A teacher who establishes rapport with the taught, becomes one with them, learns more from them than he teaches them. He who learns nothing from his disciples is, in my opinion, worthless. Whenever I talk with someone I learn from him. I take from him more than I give him. In this way, a true teacher regards himself as a student of his students. If you will teach your pupils with this attitude, you will benefit much from them. (Gandhi’s talk to Khadi Vidyalaya Students, Sevagram, Sevak, 15 February 1942 CW 75, p. 269)
The ideas of Gandhi and many other policy makers are still to be realized. The education system in India has evolved into a monolithic giant where any reform effort appears to be a drop in the ocean. Even well thought large scale efforts of the government are distorted and poorly implemented with little impact on the overall quality.
A yellow coloured dilapidated building, with a few unventilated dingy rooms, odd shaped toilets and kitchens in a panchayat bhawan complex is easily identifiable as a government school. The appearance of any government school whether old or new is universal and an engineering marvel of consistency. If we go near these schools, we also find children sitting on mats, with one inch pencils, pen refills or chalk pieces scribbling on whatever is available, and staring into the unknown. There are large number of smaller children who do not know what they are suppose to do, and there are a few older children who know that books are meant to be memorized. There are also a few tuition led star performers who are generally showcased for visitors and officials.
While evaluating the various dimensions of the problems in the education system, an easy target becomes the teacher, primarily because of its position, status and unimportance in the value chain. The teachers themselves feel indifferent towards their profession and many of them resort to other means of income. It is commonly observed that teaching has become the second or third profession in the family. It has reached a level where govt. school teacher is regarded as a pride-less, power-less position in a highly feudal structure.
Teachers are seldom available in schools in full strength. The ones who are present are mostly contractual . Any reality check would reveal that the presence is a mere presence and hardly any time is spent on a teaching learning activity. The words of “if” and “but” are very popular with them and “what”, “how” and “when” is not part of their dictionary. The common parlance with them always have phrases like “pressure of non-academic work”; “poor children”; “inconsiderate parents”; “no judiciary for teachers” etc.
Though the concern for teacher has been highlighted in many policy documents very little has happened in implementation. There is no doubt that change is inevitable and it is a heavily debated subject resulting in ideas after ideas on “what” should be done but little is being done to look at he “how” part of the change.
If we closely observe, we realise that it is not an education problem but a management problem – a human management problem. It needs a significant understanding and sensitivity towards the psychology of human beings - their physical and emotional needs.
Three crucial areas of teacher recruitment, teacher education/training and teacher effectiveness have been highlighted in this writeup, giving a flavour of the way in which the change process needs to be handled.
RecruitmentDilemma: The present methods of teacher recruitment are mechanical and are inflicted with discrimination and corruption. The selection process encourages non-performers, political aspirants, and further exploiters of the system. The complex judiciary of our country encourages serious recruitment backlogs and forces system to contract out low-paid, low-capacity, poor quality individuals to take up serious teaching positions. Once inducted into the service, politically motivated agendas and bureaucratic idiosyncrasies further convert them into irresponsible, goal-less, mechanical pawns. The process further gets corrupted at the time of deployment.
The imbalanced & mechanical need analysis, leads to large number of Education (B.Ed., M.Ed., BTI etc.) graduates remaining jobless and the schools continue to struggle with lesser number of teachers. Even rationalization of teachers in the system is difficult as it is again marred by favouritism and corruption.
Way Forward: To facilitate better planning in recruitment it is advisable to initiate the planning process from the block/ taluka level than district level. A detailed assessment of the actual versus needed, location wise, has to be tabulated together with subject specific requirements. Rather than aggregating the need at district or state level, it would be more effective if the recruitment is planned around the local needs.
The village school together with panchayat could play a role in identifying a teacher for the school e.g. every school can place a demand of the number of teachers required; at the same time the teachers could also apply to schools where they want to be. The panchayat together with one education authority could be allowed to choose, which teacher suits the best from the pool of teachers. This would lead to a more transparent system of recruitment and deployment and would satisfy the needs of the village as well as the teacher. Many more democratic and transparent ways could also be thought through.
The mass recruitment programs (admissions to B.Ed. Colleges, DIET etc) could also be enriched and professionalized. The announcements should be made attractive to invite applications from genuine candidates. The benefits, career prospects, social status should be well marketed to attract genuine talent to take up the job. The recruitment process should also be made transparent to ensure that the participants take pride in admissions.
Teacher Education & Teacher Training
Dilemma: The industrial revolution of the 18-19th century had a huge impact on the education system. The industrial age demanded well defined methods to be followed to convert raw materials into finished goods. The education system also adjusted itself to the same mechanical process. The pedagogy which emerged and got established was based on rote memorization and linear method of learning. This got reflected in the teacher curriculum, teacher training, and teacher literature which emerged.
As the markets and economies opened up, the society responded in two different ways to the emerging demands:
1. The privileged established their own system of education, which responded to the emerging markets from the west. A new modern system of education emerged which had its own backbone of advanced institutes for teacher preparation.
2. The large government education system existing for the underprivileged continued to deliver with the age-old practices without any change in curriculum, pedagogy, training, monitoring and reporting. The teacher education universities and institutes (Universities under UGC, NCTE, NCERT, SCERT, DIET) developed little resources and capacities on “research”; “capacity development”; “management skills”; “technology” and “pace with scientific development”.
The launch of District Primary Education Program (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) brought back the focus on many issues related to problems in education and provided for large resources (human and financial) to address problems in planning, monitoring, evaluation, in-service training etc. The in-service training which had been reeling under problems of infrastructure, funds, and trainers was revived but soon its routinisation killed the spirit with which it was launched. The 20 day summer training program has become a ritual without any clear strategy or plan. The quality levels are abysmally low.
Way Forward: One of the important aspects in the development of teacher education institutes is their autonomy. The government could limit its role to being a regulatory body only. The institutes could get flexibility to raise external resources, build their capacities, execute serious research, and be accountable for the quality of teachers they produce. International linkages could be encouraged in these institutes to deliver latest and high quality education programs. Fair and transparent competition needs to be encouraged among teacher institutes to keep pace with the latest technology, educational advancements, and international standards. Care has to be taken that the process need not encourage non-serious, fly-by, educational shops which mushroom along-with any initiative of good intentions.
Scale and reach of these institutions is also a challenge. Universal reach is important to ensure that all the deserving candidates get the opportunity. Satellite centres could be established at block levels and district headquarters. UGC, IGNOU, CIE could play a definitive role in this set-up.
Continuous capacity building through in-service training programs is extremely crucial to refresh the memory of previous learning, taking feedback, keeping pace with the latest advancements in education technology and keeping the motivation levels high. In-service training programs should be carefully designed keeping in mind the real needs of the teacher. It should be conducted at the local level with small groups to address specific type of problems with teachers. Follow-up of these trainings at an individual level or small groups is extremely crucial for the sustenance and implementation of the training content. All may not need all the inputs – it is resource intensive and unproductive.
Resource Person to Master Trainer: “Importance of inclusive education”
Master Trainer to District Trainer: “Include important education”
District Trainer to Trainer: “Education is important if included”
Trainer to teacher: “Educate only important inclusions”
Structure of the training programs also needs to be revisited. The cascade model of training followed by most governments has not been effective especially with large numbers. Experiments have to be conducted to test the role of resource centres for the teacher which is a kind of an online training resource for the teacher. The resource centre has to be accessible and free from administrative shackles. Private operators may be encouraged to run these resource centres. The resource centre should be a place for academic discussions rather than an outpost for administrative work.
Role of technology could also be explored in teacher training. The possibilities of Edusat, call-centres, internet (online help), video conferencing, radio, and telephony could be synergised for direct help to the teacher in academic and non-academic work.
Teacher Effectiveness
Dilemma: Every human being has a particular way to do a work. It is highly unlikely that the person would perform the work in the same manner as is required. At the time of work, s/he is governed by many factors which are not part of her/his training and therefore their experiences hold more if not less value as the theory learnt in classrooms. The gap between theory and practice further widens if the trainers are not aware of the real life situations or have no follow up of what they train. Naturally, each output becomes different and measuring quality of work with a standard tool or method becomes difficult.
Ramsaran(name changed), a primary school teacher in village Khiria in district Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh has been a non-performer for many years. The authorities have black-listed him as a teacher who does not follow the course content and is always lagging behind with the class during inspections or surprise visits. In a recent competency testing of the children of the school, the children performed fairly well. The children were tested on the same competencies as their text books. It was surprising to observe that Ramsaran had ensured that the children have acquired their grade-specific competencies but since the children had not rote memorised the text book, the performance of the teacher was marked significantly low. Is this the right way to measure the effectiveness of the teacher?
Further, the appraisals, measurement of performance have become mechanical and infested with nepotism and corruption. The poor quality of work and results further get compounded by limited capacities and resources in the education system. Delays, postponement, extension of due dates, redoing of the work have become a common phenomenon in day to day operations.
Tools to measure efficiency are also obsolete and ineffective. The ACR/appraisal is not used as a developmental tool but as a reward/punishment tool. In the absence of management by objectives, the teacher and the hierarchy feel lost in assessing the performance. As a result, performance measurement becomes highly subjective in nature leading to poor accountability in the system.
The effectiveness is also hampered by structural defects in the system. Multiple reporting systems like CPI, SSA, SCERT, District Administration (revenue, elections etc.) does not allow the teacher to work in a systematic manner to achieve his/her professional goals. The lack of clarity in goals, leads to demotivation and poor performance management in the education department.
Way Forward: The biggest motivation for a teacher or any human being is when s/he gets visible benefits. In this case the only tangible/visible benefit could be in the form of learning achievements of children which is possible if the teacher is able to strategize, plan and execute. The teacher may organize the lesson plan for the class, take each lesson, define objectives/ learning outcomes for each chapter, divide it into lower and higher levels of learning and develop tools of transaction and assessment. Difficulties like multilevel and multi grade situation may exist, but with effective classroom management and support, the teacher would be able to succeed in using these methods. The performance and achievements could also be suitably awarded by words of appreciation, public recognition, and presenting them as models of excellence.
The teachers may be introduced to the new concepts in learning through in-service training programs and their capacities could be built in classroom management. The most effective manner in which this could be done is by demonstrating to them how to manage their time in a class and also on different methodologies for effective transaction. Demonstration is a helpful tool as it leads to reflection- action- reflection praxis, a skill the teacher could develop with time.
Every teacher could be made accountable towards his/her children and their parents rather than department officials. The teacher could be rated not by what s/he knows but also what the children know. Apart from quantitative data of learner achievement and teacher achievement, qualitative data through children and parents could be used to assess teacher performance. Attendance of the teacher could be maintained by the parents, information on teacher like leaves; achievements etc. could be made available at the village level.
A strong support system to take care of the personal and emotional needs of the teacher is important. Professional ombudsman, technical/academic support, administrative support is extremely useful and important e.g. support may be provided through the technology of call centres.
A separate education cadre like revenue or police could also be evolved with only one line of command. This would help the teacher understand and respond to specific responsibilities than follow multiple commands.
Conclusion As mentioned earlier, that problems in the education system are not “education” problems, but management problems. It requires a careful understanding of management principles of effective planning, need assessment, direction, monitoring, evaluation leadership, teamwork, and effective human management.
The social factors do exist, but should not be used as excuse for non-performance. Many myths related to common norms and explanations about social behaviour have already been broken and many would get broke in times to come. The demand for quality education is on the rise and the system has to respond to this demand or the people who have the collective power to change the system would change and would leave the education system to die its natural death.
Many developed and developing countries have brought a change in their archaic education system by not only looking at teacher and its related issues but also simultaneously addressing other issues in curriculum, pedagogy, administration, capacity building, research & documentation etc. Large scale sustainable reform is possible if the problems are handled with a systems approach and not as a band-aid or piece-meal approach.
The ideas of Gandhi and many other policy makers are still to be realized. The education system in India has evolved into a monolithic giant where any reform effort appears to be a drop in the ocean. Even well thought large scale efforts of the government are distorted and poorly implemented with little impact on the overall quality.
A yellow coloured dilapidated building, with a few unventilated dingy rooms, odd shaped toilets and kitchens in a panchayat bhawan complex is easily identifiable as a government school. The appearance of any government school whether old or new is universal and an engineering marvel of consistency. If we go near these schools, we also find children sitting on mats, with one inch pencils, pen refills or chalk pieces scribbling on whatever is available, and staring into the unknown. There are large number of smaller children who do not know what they are suppose to do, and there are a few older children who know that books are meant to be memorized. There are also a few tuition led star performers who are generally showcased for visitors and officials.
While evaluating the various dimensions of the problems in the education system, an easy target becomes the teacher, primarily because of its position, status and unimportance in the value chain. The teachers themselves feel indifferent towards their profession and many of them resort to other means of income. It is commonly observed that teaching has become the second or third profession in the family. It has reached a level where govt. school teacher is regarded as a pride-less, power-less position in a highly feudal structure.
Teachers are seldom available in schools in full strength. The ones who are present are mostly contractual . Any reality check would reveal that the presence is a mere presence and hardly any time is spent on a teaching learning activity. The words of “if” and “but” are very popular with them and “what”, “how” and “when” is not part of their dictionary. The common parlance with them always have phrases like “pressure of non-academic work”; “poor children”; “inconsiderate parents”; “no judiciary for teachers” etc.
Though the concern for teacher has been highlighted in many policy documents very little has happened in implementation. There is no doubt that change is inevitable and it is a heavily debated subject resulting in ideas after ideas on “what” should be done but little is being done to look at he “how” part of the change.
If we closely observe, we realise that it is not an education problem but a management problem – a human management problem. It needs a significant understanding and sensitivity towards the psychology of human beings - their physical and emotional needs.
Three crucial areas of teacher recruitment, teacher education/training and teacher effectiveness have been highlighted in this writeup, giving a flavour of the way in which the change process needs to be handled.
RecruitmentDilemma: The present methods of teacher recruitment are mechanical and are inflicted with discrimination and corruption. The selection process encourages non-performers, political aspirants, and further exploiters of the system. The complex judiciary of our country encourages serious recruitment backlogs and forces system to contract out low-paid, low-capacity, poor quality individuals to take up serious teaching positions. Once inducted into the service, politically motivated agendas and bureaucratic idiosyncrasies further convert them into irresponsible, goal-less, mechanical pawns. The process further gets corrupted at the time of deployment.
The imbalanced & mechanical need analysis, leads to large number of Education (B.Ed., M.Ed., BTI etc.) graduates remaining jobless and the schools continue to struggle with lesser number of teachers. Even rationalization of teachers in the system is difficult as it is again marred by favouritism and corruption.
Way Forward: To facilitate better planning in recruitment it is advisable to initiate the planning process from the block/ taluka level than district level. A detailed assessment of the actual versus needed, location wise, has to be tabulated together with subject specific requirements. Rather than aggregating the need at district or state level, it would be more effective if the recruitment is planned around the local needs.
The village school together with panchayat could play a role in identifying a teacher for the school e.g. every school can place a demand of the number of teachers required; at the same time the teachers could also apply to schools where they want to be. The panchayat together with one education authority could be allowed to choose, which teacher suits the best from the pool of teachers. This would lead to a more transparent system of recruitment and deployment and would satisfy the needs of the village as well as the teacher. Many more democratic and transparent ways could also be thought through.
The mass recruitment programs (admissions to B.Ed. Colleges, DIET etc) could also be enriched and professionalized. The announcements should be made attractive to invite applications from genuine candidates. The benefits, career prospects, social status should be well marketed to attract genuine talent to take up the job. The recruitment process should also be made transparent to ensure that the participants take pride in admissions.
Teacher Education & Teacher Training
Dilemma: The industrial revolution of the 18-19th century had a huge impact on the education system. The industrial age demanded well defined methods to be followed to convert raw materials into finished goods. The education system also adjusted itself to the same mechanical process. The pedagogy which emerged and got established was based on rote memorization and linear method of learning. This got reflected in the teacher curriculum, teacher training, and teacher literature which emerged.
As the markets and economies opened up, the society responded in two different ways to the emerging demands:
1. The privileged established their own system of education, which responded to the emerging markets from the west. A new modern system of education emerged which had its own backbone of advanced institutes for teacher preparation.
2. The large government education system existing for the underprivileged continued to deliver with the age-old practices without any change in curriculum, pedagogy, training, monitoring and reporting. The teacher education universities and institutes (Universities under UGC, NCTE, NCERT, SCERT, DIET) developed little resources and capacities on “research”; “capacity development”; “management skills”; “technology” and “pace with scientific development”.
The launch of District Primary Education Program (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) brought back the focus on many issues related to problems in education and provided for large resources (human and financial) to address problems in planning, monitoring, evaluation, in-service training etc. The in-service training which had been reeling under problems of infrastructure, funds, and trainers was revived but soon its routinisation killed the spirit with which it was launched. The 20 day summer training program has become a ritual without any clear strategy or plan. The quality levels are abysmally low.
Way Forward: One of the important aspects in the development of teacher education institutes is their autonomy. The government could limit its role to being a regulatory body only. The institutes could get flexibility to raise external resources, build their capacities, execute serious research, and be accountable for the quality of teachers they produce. International linkages could be encouraged in these institutes to deliver latest and high quality education programs. Fair and transparent competition needs to be encouraged among teacher institutes to keep pace with the latest technology, educational advancements, and international standards. Care has to be taken that the process need not encourage non-serious, fly-by, educational shops which mushroom along-with any initiative of good intentions.
Scale and reach of these institutions is also a challenge. Universal reach is important to ensure that all the deserving candidates get the opportunity. Satellite centres could be established at block levels and district headquarters. UGC, IGNOU, CIE could play a definitive role in this set-up.
Continuous capacity building through in-service training programs is extremely crucial to refresh the memory of previous learning, taking feedback, keeping pace with the latest advancements in education technology and keeping the motivation levels high. In-service training programs should be carefully designed keeping in mind the real needs of the teacher. It should be conducted at the local level with small groups to address specific type of problems with teachers. Follow-up of these trainings at an individual level or small groups is extremely crucial for the sustenance and implementation of the training content. All may not need all the inputs – it is resource intensive and unproductive.
Resource Person to Master Trainer: “Importance of inclusive education”
Master Trainer to District Trainer: “Include important education”
District Trainer to Trainer: “Education is important if included”
Trainer to teacher: “Educate only important inclusions”
Structure of the training programs also needs to be revisited. The cascade model of training followed by most governments has not been effective especially with large numbers. Experiments have to be conducted to test the role of resource centres for the teacher which is a kind of an online training resource for the teacher. The resource centre has to be accessible and free from administrative shackles. Private operators may be encouraged to run these resource centres. The resource centre should be a place for academic discussions rather than an outpost for administrative work.
Role of technology could also be explored in teacher training. The possibilities of Edusat, call-centres, internet (online help), video conferencing, radio, and telephony could be synergised for direct help to the teacher in academic and non-academic work.
Teacher Effectiveness
Dilemma: Every human being has a particular way to do a work. It is highly unlikely that the person would perform the work in the same manner as is required. At the time of work, s/he is governed by many factors which are not part of her/his training and therefore their experiences hold more if not less value as the theory learnt in classrooms. The gap between theory and practice further widens if the trainers are not aware of the real life situations or have no follow up of what they train. Naturally, each output becomes different and measuring quality of work with a standard tool or method becomes difficult.
Ramsaran(name changed), a primary school teacher in village Khiria in district Vidisha of Madhya Pradesh has been a non-performer for many years. The authorities have black-listed him as a teacher who does not follow the course content and is always lagging behind with the class during inspections or surprise visits. In a recent competency testing of the children of the school, the children performed fairly well. The children were tested on the same competencies as their text books. It was surprising to observe that Ramsaran had ensured that the children have acquired their grade-specific competencies but since the children had not rote memorised the text book, the performance of the teacher was marked significantly low. Is this the right way to measure the effectiveness of the teacher?
Further, the appraisals, measurement of performance have become mechanical and infested with nepotism and corruption. The poor quality of work and results further get compounded by limited capacities and resources in the education system. Delays, postponement, extension of due dates, redoing of the work have become a common phenomenon in day to day operations.
Tools to measure efficiency are also obsolete and ineffective. The ACR/appraisal is not used as a developmental tool but as a reward/punishment tool. In the absence of management by objectives, the teacher and the hierarchy feel lost in assessing the performance. As a result, performance measurement becomes highly subjective in nature leading to poor accountability in the system.
The effectiveness is also hampered by structural defects in the system. Multiple reporting systems like CPI, SSA, SCERT, District Administration (revenue, elections etc.) does not allow the teacher to work in a systematic manner to achieve his/her professional goals. The lack of clarity in goals, leads to demotivation and poor performance management in the education department.
Way Forward: The biggest motivation for a teacher or any human being is when s/he gets visible benefits. In this case the only tangible/visible benefit could be in the form of learning achievements of children which is possible if the teacher is able to strategize, plan and execute. The teacher may organize the lesson plan for the class, take each lesson, define objectives/ learning outcomes for each chapter, divide it into lower and higher levels of learning and develop tools of transaction and assessment. Difficulties like multilevel and multi grade situation may exist, but with effective classroom management and support, the teacher would be able to succeed in using these methods. The performance and achievements could also be suitably awarded by words of appreciation, public recognition, and presenting them as models of excellence.
The teachers may be introduced to the new concepts in learning through in-service training programs and their capacities could be built in classroom management. The most effective manner in which this could be done is by demonstrating to them how to manage their time in a class and also on different methodologies for effective transaction. Demonstration is a helpful tool as it leads to reflection- action- reflection praxis, a skill the teacher could develop with time.
Every teacher could be made accountable towards his/her children and their parents rather than department officials. The teacher could be rated not by what s/he knows but also what the children know. Apart from quantitative data of learner achievement and teacher achievement, qualitative data through children and parents could be used to assess teacher performance. Attendance of the teacher could be maintained by the parents, information on teacher like leaves; achievements etc. could be made available at the village level.
A strong support system to take care of the personal and emotional needs of the teacher is important. Professional ombudsman, technical/academic support, administrative support is extremely useful and important e.g. support may be provided through the technology of call centres.
A separate education cadre like revenue or police could also be evolved with only one line of command. This would help the teacher understand and respond to specific responsibilities than follow multiple commands.
Conclusion As mentioned earlier, that problems in the education system are not “education” problems, but management problems. It requires a careful understanding of management principles of effective planning, need assessment, direction, monitoring, evaluation leadership, teamwork, and effective human management.
The social factors do exist, but should not be used as excuse for non-performance. Many myths related to common norms and explanations about social behaviour have already been broken and many would get broke in times to come. The demand for quality education is on the rise and the system has to respond to this demand or the people who have the collective power to change the system would change and would leave the education system to die its natural death.
Many developed and developing countries have brought a change in their archaic education system by not only looking at teacher and its related issues but also simultaneously addressing other issues in curriculum, pedagogy, administration, capacity building, research & documentation etc. Large scale sustainable reform is possible if the problems are handled with a systems approach and not as a band-aid or piece-meal approach.
1 comment:
Quote "Even well thought large scale efforts of the government are distorted and poorly implemented with little impact on the overall quality."
Not a very encouraging thought .... one of those rotten old styled statements of the age old blame game ... between Bureaucrats blaming Politicians for lack of Autonomy, Politicians blaming Democracy, and Consulatants benefitting from these gaps ...... leading to nowhere ....
Would like to read something fresh and more consequential .... something full of ideas ...
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