Journalism of Courage
A teacher must believe in human beings,must see the spark in every student and for this to happen the change must start with the kind of training imparted to them says Madhavi Kapur
Here we are,a society of achievers,from an ancient culture that deeply values education. In Mera Bharat Mahaan,mothers burn the midnight oil when children have exams,every slum dweller scrapes and scrambles to put together the requisite fees for an English medium school complete with a striped tie and a 15-kilo school bag. Education is the key that opens the door to our childrens future and we do everything in our power to see that our children get it . . . to the point of driving them to suicide in our eagerness/anxiousness for the right score.
There are more reasons than the purely materialistic ones for teaching having become the last option on anyones career list. You have to visit a teacher education college to realise that the teaching profession has remained completely frozen in time for decades. While other professional colleges have reinvented themselves ,we are anxiously looking forward to the day the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) shakes the sleep out of its eyes and buckles down to the business of completely overhauling the curriculum content and method of teacher education courses.
Inspiring and motivating young people to commit themselves to their future are more crucial in teaching colleges than anywhere else because teachers have to be idealists. Cynicism will not do. A teacher must believe in human beings,must see the spark in every student and have the tools and the determination to stoke that spark into a raging fire. The place to nurture this positive spirit of hope and faith is the teacher training institute.
Modern professional colleges in all fields (design,engineering,computers,business . . .) are distinct from other colleges teaching pure disciplines in the sheer vigour and rigour of their practical work,assignments and internships. This is because these courses see the clear connection between the world of work and the course of study. This emphasis on real time spent over a period of several months in a real school teaching real children is the only way forward. We need a shift of paradigm. We are teaching children,not subjects. The child is a complex whole of emotions,interests,previous experiences,dreams,longings and fears. The trainees should be studying children and how they learn: what hinders and what facilitates that learning? One paper in psychology doesnt even skim the surface.
If we want children to learn to think,to exercise their intellect and imagination,it is elementary that our teachers under training get to do the same things. You cannot nurture creative thinking using the lecture method or the chalk and talk of the B Ed classroom. The professional course for teachers has no option but to undo all of this damage by eschewing all lectures,all questions and answers and all traditional exams and tests,and pushing trainees into the world of learning by doing, observing,reading,asking the right questions,making mistakes,and mastering skills and concepts.
One shoe does not fit all. However,one thing is absolutely clear. The current system of teacher education fits no one. If we want young people to aspire to become teachers,to enjoy the highs of the classroom,the eureka moment when your class is with you intellectually,emotionally and spiritually; if we want to bring respect and love back into our schools and colleges,among other things,we need to think carefully about the professional training of teachers.
(Madhavi Kapur is a teacher and teacher educator with 29 years of experience in the classroom. She dedicates this piece to all those who did not become teachers,but would have made great ones if they had made the choice)
