Pudumai Palli Project: Developing Innovative Schools in Chennai (P3DISC)

The project aimed to ensure that secondary level students, especially girls, from schools run by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) stayed in school longer and acquired 21st century skills that would enable them to find meaningful employment and contribute positively to their communities.

It also aimed to improve the livelihood prospects of students, particularly girls, in socio-economically marginalised urban communities in Chennai by enhancing their 21st century skills, including English, critical thinking and problem solving, enterprise and leadership skills.

Face-to-face training

• In the first year of the project, orientation workshops for Assistant Education Officers, Project Officers and headteachers to help them gain the necessary skills to support project activities in their zones and schools respectively. 
• In year two, headteachers from every school attended a workshop on gender awareness, and one teacher from every school undertook training in Child Protection. In the same year, two teachers from every school took a course on the 21st Century skills of ‘Critical thinking and problem solving’ and ‘Digital literacy’.
• Multiple workshops were conducted to support the professional development of teacher educators and teacher facilitators from the 70 participating GCC schools. Those workshops focused on enhancing teachers’ classroom practice and equipping them with techniques to promote 21st century skills among students. 
• In all three years, workshops were conducted for teacher facilitators and student peer leaders to help them become familiar with the concept of skills clubs and to help them develop their skills in facilitating club activities using the club activities handbook. 
• Workshops for teachers on enhancing basic computer skills was offered to those teachers who lacked IT skills and were, therefore, not able to engage with the digital literacy workshop. 
• In the third year, a workshop on Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs) for teacher educators was conducted. The aim of the workshop was to introduce the concept of TAGs and help teacher educators become familiar with the materials and resources for facilitating TAGs effectively. TAGs were planned to support the sustainability of the project and provide long-term impact. 
• In the third year, a workshop was conducted for all the participating teachers and teacher educators to introduce them to a game-based learning application that was developed for teachers to gain ideas to promote creativity and imagination in their classrooms.  

Materials development 

• A club activities handbook was developed for peer leaders to help them plan and conduct activities for skills club meetings. 
• Materials for various workshops for different stakeholders were developed, including workshops on 21st century skills, child protection, gender awareness and TAGs. 
• A game-based learning application was developed for teachers to promote one of the key 21st century skills, creativity and imagination, in their classrooms. It is a web-based free-to-access application that can be accessed by visiting the link given in the Resources section below. 

A cadre of headteachers, teacher educators and teachers from 70 schools run by the GCC were trained to support project activities and achieve the desired outcomes. Over three years, the project directly impacted 70 school headteachers, 140 teachers and 560 student leaders. It further reached over 4,000 students via student ‘skills clubs’ and approximately 40,000 students via lessons delivered by teachers trained on the project. 

The Research Base, an independent UK based research organisation managed the monitoring, evaluation and learning activities. Given below are some of the findings: 

• There was an increase in teachers’ and teacher facilitators’ knowledge and ability to integrate 21st century skills into their classroom practice. Teachers also reported positive impact on teacher-student relationship as a result of them taking part in the programme. 
• Teachers and teacher facilitators reported the skills they gained from the project as useful and that the project had changed the way they taught to a moderate extent. 
• Observation data suggested that the programme had a positive effect on teachers’ integration of critical thinking and problem-solving skills into their classroom practice. 
• Ninety-five per cent peer leaders who received training reported an improvement in their leadership and club facilitation skills. Fifty-eight per cent of peer leaders were girl students. 
• Observation data demonstrated an improvement in club members’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 

A self-access game-based learning application to help teachers promote creativity and imagination in their classroom was developed as a part of the programme. The app and accompanying tips sheet can be accessed here.

'The gender equity workshop gave more opportunity to think about the students and their behaviour problems.'

'The workshop was very interesting and fulfilled my expectations and confidence. Now [I have] no fear of the English language.'

'It provided a platform to be introduced to the various ways in which the English language could be learnt and the 21st century clubs was well received by the students and helped them to improve their confidence.'