Student Practice in NCF-SE 2023

Student practice is a fundamentally important and recurring theme throughout the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023). It is seen not just as rote repetition, but as a dynamic process essential for achieving educational aims and developing well-rounded individuals.

Here are the key aspects regarding student practice and its importance:

1. Integral to Achieving Educational Aims and Developing Capacities:

Education is defined as the achievement of valuable Knowledge, Capacities, Values, and Dispositions. Practice is crucial for developing Capacities, which refer to procedural knowledge or “knowing how,” such as communicating effectively, thinking critically, or specific skills like playing a game. To attain a capacity or skill, the ability needs to be consistent, repeatable, and adaptable to different situations, which is achieved through practice. Values and dispositions are also best learnt and imbibed when they are experienced and seen by students in practice in real life. Developing values and dispositions is a critical part of education and requires understanding their development as much as academic subjects. They must be part of everyday behaviour to demonstrate they have been learnt and developed.

2. Mechanism for Internalization and Application:

Organized, regular, and steady practice yields a steady and positive impact on learning. It helps students internalize information, access more complex information stored in long-term memory, and apply knowledge or skills automatically. Deliberate practice, distinct from rote repetition, involves attention, rehearsal, and repetition and leads to new knowledge or skills that can be developed into more complex ones. Homework is seen as an extension of classroom learning that helps students become capable of doing things on their own, intended to apply concepts to different contexts rather than just repeat what was learned in class. Meaningful homework tasks can include practice work and application tasks.

3. Foundation for Study Habits and Independent Learning:

Repeated practice, especially in the Preparatory Stage, forms the basis for study habits, independent thinking, and independent learning that continues into later stages. It contributes to helping students develop appropriate work habits and responsibility, such as organizing tasks, ensuring time on tasks, persisting with and completing work, and staying on task. Persistence to complete work, even when challenging, is a good habit of learning that should be encouraged.

4. Path to Mastery:

Attaining Mastery of a Subject or skill is a key expectation. Being proficient, whether in reading comprehension or balancing a bicycle, is an important outcome achieved through practice. Mastery of a skill frees the mind for a higher order of thinking.

5. Central to Specific Curricular Areas:

• Language Education: Developing digital reading skills involves teaching students to be “biliterate” and switch between printed text and screens without compromising focus or meaning-making. Sustained regular practice is needed once early oracy and literacy are achieved for language mastery, requiring systematic repetition of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills throughout school. Students grow oral language skills by regularly speaking, describing texts, listening, and reading, and they should be taught to respond, narrate, discuss, and role play. Practicing writing in various functional and literary forms is essential. Regular use of the school library is encouraged to promote the habit of reading.

• Mathematics Education: Avenues for mathematical reasoning should be created in all activities, projects, assignments, and exercises, encouraging students to articulate reasons and inquire. Activities involving practical measurement and solving related problems combine hands-on doing with application practice.

• Science Education: The most important part of learning Science is actually “doing Science” through hands-on experiential learning. This involves manipulating, designing, and building experiments and demonstrations to gain conceptual understanding and develop capacities. Content selection should allow students to “do” something to attain understanding, like making simple pendulums and recording observations to draw inferences. Applying scientific inquiry capacities is key to understanding the world. Experiments help assess understanding of science concepts and whether students can “do” science.

• Social Science Education: Developing capacities for inquiry involves sourcing, verifying, and cross-validating evidence. Authentic/performance-based tasks like project-based learning activities and assignments develop capacities like surveying, data analysis, problem solving, and collaborative skills. Inquiry-based methods, such as making and testing hypotheses, help students understand how social scientists generate knowledge. Engaging with content involves independent or group exploration and presenting findings/opinions. Site explorations and projects are used to understand environmental themes. Taking up ongoing projects for continued learning is encouraged.

• Arts Education: The “making” process in art lends itself to inculcating values like practice and hard work. Working with various art forms develops an appreciation for the effort and practice required for quality artwork. Dedicated Art classes require practice to develop knowledge and skills in specific art forms. In Art Practice, students engage in embodied and experiential learning through making, thinking, and appreciation, undergoing rigorous practice to develop capacities and creatively express themselves.

• Physical Education: For physical activity, “To do’ is ’to know’”; knowledge is acquired only by doing the activity. The Preparatory Stage emphasizes building skills like rolling, throwing, catching, dribbling through basic skills and play. Half the time for Physical Education for a Professional Sportsperson should be allotted to individual practice and training. Yoga practices like Asanas and Pranayama are integral and appear multiple times.

• Vocational Education: Knowledge, capacities, and values related to Vocational Education are acquired through consistent practice of doing and exposure to on-site work. The essence lies in the work being done practically, and hands-on exposure is crucial for attaining mastery. Pedagogy requires a balance of doing and thinking. The proportion spent on practical application must be greater in the Secondary Stage. Internships and apprenticeships are emphasized for learning in real-life work contexts and gaining ‘know-how’ knowledge. Working with hands is an integral part of vocations. Students develop competencies to contribute to home-based tasks.

6. Integrated with Pedagogy and Assessment:

Pedagogical strategies should be activity-based, playfully experimental, and hands-on. Assessment should measure the achievement of Competencies and Learning Outcomes, gauge effectiveness of classroom processes, and track student progress. This often involves assessing demonstrated performance, practical tests, projects, and portfolios which are direct outcomes or evidence of student practice. Assessment is intended to act as an instructional tool that promotes learning. Prompt and meaningful feedback is crucial for students to benefit from classroom processes and improve their learning, supporting the practice cycle.

7. Supported by Environment and Resources:

A conducive learning environment, including appropriate Teacher-Pupil Ratio (PTR), availability of teaching-learning materials (TLMs), including digital resources, classroom reading corners, well-resourced libraries, and physical infrastructure are important for enabling effective practice and learning. Collaboration with the local community, industries, farms, and hospitals, and the use of Master Instructors/Resource Persons provide real-world contexts and opportunities for practical learning, internships, and apprenticeships.

In essence, practice, understood as active engagement, application, doing, and experience (beyond mere memorization), is woven into the fabric of the NCF-SE 2023 as a fundamental driver for developing capabilities, values, and deep understanding across all areas of learning.