XSEED Education conducted its first e-training session for teachers on 21st August 2018. The training was conducted virtually through video conferencing by senior academic leadership at XSEED. The move comes in light of XSEED’s growing efforts to bridge the gap of teacher training in India and to expose school faculty to global learning methods.

The August session was titled ‘Building Skilled and Confident Readers’, and focused on reading comprehension strategies for learners of different levels – from Nursery to Grade 8. The training, which was attended by 464 teachers from 63 schools across the country, dealt specifically with helping young learners make sense of text through dialogic reading and helping older students build academic vocabulary through reading. While these reading strategies are also embedded within XSEED English and Early Programme Learning Plans, there are many opportunities in school for reading beyond just these lessons and even beyond these subjects. All teachers should be able to use basic reading strategies to help students comprehend a text.

“Reading is still one of the main ways in which we learn about and engage with the world,” said Nicholas Edwards, Vice President, Academics at XSEED. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen that students of all ages struggle to understand what they read – even if they are able to pronounce all the words! – which impacts their achievement in all subject areas. The urgency and importance of this challenge made it an ideal topic for our first round of e-training.”

A feedback survey conducted at the end of the 1-hour training found that 100% of teachers who attended found the session useful. “It was great to see such enthusiastic responses from so many teachers, who clearly share our goal of helping students become better readers!” said Edwards. XSEED has certified every teacher who participated in the session, with special certificates going to those who demonstrated high levels of proficiency on the session-end assessment.

The e-trainings are being developed by specialized faculty at XSEED to boost the professional development of teachers. “The state of teacher training in India is known to have major gaps. Most teachers have been educated in the rote-based method themselves, and we understand that taking on a curriculum like XSEED, which actively breaks this outdated methodology, will need ongoing training and support. The e-trainings provide just that,” said Nishi Jauhar, General Manager, XSEED Philippines.  The learning material of the training sessions is developed exactly like the material XSEED creates for students – using the XSEED Method with its proven five steps. This puts teachers on the other side of the classroom and gives them a first-hand experience of what it is to be a learner in the XSEED Method.

XSEED aims to offer e-trainings regularly to complement existing trainings that are conducted in schools by XSEED Education Coaches. “Conducting sessions in a digital format enables schools to experience specialized training delivered by XSEED’s central academic team. It gives us the opportunity to bring global expert faculty to thousands of Indian schools, which is impossible without technology,” added Nicholas Edwards. XSEED’s e-teacher trainings are not a substitute for the training and support visits conducted by the on-ground team, who provide personalized and need-based support to schools.

With the positive response to the first training, XSEED plans to rapidly expand the initiative.