Case Study Research - A Model of Best Practice at Loreto Day School, Sealdah, Calcutta - Occasional Paper No. 1, 36 p.

Table of Contents

Prepared by
Dr Tansy Jessop

Education Sector Group
Department for International Development (India)

EDUCATION SECTOR GROUP
DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (INDIA)
OCCASIONAL EDUCATION PAPERS

This is the first of a series of occasional papers commissioned by the Education Sector Group of the UK Government's Department for International Development in India. Each paper represents a study or a piece of research on some aspect of education. The studies aim to provide informed judgements from which policy decisions may be drawn, or to provide models of quality, through which the understanding and practice of teaching and learning may be enhanced. The material produced is of interest to a wide audience of education professionals, both in India and elsewhere.

Although these papers are issued by DFID (India), the views expressed in them are entirely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent DFID's own policies or views. Any correspondence on their content should therefore be addressed to the authors and not to DFID.

The author of this paper, Tansy Jessop, is an education consultant whose special interests are in teacher development, language teaching, research and policy. Her doctoral thesis used the narratives of rural primary teachers in KwaZulu-Natal as a tool for teacher development. She has worked as a consultant in Palestine, South Africa and India.

Table of Contents

1. Researcher's Preface

2. Executive Summary

3. Case Profile

3.1. A Description of Loreto Day School, Sealdah
3.2. Option for the Poor
3.3. Rainbow School
3.4. Rural Child-to-Child Programme
3.5. Barefoot Teacher Training Programme (BTTP)
3.6. Feeding Scheme
3.7. Other Programmes and Projects
3.8. The Values and Ethos of the School

4. Best Practice

4.1. Reflections on 'best practice'
4.2. A Set of 'Best Practice' Criteria Arising from a Study of Loreto Sealdah
4.3. Characteristics of Best Practice at Loreto Sealdah

4.3.1. Shared Vision
4.3.2. Freedom and Responsibility
4.3.3. Change and Stability
4.3.4. A Sense of Wonder
4.3.5. Meaningful and Challenging Goals

4.4. Towards a Model of Best Practice

5. Critical Issues

5.1. Rival Hypotheses of Best Practice
5.2. Challenging Common Myths about Schooling

6. Implications of the Study

7. Appendix 1: Research Methodology

8. Bibliography