Nagaland University builds test of trainee teachers' inclusion know-how

Researchers at Nagaland University have developed a 50-question test that measures how much trainee teachers actually know about inclusive education, the university said in a statement on Monday.

The tool was built and pilot-tested by research scholar Aseto Iralu Meyase and Professor Gyanendra Nath Tiwari of the university's Department of Teacher Education. Their paper appears in the International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, an open-access journal, EastMojo and PTI reported.

The gap it tries to fill

Inclusive education means classrooms where children with different abilities and learning needs study together, a goal set out in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Most existing tools for checking whether future teachers are ready for such classrooms look at their attitudes or how confident they feel, the researchers say. Far fewer test whether they understand the concepts, laws, policies and classroom practices involved.

The new test is meant to show teacher-training colleges where trainees are weak, so that those areas can get extra teaching, practical exposure or support.

How it was built

The questions are based on Course-10 of the university's B.Ed. programme, "Creating an Inclusive School". They cover five areas: special needs, educational policies and provisions, inclusive classroom practices, support networks, and related concepts. The items range from simple recall to applying knowledge, analysing situations and judging possible solutions.

According to Tiwari, the team started with 60 questions. After review, these were given to 42 M.Ed. students at the Kohima campus. The researchers then looked at how difficult each question was, how well it separated stronger and weaker candidates, and how consistent the test was overall.

Ten questions that did not work well were dropped, leaving 50. Meyase said the test's internal consistency, measured by Cronbach's alpha, rose from 0.641 to 0.727 after the revision, which means the shorter version is more reliable.

Questions that asked students to apply or analyse what they knew performed better than plain recall questions, suggesting that testing how teachers use knowledge gives a better picture of their readiness.

Limits the researchers flag

The authors stress that this is a pilot and not yet a fully validated instrument. The sample was small and drawn from one campus. The study also does not show that a higher score leads to better teaching or better results for children; that would need further research. The next steps include trying the test with trainee teachers at other colleges in Nagaland and checking whether scores match what happens in real classrooms.

Why it matters for the Northeast

Vice-Chancellor Professor Jagadish K Patnaik said the work addresses an important gap in teacher preparation and could help strengthen B.Ed. programmes in Nagaland and the wider region. The university's statement added that because each Northeast state has its own teacher-education curriculum, the same method could be used to build tests suited to local needs.