"Multi-grade multi-level (MGML) teaching strategy can be viable for small schools and home schoools," holds Jaipur based educator Lalit Kishore whose article "Multi-grade multi-level teaching strategy needs to be tried seriously in small rural and tribal schools" that was published in MeriNews (31 August, 2016) is being reproduced since the portal has been discontinued.
"The multi-grade classroom is an organizational pattern in which a teacher is required to teach two or more grades simultaneously. According to a rough estimate, in India, about 80 per cent 'rural and tribal area schools' have multi-grade situation and are being managed by one to three teachers in primary schools having five classes.
Typically, small-scale schooling and multi-grade classrooms are today getting a closer look in research and experimentation. Since single-grade multi-level and multi-grade teachings have similar features, the common strategy for them is called multi-grade multi-level (MGML) teaching strategy. Under the home school concept in which a few kids in multi-age and multi-grade situation are taught by certified parents or tutors often go for multi-level learning strategy.
In my experience of working with Janshala project of UN Agencies, a multi-grade classroom, more time must be spent in organizing and planning for instruction as well as extra materials and strategies must be developed so that students will be meaningfully engaged when the teacher moves from class to class or group to group. There is always a need for preparing some fast-learners to take up peer-tutoring.
The experiments of some NGOs like Jaipur-based NGO called CULP, have demonstrated that the successful implementation of MGML solely rests on the teaching-learning material which needs to be deliberately developed and validated with quick try-outs with a group of students before the larger use. This kind of hard work is required and often teachers are given more than a month-long training and provided a support system to implement the MGML teaching strategy successfully.
It has been observed that if learning materials in the form of worksheets for each day are produced to be done in small groups and individually by students and a support system close to a cluster of schools is provided, multi-grade system has been able to produce high quality learning outcomes. The Rishi Valley Satellite Schools under RIVER project, which make use of learning cards, have also demonstrated that MGML teaching strategy is viable for small remote schools."
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