Adoption Of Experiential Learning As A Standard Pedagogy Iterated By The National Education Policy 2020: A Perceptional Study Of Teachers At The Secondary Level

Abstract

An education system focused solely on developing cognitive skills is bound to fail in today's rapidly changing world. Therefore, NEP 2020 proposes radical curriculum reforms and a paradigm shift in pedagogy.The adoption of experiential learning as a standard pedagogy promises numerous benefits.Understanding how teachers perceive experiential learning is crucial for understanding its practical aspects. Teachers' perceptions directly influence the likelihood of successfully implementing experiential learning and affect their instructional practices and, consequently, student outcomes. So, the study was undertaken to investigate the perceptions of teachers at the secondary level of adopting experiential learning as a standard pedagogy.The current research focuses on the objectives: To find significant differences in perceptions of teachers working at the secondary level towards the adoption of experiential learning as a standard pedagogy iterated by NEP 2020 with respect toi) Gender, ii) Professional Experience, iii)Type of management. The formulated hypotheses are as follows: 1. Teachers at the secondary level do not differ in their perceptions towards adopting experiential learning as a standard pedagogy. 2. Teachers at the secondary level do not significantly differ in their perceptions towards adopting experiential learning as a standard pedagogy with respect to the variables-i) gender, ii) professional experience, and iii) type of school management. The sample of the study constitutes randomly selected 550 teachers at the secondary level working in various management schools in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts. The data collection was done through a questionnaire consisting of 52 items, which were quantitatively analyzed using the t-test/f- test. Data Analysis of Hypothesis 1 revealed that verification of the classification of the total sample based on their scores revealed that teachers at the secondary level differ in their perceptions.Based on this, it is clear that the majority of the teachers have moderately high perceptions ofadopting experiential learning.On verification of the obtained mean, standard deviation, and t-values of hypotheses 2, 3, and 4 regarding the variables – i)gender, ii)teaching experience, and iii) type of school management,it is evident that the gender and teaching experience of teachers working at the secondary level do not significantly affect their perceptions of adopting experiential learning as a standard pedagogy iterated by NEP 2020.It is clear that irrespective of their gender and teaching experience, teachers at the secondary level show moderately high perceptions and have no significant difference.However, the verification of hypothesis 4 reveals that teachers working at the secondary level under Government and Private Unaidedmanagement make a significant difference in their perceptions. It is inferred that the teachers at the secondary level working in private, unaided schools have higher perceptions than teachers in government schools.