Researchers from Nagaland University have developed and tested a 50-item achievement test to measure how well teachers-in-training understand inclusive education.
Lumami, November 9 (MExN): Researchers from Nagaland University have developed and tested a 50-item achievement test to measure how well teachers-in-training understand inclusive education.
The tool is designed to help identify gaps in teacher preparation and improve teaching practices for children with learning needs, according to a press release. The study assumes significance in the context of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which calls for teachers to be ready to build classrooms where all children, regardless of ability, can learn together.
According to the release, there is a gap in how teacher education is assessed, as most tools today focus on teachers' attitudes or confidence in dealing with classrooms, while few actually measure what future teachers know about education—its concepts, practices and policies. The new test aims to fill that gap and can help teacher education institutions spot areas where trainee teachers struggle.
The findings were published in the International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, a peer-reviewed open-access journal covering education, social sciences, economics and management. The paper was co-authored by Aseto Iralu Meyase, a Research Scholar, and Prof Gyanendra Nath Tiwari from Nagaland University (NU).
Calling upon researchers to develop such solutions for real-world impact, Prof Jagadish K Patnaik, Vice-Chancellor, NU, said, “Inclusive education is fundamental to ensuring equitable, accessible and quality learning opportunities for every student, irrespective of their individual needs and backgrounds.”
Prof Patnaik added, “The study addresses an important gap in teacher preparation by examining the understanding of prospective teachers and offers valuable scope for strengthening B.Ed. programmes, particularly in Nagaland and the North-Eastern region. I hope this research will contribute to improving teacher education, promoting inclusive classroom practices and advancing the vision of NEP 2020.”
The test was built around the B.Ed. Course-10 at NU titled 'Creating an Inclusive School', covering five areas: special needs and education policies and provisions, inclusive classroom practices, building support networks and related concepts. The questions test levels of thinking—from simple recall to applying knowledge, analyzing situations and evaluating possible solutions.
Elaborating on the research, Prof Gyanendra Nath Tiwari, Department of Teacher Education NU, said, “We started with 60 questions. We reviewed them before being used with 42 M.Ed. students at the Kohima Campus. We looked at how difficult each question was, how well it could tell strong and weak performers and how consistent the test was overall.”
Aseto Iralu Meyase, Research Scholar, Department of Teacher Education, Nagaland University, added, “Based on our analysis we removed 10 questions that did not work well. This left us with a 50-item test. The internal consistency of the test, measured by Cronbach's alpha, went up from 0.641 to 0.727. This means the test is more reliable now. More testing is needed to confirm its stability across larger and more varied groups of trainee teachers.”
The results showed that questions asking students to apply or analyze knowledge performed better, suggesting it was more useful to test how well future teachers can use what they know, not just what they remember.
The researchers stressed that this is a pilot study and the test should be seen as an assessment tool, not a fully tested one. Next steps include testing it with trainee teachers across different colleges in Nagaland to see whether it works the same way across different groups and whether scores match what teachers actually do in classrooms.
The release noted that over time, better teacher preparation could lead to more inclusive classrooms for children with different learning needs, though the study does not yet prove that higher test scores mean better teaching or better student outcomes, and that needs further research.
The work is especially important for Nagaland, as NU is the institution in the state offering the M.Ed. programme, and creating a tool that fits the context helps assess how well future teachers are being prepared for inclusive classrooms in the state. The method used could also be adapted to help other North-Eastern states, each of which has its own teacher education curriculum and context.
