India, India …
Wed, Dec 1st 2010
Many of you who have ever had the luck to go to India will know that when you get back you just don’t know what to say! People ask questions, I start to answer, then stop … then try again. There are so many “Indias”, so much beauty, poverty, learnedness, lack of education, holiness, profanity … the list of contrasts can go on and on …
I am passionately in love with India and, drained, energised, saddened, inspired, discouraged … so that list of contrasts goes on and on too!
I am unbelievably lucky because I have a soul-sister, in terms of ideology, who herself is Indian. She too deeply believes in the Quality Circle Time model; she is a very determined, focussed, motivating, caring, accomplished and brilliant person who has set up a not-for-profit organisation called “The Teacher Foundation”, which has been going for ten years, and has worked with over 13,000 teachers. For the last ten years I have been travelling to India and, as a charitable partnership, supporting her foundation to develop, adapt and grow the Quality Circle Time model. But hey, anyone who knows India knows this is a massive challenge! There is a huge range of schools: government schools (the poorest), private schools (entrepreneurial) with most parents trying to aspire to get their children in them, public schools and a few so called international schools. Most classes, at government and private school level, range between 40 and 60 children in a class (in some rural villages this can go up to 100 in a class!). My experience of listening to Indian children and teachers over the last ten years, and looking into some classrooms, is that somehow there is still operating the ‘Dickensian’ legacy left by the Victorians – and it stains the purity of intent of the vision of education. Many classrooms are not only overcrowded, under resourced … but rote learning is still the key technique, the back of the teacher’s hand can flash, “scolding” is commonplace, children stand to speak, then sit down and so it goes on. Circle time with its commitment to respect, equality, listening, self esteem and student centredness, you would think would be a huge ‘white elephant’ which would not be welcome anywhere! But how amazingly wonderful, when they see circle time in action, either modelled by me, Maya, or one of her trained team, Indian teachers ‘get it’ immediately! There are so many thinkers and philosophers in the Indian culture who the world has looked to for guidance. Gandhi, J. Krishnamurthy, Tagore, to name a few. In India, the Adivasis, the native tribal inhabitants (like the world over), have for centuries got together in circles, linking arms tightly in rhythmic ritual dances, signifying joy, unity of heart and purpose.
Circle time resonates spiritually and emotionally with all the thousands of teachers I or Maya have worked with. It is the practicality of the model, i.e. getting into a circle on chairs that can ‘floor’ the enthusiast. It needs to be a whole school approach, embraced by the management team, who need to back it up and support teachers to put it on the timetable.
Fifteen years ago, when I taught circle time as a module on a master’s degree at Bristol University, I had a fabulous student; an Indian teacher, Urmila Ramakrishna. For her final dissertation she undertook an action research project in four Bombay schools. Based on intensive and qualitative small scale research to evaluate the impact of the Quality Circle Time model, the study asks the question: Is it feasible and educationally worthwhile to introduce Quality Circle Time to Bombay schools? Her conclusions are very positive. But perhaps the best words go to one of the young people she questioned – Nazia Vasi.
“Opening up to the teachers would be great. We could treat our teachers not as strict, wicked people, always nagging you, but we would be able to treat them as part of ourselves. We need a time every week to reveal our thoughts and feelings!”
So, lovely readers, if any of you want to immerse yourself in a glorious, but frustrating, country for a short period, do volunteer to help Maya and her amazing team (“Hello Wonderful Manjula”) and give these schools some of your circle time expertise. Every little helps! Somewhere out there is Meena Kant - another inspiring India teacher who I met in India. She came to stay and, apart from shadowing my circle work, she visited the Krishna Murtie – inspired school in Hampshire, then returned to India. Sadly, I have now lost touch with Urmila and Meena – if, by any chance, either of you are reading this, then please do get in contact. I miss you!
Meanwhile, Maya and her team (I trained and accredited them in Quality Circle Time) hold the flame brightly. There are lots of flames held in India – especially for pujas during festival times. (I was swept along in Varanasi by a flock of brightly coloured sacred sareed people, all holding candles on their way to the River Ganges) … but this candle, that Maya, I and you hold is miraculous too – it’s a circle of heart warming light!!!
Further Information
The Teacher Foundation, in collaboration with Wipro, is running the Safe and Sensitive Schools project – which aims to enable teachers to make learning environment more emotionally-friendly. This project is putting the Quality Circle Time model into fourteen Indian schools. For more information about the Teacher Foundation, the Safe and Sensitive Schools project and the work that they do, please go to: http://www.teacherfoundation.org/
For details of this publication, A Handbook of Quality Circle Time in India - please enquire at The Teacher Foundation.
For details of Jenny Mosley's national and international training programmes and availability, please phone 01225 767157 or email circletime@jennymosley.co.uk
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