Skills Builder

This content was written by

T.I. Matriculation Higher Secondary School

Context

Established in the year 1981, TI School is an offshoot of the philanthropic efforts of the AMM Foundation, envisaged by the visionary Late Shri AMM Murugappa Chettiar alongside five hospitals and 4 other educational institutions. TI School is located in the heart of Ambattur, a part of greater Chennai. With its humble beginnings, TI School offers best in class education that focuses on holistic student development alongside building socially responsible global citizens, through its well defined mission, quality objectives and measures. The school caters to the educational needs of its community and is highly respected for its quality service provision amidst best in class infrastructural facilities and experienced faculty. TI School is a great example of a school that is fully committed to offering a comprehensive essential skills education to its students. Although the school had been teaching life skills for quite some time, it was not always focused and structured. Skills Builder provides a well-structured framework to teach the essential skills that the students need in their future. TI School has been part of Skills Builder Global Accelerator programme from 2021 and is working towards building the life skills to the classes in Grade 3, 4, 7 and 8. The framework has helped the staff to check the progress of students and provide a clear starting point as well as a defined teaching sequence. The students actively participate in the classes and are more aware of the required skills. Hence the Senior Leadership have identified essential skills education as a strategic priority and the school will be working towards a Silver Award in 2022-23 by further embedding the wide range of principles.

Overall impact

Keep it simple

TI School sought to make essential skills education a part of the curriculum in a structured manner during the lockdown in June 2021. Skills Builder training and resources were provided to teachers to ensure the language was being used. Most part of the academic transaction was conducted virtually because of the lock down and the teaching of essential skills was integrated into the time table, where staff used short activities and videos from the Skills Builder Hub, which require minimal preparation and encourage reflection. Post lockdown when students returned to school, through displays in the classroom, assemblies and Project day the essential skills were reinforced.

Start early, keep going

TI School has embedded essential skills education for classes in Grade 3, 4, 7 and 8. This involves a group of eight enthusiasts from the primary and middle school becoming flag bearers for essential skills. Through the sharing of their successes and their advocacy for the teaching of skills, it is expected that more teachers will begin to follow this group, so that, eventually, essential skills education becomes the norm throughout the school.

Measure it

The Framework is broken into smaller steps for our students. Teachers reflect on the skills of their group as a whole: what proportion of the students have achieved each step. This gives insights into the needs of the class as a whole. In this way, teachers and students generate an insight into which steps have already been achieved on the Skills Builder Framework, and what therefore should be the next focus. As a formative tool, the assessment is not just completed once.

Focus tightly

The school has weekly one hour sessions which have been referred to at each stage of future interactions with the students. Teachers seek opportunities to teach skills within different subjects, as well as in tutor time. Teachers provide opportunities for students to make important connections in their learning.

Keep practising

The skills have been reinforced through class assemblies. There are wall displays of what students have been studying and how it links to the development of essential skills. Sessions are planned in such a way as to ensure there are opportunities for students to practice their essential skills. The Primary Project Day ‘Around the world’ was celebrated in February through MS Teams platform. This activity was a continuation of the International School Award program. It served as a great opportunity for students to reinforce and enhance their skills in Listening, Speaking, Creativity and Teamwork.

Bring it to life

Although extracurricular activities such as Art Club, Theatre and Literary Club, Nature Club, Heritage Club are included in the type of target setting that goes on in school, the school has not been able to apply the essential skills in a structured manner in a wider scope due to lockdown last year.

What's next

The school will be working towards a Silver Award in 2022-23 by further embedding the wide range of principles. We will also be working to ensure extracurricular activities such as Art Club, Theatre and Literary Club, Nature Club, Heritage Club value students’ application and use of the essential skills in a range of contexts.

India