Forgive me for any of my mistakes and shortcomings.
Wishing you a blessed Ramadhan!
Those who can Do Those who can do more TEACH
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Monday, 2 June 2014
O.K.ism in our own education backyard
As I pen down my thoughts tonight, I
am thinking of one particular issue related to education. One of the
things I realise that is happening is the culture of mediocrity taking
place in our education system; in schools to be exact. It's o.k. not to
be punctual, it's o.k not to prepare a reliable and valid examination
paper, it's o.k. not to be well-prepared for one's class, it's o.k. to miss meetings
without a good reason, it's o.k. to write something else in your lesson
plan and teach something else, the list goes on. This is one possible
scenario in one school. What about thousands others? So many things are
O.K. in school really, it's O.K. to get away with so many things. I call
this O.K.ism.
Just
how does the principal watch over its 70 odd staff for example? How
does he ensure every teacher gives his or her best? It's all based on
trust and that is dangerous. Teaching can be elusive- we can pass a
month without doing anything serious for our students and still get our
paycheck at the end of the month! That's how elusive teaching is.
Strangely, we have many systems in place to check the rot but the data
we gather from these systems is not utilised effectively. For instance,
we have clinical observation in school but how much of the data informs
the remedial actions to be taken to improve teaching post observation?
They are but routine programmes that have to be carried out for the sake
of documentation. How many under-performing teachers (based on their
evaluation marks) have been called for some sort of professional advice
or counseling? Hardly ever. This could happen due to the fact that
teachers already possess a teaching certificate that qualifies them to
teach and also the fact that a teacher can hold on to his tenure till he
retires without having to sit for continuous appraisals to check on his
competency. Yes, the annual appraisal is present but it does not
evaluate competence in teaching. Rather it is a broad-based instrument
that measures leadership qualities etc. This is disturbing since we are
in the business of shaping minds and building character with
nation-building, to borrow a buzzword, as the end product.
What
about a teacher's current performance? Never mind if he obtained his
license to teach five, ten or twenty years ago but is he still competent
today? How does the school make sure teachers stay motivated and
competent after many years in the business? Teaching is one profession
that is different from the rest. It's not enough to recruit the best
teachers but we need to support them with a solid continuous professional
development (CPD) plan more so with the onslaught of transformation
programmes handed over to them. It's time for schools to take teacher
competency seriously.
Stop breeding this culture of O.k.ism in schools. It is not O.K.
“The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.”
(William Arthur Ward)
Those who can Do Those who can do more TEACH