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Coursework focuses on interactive and involved learning. Students learn theory in a workshop-style teaching module in which the instructor models a classroom. Each of the classes requires substantial reading, and the information gained from the readings is applied in the actual setting of schools and classrooms. Placement in cooperating schools is an indispensable part of the coursework. The programme believes that without application in the classrooms, trainees do not understand the theory at a deeper and practical level
Term One
Child Development and Learning
The main thrust of this term is to learn about child development and realize the ways in which children are different from adults and that every individual child is different with different interests and skills. Looking at the whole child and appreciating the works of different child psychologists is the focus. Trainees understand the basic needs of children and that one cannot separate the academic from social and emotional growth.
Reading Writing and Language Arts
This is a two-term programme focusing on reading and writing. Language is a mode of communication, and it is through the medium of language that we show how we feel, what we know, what we appreciate and what we dislike. This literature-based curriculum equips trainees with techniques of teaching language, both Nepali and English.
Mathematics for Teachers
This course provides lots of opportunities for trainees to revisit mathematics and realize how important the subject is in our everyday lives. Trainees come out of the course appreciating mathematics and realizing that young students have to be ready to learn mathematical concepts. The fact that paper and pencil mathematics is not necessarily a reflection of what a child knows and is capable of doing is made clear in this course.
Term Two
Functioning Classrooms within Schools
Much of the theory learnt in Term One is put into practice in Term Two. By visiting three Demonstration Schools for a week each, trainees realize many issues regarding teaching and learning–from classroom management to fostering the multiple-intelligence of children. The need to focus on the whole child and not just academics is reiterated again and again, and trainees get to see experienced teachers in practice in schools that have well-defined child-centered teaching methods.
Science and Environment Education
The environment science course focuses on trainees' ability to observe, record and report accurately. The study of the shape and position of the moon over a period of weeks is one way of teaching natural phenomena. Long- term observation, recording and reporting is another focus of this curriculum. This course also uses the neighborhood and surroundings to teach various scientific concepts and skills.
Reading and Language Arts
Writer’s workshops comprise the core topic of this term. Trainees go through the writing process, publish their own literature and share their work with the whole group at the end of the session. Trainees continue to learn to teach language and use government textbooks to make plans and implement lessons.
Mathematics for Teachers
During the second term, teachers learn to put together what they have learnt in term one, and conduct some in-depth math activities with students. Four sessions during the second term completes the mathematics course.
Community Study outside the City
Trainees reside at a locality outside the city for several days. This study provides an opportunity for the trainees to get to work together and bond with instructors and advisors as they learn and explore a specific community and appreciate its complexities and take lessons from it.
Term Three
Children’s Learning; Assessment and Parents
The focus on philosophy this term is to understand the government primary curriculum and to learn to teach from it. Trainees appreciate the different ways a child learns and plan for that learning experience. In addition, methods of authentic assessment are also discussed. Trainees follow several children closely and write and make an assessment of their overall status, and plan to report the findings to their parents. Character development issues and learning to work in groups are also focuses this term. The term ends with trainees discussing and writing a mission statement for teachers.
Social Studies for Teachers
This course is designed to help trainees gain the expertise needed to teach social studies in a meaningful way so that students get the necessary experience and the ability to make informed decisions in an ever-changing world. Teachers will explore ways to nurture, inculcate, understand and practice democratic values and beliefs in order to become active and responsible citizens. The premise of the course rests on making use of the children's immediate environment to meet the goals of teaching social studies.
Arts and Physical Education
During these sessions, trainees appreciate the need for art and physical education curricula in primary school and how children develop in each of these areas. They learn the processes in the various art media appropriate for primary school children. This hands-on course gives trainees the opportunity to explore art as an expressive medium and relate their own childhood experiences to learning about working with children. We aim to demystify art and give would-be primary teachers confidence in their artistic and physical capabilities to work in these areas in a Primary School.
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