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Ramya Damarla, Helios Sadineni Chowdaraiah Futuristic School, IndiaAbstract
This study investigates the feasibility of adapting International Baccalaureate (IB) inquiry-based pedagogical methods within urban CBSE middle-school classrooms to bridge the gap between the student-centred, critical-thinking and holistic-assessment vision of India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 and the traditional examination-driven reality that continues to influence many urban classrooms. Using a mixed-methods research design, data were collected from 20 teachers through structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews, complemented by direct classroom observations and teaching interventions across three Grade 6, 7 and 8 sections involving approximately 100 students in one urban CBSE school. The study examined six skill domains: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, creativity and self-directed learning, alongside student engagement and assessment practices. Findings indicate that teachers strongly recognise the value and policy alignment of inquiry-based approaches, while facing barriers including overloaded syllabi, examination-driven assessment systems, limited professional development opportunities and insufficient institutional support. Teachers receiving structured facilitation support demonstrated improvements in instructional practices, accompanied by higher levels of student engagement and conceptual participation. The study concludes that policy intent alone is insufficient to transform classroom realities. Meaningful change requires targeted teacher capacity building, competency-aligned assessment reform and institutional cultures that actively enable inquiry-based learning to take root and scale within existing urban CBSE frameworks.
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Conference: ECE2026Stream: Teaching Experiences
This paper is part of the ECE2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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