Shift in Pedagogy: NCERT Launches Month's Bridge Course to Train Teachers in New Syllabi for Class 6

A shift from content to “competencies”; from chapter-centric approach to “curricular-centric”; from whole language approach to “balanced literacy” – major changes in how the new syllabus, aligned with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, will be taught to students beginning with Classes 3 and 6.

New books will be released for Classes 3 and 6 by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) by April-May, while the organisation will also introduce and train teachers in new pedagogical tools through a month-long bridge course. Starting with Class 6, which is the first stage of middle school, teachers will be prepared for teaching the newly-developed curriculum from the new session.

The National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), developed in line with the new National Education Policy (NEP), was released by the education ministry in August 2023. It provides various concepts for different levels of learning: art and play-based learning for the foundational stage; competency-based learning for higher classes; introduction of vocational skills from Class 6; no regimented streaming of commerce, science and humanities; and board examinations for Classes 10 and 12 twice a year.

Routine teaching to fun-based learning, new timetable

According to the bridge course document, the content and pedagogy introduced in the new syllabi and textbooks expect teachers to move from “routine teacher-guided activities to fun-based, play-based, discovery-based activities and from assessment of selected abilities to holistic assessment”.

“For Grade 6, a new time allocation and timetable as suggested for the middle stage in NCF-SE will be implemented… Since students will be coming to the new class after studying the old curriculum with a textbook-centric approach, once students enter Grade 6, the ideal would be to have a month-long fun-filled series of activities that allows them to enjoy, shed their inhibitions and get involved in simple projects,” the document stated.

Class 6 is when subjects such as science and social studies are introduced in the curriculum. The bridge course provides for activities, experiments and games that can be carried out for each of the subjects, both indoors and outdoors.

The course also elaborates on how teachers can introduce vocational education teaching in classrooms. For example, a project with minimal equipment can be given to students either as a group or individual – planting flowers is a good option, either outside or in pots, or both.

“Teachers can design their own activities to make students apply the concepts given in the textbooks,” it said.

Moving from old to new curriculum

According to a notification released by the NCERT last month, a bridge course for teachers to make the transition from old curriculum to the new curriculum will be launched. It also announced that Class 3 textbooks shall be available in the printed version for the last week of April this year while Class 6 textbooks will be out by mid-May.

The NCERT is tasked with developing new books for all classes aligned with the NCF-SE. But, it said this academic session (2024-25), new books will only be released for Classes 3 and 6 while revised books for all other classes will be released over the next two academic sessions. It has already released books for Classes 1 and 2.