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Any new approach needs to either align with these • Proposed Approach: Rather than mandating
existing beliefs or challenge them thoughtfully.
Teachers across the country, for example, have long
emphasised the need for flexibility in curriculum and
pedagogy.
3. Empirical Expectations: Teachers are influenced
by their peers. When they see colleagues
successfully implementing new methods, they
are more likely to adopt them. Peer learning
communities, therefore, play a critical role in driving
lasting change.
School Culture: A Critical Link
A supportive school culture is critical for driving
meaningful change. Teaching, as a profession, is
deeply embedded in cultural norms. As noted by
an article by @krishnakalabaskaran in his post
on the cultural factor, teachers carry with them
beliefs about authority, pedagogy, and learning. In
environments where hierarchical norms dominate,
new, student-centred approaches may clash with
deeply rooted expectations of what teaching
“should” look like.
Teachers often feel overwhelmed by administrative
tasks and external assessments, leaving little
room for experimentation. The Tamil Nadu State
Planning Commission’s study showed that multi-
grade teachers struggled to balance curriculum
expectations with the realities of diverse learning
levels in their classrooms. Teachers who were part
of the study also highlighted the need to give scope
for them to innovate with pedagogy and teaching
and learning materials as well as with the pace of
learning.
Teachers need the freedom to innovate within
their classrooms, but they also need support from
school leaders to make that happen. Creating
psychologically safe environments where educators
feel empowered to experiment with new approaches
is essential.
Moving Toward Adaptive FLN
Implementation
1. Building Teacher Agency
A key barrier in current FLN programs is the lack of
teacher agency. Prescriptive lesson plans and rigid
activity schedules leave little room for creativity or
adaptation. Teachers are sometimes forced to comply
with strategies that may not align with their specific
classroom needs.
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a culture of continuous learning. Teachers are
a single method, offer teachers a variety of
strategies and allow them to choose approaches
that align with their students’ learning levels and
classroom dynamics.
• Why This Works: Empowering teachers to
make decisions increases their engagement
and ownership of the program. It encourages
innovation and ensures that teaching practices
are contextually relevant
2. Reshaping Teacher Support Systems
Teacher Continuous Professional Development
programs often comprise of trainings on
content, pedagogy and assessments. These are
followed by observations in the classroom during
implementation. However, periodic training sessions
and compliance checks are not enough. When
there is a lack of a supporting cadre for teacher
development or when the supporting cadre such as
Head teachers and BRTEs are not equipped enough,
teachers may feel less empowered and supported
towards their growth. In addition, teachers benefit
from ongoing support and opportunities to
collaborate with peers through Professional Learning
Communities (PLC).
Often, use of Whatsapp / Telegram groups by
teachers to share ideas and classroom practices
are seen as PLCs. This is mostly not true. According
to UNICEF, the core elements of effective PLCs
include fostering a collaborative culture, encouraging
learning for all (both students and teachers), using
inquiry to examine existing practices, and committing
to action and improvement. These elements help
create an environment where teachers are supported
in trying new approaches and refining their skills,
ultimately leading to better educational outcomes for
students. The toolkit developed by British Council
offers great insight into establishing, running and
sustaining successful Communities of Practice (A
form of PLC).
• Proposed Approach: Establish PLCs at the cluster
level where teachers can discuss challenges, share
strategies, and innovate together. These circles
should prioritise genuine collaboration over
compliance. The format and effectiveness of the
cluster level meetings in their current form can be
improved.
• Why This Works: Peer support networks create
reliance. Successful FLN programs should be geared
more likely to adopt new strategies when they see toward empowering government systems rather than
them working in their peers’ classrooms. This also creating long-term dependency.
builds a collaborative, reflective teaching culture.
Proposed Approach: External partners should
3. Monitoring for Growth, Not Just concentrate on transferring skills and knowledge,
Compliance equipping government bodies to sustain and scale
Current monitoring frameworks focus heavily the programme once external support phases out.
on ensuring that teachers follow prescribed This ensures that the initiative’s core objectives
methods, often neglecting the quality or contextual continue well beyond the project lifecycle and not
appropriateness of these practices. The collected create dependencies.
data on compliance needs to be utilised effectively
at various levels of the system to help teachers Why It Matters: The longevity and success of FLN
in their professional growth and not just remain programmes depend on full ownership by the
in data warehouses where they neither serve the government as well as the various level of officials
administrators nor the teachers. within the government. External partners must
prioritise capacity building in the system and play the
• Proposed Approach: Shift from a compliance- role of enablers and catalysts, and not act as primary
based monitoring approach to one that tracks implementors of interventions.
growth. Metrics should include how teachers
adapt their methods based on classroom realities, Conclusion
as well as the quality of peer interactions and FLN programs need to move beyond a compliance-
student engagement. driven approach. Fostering a supportive school
culture, encouraging teacher agency, and focusing
• Why This Works: Focusing on growth on peer collaboration are all essential elements of
and adaptation provides a more nuanced effective FLN implementation.
understanding of how FLN programs are
being implemented. It also respects teachers By embracing behavioural change principles, we can
as professionals capable of making informed create an education system where teachers are not
decisions about their classrooms. only equipped with the right strategies but are also
motivated and empowered to adapt and innovate.
4. Accounting for Time in Behavioural This shift will help ensure that FLN programs do
Change Interventions more than improve test scores—they will help
Behavioural change in education takes time. Though create holistic learning environments that nurture
at the outset it may look like FLN is an intervention creativity, critical thinking, and emotional well-being
towards improving student outcomes, it has a lot in students.
more to do with changes in behaviour, not just at
the level of teachers, but also at various levels that References
support the teachers in their classroom journey. • Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior.
Policymakers and bureaucrats must recognize that Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
the adoption of new teaching practices, and the Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.
changes in behaviour that enable the adoption, is a org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
gradual process, requiring continuous support and • Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission. (2024).
adjustment. Expecting immediate results or rushing
implementation leads to superficial compliance Study on Ennum Ezhuthum Program.
rather than deep, sustained change. Long-term • Todd, P. M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2007). Heuristics for Credit (Text & Image): Peraivu Koodam Foundation
planning that allows for iterative learning and decision making.
adaptation is essential for success. • Nawani, D. (2024, October 14). ASER survey:
The problem with reducing learning to absolute
5. The Role of External Partners measurables. The Indian Express. https://
While external partners, such as NGOs, bring indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aser-
valuable technical expertise, their involvement needs survey-problem-reducing-learning-to-absolute-
to focus on building internal capacity, not fostering measurables-8393636/
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