Learning
Edition 03 | March 2025
Educators Speak: Principal interview
Ms. Shilpi Gill
Ms. Shilpi Gill firmly believes that happy children are happy learners who eventually bloom into sensible and sensitive humans. She has been striving hard and with utmost earnestness to make school days meaningful, productive, and joyous for all stakeholders since she started her career as one of the pioneers at Delhi Public School, Ludhiana, in 2004. From being a class teacher to Subject Coordinator, Activity In-charge, and being a part of the admission and recruitment process, she attempted everything right in the first year of her career. She has been involved in academic and administrative leadership roles with The Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana; Indus World School, Ludhiana; The Shri Ram Universal School, Ludhiana; The Manav Rachana School; and is currently leading St. Kabir Public School, Chandigarh as the principal. She is someone who strongly advocates and believes that it’s high time schools are reinvented and reimagined.
Q1. How did your journey with Ei begin, and what has kept you engaged with Ei for so many years?
My journey with Ei started in the early 2000s when a school I worked with then started conducting ASSET. Post that, I learnt about DA. Ei offers authentic data to drive decisions in the classrooms. Data Driven Academic Instruction becomes a reality especially with DA. The fact that not all teachers are competent enough to design assessments has surely been one of the most important reasons to stay connected with Ei. Ei not just supports the learning environment with effective assessment that assesses learning gaps but also lends support by empowering the teachers with tips and tricks to cap the gap. Most importantly, the belief with which the Ei team reiterates the significance of data driven instructions is very inspiring.
Q2. What are some teacher training aspects that you think every teacher today should undergo?
Teachers must shun a ‘one size fits all’ model and engage in customised training based on their needs. A CPD plan of the teacher, for the teacher and designed by the teacher is the need of the hour. Teachers must harness the power of technology to save their time that’s taken away by the mundane. They must make efforts to learn about aligning the outcomes, assessment and activity (backwards planning), effective classroom management practices, data driven instructions, sex education, integrating environmental consciousness with core academic learning, project based learning aimed at community connect to name a few. They must READ everyday. Additionally, they must take up courses in well-being and happiness. UNESCO World Teacher Report 2024 has mentioned well-being as one of the major reasons for paucity of 33 million teachers by 2023. Teachers should learn to learn and not aim at mere certification. Teachers should explore action research too.
Q3. How can parents partner with schools to support student learning experiences and outcomes?
The first step is to choose a school that aligns with the parent’s vision w.r.t the child. It’s extremely important that parents trust the school completely and communicate effectively to clarify their doubts w.r.t school practices in the context of learning experiences and outcomes. Parents can also request schools for suitable literature to stay updated. And yes, they must attend parent sessions conducted by the school. They should refrain from pressuring the school to bend or amend its systems, approach, and philosophy to align with their own idea of education. An array of easily accessible online resources are available for parents’ support. They should develop a broad and flexible mindset as the learners in the present milieu are too different from the learners in the past. They should respect and accept the child as the child is and allow the child the freedom to choose authentic and relevant learning experiences. Love meter should not go up and down with the performance meter. Learning is a journey and they must aim at nurturing learners for life.
Q4. What are some of the changes you have seen over the last 5 years in the assessment landscape, and how should schools prepare for it?
Competency Based Education is surely the buzz word today. SAFAL, PARAKH and HPC are being talked about. While one does hear about these, there’s still a long way to go as far as the need for cultural shift in our geography (which is so vast) is concerned. The schools must know that the Teaching-Learning Process (TLP) is the heart of any school system. It’s extremely important to make a heavy investment in this space. It’s a must to empower the teachers, through customised training, to make TLP effective. Backwards planning is surely a one stop solution. In depth understanding of outcomes and assessments in addition to driving instructions using data both quantitative and qualitative offers promise. Teacher-student connect, one of the most underrated aspects of learning experiences, ought to be given its due. Teachers should be offered tools to make it a reality. However, this should be preceded by creating a culture of leader-teacher connect.
Q5. If you were to go back to your first five years of teaching, what would you have done differently?
I would have designed lesson plans keeping assessments in mind. Back then, I thought learning was restricted to effective student engagement. I was clueless as to how I needed to check if or not the students were making progress. I think I was like a rudderless boat. Assessment is the rudder!
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