Training and Development

NIAS-EGT offers programmes for creating awareness and training the following stakeholders 

• Training of Teachers and School Management 

• Training of Trainers 

• ALC Facilitators 

• Training of Mentors 

• Training of Counsellors 

• Awareness Programmes for Parents 

Training of Teachers and School Management 

NIAS conducted various workshops in the schools in both urban and rural areas. The teacher training workshops the twin objectives, 
1. Sensitizing the schools and teachers about the issues and needs of the children with high abilities. 
2. Identifying potentially gifted children. 

NIAS-EGT has been conducting workshops for teachers and school management from various schools in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, teacher training workshops have been conducted for teachers from schools across India, these include Kendriya Vidyalaya, Parikrma center for learning, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir (SSRVM) J.P.Nagar Bangalore, Silver Oaks International school Bangalore & Hyderabad, Vidyashilp Academy Bangalore, etc. In rural areas, the workshops were conducted for various government schools in Chamrajnagar and Mysore districts in Karnataka. Teacher Training workshops were also conducted from Government and Private schools in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. 

In the past three years, NIAS-EGT Team has conducted over 30 teacher-training workshops for teachers from rural and urban areas. The training sessions facilitate the questioning of already existing conceptions of giftedness, where giftedness is often understood as a “good” behaved/achieving boy or a girl. This myth had to be removed through live examples. The session then introduces the teacher to the 21 traits of giftedness by their active participation. The teachers fill one nomination form in the session through consultation with peers and the teacher trainer. 

The teachers are encouraged to recall any incident or activity inside or outside their classrooms where, one of their students have shown unusual creativity, problem-solving skills, leadership qualities or high abilities (can be mentioned in the nomination form). After the session, teachers were confident to identify gifted children in various fields. As an illustrative point, a teacher identified a gifted child of 8 years who had completed the electrical wiring of his house without any formal training. 

Why teachers and school management? 

The workshops are important to ensure a sustainable and scalable identification method for India since the teachers and parents are the first points of contact in the process of identification. Teachers specifically are our entry point into the education system and our most important collaborator in the effort to identify and nurture gifted children. Teachers spend several hours a day with many children, allowing them to observe the behaviour, abilities, and interests and identify the children with exceptional potential. The rigidity of the Indian education system creates in many teachers a textbook-and-exam-based definition of giftedness or talent, whereas the other talents go unnoticed. In both urban and rural areas, the research data has similar findings. The concept of giftedness among teachers reflects the achievements in exams or competitions and “good” behavior in the classroom.  

In contrast, the research in gifted education found that underachievement and disruptive behaviour (for ex.questioning the authority or social adjustments issues) were pretty common among gifted children. These children are often not identified by the teacher and experience social isolation. There was a need to orient teachers through the training to identify giftedness in its many manifestations. 

NIAS-EGT has proposed to the government to have a module on giftedness in teacher training programmes at the national level. The programme aims to offer support to teachers through training and workshops. NIAS makes free reading material on education of the gifted, on the ‘Knowledge Base’ section of the website. 

Training of Trainers 

NIAS organizes a Master teacher-trainer workshop, where teachers or other school employees can become a trainer for teachers and avail NIAS resources on Gifted Education. They can further implement the identification and mentoring programme in their respective schools. The objective of the workshop is to increase the outreach of the program and to upscale the mentoring opportunities. 

Training of Mentors 

The NIAS- EGT Programme recognizes that mentors also require facilitation to interact with young children who are diverse in their needs and interests. The team has been organizing workshops and feedback sessions with mentors to understand their needs and share their experiences and resources. NIAS organizes mentors workshop in educational institutions like IISc to meet the postgraduate/doctorate/post-doctorate students who had volunteered to become mentors. The workshop is conducted to introduce the mentoring programme to the students. The workshops are in the form of the interactive session conducted by Prof. Anitha Kurup. The discussions during the sessions help the NIAS EGT team as it provides important leads to motivate students to mentor young children effectively. 

ALC Facilitators 

After short-listing the students for the ALCs, the NIAS-EGT programme organizes training for facilitators who will be the crucial link between NIAS and the students. NIAS conducts facilitators workshops, where a curricular framework of the activities for six months are drawn. The facilitators, workshop also provides a platform to critically review the programme and fix gaps that may be present in the programme. The workshop is also used to review the programmes of the ALC center and share experiences, which is mutually beneficial. The facilitators are provided with the training and feedback to ensure their engagement with children in an efficient manner. Apart from being trained at the time of induction, the facilitators constantly interact with the NIAS team during and after the ALC sessions. Post the training sessions, the facilitators develop a curricular framework to guide the activities in the ALCs. The framework provides broad guidelines with enough autonomy to introduce new ideas into the ALCs. The facilitators have to effectively coordinate between the students and NIAS by providing updates and necessary feedback and establishing a high standard of learning experience in the programme.