Teacher Development Approaches and Strategies in BRAC Nobodhara School

Nobodhara School is a new and unique initiative in the education field of Bangladesh. Different teaching learning and assessment strategies are followed in this school to ensure quality education for the learners. Teachers are the key player to ensure quality of education through their facilitation process in the classroom in any educational institution. In this situation, it was important to know the teacher development approaches of Nobodhara School and its implementation in the teaching learning process. The study aimed to know the educational and professional background the teachers and the followed teacher development policy of Nobodhara School. Moreover, practiced teacher development strategies and the implementation of the professional development by the teachers in the classroom were also explored. Mixed methods approach was followed for data collection and analysis from two branches of Nobodhara School in Dhaka city. Data was collected through interview and questionnaire from Training Coordinator, Subject Mentor and Teachers. Different relevant documents and teacher training schedule were also analyzed for collecting required information. Both qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed simultaneously and presented under different emerged themes. In Nobodhara School, orientation training, subject based training and general professional development trainings are provided to the teachers. Teachers found the trainings very helpful for their professional development. On the other hand, for further development and scaling up of such in-house teacher development system, training duration, facilitation methods and feedback mechanism need to be addressed according to the demand of the teachers.