). Educational Psychology: A critical part of inclusive education. In C. Boyle & K. Allen (Eds.), Inclusive education: perspectives, practices, and challenges. Inclusive Education: Perspectives, Practices and Challenges . Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Núñez-Pardo, A., & Téllez-Téllez, M.F. (2020). Tracing the cultural component in teacher-generated EFL materials. In A. Núñez-Pardo, & M.F. Téllez-Téllez (Eds.) Research on teacher-generated materials for language learning (pp.19-103). Bogotá, Colombia: Departamento de Publicaciones Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Núñez-Pardo, A. (2020c). Decolonizar el libro de texto de inglés: una apuesta desde la interculturalidad crítica (Doctoral dissertation). Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Tunja, Boyacá, Colombia.

O’Toole, T. (7 de Noviembre de 2019). Monash University. Obtenido de https://www.monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/five-principles-of-inclusive-education

Thompson, C. J. (2011). Multi-Sensory Intervention Observational Research.  International Journal of Special Education ,  26 (1), 202-214.

UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca declaration and framework for action . Paris: Author.

UNICEF(2017). Including children with disabilities in quality learning: what needs to be done? Author.

Vargas, A. (2020). Supporting Children’s English Learning at Home .Universidad

Externado de Colombia. Retrieved August 17th, 2020 from Cuestiones Educativas: https://cuestioneseducativas.uexternado.edu.co/supporting-childrens-english-learning-at-home/

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Education Without Boundaries

Defining education is a perilious task. But the writer undertakes this job, explaining how education as a concept lies beyond the boundaries of books and schools.

By Sheetal Bhopal

Edited by Anandita Malhotra, Senior Editor, The Indian Economist

Vishva GuruThis was how ancient Bharat, that is, todays modern India was known to the world. It was from here that the Vedas, Puranas, Unani, Ayurveda, Airthmetic, Astrology and the other sciences conceived and spread to the rest of the parts of the globe. It was here that the zero was invented. India is the land of world renowned scientists like Ramanuja and Aryabhatta. There was a time when India was the focal point of the world education, students from all over came to receive education in our revered institutions like the Nalanda University, Rajgiri and Vikramshila. What was it that attracted the aliens to our land? What was it that gave Indian education a universal recognition? Apparently, it was the intensive and the practical knowledge that this realm believed in and practiced. Over the time, we were influenced by the global scenario and hence started imbibing the western style of education. But somewhere along adopting the global trends we started adopting them wholly and had to part with our roots. If today we are ready to practice the practical approach that ancient Bharat tread on, merged with the ideals of the Western education, we are certainly bound to succeed.

Education. What does the word mean? Does it only refer to reading and writing skills? Does it only refer to attending school? Or for that matter does it refer to mugging up the textbook and vomiting it out on the paper? In my perception, education involves the holistic growth of an individual. It teaches about the past and prepares us for the inevitable future. In other words, education is experience.

What is it that keeps Indian education bound in chains? India is a nation with diversities in each and every aspect, which may be culture, folk, mores, cuisines, language and for that matter even education. It is because of this need to cater to these diversities that we have several boards and institutions CBSE, ICSE, NCERT, STATE BOARDS, IB, open schools and vocational training. But it is this vast diversity that keeps us unified. If ICSE deals in traditional and intensive approach of learning, CBSE prepares us to face the competitive exams.

The Right to Education Act under the 86 th Amendment Act says that education is neither a privilege nor a favour, it is now a basic human right. The government might have made the effort on its behalf but a question is Are all the people in the society aware that they are born with this right? Somewhere down the lane, there is lack of awareness towards this fundamental right. And even those who are aware, especially the economically weaker sections of society are unwilling to send their children their school citing the basis that their child supplementing their income was more important than him receiving education. A panacea to this ill can be making these people realize the indispensable use of education. An initiative can be taken by the NGOs and other private institutions to work for this cause.

The district authorities of the state can look after the basic standard of the education provided both in the private and the governments run institutions. They should especially see to the provision of the average level of infrastructure facilities. A healthy competition can even be organized amongst the various districts and will as well instill a sense of self-pride in the district officials. These district authorities should be answerable to the state authorities and the state authorities should be answerable to the central authorities. Stringent rules should be followed on behalf of the government and transparency should also be maintained.

Today everyone seems to be involved in rat race where every one wants to surpass the others. Our eyes are glued on giving competition to others and becoming a part of this vicious cut-throat competition. This has certainly received an upper hand over human satisfaction and happiness. Somewhere, our education system stresses on grades and marks that we hardly bother understanding the concept. Teachers are more concerned with finishing the syllabus rather than pay attention to the students understands of the basic notion. In this way, we give boost to rote learning and spoon feeding. Preference is hardly given to the individuality of a person, creative thinking or understanding something to apply it in our actual lives.

Our population roughly consists of 200 million youth i.e. 200 million ignited minds. Economists believe that in the forthcoming years India will be a superpower as we will have the largest number of young people in our nation. But are we ready to provide them with elementary education, good employment, and a job and health security? On the one hand we have the booming economy and increase in our GDP rates; on the other hand we have more than 60% of our population residing in villages who are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. If on one hand, we are the biggest outsourcing nation in the world, on the other hand, a major portion of our population is still illiterate. Somewhere we have lost the balance between the development and the provisions of basic amenities to all the strata of the society, education being an imperative part of it.

Sheetal is a Political Science (H) student in her third year of graduation. An avid reader and photographer, she aims to join active politics. She has been organising events at her college level through discussion forums like The Symposium Society, known in the University for its Mock Indian Parliament simulations. She is also actively engaged in the National Service Scheme (NSS) of her college where she reads out to blind students. Elevation of humanity through the smallest efforts is what guides her day to day actions.

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Home Essay Samples Education

Essay Samples on STEM Education

STEM education, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, is a critical aspect of modern education. Writing an essay on STEM education is an opportunity for students to reflect on the importance of these fields and their impact on society.

When writing a STEM education essay, it is essential to showcase the relevance and benefits of STEM education. You can start by discussing how STEM fields have helped solve various global issues and advancements in medicine, engineering, and technology. You can also highlight how STEM education can lead to lucrative careers and improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

A stem education essay could include personal experiences of how STEM fields have inspired you and how you can contribute to society using these skills. It could also analyze the challenges faced by students in STEM education and the ways to overcome them. Some essay topics could include the role of STEM education in the global economy, how STEM fields impact climate change, and the importance of gender equality in STEM.

With the examples of STEM education essays and various essay topics and samples on STEM education, you can develop a comprehensive understanding of the concept and write a compelling essay. Remember to use reputable sources to support your arguments and ensure that your essay is well-structured and coherent.

WritingBros is an excellent resource that provides writing services and essay examples to guide you through the process. Use this section to find STEM essay examples for free.

Recollections Of My Experience During My Computer Science Studies

Passing my teenage years in the IT era at the Silicon Valley oflndia motivated me to the field of Computer Science; particularly I developed strong inclination during my pre-University College (PUC) where I was exposed to the fundamentals of computer science, algorithms, and to develop...

• Bachelor's Degree
• College Days
• STEM Education

The Importance of Mathematical Ability for Pursuing the STEM Field

At first, we will learn in school the alphabet, but as times gone by we explore this and we use it altogether with numbers especially in math. That’s where the confusion starts. The level of difficulty in mathematics gets more difficult as we grow older....

• Human Development

Why STEM Education is Necessary in Today's World

STEM Education is Necessary STEM degree holds a higher income in fact STEM careers or occupation are increasing at 17% while others are increasing at 9.8%. Based from the U. S. Department of Commerce, Science, technology, engineering and mathematics play a key role in the...

• Stereotypes

Analysis on the Statistics of Women in the STEM Field

Have you at any point wondered why men outnumber women on most fields of STEM? A 2010 research report by AAUW presents convincing proof that can clarify this riddle. Why So Few? Ladies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) displays top to bottom yet...

• Gender Differences
• Women in The Workforce

Gender Identity Threat for Women in the STEM-Heavy Professions

Women have traditionally been looked at as though they were less than men. They were not allowed to go to school, and when they could go to school, they were told that they were there to support men not themselves. From an early age woman...

• Gender Identity

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The Participation and Inclusion of Women in STEM Education

Science and Technology is been labeled as one of the fast-growing fields in America today and noticed that women do not seem to want to fall under that field. IT and Engineering is one of the top fields in the technology industry not only that...

• Importance of Education

Gender Gap in STEM Related Fields

In America, STEM-related fields are among the driving force of the state as they contribute to the invention and innovation of technology that is the backbone to the daily operation of the life of any citizen. STEM is an abbreviation for science, technology, engineering, and...

Relationship Between Stem Career Interests And 7Th-Grade Science Process Skills

Introduction Literature Review All over the world, youths have consistently varied in their levels of STEM career knowledge, their career interests and their intentions of pursuing a STEM career. STEM career knowledge is believed to define a student's familiarity with a particular STEM career, varied...

• Primary School

Apparent Labor Supply Shortages In America

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is one of the most prominent topics between nations, especially in the United States (U. S). The talk about careers in those fields has stretched on for many years, starting in 2001 when the term “STEM” was initially introduced....

Best topics on STEM Education

1. Recollections Of My Experience During My Computer Science Studies

2. The Importance of Mathematical Ability for Pursuing the STEM Field

3. Why STEM Education is Necessary in Today’s World

4. Analysis on the Statistics of Women in the STEM Field

5. Gender Identity Threat for Women in the STEM-Heavy Professions

6. The Participation and Inclusion of Women in STEM Education

7. Gender Gap in STEM Related Fields

8. Relationship Between Stem Career Interests And 7Th-Grade Science Process Skills

9. Apparent Labor Supply Shortages In America

• Learning Styles
• College Education
• School Uniform
• Extracurricular Activities
• American Education System

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Stem Education Without Boundaries Essay

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Stem Education Without Boundaries Essay 100 Words

STEM is an abbreviation that stands for Science, Technology , Engineering, and Mathematics . But it goes beyond that. STEM has evolved into a distinct approach to teaching and learning, one that is centered on individual students’ learning styles and interests. This implies that STEM education has something for every learner. Unlike traditional education experiences, which focus on individual topic areas, STEM education emphasizes technology and integrates courses in ways that link related disciplines.

STEM promotes cooperation, communication , analysis, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity, all of which are qualities that kids need to be successful in today’s society, regardless of their interests or professional objectives . STEM is a direct reaction to the knowledge that our future will be founded on our ability to innovate, invent, and solve creative problems.

Stem Education Without Boundaries Essay 200 Words

As technology continues to play an increasingly important part in our society, it is crucial that students develop the skills that are necessary to influence our future. Giving students the opportunity to excel in Stem jobs promotes a diverse and capable workforce while also preventing biases in these fields and the technologies they develop . STEM education stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is an interdisciplinary method that assists students in their academic and future professions.

STEM education emphasizes hands-on, problem-based learning. A student who is well-versed and literate in STEM disciplines is more likely to be an innovative and critical thinker. He or she can apply what they’ve learned to real-world challenges, so benefiting their communities . STEM-literate high school graduates go effortlessly into higher education careers in those subjects. Finally, STEM literacy leads to employment in the increasingly knowledge-based economy that we see locally and globally. STEM knowledge translates into higher-paying jobs for today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.

STEM is intended to establish a program that integrates the four disciplines in such a way that students are focused to solve problems using cross-disciplinary knowledge . That is, the traditional learning technique that new freshmen are accustomed to—typically some type of memorization and repetition of information—is practically out the window. This approach to schooling is frequently why those of us who are very analytical but not particularly creative struggle with STEM. Successful students soon learn to think for themselves and to let go of the expectation of being told what to think.

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Stem Education Without Boundaries Essay 300 Words

What is stem education.

STEM Education, basically is educating students in four distinct subject areas: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (collectively shortened as STEM) . STEM includes all four domains in an interdisciplinary and applied approach to better prepare students for a job and examines real-world applications. Project-based learning is common in STEM courses . Projects and activities are typically done with the goal of enhancing the practical applications of science in the near future. Students are given the opportunity to apply the various domains of STEM in a setting that allows them to see the connection between the classroom and the world around them.

What are STEM Education-Related Skills?

STEM education teaches students more than just science and math concepts. The emphasis on hands-on learning with real-world applications aids in the development of a wide range of skill sets, including creativity and 21st-century competencies. Media and technology literacy, productivity, social skills, communication, adaptability, and initiative are examples of 21st-century abilities. STEM education also teaches problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, curiosity , decision-making, leadership, entrepreneurship, failure acceptance, and other abilities. Regardless of the eventual job route chosen by these students, these skill sets will help them to be inventive.

How Can STEM Education Benefits Students? 

Students and youth have a natural curiosity that drives them to seek out things that will challenge them. Keeping their eagerness and curiosity alive, allows them to maximize their potential , Science camps, such as LIYSF, let students draw inferences, make connections, and delve deeper into the meaning and knowledge of areas that fascinate them.

What distinguishes STEM education from other traditional forms of learning? 

STEM Education differs significantly from traditional education , which focuses on math and science. In this environment, students are immersed in a scientific process that is practical in everyday life. One gains a deeper understanding of various industries. Computational thinking, for example, focuses on real-world applications to improve problem-solving.

Stem Education Without Boundaries Essay 500 Words

STEM education focuses on educating future generations for successful jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) . STEM education provides children with skills that go beyond those required for success in STEM professions, preparing them to enter any industry with valuable skill sets that will allow them to succeed.

What Role Does STEM Education Play? 

STEM education has grown in importance for the world as it offers numerous benefits in a variety of industries. Because most sectors rely on STEM subjects , it indirectly plays a large part in the economy’s growth.

STEM education can be viewed from two perspectives: the perimeter of students in school and the teaching approach contained within, and the wider public , which includes parents and teachers who can indirectly aid kids in choosing the program.  Students and educators must collaborate to ensure that subjects are presented and comprehended in a way that can be used in the real world.

With major improvements in each of the STEM fields, new job opportunities are emerging at a rapid pace. Several countries of the world have seen a lack of well-trained STEM workers in recent years . While the demand for qualified students grows by the day , the number of students interested in pursuing a STEM profession is decreasing at an alarming rate.

According to surveys conducted in developing nations, STEM education has to be improved in a number of areas. Change the curriculum: It is not required to introduce a STEM topic in schools when the levels of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics are low. Indeed, many countries lack a STEM topic in their educational curricula. However , students and teachers must be exposed to low-cost programs that encourage integrated STEM education.

Enhancing teacher training: STEM education courses at the pre-service level should be revised so that trainee teachers are more equipped when they are deployed in schools . That means STEM subject faculty in teacher education institutes must improve their teaching approaches and introduce courses that are in line with current thinking in these fields.

Faculty members in STEM topics must also participate in professional development programs to strengthen their competencies and stay current with the newest advancements in the world’s premier teacher education institutes . Their research abilities must also be boosted.

STEM education is critical to accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals, improving people’s lives worldwide, and providing inclusive and equitable education for all. It should be improved and expanded wherever possible.

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Teaching without boundaries: interviews exploring the adaptation of collaborative inquiry to the American context

Olivia G. Carr Roles: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing Xiu Cravens Roles: Conceptualization, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – Review & Editing

collaboration, teachers, inquiry, policy adoption, TPEG, lesson study

Described pathways of local adaptation towards building the necessary structure for disciplined collaborative inquiry.

Identified action steps related to instructional leadership central to the implementation and sustainability of school-level initiatives.

Reviewed the essential objectives of building a professional knowledge base for teaching.

Introduction

The past few decades have revealed growing interests in fostering teacher collaboration to improve instruction and student learning ( Achinstein, 2002 ; Bond, 2014 ; Bruce et al. , 2016 ; Goddard et al. , 2007 ). However, too often, collaboration initiatives fail to take root in the day-to-day operation of schools ( Giles & Hargreaves, 2006 ; Sindelar et al. , 2006 ; Zech et al. , 2000 ). This phenomenon has prompted questions about the necessary organizational conditions and decision-making processes for successful local adoption and adaptation of educational reforms over time.

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the efforts of implementing teacher-led collaborative inquiry – defined as teachers engaging in consistent and critical inquiry of their teaching practice ( Butler & Schnellert, 2012 ; Morris & Hiebert, 2011 ) – as a driving mechanism for instructional improvement in American public schools. We aim to capture the nuances in teaching culture and organizational structure, identify the action steps essential to introducing and sustaining school-level initiatives, understand the role of instructional leadership, and explore how variations in decision-making influence local adoption and adaptation.

We focus on a model called Teacher Peer Excellence Group (TPEG), which was intentionally designed to capture the essence of the Japanese lesson study and Chinese teaching-study groups ( Fujii, 2016 ; Huang & Shimizu, 2016 ; Jensen et al. ; Lewis et al. , 2006 ), and modified for the American educational context ( Cravens & Drake, 2017 ). Teachers in this model lead subject-specific collaborative inquiry cycles. Each cycle involves lesson planning, peer observation, feedback, and revision of lesson plans. Drawn from prior literature on situated learning and communities of practice ( Hiebert et al. , 2002 ; Wenger & Snyder, 2000 ), the TPEG model aims to build a professional knowledge base for teachers that has three key signposts: (1) deprivatized practice, (2) storable and shareable teaching materials, and (3) a mechanism for verification and improvement.

We explore the fertile ground for follow-up research where, five years after the initial implementation of TPEGs in 27 schools from six districts in Tennessee, the pilot schools have taken different paths in how they integrate the model into the existing organizational structures and routines. Specifically, we conduct case studies in three schools that have adopted the TPEG model to varying extents in different settings. We ask two research questions: (1) What action steps were taken by schools to adopt and sustain collaborative inquiry cycles? (2) Compared to the theory of change of how TPEG was intended to work, what local adaptations were made to the TPEG model and why?

Using qualitative analysis, we identify five action steps related to instructional leadership that were central to the implementation and sustainability of collaborative inquiry in these schools: forming collaborative teams; scheduling collaborative time; learning to collaborate; setting expectations for collaboration, and cultivating buy-in. We also describe how teachers and school administrators interpreted and adapted each aspect of the collaborative inquiry process, with particular emphasis on if and how they align with the theoretical framing of collaborative inquiry.

From collaborative inquiry to instructional improvement

Collaborative inquiry cycles.

Studies on teacher practice point to teacher-led collaborative inquiry as a promising form of in-service professional development ( Akiba & Wilkinson, 2016 ; Cravens et al. , 2017 ; Cravens & Hunter, 2021 ; Goddard et al. , 2007 ; Huang & Shimizu, 2016 ; Lewis, 2015 ; Saunders et al. , 2009 ). The conceptualization of collaborative inquiry is grounded in the socio-constructivist model of self-regulated learning ( Butler & Cartier, 2004 ; Butler & Schnellert, 2012 ) and situated learning theory ( Wenger et al. , 2002 ). Applied to teaching, prior research suggests that self-regulation and meaningful change occur when teachers engage in recursive cycles of goal-directed, job-embedded, ongoing, and critical inquiry of practice ( Butler & Schnellert, 2012 ; Bryk et al. , 2015 ; Gallimore et al. , 2009 ; Morris & Hiebert, 2011 ). In inquiry models, teacher teams are trained to participate in iterative cycles that involve setting instructional goals, lesson planning, implementing the lesson plan, observing peers teaching, and monitoring learning results. Furthermore, subsequent cycles of collaborative inquiry are informed by findings from previous cycles.

Collaborative inquiry on instructional practice occurs mostly outside the United States. The Japanese lesson study model was one of the first to be introduced to the United States in the 1990s ( Hiebert et al. , 1999 ) as a model of action research that facilitated teacher enactment of ambitious instruction with the potential to scale up effective teaching aligned with external standards ( Hiebert et al. , 2002 ; Lewis et al. , 2006 ; Lewis, 2015 ). Studies have also associated the “teaching-study groups” in Shanghai with high student achievement while maintaining a low correlation between socioeconomic status and academic proficiency ( Jensen et al. , 2016 ; OECD, 2011 ; Tucker, 2014 ; Wang, 2013 ; Yang, 2008 ).

The theory of change for the collaborative inquiry model (see Figure 1 ) highlights three requirements to transform what teachers gain from day-to-day practice to a professional knowledge base ( Hiebert et al. , 2002 ; Stigler & Hiebert, 2016 ): (1) Teachers make their practice public through collaborative lesson planning, peer observations, and peer feedback; (2) the materials and expertise gathered during inquiry cycles are cumulative, accessible, and shareable to other teachers so that teachers do not have to “reinvent the wheel” for each new teaching assignment; (3) there is a mechanism for validating improvement by experts and peers. To reach these objectives, the teaching-study groups China are typically organized by subject and grade level, led by teachers with content and pedagogical expertise. Teams then engage in weekly inquiry cycles of lesson planning, peer observation, feedback, and lesson revision ( Cravens & Wang, 2017 ; Wang, 2013 ).

Figure 1. the TPEG collaborative inquiry cycle.

Enabling conditions for professional development.

Prior research on in-service professional development highlights several vital organizational conditions that are associated with success and sustainability: instructional leadership, professional community, trust, and teacher efficacy.

Instructional leadership. Leaders are key stakeholders who affect student learning by making numerous daily decisions. They influence the school organization and the people within it, including (re)designing the structure of the school, shaping expectations and school culture, developing teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge, and cultivating professional communities ( Coburn, 2001 ; Goldring et al. , 2009 ; Leithwood et al. , 2004 ; Printy, 2008 ; ten Bruggencate et al. , 2012 ; Youngs & King, 2002 ). Principals who focus specifically on improving classroom practices are considered ‘instructional leaders’ ( Hallinger & Heck, 2010 ). Instructional leaders can use their influence to shape structural factors, such as time, that are necessary to support collaborative inquiry cycles and direct teacher efforts toward student learning. Using a meta-analysis, Robinson et al. (2008) find that instructional leadership has a stronger influence on student outcomes than do other types of leadership, such as transformational leadership, for which leaders focus on inspiring staff to better engage with their work.

Professional community. A schoolwide professional community consists of teachers who frequently interact using a set of shared norms about improving teaching and learning. More specifically, teachers in professional communities reflect on instructional practices and student learning, observe each other’s teaching practices, problem solve together, and share work through peer collaboration ( Bryk et al. , 1999 ). In a study of 24 schools, Louis et al. (1996) find that professional communities have a positive relationship to teachers taking responsibility for student learning, and Louis and Marks (1998) report that professional communities positively affect classroom organization and student academic performance.

Trust. Bryk and Schneider (2002) and Louis (2006) argue that trust within schools is essential to facilitate daily practice and improvement measures. They write that trust between faculty members in a school is built on respect, competence, a personal regard for other people, integrity, and agreement on issues such as what students should learn and how teachers should instruct and behave. Effective principals can improve their schools by building trust between their teachers ( Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 2007 ; Youngs & King, 2002 ), or teachers can develop trust themselves over time in a way that allows them to work together well and take full advantage of the benefits that can come from collaborative inquiry cycles.

Teacher efficacy. Teachers who believe they can positively affect student learning are more likely to engage in collaboration for instructional improvement ( Bruce & Ross, 2008 ; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001 ). Pedagogical efficacy means that teachers feel they can successfully integrate new practices, like collaborative inquiry cycles, into their regular practice ( Bandura et al. , 1999 ). Bandura et al. (1999) asserts that teachers use four types of information to shape their efficacy: (a) mastery experience – the perception that their teaching has been successful through their own experiences; (b) vicarious experiences – teaching experiences successfully (or unsuccessfully) modeled by someone else; (c) social persuasion – encouragement and/or specific feedback to teachers about their teaching; (d) affective states – anxiety or excitement related to teaching, perhaps from receiving results on a recent standardized test. Collective efficacy, therefore, is achieved when a group of teachers believe that they have the power to affect and teach students. Goddard et al. (2000) add that teachers analyze the teaching task and assess their collective teaching competence to shape whether they think they will be successful. Collective teacher efficacy leads to teachers more purposefully working to pursue common goals and enhance student learning ( Goddard et al. , 2000 ).

Challenges to implementation

Prior research finds that existing structural and cultural norms in schools can make or break the introduction of change to teacher practices ( Coburn, 2005 ; Huang & Shimizu, 2016 ; Jensen et al. , 2016 ; Rose, 1991 ). Too often implementers of new models fail to garner the buy-in of stakeholders, contextualize imported practices, or weigh tradeoffs in adaptation ( Akiba & Wilkinson, 2016 ; McDonald, 2012 ).

Taking the cognitive approach to study reform implementation, researchers argue that school administrators and teachers draw on their own knowledge to interpret and translate imported approaches and are likely to make modifications and create incremental change – a sensemaking process ( Coburn, 2005 ; Spillane et al. , 2002 ). For example, Roehrig et al. (2007) use mixed methods to examine 27 high school chemistry teachers as they implemented a new curriculum. They report that teachers’ beliefs and preferences for their teaching and the presence or lack of a supportive network within their schools had a strong influence on implementation. In particular, teachers who primarily used inquiry-based teaching made the transition to the new curriculum more smoothly than teachers who primarily used traditional teaching methods (with instructor-directed lessons that focused on lectures and worksheets), and the most effective support for the new curriculum came from school administrators when they met with teachers to discuss student learning.

Groves et al. (2016) examine the lesson study model in three Australian schools. The collaborative teams were tasked with implementing structured problem-solving lessons, and they found success in deep lesson planning, allowing large numbers of participants to observe their classes, and insight from the “knowledgeable other.” However, the teachers had difficulty matching the Japanese problem solving lesson structure with the prescribed Australian curriculum and mirroring the Japanese model because of the Australian teaching culture that emphasizes small group instruction rather than whole class teaching.

Studies also show that stakeholders’ sensemaking about change is influenced by the conditions and organizational structure in their schools ( Ketelaar et al. , 2012 ; Ng & Tan. 2009 ). For example, Akiba and Wilkinson (2016) use extensive mixed method research to describe how the implementation of the lesson study model was limited to shortened and simplified versions in Florida. They find that implementation was hampered by the lack of systemic capacity building for key stakeholders to understand the importance of integrating the new model with the existing organizational structures and routines of teacher professional development.

Intentional and continuous local adaptation is also necessary. McLaughlin (1987) describes implementation as “a process of bargaining or negotiation” (pg. 175), with policies adapting to the local context and the site adapting to the reform, sometimes called mutual adaptation. Adoption of a new practice should therefore include “additional, individual teacher-directed design, fitting, and adaptation for local circumstances” ( Barab & Luehmann, 2003 , p. 464), while still maintaining the integrity of the reform. As an example, Spillane (1999) examines the responses of nine local education agencies (LEAs) to state standards reforms and find that the LEAs adopted the new standards easily but overly adapted the more complex and newer characteristics of the reforms, which led to procedural compliance instead of substantive compliance and change. Local adaptation without losing substance is therefore important to the success and sustainability of new practices.

Teacher peer excellence group (TPEG)

In 2013, researchers from American and Chinese universities designed the TPEG model based on the principles of the Japanese lesson study and Shanghai teaching-study groups ( Jensen et al. , 2016 ; Lewis et al. , 2006 ; Wang, 2013 ) with flexibility for local adaptation. There are four steps to each cycle:

(1) Lesson planning: The TPEG chooses the particular concept or lesson to cover. The teachers pull from resources (including, preferably, a shared repository of lessons) and their own expertise and experiences to plan the lesson collaboratively.

(2) Observation: One or two teachers then teach the lesson for others to observe. Importantly, the teachers are observing to evaluate the lesson, not the teacher. Ideally, a content and pedagogical focus has been identified through lesson planning, and the observers use an agreed-upon rubric that measures instructional quality.

(3) Feedback: Peer feedback focuses specifically on the targeted instructional objectives, the successes and challenges of the lesson, and how to best improve on these.

(4) Revision: The feedback session directly feeds into improving the lesson for future use. If every teacher in the TPEG has not yet taught the lesson, the remaining teachers will teach the revised lesson. This might trigger another round of feedback and revision of the lesson. After multiple trials, teachers then store the lesson and accompanying notes in a way that is accessible by other teachers and in future years.

The TPEG collaboration model was piloted in volunteer schools across six districts (18 schools) in Tennessee in the 2013–2014 school year, and nine additional schools were added for the 2014–2015 year. Principals and teachers in pilot schools received training on TPEGs, protocols for conducting meetings, and a template to plan and document inquiry cycles. To start, principals worked with the research team to identify two TPEGs in each school, preferably organized by subject matter or grade level. The principals then spent a week in Shanghai observing and discussing the local version of the teaching-study groups in a wide variety of schools. Upon their return, principals were encouraged to work with their TPEGs and develop collaborative inquiry cycles to best fit the structure and needs of their own schools.

The research team intentionally designed the implementation of TPEGs to be flexible in how each pilot school would conduct their inquiry cycles, as long the cycles were ongoing, completed with the four key steps, and used the state teacher evaluation rubric as the inquiry focus. During the first two years, the collaborative inquiry cycles varied from one to six weeks in the pilot schools. This loose-tight design, with flexibility in all but a few very important aspects, was chosen to provide sufficient protocol and discipline to the collaborative inquiry while ensuring that it was adaptive to local conditions and needs. Principals and TPEG teachers took the lead in deciding team formations and the logistics for inquiry cycles.

Grant funded technical support for the pilot schools ended in the summer of 2015. Since then, follow-ups by the research team have shown that there had been large variations in how pilot schools engaged in these disciplined collaborative inquiry cycles. For the TPEG model to have a more significant impact on instructional improvement, an in-depth exploration was needed to understand how schools addressed the challenges of structure, culture, and resources to implement the TPEG model. This study seeks to fill that gap by providing a formal examination into these issues.

Study settings

We used purposive sampling to select three schools that had various levels of success in implementing and sustaining collaborative inquiry cycles as prescribed by the TPEG model. These schools also vary by urbanicity, size, and demographics, as shown in Table 1 . These three schools were sufficiently different to provide a range of experiences with and insights into the TPEG pilot, so no further schools were necessary to recruit.

Table 1. School characteristics for sample schools.

Sources: State Report Card (n.d.) and interviews

All three schools are located in Tennessee, where the average student test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress are average or below average compared to those of other states but are improving quickly over time ( SCORE, 2019 ). 1 Tennessee has also implemented several state initiatives since 2013 that seek to improve teacher performance through stronger in-service development, including one relevant for this study, the Instructional Partnership Initiative (IPI). IPI is a voluntary program that pairs teachers based on their strengths and weaknesses in their teacher evaluations and/or principal recommendations so teachers can learn from each other ( TDOE, 2017 ). The concurrent implementation of an initiative with similar objectives but different approaches from the TPEG model added to the complexity of local implementation.

The first school, Elwood Elementary, is in an urban county, and it was recognized by the state prior to this study for improvements in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, and teacher value added. Starting in the 2013–2014 school year, two grade-level TPEGs were added each year until every grade level had a TPEG. These teams met weekly to complete inquiry cycles lasting two weeks. For five years, official TPEG cycles occurred at various frequencies each year, though TPEG cycles were abandoned during data collection for this study, due to an increase in discipline problems at the school.

The second school, Granville Elementary School, in a different rural County, did not sustain the TPEGs in their original form but had success in modifying the model. The school piloted the TPEGs starting in 2014-2015 with two teams that were vertically aligned, meaning teams spanned grade levels. These teams did TPEG cycles once per semester for two years before the school switched to a collaborative practice that evolved out of TPEG. Granville Elementary had required collaboration, and teachers also participated in IPI, the state peer observation initiative. While IPI observations were not connected to specific lessons, as they were with TPEG, the two models share certain characteristics of collaborative inquiry. It is therefore informative to examine why this observation-focused model has been sustained at Granville for several years, whereas collaborative inquiry observations have not.

The third school, Clark Middle School, fully implemented collaborative planning schoolwide. It is of note that Granville Elementary School and Clark Middle School are within the same county and therefore under the same school system. Spearheaded by an assistant principal, the school started the TPEG model with two subject-specific teams in 2013–2014. In the second year, the principal decided to expand TPEG so it could benefit more students at once. The school leadership team restructured the master schedule to allow for 45 minutes of mandatory collaborative planning time every day, though teachers ceased peer observations. The school frequently hosts educators from across the state who observe and ask questions about their collaborative practices.

Data Collection and Analysis

We employed a case-study design to qualitatively examine these complex and dynamic school settings. Data collection took place from the spring of 2018 to the fall of 2019. After pilot interviews, interviews and observations were conducted in-person at Granville and Clark and by phone 2 at Elwood. A convenience sample of teachers were selected based on their availability before school, after school, or during planning periods. This allowed for some stratification by grade, as each team had common plan times that were used for observations and interviews. Interviews were recorded and lasted from four to 55 minutes, and observations were approximately 30 minutes each. Respondents who participated in shorter interviews seemed comfortable speaking to the interviewer and responded in similar ways to their peers. At Elwood, four teachers declined to be interviewed, though more did not answer a recruitment email. At Granville, two teachers declined to be interviewed, both because they were too busy at the time, and at Clark, only one teacher declined to be interviewed. Overall, we have 48 interviews and 15 observations of collaborative sessions, as described in Table 2 .

Table 2. statistics on the qualitative data collected.

A semi-structured interview protocol (see the extended research materials here: Carr & Cravens, 2022 ) was used to ask teachers about collaboration and professional development, particularly the strengths and weaknesses of their collaborative inquiry experiences. We first used skip patterns, which adjust the interview protocol to include only relevant questions, to ask the teachers about their background and experience with collaborative inquiry. We followed with interview questions that aimed to capture their perceptions of TPEG implementation and changes to teachers’ collaborative practices. For instance, we asked teachers to describe a typical collaborative cycle – including who attended collaborative meetings and how the group made decisions – both when TPEG was first introduced and as related to their current practices. The questions also addressed ideal collaborative environments and professional learning opportunities. There was a separate interview guide for principals and instructional coaches that had the same structure but included more specific questions regarding the role of various key stakeholders in decision making around adapting the cycles over time.

The interviewer used the interview protocols as a loose guide for the conversation, in particular by altering the order of questions frequently to help respondents flow from one topic to the next naturally. Between interviews, the researchers updated the interview protocol as needed, primarily to get more specific information on current non-TPEG collaborative practices. For the observations, the researcher attended collaborative team planning sessions for approximately 30 minutes each and focused on time use and the type and quality of interactions between the participants on each collaborative team.

The first author collected all data for this study. As a young, white, educated female who lived in Tennessee, she resembled a typical teacher in the pilot schools, and all participants seemed comfortable and glad to share their experiences. Collaborative teams appeared to use their collaborative time as usual, particularly after being told that the observations focused on the structure of their time and interactions, rather than performance. After the interviews were transcribed by the first author or a transcription service, analyses were conducted using the software Dedoose using open and hierarchical coding to identify details that were salient to participants inductively and deductive coding based on the TPEG conceptual framework. This included identifying enabling conditions that are named in the literature review, how to promote buy-in, other initiatives, and support for collaborative inquiry that allowed it to be continually successful for some teachers and not others. Each step of the TPEG cycle and how it adapted over time were examined next, followed by teacher instructional practices and instructional improvement.

Ethical approval

This study, including all recruitment materials, consent forms, and data storage and privacy decisions, was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Vanderbilt University. Required permissions were given at the district-level and by the school principals. Participants each signed an IRB-approved informed consent form prior to interviews. Participants received a $20 gift card as a thanks for their participation.

What are the key action steps that schools used to adopt and sustain collaborative inquiry cycles?

Our interview data indicate that school leaders created collaborative environments by promoting collaboration to teachers as a positive change, making it mandatory, and supporting teachers while they found ways to make the change work. While the actual processes were more nuanced, lessons from these schools shed light on specific steps to address challenges in organizational structure and teacher sensemaking. Table 3 summarizes the major findings, which are elaborated below.

Table 3. Summary of findings of key action steps for collaborative inquiry cycles.

Forming collaborative teams

When TPEG was introduced, the first necessary decision was how to group teachers into collaborative teams. Prior literature on lesson study and teaching-study groups underscore the importance for members of the learning community to have shared interests in solving “problems of practice” that are specific to a focal subject area ( Hiebert et al. , 2002 ; Wang, 2013 ). Studies also find that teachers can learn more about how their practice affects student learning when they focus on a specific teaching or learning issue over a period of time and when teachers repeatedly experiment with different instructional strategies in similar and different settings ( Gallimore et al. , 2009 ). We find that the actual formation of the TPEGs in the pilot schools varied by grade level, school size, and focal subject. As examples, because there were only one or two teachers per grade, Elwood Elementary formed math and reading TPEGs that spanned multiple grades. Teachers at the larger Clark Middle School designated subject-grade teams for math and reading and either subject-specific teams that spanned multiple grades or grade-specific teams that spanned two subjects for the smaller number of teachers who taught science and social studies.

While such variations in TPEG formation were largely due to differences in school size and grade structure, teachers confirmed in interviews the advantages of forming collaborative teams by subject and grade whenever possible. They pointed out that the benefits of “vertical” alignment were often overshadowed by time constraints and student needs from different grades. One Clark Middle School teacher gave an example of why vertical teams did not work well:

“For example, the first [TPEG] one we did was a 5 th grade English lesson. It didn’t seem all that applicable to many of us, because they were focusing so much on fluency and basic comprehension and parts of their standards that we don’t even have those sorts of standards in [grades] 6, 7, 8. So I remember that that was– You really felt like you were helping one other person’s lesson or that 5 th grade group’s lesson, but you didn’t feel like it necessarily applied to you.” – Teacher LC 3

While teachers in cross subject collaborative teams saw the value of diverse perspectives, many shared that they would have preferred to be with teachers who had shared content-specific expertise. We also find that while TPEGs tended to be large – about six people at Clark, up to eight at Elwood – the sustained collaborative teams were smaller with two to four people in each team. The size was not as salient as the composition of the collaborative teams to teachers and principals, however, so larger teams might be appropriate in schools with more teachers per grade or grade-subject.

Scheduling collaborative time

Identifying and setting up shared collaborative time was a major concern in all three schools. We find that sustained collaboration occurred during planning periods embedded in the school day that were made available for all teachers of a collaborative team. The success of this was most evident in Clark Middle. Its assistant principal discussed the tradeoffs inherent to ensuring that teachers had enough collaborative and individual plan time during the school day, namely that administrators were able to give their teachers 90 minutes of daily planning time by increasing class sizes and decreasing the amount of planning time for special area teachers.

Given time restrictions, it is also important to carefully determine the frequency of the collaborative inquiry meetings. TPEGs were asked to meet approximately once per week to focus on one particular lesson over the course of two weeks. One administrator explained why her school decided to shorten the inquiry cycles to one day: “The two week [TPEG] cycle…it took so long, we weren’t getting enough bang for our buck…We were able to arrange our schedule, it worked out where we could impact every single kid every day” (Assistant Principal PC).

Quick cycles allowed teachers to adjust their teaching quickly, but it also meant that teachers could not easily incorporate parts of the inquiry process into their cycles. Collaborative lesson planning also became part of the daily teaching practice, rather than a distinct activity that used research techniques to deliberately focus on creating and testing particularly high-quality lessons. Related, the short cycle length and common planning times did not allow for teachers on a collaborative team to easily observe each other teach.

Learning to collaborate

Between 2013–2015, principals and TPEG leaders attended training sessions that demonstrated best practices in conducting planning sessions and providing constructive feedback with depth and reasoning. These administrators were tasked with explaining and modeling collaborative techniques at their home school and ensuring that their teachers were building a professional community and trust amongst themselves. At Clark Middle School, the leadership team did this by showing videos from her trip to Shanghai, modeling good collaborative practices in front of and with collaborative teams, sharing research on collaboration, and providing a checklist of how to productively collaborate. As the principal explained, “The very first thing is to review the lesson they’d just taught. What was good, what was bad, what needs to be changed, and then where do we need to go from here, and that’s when today’s lesson [planning] begins” (Principal OC).

Establishing Expectations for Collaboration

Our interviews show that principals must cultivate a culture of high expectations for collaboration to maintain fidelity and improve rewards from the collaboration, both of which increase teacher buy-in and ownership over the process. Clark Middle School is the perfect example of this because the principal maintained extremely high expectations for fidelity to his school’s collaboration routine when collaboration was first scaled up to the entire school, and that eventually resulted in a strong culture of productive collaboration. The principal explained,

“They had an hour and a half planning period. The first 45 minutes had to be co-planning, and there were no exceptions to that. Not going to the copy machine. Not having IEP meetings. Not going to get a snack out of the [vending machine] thing. This is co-planning time…If your expectation is that they will be doing this for 45 minutes, and if they’re in the hallway, that it is addressed very quickly and that there’s no doubt about what they’re supposed to be doing for those 45 minutes. And then if you do that a couple of times, everybody has [it].” – Administrator OC

At Granville Elementary, the expectations were not as strict, and the resulting collaborative practices were less cohesive. Elwood Elementary School is a contrasting case in that, at the time of data collection, some teams participated while others did not, as there was not a formal expectation that teams collaborate.

Teachers noted that mandatory collaboration gave them the necessary push to take the “extra” step of collaborating, and that while some teams found intrinsic reasons to sustain collaboration, there were many ways that collaboration could have been derailed. We found that giving teachers more flexibility might allow them to better shape their collaborative practices to their own needs, but if this were to happen, we would expect some teams to scale back collaboration and return to individual planning, as happened at Elwood Elementary.

Cultivating Buy-In

Trust, efficacy, and professional community were important in sustaining collaborative inquiry cycles, largely through establishing buy-in. Participant comments show that it took time to cultivate buy-in for collaboration. The assistant principal at Clark Middle School said that her trip to Shanghai was “vital” to prove to her that it would work, and it took about a year for her teachers to see the fruits of their labor (high-quality lessons stored in a central location) and be convinced that collaboration was a good idea. Principals in all three schools tried to cultivate interest, relate stories to their teachers, and roll out collaboration slowly to promote buy-in, but their eventual success came from teachers seeing improvements in their own practice and workload over time after administration made the collaborative practices mandatory. Only then could the principals turn the TPEG collaboration from an administration-led initiative to a teacher-led initiative.

Buy-in was also developed through the efforts and patience of the teachers themselves. The teachers at Clark Middle and Granville Elementary seemed to have strong shared norms about student learning being at the center of their practice and about their collective responsibility for all the children in their grade. Related, we noticed that teachers at Elwood Elementary who did not like collaboration spoke frequently about their preferred teaching styles, rather than about practices that would most help their students learn.

Many teachers identified personality clashes as the easiest way to disrupt collaborative relationships. In particular, personality clashes tended to happen when teachers on a collaborative team had very different teaching styles or when one teacher attempted to control the decision making in a way that was unwelcome. We saw that while mandatory collaboration urged teachers to learn to work together productively, sometimes an administrator or other neutral party with some authority, like an instructional coach, could mediate relationships. These authority figures would help members of the team align their goals and priorities and follow best practices.

Developing trust among peers was a prevalent theme from the teacher interviews. Teachers listed two reasons that trust is essential to sustaining collaborative inquiry: They could be vulnerable in front of their teammates to make their teaching public, and they had to rely on their peers to produce high-quality work. An assistant principal described the fears of some of her teachers:

“If I open my planning time to you, and you’re the other teacher coming in, and we’re going to plan together, what if your ideas aren’t as good as mine?…So it’s overcoming that and really shifting the mindset from type A personality, I have total control…[to] you have strengths, I have strengths. Let’s combine those, and let’s work on each other’s weaknesses.” – Assistant Principal PC

Compared to the original theory of change, what local adaptations were made to the TPEG model and why?

To answer this question, we first present the findings within the four steps in a collaborative inquiry cycle: lesson planning, observation, feedback, and revision, as shown in Table 4 . We note that while none of the three schools in this study continued to use TPEG in its original form, teachers at each site reported that they still incorporated steps of TPEG into their daily lesson planning.

Table 4. Summary of local adaptations to TPEG theory of action.

Lesson planning

We found that formally structured TPEGs faded in the schools after the first two years of implementation, and smaller collaborative groups that met daily or almost daily emerged. Some teams were required to use strict county curriculum standards and activities, so much of their collaborative time involved sensemaking to understand and organize the materials from their county or making minor changes to the prior year’s materials. Clark Middle teachers had an advantage when updating lessons because they had virtual access to materials from all teachers in the school. If a standard moved from one grade to another, which happened frequently, then Clark teachers could easily access the materials of the teachers who taught that standard previously. Many Clark teachers stayed close to the original lesson study model by collaboratively anticipating student questions and difficulties and how they might overcome them as instructors. Teachers at all three schools described building off each other’s experiences, pushing each other to try new techniques, and encouraging each other to see problems from new perspectives.

The collaborative teams overall had three preferred collaborative styles, each with different strengths and weaknesses. The first way of collaborating is what we call planning together , for which teachers meet to create identical or nearly identical lessons. This is the intended lesson study method of planning, and it has the distinct advantage that each lesson is created by a group of teachers who, if they communicate effectively and trust each other, can combine their knowledge and experiences to make an excellent lesson.

Another collaborative style is sharing lessons , for which teachers split their work into distinct units that are individually planned and prepared to share with their colleagues, who often do not change anything about that lesson before teaching it. For instance, one teacher described how each teacher on her team planned then shared with each other all the lessons for only one or two days per week. Each lesson is prepared individually, so the lessons mostly do not benefit from collaborative thought. However, it allows each teacher to have more time to devote to his/her portion of the lessons and other responsibilities, including those outside of work. Shared lessons improve the same way they would if the teachers were working alone while adequately storing and referencing materials year to year except that teachers involved in this method of collaboration have more time to spend on each lesson because they only have to work on a portion of the total lessons. One teacher described the process for her team:

“We actually set aside each day. Like I might have Tuesday/Thursday lessons, another teacher will have Monday/Wednesday lessons, and one other teacher will have the Friday lesson or a test that she creates. So, every week, I know I’ve got two lessons that I need to make, and they’re going to be awesome…If it’s an activity that requires worksheets or any kind of supplies, I make sure all of my colleagues have those things. So, all they have to do is show up and teach it.” – Teacher TC

The third style of collaborative lesson planning is what we call “sharing materials”. With this method of collaboration, teachers have a connection (virtual or in person) where they share ideas and techniques with each other that they are not expected to use. One Elwood Elementary teacher attributed her preference for this collaborative style due to her many years of experience teaching and her comfort with her own teaching style. She described this collaboration as a way to get new ideas instead of being boxed into another teacher’s style of teaching:

“I love to get copies of [my teammates’] notes. I love to just share what I’m doing with them, and if they don’t want to do it that way, that’s just fine with me…It’s not that I don’t want different ways or new ways. I just like to take the best of every aspect that I can find and then make it what I want it to be. Rather than everybody agree to say this and this and this and use this worksheet and do these notes on an active board. Some of that I love. But I don’t care for being, kind of, molded into this exact way of doing it…I probably sound like I just want to go off on my own with no collaboration and no teamwork, but that’s not the case at all. I do love to share and love to gain different ideas from other people, but I want to pick which ones I want to use and which ones I don’t.” – Teacher BE

Some teachers preferred this method of collaboration because it allowed them to hear new ideas without deviating from their preferred teaching style. Other teachers can only use this method due to staffing or structural constraints, such as not having a grade-subject collaborative partner. For instance, at Clark Middle School, the single science and single social studies teachers for the 7 th grade collaborated by discussing specific resources that would likely be effective for teaching either subject.

Observation

To observe or not observe was the most salient, discussed, and fretted about action step to the teachers in this study. None of the three schools sustained observations as part of the collaborative inquiry process. Many teachers became nervous when “tall people” came into their rooms or reflected that it was easy to try to put on a show when someone was observing. Teachers also struggled with exactly how they were supposed to conduct the observations. With Japanese lesson study and teaching-study groups in Shanghai, teachers are supposed to evaluate the lesson that was collaboratively planned, not evaluate the teacher him/her/themself. Some, but not all, teachers who had participated in TPEG seemed to understand that distinction, which helped teachers rationalize their way into accepting the observations. However, even those who understood the distinction had a difficult time making it work in practice. Most teachers understood that observations were times to focus on instructional practices, but they struggled to balance between keeping such focus and paying attention to student reactions, engagement, or work.

A few years after TPEG was introduced to Granville Elementary, the administration introduced the state practice called IPI to improve vertical alignment. With IPI at Granville, teachers were paired to observe each other teach and give feedback once each before they moved to another teacher. They did this process approximately twice per semester. The principal said it took about three years of mandatory IPI before teachers became excited about participating in it.

Another major obstacle for both TPEG and IPI observations was finding the time to do them. At each school, teachers of the same grade level shared a plan time, so they could only observe teachers at a different grade level if they were going to observe during that time. This was not a major problem for Clark teachers, who had 45 minutes of individual plan time every day. At Granville, however, plan time was more limited, so frequent observations significantly detracted from teachers’ tolerance of the practice. Administration provided substitutes for TPEG so teachers could observe each other when they otherwise would be teaching a class, though most teachers did not like leaving their students.

Teams at each school talked about or experimented with technology to ease the burden of observations. Granville teachers discussed videoing themselves teaching TPEG lessons, but they did not feel they had the equipment or expertise to do that well. At Elwood, teachers were able to figure out the technology, but they found it to be a “big load,” particularly with finding the time to watch the videos. There were also some teachers who felt uncomfortable being videoed. For all these reasons, virtual observations were not sustained at the three schools, either.

Given that peer observations did not last in any school as part of the lesson planning process, the collaborative teams needed to find new ways of assessing whether students were engaged and learning the material, and how the lesson might be improved. At Clark Middle School, teachers evaluated lessons by paying attention to their own impressions of the lesson, including overheard student comments, and examining student assessment data. The method of remembering and recounting is practical, though it allows room for subjectivity and more importantly, limits the benefit of leveraging peer expertise. The principals noted, however, that with assessments that were standardized across classes, teachers were able to evaluate the strength of their lessons based on how well the students demonstrated their knowledge gain in class and through testing.

Elementary students were less able to express themselves and take frequent assessments, so Granville Elementary teachers had to find different ways of evaluating their lessons. Teachers reported watching students to see if they were “glazed out” or could correctly use new information later. Teachers tracked goals for their students, paid attention to teacher evaluations and their students’ standardized test score growth, and talked to teachers in the grade above to see if their students were adequately prepared. While these might help a teacher evaluate if s/he was a good teacher, most of these methods are not useful for evaluating individual lessons. Teachers used their recollections to debrief casually on many, but not all, individual lessons. Their critiques of the lessons were often based on whether the teacher liked the lesson and its delivery, rather than framing discussions specifically around how much they thought the students learned from it.

Collaborative teams at Clark Middle School, despite having more overall time dedicated to collaborative planning, stayed more focused during lesson reflections on whether and how their students learned and gave each other professional support. In one observed session, the collaborative team was examining the results of a quiz students had taken the prior week. The teachers compared how quickly their students completed the quiz and went over almost every question together. If there were discrepancies between classes, the teachers would compare exactly what they taught and how they taught it, bringing up particular comments or discussion questions that the collaborative group had not discussed before teaching. Other debriefing sessions were similar, with teachers comparing student assessment or assignment data, discussing questions that several students had gotten wrong, why they likely got them wrong, and how the teachers could adjust their next lesson to clarify misconceptions. Despite this level of detail, Clark collaborative teams rarely spent more than 10 minutes of their planning time debriefing on lessons.

Many of the teams at Granville relied on each other for emotional support during lesson reflection. In one collaborative session, teachers shared stories, usually funny or frustrating ones, from their classes. Some of these stories were to prompt a discussion about classroom management or teaching techniques, but many seemed to be about gaining emotional support. Little (1990) calls this storytelling and scanning for ideas, and she regards it primarily as a method for teachers to reveal their knowledge, intentions, and values to his/her peers and shape or reinforce their shared professional community. It is also what Little (1990) calls aid and assistance, where colleagues assist in the practice of teaching only when asked and avoid giving unwarranted advice on the stories. This was prevalent at Granville, where teachers often sympathized with the plight of their peers but only gave advice in moments when the teller was clearly seeking additional professional support.

Meanwhile, some teachers reported that feedback sessions could be nerve-wracking and unhelpful. Teachers could feel attacked when their lesson went poorly, or they might feel the need to keep information private or talk themselves up to colleagues to maintain their image as a competent teacher. One Elwood Elementary teacher exclaimed that she was able to use reflections to brag on her peers about what went well in the “model” lessons, and another felt it encouraged helpful self-reflection. However, others felt they had to give surface-level or biased feedback to avoid hurting people’s feelings. Some Granville Elementary teachers also felt this with their IPI observation feedback and expressed that it was not helpful to spend time on the IPI process if they could not give or receive substantive feedback. Based on Granville and Clark Middle, in particular, giving and receiving constructive feedback seems to be a skill that can be learned, so perhaps more time and training would alleviate potential concerns.

Lesson revision

Many Clark teachers reported that they always immediately updated lessons that needed a revision through a shared database. These changes were immediately helpful for the handful of teachers who taught the same lessons to different students from one day to the next, but many teachers did this simply for their own benefit in the following year. Teachers at the other schools reported reflecting verbally then trying to remember which lessons went well and which did not when lesson planning the following year.

While the four steps for the TPEG cycle provide the necessary structure to conduct disciplined collaborative inquiry, it is important to also examine the extent to which practices at the three schools strive to reach the essential objectives of building a professional knowledge base for teaching.

Public, deprivatized practice

Hiebert et al. (2002) emphasize that knowledge “must be created with the intent of public examination, with the goal of making it shareable among teachers, open for discussion, verification, and refutation or modification” (pg. 7). Teachers in this study who collaborated intended to share their lesson materials with each other, though those who collaborated via sharing materials did not open their creations up to be discussed, verified, or refuted by a group. Even if teachers rarely refuted lessons that were shared by colleagues, they were given the opportunity to do so and could discuss the lesson in depth after teaching it. Using this definition of public, the teachers who planned together or shared lessons were adequately making their teaching public.

Storing/sharing

With TPEG, lesson storage and sharing are supposed happen frequently throughout the process. Teachers pull lessons from storage when they are lesson planning, store lessons before teaching them, and store updated lessons after debriefing and revision. However, storage and sharing were not salient to many of the teachers in this study, and many only commented on them when prompted. Each school had different techniques for lesson storage and sharing. Teachers at Elwood had storage online that allowed them to share materials with each other and the principal for comments. At Clark Middle, teachers were required to use a central lesson repository for storing and sharing materials across the district. School administrators occasionally gave feedback on these stored lessons, and some teachers accessed other grades’ materials to stay informed about vertical alignment and to pull materials when standards changed grades. Teachers at Granville Elementary School often used localized storage techniques that varied by collaborative team. Lessons were usually kept on one teacher’s hard drive and/or in a filing cabinet. The Granville storage methods were therefore often used only as convenient “storage units,” rather than as extended spaces for collaboration.

Hiebert et al. (2002) assert that it is not enough to share locally with a few colleagues; professional knowledge must reach beyond the time and place they were created. Online county-wide repositories allow the lesson materials to reach more teachers than they otherwise would have. The rural county, where both Granville and Clark are located, had curriculum standards that were updated every few years, and teachers closely aligned their lessons with the standards. Perhaps this means that most lessons should only reach so far as the county. School systems that defer instead to other district, state, or even federal standards might want to extend their lesson storage system to those levels instead.

Mechanism for validation and improvement

At first glance, there is a mechanism for lesson validation and improvement embedded in the collaborative inquiry practices explored in this study. Teachers at Clark Middle, in particular, spent time together dissecting their own impressions and student assessment data to reflect on their teaching and improve lessons. The question becomes more complicated when considering whether the teachers could adequately reflect on their teaching, given that they did not observe each other teach the lessons. Lewis et al. (2006) consider live observations to be critical to lesson study as part of the research process.

Additionally, Hiebert et al. (2002) differentiate between local knowledge generated by the teachers themselves, which might not always be accurate, and expert knowledge or repeated evaluation in different contexts. Expert knowledge comes from instructional experts such as instructional coaches, some administrators, and researchers. At Clark Middle School, the instructional coach spent half the day teaching, and her collaborative partners expressed their appreciation of having her on their team to share expertise. All three schools had instructional coaches, but their roles were usually to provide assistance based on requests from the teachers. At Clark Middle and Granville Elementary, teachers had access to materials from other teachers in the county (repeated evaluation), but they mostly relied on their own team’s materials. Because of this, the teachers in these schools primarily relied on local knowledge, which means that they were not guaranteed to be appropriately validating and improving their lessons.

The theory of change behind lesson study is that teachers collaborate by examining and improving lessons together to make themselves higher quality teachers, so their students get better instruction. While teachers and principals from these three schools reported that their lessons and instruction were improving, more evidence is needed to see whether the teachers themselves were learning and improving. Imagine a situation in which two teachers, one novice and one veteran, are collaborating. The veteran teacher brings many years of experience to the partnership, and the novice teacher brings knowledge of new techniques and technologies. If neither teacher goes into depth about why their contributions are important or how to best incorporate them into future lessons, we will not know if their collaboration leads to improved instructional practices and contributes to a shared knowledge base.

This is not a hypothetical problem. Morris and Hiebert (2011) discuss the Japanese lesson study and emphasize that stored lesson plans include rationale for teaching decisions and changes, so that other teachers can later use the lessons in new contexts. One administrator in this study shared that she thought about this potential problem regarding her newer teachers, who had only ever known collaborative planning. She worried that they might leave her school and be unable to plan new high-quality lessons on their own.

Despite the intermediary, the ultimate goal for the collaborative inquiry models is to improve instruction. Teachers and principals stated that collaboration made them grow as teachers by allowing them to learn from their peers, forcing them to detail their thought processes when planning lessons, holding them accountable to do high-quality work, and decreasing total workload. The administration at Clark Middle School, though, expended effort to track concrete changes:

“One, we were a rewards school this year. Our overall student [testing] data has gone up…We have also seen [improvements] in teacher overall observation scores on the TEAM [evaluation] rubric… [The principal] gets evaluated every year just on his ability as an administrator, and he has seen a rise in his scores in this. We have seen a rise in happiness ratings [from approval surveys] from our teachers. And one thing that is always on the evaluation is, “Please don’t stop our collaborative plan.” – Administrator PC

This administrator, and teachers at both Clark Middle School and Granville Elementary School, attributed the increases in student test scores, teacher evaluations, the principal evaluation, and teacher approval ratings directly to their collaborative practices. Collaboration also allowed for teachers to participate in sensemaking and emotional support activities in what is usually an isolated career path.

Our study finds that teachers in three Tennessee schools made strides in becoming collaborative partners to improve their teaching. We come away with five major action steps that support collaborative inquiry cycles at the school level: Form grade-subject collaborative teams; create time that is embedded within the school day for collaborative teams to meet; instruct and model how to productively collaborate, with particular emphasis on how to give constructive feedback; maintain high expectations for participation in collaborative planning (perhaps by making it mandatory) among both administration and the teachers themselves and for creating high quality lessons; and get buy-in through proof that collaborative inquiry cycles will be worth the commitment by observing other schools with successful collaborative practices and/or creating time for teachers to see changes in their own practices.

Our findings also identify four pathways that teachers and school administrators can take to implement or adapt the inquiry cycles into forms that are more successful and/or sustainable in their schools: Using collaborative inquiry to plan lessons multiple times per week, instead of spending multiple weeks examining one lesson; conducting peer observations in-person and scheduled so that teachers do not have to leave their students with a substitute teacher; conducting thorough, though not necessarily lengthy, reflections on every lesson; and using online spaces that are shared among the collaborative team, the administration, and preferably, teachers outside the collaborative team to store lesson plans and reflection notes instead of localized storage units.

Furthermore, our study identifies a few areas in which collaborative teams at these three schools struggled that future research should address. First, many teachers struggled to appropriately gather data to reflect on the success of their lessons. When they observed each other, they did not fully understand or internalize what exactly to observe, and the model teacher often felt uncomfortable in the process. When teachers did not observe each other, they used a variety of techniques to gather information about their lessons, but those sources were likely not as objective and meaningful as they could be. Second, it is still unclear how to move from local knowledge (from the teachers themselves) to incorporating expert knowledge to better validate and improve lessons. Principals or other administrators could participate in collaborative meetings as instructional experts, but the data show that it is often important for administrators to maintain distance from collaborative inquiry practices to ensure that teachers feel ownership over the process. One possible solution would be to embed instructional coaches, perhaps ones who also teach the same content, into teams so they are considered insiders. Other questions that this research opens up are about how to help schools transition from noncollaborative to highly collaborative environments. For instance, can collaborative teams share materials and/or lessons to ease the transition from individual planning to the intensive method of planning together?

This study is distinct from others in the literature because of its focus on decision making and tradeoffs when school administrators and teachers implement and adapt collaborative inquiry cycles in American schools. It helps fill some of the “critical research needs” that Lewis et al. (2006) identify. In particular, it describes a lesson study practice called TPEG and how it was supported and evolved over time in three schools, each with distinct characteristics and ways of practicing lessons study. It also helps explain the mechanism by which collaborative inquiry can improve instruction by improving lesson plans, which is why many teachers in this study decided to collaborate on every lesson instead of focusing on one lesson for several weeks at a time.

This research has several limitations. One is that the primary data source for this research is interviews, as respondents could misremember or miscommunicate activities, actions, and perceptions. Another limitation is the interruption of data collection. At Elwood Elementary, we wanted to do observations and complete more interviews, including ones with the former principal and instructional coach who were instrumental in introducing and supporting TPEG at Elwood. However, we were asked to cease data collection at Elwood after having completed only seven phone interviews due to an uptick in student disciplinary issues that the principal said kept the staff too busy to participate. Some of the plan sessions we observed at Granville Elementary and Clark Middle were apparently slightly more casual than usual sessions. Another major limitation is external validity. While we could identify and analyze patterns and processes in Elwood Elementary School, Granville Elementary School, and Clark Middle School, the findings may not directly translate to other schools. In particular, these were all middle- or high-achieving schools prior to the introduction of TPEG, and the interviews were only conducted during a limited period. We do expect, however, many of the decisions and thought processes around balancing resources and improving instruction will be consistent across many schools.

“The American teaching culture, I think, is very different [from that in Shanghai] in the fact that teachers are not natural sharers. We have always really taught with a closed-door mindset” (Assistant Principal PC).

Despite decades of efforts in building professional communities, the teaching culture and organizational structure in American schools today present challenges to implementing and sustaining collaborative inquiry cycles as a method to improve student learning and teacher working conditions. By describing how three schools navigated the process of conducting collaborative inquiries, our study will help inform future efforts in supporting teacher professional learning and improving instructional practice in schools.

Declaration of source work

The first draft of this work was published as a dissertation thesis ( Carr, 2020 ) and can be found in Vanderbilt University Institutional Repository.

This study was approved by the Behavioral Sciences Committee of the Institutional Review Board at Vanderbilt University (IRB #180759).

Data availability

Source data are not provided because the interviews cannot be effectively de-identified, and the IRB-approved consent forms promise confidentiality and that full interviews would not be released to outside parties.

Extended data

The interview protocols can be found using the following citation:

Carr & Cravens (2022) . Interview Guide for Teaching Without Boundaries: Interviews Exploring the Adaptation of Collaborative Inquiry to the American Context. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7422861

Author information

Olivia G. Carr is presently a consultant based at Education Resource Strategies; however, the research took place at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations.

Xiu Cravens is a professor of the practice at Vanderbilt University.

1 ‘Elwood Elementary’, ‘Granville Elementary School’ and ‘Clark Middle School’ are pseudonyms used to protect participants’ identities. Any similarity with real school names is purely coincidental.

2 Interviews were conducted by phone at ‘Elwood Elementary’ as part of an extended pilot period, and the principal withdrew the school’s participation in the study before in-person interviews could be set up.

3 The letters after each quotation are confidential, unique identifiers for each respondent. The second letter is the school pseudonym: C (Clark), E (Elwood), and G (Granville); these schools’ pseudonyms are randomly generated and do not correspond to actual schools for the sake of protecting participants identities. The first letter is an alphabetical identifier based on the order of interviews at that school. So, "Teacher LC" was the 12th interview conducted at ‘Clark Middle School’.

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• Olivia G. Carr and Xiu Cravens describe the action steps which are actually adopted in three schools to promote peer collaborative inquiry: forming collaborative teams, scheduling collaboration, learning to collaborate, setting expectations for collaboration, and cultivating buy-in. This is very impressive since I find that in China, although there are differences among schools and at different stages of history, the "basic steps" that make collaboration between/among teachers possible are always stable. We tend to summarize them as 5Ts: Team, Time, Task of teamwork, Trust, and Take-away (enabling each member to “gain” something from every collaborative action). The findings of this paper suggests that the steps taken by the three Tennessee schools to promote teacher collaboration are generally rather the same, or at least similar, to the their Chinese counterparts. This reinforced my holdings that there is always something common in teachers' collaborative inquiry, regardless of the distinct cultures in which collaboration takes place.  
• Another of my observations adheres to the findings of Olivia G. Carr and Xiu Cravens is that, most of the problems and troubles we encounter in the process of promoting teacher collaborative inquiry can be attributed to the quality of one or more of the above “action steps”, and the most critical factor is always “Team (or teaming)”. For example, if a group of teachers form a team with shared objectives, responsibilities, resources, and high level of engagement, time becomes more of a trivial problem because team members can always squeeze out or even "create" time to collaborate; and similarly, in such a "real" team, trust and commitment are norms that need not active maintenance.  
• The authors report that schools have made adaptations upon the original (designed) model of TEPG. For instance, teachers have adopted three different strategies in collaborative lesson planning: planning together, sharing lessons, and sharing materials. Based on my observations, these different strategies (which are also common in China) indicate, again, that there exists a “universal pattern” that deserves more attention and effort onto research in the future.
• Scope of collaboration. The rapid development of mobile Internet technology in the past ten years has dramatically impacted, reshaped, and restructured teachers’ peer collaboration in China: When a “team” does not have to be confined to one school (or school district), how can we initiate, support, organize, manage, and evaluate “large-scale-teamwork” and at the same time optimize “local-teamwork”?  
• Clarity of criteria. During the past two decades in China, almost for every two or three years, the Education Authority will issue a new plan in reforming the curriculum, instruction, learning, or evaluation. Such a ridiculous “culture” makes the criteria for judging the quality of teaching and learning increasingly ambiguous, and causing a growing disagreement among teachers regarding how to decide “what counts as a good lesson”. Teacher peer collaboration is a process of pedagogical reasoning, decision making, and action. When there are no more shared criteria for judgement, how can peers co-planning, co-observing, and co-revising the lesson on hand?  
• Commonness and differentiation in collaboration. In the past, at least in China, we assumed that any individual teacher is now and in the future will encounter "same problems to be solved", which makes collaboration more valuable than individual endeavor (because it could provide solutions superior to individual struggles). In recent years, however, individual differences among teachers, not only in terms of their personal experience, knowledge bases, personalities, or teaching styles, but also in the professional problems they have to solve (for example, because of individual differences among pupils), becomes a common fact. If the professional duties, tasks and missions are inherently different among individual members of a group, what should teacher collaboration do to benefit each and every one who is involved?

Reviewer Expertise: teacher education, curriculum and instruction, university school collaboration

Reviewer Status

Alongside their report, reviewers assign a status to the article:

Reviewer Reports

• Jianjun Wang , East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
• Haiyan Qian , The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, China

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Education with No Boundaries

Deepika is currently working as a senior school educator at Ebenezer International School, Bengaluru. She switched careers from being a Senior Risk and Regulatory Affairs Analyst at Deloitte USI to the field of education with an aim of magnifying sustainable education. Being a Digitally Certified educator by organizations like National Geographic and Google she believes in encompassing progressive teaching and learning techniques in classrooms for a quality education.

Just like how our imagination has no parameters, learning also has none. Learning is a journey of every individual throughout their life and when it comes to students it is a routine for continuous hours a day.

Students tend to acquire utmost knowledge and skills through varied subjects and scenarios. This process of acquiring knowledge requires openness and diversity. When I am saying openness and diversity, it means that when a learner is being taught on a specific topic, he/she must not only understand what the topic is but also embed keynotes around it in varied ways beyond a course book. That brings us back to our title ‘Education has no Boundaries’!

What is the purpose behind the idea of education without boundaries?

Well, Mr. Albert Einstein once quoted, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it”. I marked his words in my teaching diary and took it to my heart. When I was a child, I always thought education is all about studying and achieving good grades but later when I stepped out of schooling and started to witness the world outside, my notion started to fade away. I then got my head around and told myself, “hey, education is beyond being literate, way above just studying, it is far away from just understanding the meaning of photosynthesis.” That is when I realised, this notion might exist in many of the learners sitting there just like me. I then reasoned out to become an ‘Educator without boundaries’.

Sometimes we end up questioning ourselves with, ‘why is it like that?’, ‘what is it exactly about?’, ‘why do I have to do it?’. The best answers which will make us go round the globe include questions of why and what. Adding potions to these questions and answering them in a more timely and broader manner shapes the learning journey for our students.

How can we become educators without boundaries?

Prop up with a Bag of Soft-Skills:

In the territory of education, it is paramount that we stay connected with the current generation since we are the ones to motivate our learners and create future managers. Well, soft-skills are one of those best practices which will help you ease this process by placing you in that journey followed by implementing tasks ranging from easier ones like “How to explain a concept” to difficult ones like “learning how to be creative in explaining that concept”.

Soft-Skills in teaching focus on elevating areas such as classroom management strategies, team work, understanding a student’s personality, presentability and so on and so forth. What are those underlined soft-skills required by educators in the any situation:

Displaying personal values- You show a value in your actions they will take it in their bag.

Openness to criticism- Feedback tells you what your next step is.

Empathy- Don’t sympathise but do empathise.

Presentability- They see you, they would want to look like you.

Consideration- Show them that you care, it is a boomerang.

Clarity of speech- Your choice of words will determine whether they will understand your message or not.

Presentation skills- It is not not just what you explain but how you explain it.

Knowing when to communicate- Timing will fill up the blanks.

Willingness to change- 50 students and 50 personalities in one teacher, that is the power of an educator.

Collaboration- Come together whenever necessary, after all the world is a web!

Punctuality- Respect your time as well as others.

Pragmatism- Be realistic. Theory may be for books and exams, but practical is for their time ahead.

Mentoring- Be a ‘go to person’ for your students as well as your fellow-mates.

Maintain a wide range of structured pursuits:

A learner always understands most of the content through activities and practical approaches. Create or simulate experiences and activities for every topic taught. The suggested topics educating learners which I also mentioned few in one of my previous articles include but are not limited to;

• Environmental, social and corporate governance that is applicable to companies.
• Teaching by changing the environment around them (go out of the classroom sometimes, that will have a positive impact)
• Lay foundations for digital literacy and polish digital skills.
• Providing virtual volunteering opportunities on platforms such as UNESCO, UN, UNICEF and other national and international non-profit platforms.
• Showcasing documentaries that focus on life below water, climate actions, poverty, sanitation, economic growth, justice, etc.
• Running an assembly with leaders who can share their experiences on the future of land, peace, sustainable/nonviolent communication, quality education, etc.
• Providing hands on experiences with proficient individuals and sources via webinars, workshops, etc., related to the subject matter.
• Building in class activities like meaningful collaborative projects, group discussions, role based acts and more.

Teaching them the art of ‘Being Human’:

Irrespective of the subject, a learner must be edified about the importance of connections and networking. After all, life is a web and each one of us represent a string in it.

• Encouraging learners to think out of the box by brainstorming sessions.
• Teaching them the value of ethics, informed culture, diversity and empathy.
• Ringing a doorbell for their strengths and weaknesses so that they know how to utilise and overcome them.
• Seeking their opinions on varied topics and discussing the same.
• Leading learners with constructive feedback at the end of every assessment.

Conclusion:

I try to imbibe the above mentioned styles to give my learners a hands-on experience for progressive education which says, education is one field which requires no boundaries. I also believe that the power of creating A-Class managers for the world is vested in the hands of us. Education is a field which gives an understanding for all fundamentals to theory and practice. When this field tends to see boundaries, learners begin to build a preconceived notion and education has no room for those preconceived notions. Certainly, an educator plays a vital role in this entire process. The moment educators tend to place themselves in the hats of learners, they comprehend their thought processes. Once this wiring takes place, we as educators can build a framework beyond the standard work of study.

Life never tells us about the subject in which it is going to place a situation. Preparing our learners for that life is where we as educators make a thoughtful change.

Happy teaching and learning!

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Education Beyond Boundaries : A manifestation of the Jesuit tradition of holistic education

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Catholic Contribution to the Indian History, Society and Culture 19th and 20th Centuries, Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore

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Christians have played a significant role in the field of education in India. The Christian Church’s constant evolution as a Teaching Institution in changing historical periods is well known. Individual Christians, different churches and religious Orders namely the Society of Jesus (SJ), the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary (RJM), Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), Presentation Sisters, Apostolic Carmel (AC), Clarist Franciscan Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters (CFMSS) etc have all played a significant role in the growth and development of the modern system of education in India. In this context, female education in India traditionally straitjacketed due to patriarchy, caste and customary practices received a stimulus only after the entry of Catholic nuns in the educational field. The educational enterprise of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (RJM) that began its India mission in 1842 at Agra created history by being one of the sole pioneers of empowering women through education in this part of North India for about 60 years till the Franciscan sisters came to Agra in 1901. Following the rich Catholic intellectual tradition the JM institutions in India since the very beginning prioritized holistic development of their students—majority being girls—so that they would act as a leaven in their social set up. Irrespective of caste, creed or religion, the RJM orphanages and boarding establishments nurtured and sheltered poor girls and orphans. The paper seeks to unravel the catholic contribution towards women’s education in India through the microcosm of the RJM institutions in North India during the 19th and 20th centuries. It explores how and why the role of RJM was extremely significant given the social prejudices against female education, politico-economic and social turbulence caused by the 1857 revolution, two world wars and the partition of India, and, the lack of fiscal aid by the government both before and after Independence. Concurrently, it recreates the success story of the Catholic order in their mission of creating an enlightened community by both illustrating the meritorious alumni who excel in diverse fields such as politics and leadership, law and journalism, social work, theatre, education, award winning scientists, environmentalists etc; and, the awards and laurels won by the JM administrators.

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On 27th February 1540, the Papal Bull Regimini Militantis Eclesiae estabilished the oficial institution of The Society of Jesus, centred on Ignacio de Layola. Its creation marked the begining of a new Order that would accomplish its apostolic mission through education and evangelisation. The Society´s first apostolic activity was in service of the Portuguese Crown. Thus, Jesuits became involdev within the missionary structure of the Portuguese Patronage and ended up preaching massively across non-European spaces and societies

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How to Listen Less

By  Kerry Ann Rockquemore

You have / 5 articles left. Sign up for a free account or log in.

Dear Kerry Ann,

Last week, an essay (“ Thanks for Listening ”) made the rounds on social media about the invisible, unrewarded and time-intensive emotional labor involved in listening, empathizing, problem solving and resource finding. It described how the offices of “nice women” become confessionals where students disclose private information, share secrets, request assistance, present crises, unload emotional problems and cry (a lot).

When I read it, all I could think was: Ugh. That’s me! I understand all the structural reasons why this happens, but I don’t know how to change it. I’m exhausted, and I’m falling behind on my research and writing. I’m ready to make some changes, but I’m not sure what changes to make.

Please advise.

Warm and Fuzzy

Dear Warm and Fuzzy,

Your experience resonates with me personally. I’m 4 feet 10 inches tall, a woman of color, a great listener and definitely perceived as “warm and fuzzy.” Early in my career, my office was an unending stream of emotional disclosure. Part of me felt honored that people feel safe with me. Part of me felt like I wanted to be the professor I never had. And part of me cared so deeply about my students that I want all of them to feel seen, heard and supported in their growth.

Despite my good intentions, I quickly burned out, because there are personal, physical and emotional costs to that level of emotional work. Doing this labor in addition to classroom teaching, service and maintaining a high level of research productivity left me working all the time.

I’ve written elsewhere about how race, class, gender and size shape professors’ daily interactions, so I’ll respect your question by focusing on what you can do to change this pattern. Let me say this with love, compassion and respect: it’s time to talk about boundaries.

Why Boundaries Are Important

At the most basic level, boundaries are the guidelines that we use to set expectations, responsibilities and limits for ourselves and other people. As a faculty member, boundaries determine what is (and what is not) OK in our relationships with students. Because there is a power differential between you and your student, what you create and allow drive the conversational boundaries of what happens in your office. In other words, you are the professor, so you set the boundaries.

It’s helpful to imagine boundaries as Henry Cloud and John Townsend describe in Boundaries : “A personal property line that marks those things for which we are responsible.” But where you draw that personal property line is up to you and depends on how you understand your role as a professor.

To be clear, I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong place to draw your boundaries. But it’s important for you to make conscious, intentional and consistent choices about your boundaries. And because the way faculty members understand their role varies, let me share a few guiding questions you can use to start choosing where you want to create boundaries for yourself.

Where Does Your Responsibility as a Professor Begin and End?

The foundation of creating healthy boundaries between yourself and students is how you understand what you are -- and are not -- responsible for as a professor. At one end of the spectrum, some faculty members imagine that their responsibility is restricted to teaching the material outlined in their course description. Faculty members who have a short list of responsibilities tend to have high boundaries and formal interactions because they don’t feel responsible for solving students’ personal problems, helping them navigate the campus support services or advising them on major life decisions.

At the other end of the spectrum are faculty members who believe that their duty as a professor includes advising, mentoring, role modeling, being on call 24-7 and playing a quasi-parental role in students’ lives. This far more expansive list of responsibilities results in lower boundaries and far more frequent and informal interactions.

I encourage you to spend some time asking yourself: 1) What precisely are my responsibilities as a professor? 2) What are my students’ responsibilities? and 3) Where exactly does my responsibility end and my students’ responsibility begin? This clarity will help you to feel more comfortable defending your boundaries when students cross them, without any guilt whatsoever. Once you’ve written down what your responsibilities are (and are not), then it’s time to take stock of whether your behavior supports (or undermines) those boundaries.

What Nonverbal Cues Are You Sending?

When it comes to your office and the conversations that take place with students in it, you are in charge -- whether your realize it or not. You create the space, you cue students (verbally and nonverbally) about what you will allow, and your responses either give students permission to show up outside of your office hours and start disclosing private information or not.

If you are young, female, underrepresented and/or generally perceived as a nice person, you may find students making assumptions about your boundaries or testing your boundaries in ways that are not aligned with where you have drawn them. I’m not saying it’s fair that you may have to frequently defend your boundaries. I’m saying that’s real and it’s why you have to be extra clear about where your boundaries lie and skillfully push back when students cross them.

To that end, it’s important that you do not unintentionally send mixed messages. In other words, even before you say anything, you nonverbally communicate a wide range of messages. For example, when it comes to your office, pause to ask yourself:

• Do you close your door when you’re working? If not, why not?
• If someone knocks, do you jump up to answer the door even if you’re in the middle of something?
• How do you answer the door when people knock? Do you open the door wide or body block the entry?
• Do you keep tissues visible and easily accessible on your desk (silently communicating, “Feel free to cry here”)?
• Do you nod and maintain prolonged eye contact when people disclose personal information?
• Do you give out your personal cell phone number to undergraduate or graduate students?
• Are you Facebook friends with students?
• Are you responding to student emails in the evenings and on weekends?
• What are your touching practices? (Do you hug crying students, put hands on their shoulders or arms, or grab their hands for reassurance?)

I’m asking you to reflect on these questions as a way to take stock of what messages you are sending to students nonverbally and determine whether those messages support your boundaries or undermine them.

Do You Choose Your Responses or Default to Listening?

When you clarify your boundaries, you can be more assertive in shaping conversations. The problem is that when you lack clarity, it may feel as if you have no options in how to respond to common ramp-up question such as, “This is confidential, right?” So you default to yes (or nod).

In doing so, you are giving a student permission to disclose personal and confidential information. And if saying yes is within your boundaries, great! There’s no problem. But if that question is a clear red flag that somebody is about to cross a boundary for you, then guess what? You have plenty of other ways to respond, including the following:

• Hold up your hand in the stop gesture.
• Shake your head to indicate no.
• Give the time-out gesture and say directly, “Let me stop you for a minute to clarify the boundaries of our relationship as a teacher and student.”
• Lean back, cross your arms and say: “Well, I’m your professor, so if this is directly related to your classroom performance you can proceed. But if not, then I don’t need to know.”
• Say, “It sounds like you need a space to have a confidential conversation, and I can’t help you because I’m not trained as a _______ (therapist/crisis counselor/financial aid specialist, etc.). Do you know how to connect with the _______ on campus (insert appropriate support service)?”

These are examples of acceptable responses if a student’s disclosure is going beyond what you feel responsible for as a professor. I’m providing examples because, many times, new faculty members don’t know how to defend their boundaries verbally. I encourage you to use these if they are helpful and remind yourself that, in doing so, you are modeling professional boundaries for your students.

What Structures Do You Have in Place to Communicate Your Boundaries?

Since you’re clarifying your boundaries, it’s a great time to review your course policies to see if they support -- or undermine -- your boundaries with students. Have you:

• Defined your relationship in your syllabus? (For example, “My responsibilities as your instructor are …. Your responsibilities as a student are ….)
• Set up your office-hour time slots to reflect your boundaries? If you have a wide sense of responsibilities, then longer appointments are fine. If you have a narrow sense of responsibilities, 15-minute increments let students know that you have limited time and they need to stay focused.
• Explicitly stated who is eligible to attend your office hours in a way that supports your boundaries? Again, if they are wide, anyone is welcome. If they are narrow, clarify that only students currently enrolled in your classes are eligible for office hours.
• Put contact information for campus support services (psychological, health, academic, transportation and security) in your syllabus?
• Created a flyer with relevant support service information to hand students in your office hours when they present concerns that are outside of your responsibility?
• Calibrated the contact information you make available and your email policies to support your boundaries?

All of these questions are important, because the messages you send via your course policies can support the boundaries you want to establish.

What Are the Signs That You Need a Boundary Adjustment?

Finally, I encourage you to notice now how you feel when your boundaries are crossed. You have identified feeling exhausted and frustrated as red flags. I would add that resentment, anger and excessive frustration with others who aren’t doing the same emotional labor are common signs that it’s time for a boundary adjustment. If you know what the emotional signs are, then you can make adjustments whenever they pop up.

I also want to warn you that when you first start to experiment with setting boundaries, it may feel awkward and difficult. For example, you may feel powerful waves of guilt the first time a student (particularly one who is not enrolled in your class) asks, “Do you have time to talk?” and you politely decline. That guilt will be particularly intense if your gender, class, religious or cultural socialization has a strong element of self-sacrifice in it. It may be intensified when others openly express displeasure with your unwillingness to meet their needs. That’s a normal part of the process! So acknowledge the feelings, remind yourself about what you are (and are not) responsible for, and affirm the value of healthy boundaries with your students.

I hope that these questions are received in the spirit they are given: to help those of you who find yourself exhausted from listening too much to feel empowered to listen when, where and under what circumstances you choose to do so -- as opposed to whenever someone wants to unload and considers your office the best place to do that. I’m sure readers will have lots of additional concrete tips and suggestions on setting boundaries, and I encourage everyone to share those freely in the comment section below.

Peace and productivity,

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, Ph.D.

President, National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

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Education without Boundaries.

In today's world, textbooks are not enough. Students must widen their horizons and learn about the world outside schools right from a tender age.

Key points  from the article - 

• Self-reliance
• Increased social skills
• Alternative activities
• Character development
• Studying made easy
• Helpful Relocation
• Competitive Exams

Education is an enlightening experience. It’s an unending process. We keep learning new things, gaining new experiences all through our lives. Why should schools be any different? We send our children to school to prepare them for a life as adults. We provide with them with the best tools, best opportunities, we as parents and or guardians can provide. There are many benefits for preparing our children to a life outside of school and most importantly education beyond rote learning and not understanding.

The earlier models of education focused mainly on just textbooks was goal oriented towards a career. There has been a humongous change in the educational system in the past few years. If we just take the example of last year.Living through a pandemic, an ongoing pandemic, we are realizing the importance of being self-reliant. When we were under lockdown, living at home, working, cooking, cleaning, managing the kids, keeping them busy, keeping your sanity and in an atmosphere of uncertainty we truly understood the efforts it takes to managing a home and maintaining a work life balance.

The true meaning of education is not only attending school, it’s not only about your grades and the rank you score in school. Education involves the all-round development of a child. It combines subjects such as gardening along with biology. History along with music or dance.

Education is an experience and it’s preparing us for a life outside school, for a life beyond just crunching numbers. It’s preparing us for a life of self- love, acceptance no matter who we are or of our differences. India is a land of diversity. We are a country of over 22 languages.We are a country of diversity, unity, togetherness and belonging. We at Shivneri boarding school have students who are diverse, different and culturally different. At our school students mingle with each other, learn together, study, grow, share dorms and spend their day learning from a vast variety of subjects. We are devoted towards the all-round development of your child. We are instilling values of confidence, personal growth and independence. To make sure that our students are well looked at and kept busy during the day we have a strict schedule that we adhere to. Students begin their day early in the morning.

Their daily schedule at Shivneri boarding school is: -

• Get up                                                                          -5.30am
• Get Ready                                                                    -5.30-6.00am
• Yoga, Exercise, Morning PT                                               6.00-7.00am
• Bathing & getting ready for School                                  -7.00-8.00am
• Breakfast                                                                    -8.00-8.30am
• Assembly                                                                     -8.30am-09.00pm
• School Lectures                                                            - 09.00am-12.30pm
• Lunch                                                                         -12.30pm-1.10pm
• School Lectures                                                            -1.10pm-3.30pm
• Wash and Snacks                                                          -3.30pm-5.00pm
• Games and Activities                                                    -5.00pm-6.00pm
• Reinforcement Classes                                                  -6.00pm-7.30pm
• Dinner                                                                        -7.30pm-8.10pm
• Extra Classes for IX-XII / HW Time                                   -8.10pm-9.10pm
• Internet/ TV/ Phone call / Medicines                              -9.10-9.30pm
• Attendance                                                                -9.30pm-9.45pm
• Brush & Lights Off                                                      -09.45PM-10.00PM 

Life is complicated. Who we are as individuals has a lot to do with how we grew up, the kind of experiences we were exposed to as children, what were the values that we believed in?

At Shivneri boarding school , we believe that these are some of the core values that help shape a child and who they will turn out to be in the future: -

• Respecting individuals

Instilling these values in children from a tender age is the best way to start your child’s education. These are some of the lessons they will carry all through their life.

Students begin the day with yoga, exercise and PT. There are many benefits to exercising in the morning, some of them are: -

• Better Focus
• More energy
• Better mood
• Support weight loss
• Improved sleep.

After exercising children then get ready for school and then head for breakfast. At Shivneri boarding school our meal plan changes every fortnightly. Our kitchens are cleaned every day before and every student meals. We ensure that proper hygiene is maintained in the kitchen for our children’s safety.

Sending your child to a CBSC Curriculum boarding school such as Shivneri boarding school can be very beneficial for your children. Listed below are some benefits of boarding schools:

• Self-reliance –  

Students are responsible for taking care of their own personal belongings. Older students are responsible for keeping their beds clean, their clothes and their personal belongings. Responsibilities like these are what make kids self-reliant. They learn how to take care of themselves and their belongings.

• Increased social skills –  

With a vast variety of clubs such as the Eco-club, Science club, robotics club and many more such fun learning opportunities for children to learn and socialize. Here they will perform in groups and form teams, talk and spend time with each other every day, they are working better every day.

• Alternative activities 

The CBSE Curriculum offers a ton of benefits for your child, some of them are as follows:

• Studying made easy:  

CBSE Follows a scientific approach where students are supposed to appear or only 1 question paper per subject. This relieves children of unnecessary pressure and stress that is usually associated with examinations.

• Helpful Relocation: 

A large number of schools in India are already affiliated to the CBSE Module of studying. This makes it easier for when parents want to change cities and can easily get their children enrolled in a CBSE Board school in case of work/ personal transfers.

• Competitive Exams: - 

The CBSE Syllabus is designed to prepare students for various entrance exams such as IIT-JEE, MHT-CET, NATA, AITP (ALPHA INTEGRATED TRAINING PROGRAM) .

Comprehension and Practice is the key to success in competitive exams. Our skilled faculty and digital learning at Shivneri boarding school helps students to comprehend in a better way. The course does not offer only the entrance exam coaching but also 12th Science (CBSE). Our Junior college is affiliated with CBSE Delhi. This is a residential course of 2 years wherein students stay in the most comfortable environment.

We at Shivneri boarding school want our students to receive the best of everything. The best education at their disposal, the best learning opportunities, better focus and ultimately a happy healthy life. For more information about our school: - https://www.shivnerischool.com/

Essay on Importance of Education for Students

500 words essay on importance of education.

To say Education is important is an understatement. Education is a weapon to improve one’s life. It is probably the most important tool to change one’s life. Education for a child begins at home. It is a lifelong process that ends with death. Education certainly determines the quality of an individual’s life. Education improves one’s knowledge, skills and develops the personality and attitude. Most noteworthy, Education affects the chances of employment for people. A highly educated individual is probably very likely to get a good job. In this essay on importance of education, we will tell you about the value of education in life and society.

Importance of Education in Life

First of all, Education teaches the ability to read and write. Reading and writing is the first step in Education. Most information is done by writing. Hence, the lack of writing skill means missing out on a lot of information. Consequently, Education makes people literate.

Above all, Education is extremely important for employment. It certainly is a great opportunity to make a decent living. This is due to the skills of a high paying job that Education provides. Uneducated people are probably at a huge disadvantage when it comes to jobs. It seems like many poor people improve their lives with the help of Education.

Better Communication is yet another role in Education. Education improves and refines the speech of a person. Furthermore, individuals also improve other means of communication with Education.

Education makes an individual a better user of technology. Education certainly provides the technical skills necessary for using technology . Hence, without Education, it would probably be difficult to handle modern machines.

People become more mature with the help of Education. Sophistication enters the life of educated people. Above all, Education teaches the value of discipline to individuals. Educated people also realize the value of time much more. To educated people, time is equal to money.

Finally, Educations enables individuals to express their views efficiently. Educated individuals can explain their opinions in a clear manner. Hence, educated people are quite likely to convince people to their point of view.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Importance of Education in Society

First of all, Education helps in spreading knowledge in society. This is perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Education. There is a quick propagation of knowledge in an educated society. Furthermore, there is a transfer of knowledge from generation to another by Education.

Education helps in the development and innovation of technology. Most noteworthy, the more the education, the more technology will spread. Important developments in war equipment, medicine , computers, take place due to Education.

Education is a ray of light in the darkness. It certainly is a hope for a good life. Education is a basic right of every Human on this Planet. To deny this right is evil. Uneducated youth is the worst thing for Humanity. Above all, the governments of all countries must ensure to spread Education.

FAQs on Essay on Importance of Education

Q.1 How Education helps in Employment?

A.1 Education helps in Employment by providing necessary skills. These skills are important for doing a high paying job.

Q.2 Mention one way in Education helps a society?

A.2 Education helps society by spreading knowledge. This certainly is one excellent contribution to Education.

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After Affirmative Action Ban, They Rewrote College Essays With a Key Theme: Race

The Supreme Court’s ruling intended to remove the consideration of race during the admissions process. So students used their essays to highlight their racial background.

By Bernard Mokam

Bernard Mokam interviewed dozens of high school students, parents and counselors about preparing college applications in a new landscape.

Astrid Delgado first wrote her college application essay about a death in her family. Then she reshaped it around a Spanish book she read as a way to connect to her Dominican heritage.

Deshayne Curley wanted to leave his Indigenous background out of his essay. But he reworked it to focus on an heirloom necklace that reminded him of his home on the Navajo Reservation.

The first draft of Jyel Hollingsworth’s essay explored her love for chess. The final focused on the prejudice between her Korean and Black American families and the financial hardships she overcame.

All three students said they decided to rethink their essays to emphasize one key element: their racial identities. And they did so after the Supreme Court last year struck down affirmative action in college admissions, leaving essays the only place for applicants to directly indicate their racial and ethnic backgrounds.

High school students graduating this year worked on their college applications, due this month, in one of the most turbulent years in American education. Not only have they had to prepare them in the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war — which sparked debates about free speech and antisemitism on college campuses, leading to the resignation of two Ivy League presidents — but they also had to wade through the new ban on race-conscious admissions.

“It has been a lot to take in,” said Keteyian Cade, a 17-year-old from St. Louis. “There is so much going on in the world right now.”

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