“Their (students) performance is how I evaluate the effectiveness of my teaching methods.” ~ Preya, a primary teacher.
We need teachers who positively influence their students to fully use their potential and make their mark in this world. Our education system will soon see an inevitable makeover, the one change that we all desire. While this change takes place, a teacher’s role shifts many gears. COVID Lockdown & NEP2020 has put the entire education system into a churn. Suddenly the world is feeling that we need huge reforms in education. Schools and Parents have huge expectations from teachers. There is a lot of discussions and initiatives around teacher training and upskilling. Are schools asking teachers to undergo training based on market chit chat and government guidelines? Or are we also asking them their perspective and their view on what training and upskilling they want to be more impactful? Corporate training managers would vouch that training attended out of self-assessment results in exponential impact in the job effectiveness of trainees.
Research-based evidence clearly indicates that any educational reforms will not give desired success unless it is a BOTTOM-UP implementation. So, the schools should make the teachers the torch bearers and front-line leaders of this transformation journey. More than implementation impetus the modality of implementation will be critical. Currently, it comes in the form of mandatory teaching workshops, which always won’t match the teacher’s requirement. There’s a wide gap in teachers requirement and what the management offer them. BOTTOM-UP strong initiatives by the school management can go a long way in bringing efficient changes in the teaching effectiveness.
So, we @EdRoy decided to interview a few teachers on what they truly desired as training. Teachers were interviewed with semi-structured questionnaires shared in advance.
1. With the advancements in technology, teachers are expected to be tech-savvy. Hence, most are in dire need of training that will help them to be updated with the various technological changes that have occurred in the classroom with the normal classes becoming a smart class and online class. Most feel being aware of the technology is not an advanced skill set; it is a basic necessity. They are learning technology on the fly and hence struggling on teaching effectiveness as compared to their traditional classroom environment.
2. We are not native English speakers, but teachers get scrutinized for fluency, diction, and command over their English language. Teachers are demanding training courses, one that improves their English communication skills which is the common medium of education.
3. Motivation is the key to get a good job done. Like in every profession, we can find teachers who resist upgrading themselves. If their job is secured, they don’t find the need to upskill. Various factors hinder any upskilling like age, lack of time and resources, lack of motivation, or fear to adapt to a change. While most of these factors can be rectified, certain aspects require professional training and interventions.
4. Teaching for most was an 8 to 2 job. Thus, most of the teachers had a second shift job at home. Most of them were managing the household singlehandedly without outside help. Overnight their job has changed to 8 to 8. They are struggling at work and struggling at home. They are demanding a pause and professional help in the form of workshops and counselling. They are asking for guidance to master Work-Life balance.
5. With the huge expectation of moving away from Rote Learning, teachers are demanding a skill up in core subject knowledge. For them to take the student learning to the next level of application of knowledge and concepts, they need to widen their horizon of knowledge and experience the new pedagogy skill themselves before imparting the same.
Teaching used to be one profession that could function well, even without an up-gradation. But in recent times, teachers and the school management were forced to shed off traditional schooling and embrace a new change that helps them to be in place. Teachers rely on school management and policymakers to take the initiative to bring in changes in the system. Still, a BOTTOM-UP approach of including their perspective will result in impactful changes.
Comments