OTHER SPHERE
MOTIVATING OUR EDUCATORS….ANURAG BEHAR
MOTIVATING OUR EDUCATORS….ANURAG BEHAR
The struggle to keep the flock engaged and motivated keeps thousands of us in turn engaged in business organiza- tions. This struggle to nurture engage- ment with the organization is not just with salesmen or others in tough and distant jobs, but with millions who work in far easier circumstances, and seeming- ly lack nothing.
A walk through a BPO business can demonstrate what ridiculous lengths we can go to, to work on this engagement and motivation of our 20-somethings.
Not just the best places to work for in corporate tinsel town, but all, including the public sector units, take this serious- ly. Organizations across the world con- sider employee engagement and motiva- tion a top priority.
Not just the best places to work for in corporate tinsel town, but all, including the public sector units, take this serious- ly. Organizations across the world con- sider employee engagement and motiva- tion a top priority.
A billion light years from this world where employee motivation is taken seri- ously is the world of the teacher in the village government school. The organiza- tion, the system that she is a part of, has not the foggiest notion of engagement and motivation. In that system, the teacher is at the very bottom of the bu- reaucratic hierarchy and treated accord- ingly: unsupported, mostly treated like dirt and crushed sometimes.
Every time I visit a village school, it is a lesson for me in this regard. A few weeks ago, we were rushed and were consider- ing skipping a scheduled visit to a village school. One of my colleagues insisted that we go to the school, even if for a few minutes. We stopped there for 5 minutes.
When we were saying the parting namas- te, one of the three teachers said (in Hin- di): It feels good that you came, you are bothered about us. She was visibly moved.
Her feelings took me back a few sum- mers ago. I met this eloquent teacher in Tonk in Rajasthan. She was describing her joys and sorrow. She said: …our children learn, we feel good. Some par- ents are happy that their children are in school, some do not care. What haunts us is the question whether anyone is bothered about what we do.
In the 1930s, the famous Hawthorne Effect was discovered. In simple terms the effect was the productivity gain among factory workers, driven by higher levels of motivation, arising simply from the interest being shown in them, since they were a part of an experiment. This was one among many things that laid the foundation for motivation and engage- ment to become a legitimate (and nec- essary) project in the world of business organizations.
Having worked with thousands of gov- ernment schoolteachers across many states, I have observed a similar phe- nomenon. Just the very act of working with them seems to charge them up. This happens even in programmes which do not have a designed motivational or en- couragement angle (e.g., training on ped- agogy, examination reform, textbook writing).
While a significant percentage of teachers participating in such pro- grammes are unaffected by this phenom- enon, the proportion affected, i.e. charged up, is so large that it is clearly visible. Its similarity to the Hawthorne Effect is forcefully argued by my col- league Dileep Ranjekar. This is why I jok- ingly call it the Ranjekar Effect. The phe- nomenon is similar, but not identical. It’s deeper and not as transient. My layman analysis suggests that there are three fac- tors underlying the Ranjekar Effect.
The first is that any break in the drudg- ery is a relief for a teacher. If you imagine teaching a group of students (say 40 at a time) the same lessons, day-on-day for a few years (say 20 years), you can get a glimpse of why it may seem like drudgery to many. Teaching is not by nature like this, but it does become that unless sus- tained through spirit and creativity.
The second factor is that the invitation to participate in a programme is an ac- knowledgement of the existence of the teacher. Traverse through the govern- ment school system and you will see how the system is obsessed with itself and its own administration. The teacher at the bottom of the bureaucratic hierarchy is virtually invisible.
The third factor is the heart of the is- sue. It’s the question of the teacher in Rajasthan: Is someone bothered about me? We know that the key to engage- ment and motivation in all organiza- tions is being bothered about people and what they do. Some people (in business organizations) need ridiculous demon- stration of this being bothered. But our teachers don’t have high expectations: Simple words of praise are enough.
Each of these factors in itself can help motivation of teachers in the school sys- tem, though these are clearly a subset of the complex issues of teacher motivation; which range from wilful truancy, exercise of political power and even their side business interests.
We need multiple responses to address teacher motivation. The recognition of its importance, in policy and practice, could be a start. This will need transla- tion to structural reforms, effective en- gagement of local communities in schools and leaders in our education sys- tem becoming more sensitive. As with many other things, this is not a matter which requires higher budgets, but requires administrative and political will, which is in even shorter supply than money.
Anurag Behar is chief executive officer of Azim Premji Foundation and also leads sustainability initiatives for Wipro Ltd.
He writes every fortnight on issues of ecology and education. Comments are welcome at othersphere@livemint.com To read Anurag Behar’s previous columns, go to www.livemint.com/othersphere