The Globalization of Education

Two interesting stories highlight the globalization of education. The Indian Academic Institutions bemoan the lack of qualified math and science teachers to educate students, while tutoring services are catering to the needs of students in the West.

British Kids Log On and Learn Math — in Punjab - NYTimes.com: "Once a week, year six pupils at Ashmount Primary School in North London settle in front of their computers, put on their headsets and get ready for their math class. A few minutes later, their teachers come online thousands of kilometers away in the Indian state of Punjab.Ashmount is one of three state schools in Britain that decided to outsource part of their teaching to India via the Internet. The service — the first of its kind in Europe — is offered by BrightSpark Education, a London-based company set up last year. BrightSpark employs and trains 100 teachers in India and puts them in touch with pupils in Britain through an interactive online tutoring program.The feedback from pupils, the schools and parents is good so far, and BrightSpark said a dozen more schools, a charity and many more parents were interested in signing up for the lessons. The one-on-one sessions not only cost about half of what personal tutors in Britain charge but are also popular with pupils, who enjoy solving equations online, said Rebecca Stacey, an assistant head teacher at Ashmount.But the service also faces some opposition from teacher representatives who are fearful that it could threaten their jobs at a time when the government is pushing through far-reaching spending cuts. The 3 percent that is to be cut from the budget for educational resources by 2014 might be small compared with cuts in other areas, like welfare and pensions, but money at schools will remain tight.Online learning is still controversial in Britain. Some teachers said tutors based elsewhere lacked the cultural empathy and understanding of a pupil’s social environment that could influence study habits and performance. There is also concern about the qualifications of teachers abroad.At the same time, many parents said they had struggled to find qualified private tutors who were conveniently located and whose fees were affordable. With online learning, they can keep an eye on their children’s progress by listening to the lessons, and many said that being taught by someone in India also opened the children to foreign cultures.But Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, Britain’s largest teachers’ union, said he was concerned about the precedent BrightSpark was setting. “This is wrong on so many levels,” Mr. Keates said. “What next — do without maths teachers? What about the follow-up lessons for the pupils, and the interaction with teachers?”Tom Hooper, the founder of BrightSpark, said teachers’ unions were missing the point. “This is supplementary and in no way replacing teachers,” he said. And Ms. Stacey was quick to point out that Ashmount was using BrightSpark’s program in addition to, and not instead of, its traditional math classes.“For children, it’s a novelty that catches their attention for longer and engages them in a different way,” Ms. Stacey said. “Eleven-year-olds aren’t always enthusiastic about math classes, so any way we can make it more fun for them is good.”BrightSpark tutors in India are math graduates or former math teachers and go through a month of training on the British school curriculum. Pupils in Britain log on to the service via BrightSpark’s Web site and interact with their teachers via a video phone and a so-called white board on their computer screen, which can be written on by both parties. Lessons can be booked as long as 24 hours in advance for any day of the week, and all sessions are recorded and can be replayed by the pupil or the pupil’s parents.For Marie Hanson, who runs the charity Storm in South London, the online teaching tool is helpful in keeping children away from drugs and crime. “The kids love it because they love computers,” said Ms. Hanson, “and I love it because it helps them with their education while keeping them off the streets.”

The Hindu : Education : The quest for good teachers: "Any one deliberating on deterioration of quality in higher education always deplores the declining standards in teaching. From an exalted position, many teachers have tumbled down the pyramid basically because of lack of commitment, failure to communicate and an unwillingness to update. At times the impression is that students are smarter than their teachers....

As per the UGC's latest regulations, any assistant professor (lecturer) must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State-level Eligibility Test (SLET) or must have a Ph.D to teach in college. The UGC has done away with the M. Phil. qualification after discovering that the teachers cleared M. Phil. in large numbers leading to deterioration in teaching. “One of the main problems is that the teaching is no longer an attractive career for students,” says Nirmala Prasad, principal, MOP Vaishnav College for Women. “The real problem is that the attitude of the students in clearing national-level exams. The number of engineers clearing GMAT and those clearing NET will be the least from the State,” says a senior official in the higher education department. “The students lack in attitude. The main reason is rote learning and the other being systematic lowering of standards of examinations to make it easier for students to score high,” he says.

NET primarily tests the subject knowledge of the student. An interaction with a cross-section of principals revealed that the institutional heads themselves have a perception that NET is a difficult test to clear.

The scenario in technical education is worse than in arts and sciences as most of the engineering graduates prefer industry to teaching, senior academicians say..."