TREATING TEACHERS LIKE PROFESSIONALS

It is the season of faculty recruitments for schools and all schools are making their efforts to hire the best talent they can afford. There always seems to be a shortage of good faculty for schools. However, most schools are short of teachers and, therefore, over-burden their current staff – who get fatigued. How do we overcome this?

I personally don’t think there is a shortage of the number of candidates. During our recent recruitment drive for several positions, we got an overwhelming response from several candidates. Many of them work in good schools in Hyderabad. Despite this, we are having difficulties, in general, to hire good teachers and more difficult hiring for special education like “fine arts” or “foreign languages” etc.

The general aptitude, communication, and confidence of teachers are pretty low. They are not well informed and very few take the interest in learning other things, barring books that help them pass exams. Also when I look at the enrollments to B.Ed. colleges which we have been following for over 4 years now, it has been falling.  The number of applicants for a B.Ed. qualification is reducing. The real issue seems to be “How attractive a job is teaching”? What drives this low job? Satisfaction or “unattractiveness”?

• Salary is an obvious & definite factor. This society and industry have so far not compensated the teaching community well enough.
• Secondly “How much voice or say do teachers have in running a school?” Even when school-wide decisions are made, do we care to take their opinions and consider them seriously.
• Lastly, how much autonomy are teachers given in their own classrooms? If we say students are different, should we ask all teachers to follow the same method/plan/curriculum?

Teachers are the most micro-managed team in this society–sadly, in this era of accountability. While they may have good ideas, the managements do not listen well to these ideas. Therefore, we end up with low job satisfaction in this profession. Combine that with low pay and we have a deadly combination that contributes to “Attrition”.

At Tatva, we wish to make a difference to this perception/reality. I should say we aren’t there yet, but this is one of our top priorities.

1. Involve teachers in major decisions of the school.

This could mean more time and work for teachers. But many of them are ready to contribute and turn their jobs into a profession.

2. Improve standards of living for teachers.

A part of this comes from increased compensation and a lot comes from facilities the institution provides them.

For example,  reducing class sizes, providing time for class preparation, rewarding blogging / speaking opportunities, providing research opportunities etc.

3. Motivate and encourage them.

Not to treat them like “bots” which complete an action. Let us treat them like people who have a passion for creating citizens for tomorrow.

These and more should help us create an environment that attracts and retains teachers to this profession.

Let us remind ourselves that if great minds don’t train our children in schooling, we are at risk as a society, from creating greater minds for the future.

VishSivaswamy

CEO

Tatva Global School