FAQs
Here is a list of FAQs about placement schools.
1. Can I choose my placement school or placement area?
No. However, Teach For India will consider your preferences (through the survey) and try to accommodate you preference accordingly. Teach For India also does not guarantee that you will get your preferred area or school, grade or shift since we place Fellows based on the requirements of the Schools and the HMs.
2. Can I request for a change in Placement cluster or school?
No. There are several factors that are taken into consideration while deciding Placement cluster and school. Once determined a switch is not encouraged. Also,there are limited spots available in each cluster. In case we have received many requests for a particular cluster then Teach For India team uses its discretion to determine who gets which cluster.
2. Can I choose my co-teacher?
No. The co-teacher placements will be based on institute preferences and other criteria.
3. Why doesn’t Teach for India place Fellows in rural area?
Currently, Teach for India’s expertise is limited to English Medium instruction. Our research shows that schools in rural India follow vernacular mediums of instruction and Teach for India does not have the bandwidth to support Fellows placed in rural vernacular medium schools. We are presently working on strengthening our program impact in our existing partner schools in urban India. However, we recognize that there is a tremendous need for intervention in rural and semi-urban areas and we do aim to expand into these areas through our strong Alumni movement. Therefore, for the year 2013-14 our partner schools will only be in urban Mumbai.
4. What is Teach for India’s criteria for choosing placement schools?
Teach For India chooses schools based on the following criteria:
5. Are ALL the school HMs/Principals aligned with Teach For India’s vision, mission and teaching approach?
No. The HM/principal investment in our partner schools varies from school to school. However, we do have a number of schools where we believe investment of HM and School management can be really worked on and consider this a challenging opportunity. We have noticed that for our champion schools in other cities, our Fellows have played the crucial role in investing school HMs and other staff into their classrooms and our vision. We believe investing HMs and other teachers is one of the critical ways to harness the Teach for India Fellows’ leadership experience.
6. Will I be teaching all subjects?
If you are a primary grade teacher there is a high likelyhood that you will be teaching all subjects except the vernacular language i.e. Marathi & Hindi. If you are placed as a secondary grade teacher you may subject teach. This depends on the need of the students and school and mutual decision of Fellows and TFI staff. We do believe that teaching all subjects increases the instructional time that you have with your students and leads to increased impact for your students.
7. Will I be following the state curriculum?
Yes. You will be following the state curriculum (SSC Balbharati) but you will be teaching using innovative teaching methodology and will be teaching at the learning level of your students based on the diagnostic assessment that you will conduct at the beginning of the year. You will also be given a set of rigorous learning standards and you will be trained on how to match those to the prescribed curriculum.
8. As a Teach For India Fellow, are there any added responsibilities as a teacher of the school?
Although your primary responsibility is teaching your students, you will still be accountable for completing certain administrative duties on time. All the teachers in our schools have to complete these administrative responsibilities as per the norms of Municipal Corporation. The administrative duties will include but are not limited to:
§ Maintain Attendance/Muster
§ Create mark sheets
§ Fill out registers and record books
§ Keep track of fees
§ Take general census of students
§ Duplicate report cards for CES records
§ Complete Lesson Plan register
§ Complete Annual Plan register
§ Handle other extra responsibilities, like Annual Day and Sports event.
1. Can I choose my placement school or placement area?
No. However, Teach For India will consider your preferences (through the survey) and try to accommodate you preference accordingly. Teach For India also does not guarantee that you will get your preferred area or school, grade or shift since we place Fellows based on the requirements of the Schools and the HMs.
2. Can I request for a change in Placement cluster or school?
No. There are several factors that are taken into consideration while deciding Placement cluster and school. Once determined a switch is not encouraged. Also,there are limited spots available in each cluster. In case we have received many requests for a particular cluster then Teach For India team uses its discretion to determine who gets which cluster.
2. Can I choose my co-teacher?
No. The co-teacher placements will be based on institute preferences and other criteria.
3. Why doesn’t Teach for India place Fellows in rural area?
Currently, Teach for India’s expertise is limited to English Medium instruction. Our research shows that schools in rural India follow vernacular mediums of instruction and Teach for India does not have the bandwidth to support Fellows placed in rural vernacular medium schools. We are presently working on strengthening our program impact in our existing partner schools in urban India. However, we recognize that there is a tremendous need for intervention in rural and semi-urban areas and we do aim to expand into these areas through our strong Alumni movement. Therefore, for the year 2013-14 our partner schools will only be in urban Mumbai.
4. What is Teach for India’s criteria for choosing placement schools?
Teach For India chooses schools based on the following criteria:
- Openness of HM & School Management
- Autonomy to teach using Teach For India methodology
- Teacher vacancies
- Background of students
- Infrastructure
- Safety and accessibility
- School recognition
- Long term impact on students, which means schools going upto grade 10
5. Are ALL the school HMs/Principals aligned with Teach For India’s vision, mission and teaching approach?
No. The HM/principal investment in our partner schools varies from school to school. However, we do have a number of schools where we believe investment of HM and School management can be really worked on and consider this a challenging opportunity. We have noticed that for our champion schools in other cities, our Fellows have played the crucial role in investing school HMs and other staff into their classrooms and our vision. We believe investing HMs and other teachers is one of the critical ways to harness the Teach for India Fellows’ leadership experience.
6. Will I be teaching all subjects?
If you are a primary grade teacher there is a high likelyhood that you will be teaching all subjects except the vernacular language i.e. Marathi & Hindi. If you are placed as a secondary grade teacher you may subject teach. This depends on the need of the students and school and mutual decision of Fellows and TFI staff. We do believe that teaching all subjects increases the instructional time that you have with your students and leads to increased impact for your students.
7. Will I be following the state curriculum?
Yes. You will be following the state curriculum (SSC Balbharati) but you will be teaching using innovative teaching methodology and will be teaching at the learning level of your students based on the diagnostic assessment that you will conduct at the beginning of the year. You will also be given a set of rigorous learning standards and you will be trained on how to match those to the prescribed curriculum.
8. As a Teach For India Fellow, are there any added responsibilities as a teacher of the school?
Although your primary responsibility is teaching your students, you will still be accountable for completing certain administrative duties on time. All the teachers in our schools have to complete these administrative responsibilities as per the norms of Municipal Corporation. The administrative duties will include but are not limited to:
§ Maintain Attendance/Muster
§ Create mark sheets
§ Fill out registers and record books
§ Keep track of fees
§ Take general census of students
§ Duplicate report cards for CES records
§ Complete Lesson Plan register
§ Complete Annual Plan register
§ Handle other extra responsibilities, like Annual Day and Sports event.