Teaching Is Noble. Is That Enough?

 

Happy Teachers' Day to all those who teach—professionally or socially.

Over the past decade or so, I have had the opportunity to interact with quite a few people who teach as a profession. Based on these interactions, today I find myself wondering:

Have we designed an education system worthy of the value it creates for all?

Teaching is widely regarded as a noble profession. And rightly so!

But somewhere along the way, have we made noble = selfless = less money?

 We often hear that people choose teaching because they want to “give back to society”. There is nothing wrong with that motivation. In fact, it is admirable.

But should choosing to contribute to society mean choosing a profession that pays less?

Perhaps the question goes beyond teachers’ compensation.

It takes us to some deeply embedded beliefs about what education is, what students and parents pay for, how institutions are assessed and compensated, and so on.

These beliefs may vary across regions and different types or levels of education. But the point to consider is whether they allow the education ecosystem to create meaningful value for each of its constituent entities—its stakeholders.

Perhaps it is worth examining some of these beliefs, the consequences they may be having on the current dynamics, and whether there are alternatives that could generate better value for all. Let us look at some of the common current beliefs of each entity.

• Teachers / faculty: Teaching is a noble profession – it is to give back to the society. We can do more but we must teach what is mentioned in the curriculum.
• Students: We need good marks, recognised qualifications and, ultimately a good job. Anything beyond that is nice to have – more like a hobby!
• Parents: Institutions are already charging hefty fees. They better provide high-quality education, faculty and infrastructure.
• Institutes: Students and parents are price-sensitive. We need to remain competitive while delivering what the market expects. Introducing anything additional can be difficult to justify if it means increasing fees.
• Industry: We need people who can perform, adapt, solve problems and create value—but the only way to assess them at the time of selection are their marks, some of our proprietary tests and a basic interview.

None of these beliefs are necessarily wrong. But notice how, together, these are making the system very transactional i.e. marks-oriented. This, in turn, constrains what Teachers can teach and how they assess the students.

Such restrictions on their abilities, coupled with our expectation that they should be motivated largely by the satisfaction of giving back, reduce our ability to attract, develop and retain people who can teach in the true sense—i.e. create greater value for learners.

And this is where compensation becomes important and plays a different role – a value-based role.

Many parents are willingly spending additional amounts on tuition, coaching and supplementary learning when they see sufficient value. So, the issue is not simply willingness to pay - it is whether the education system is creating and demonstrating enough value.

It is time to move from a transactional education system to a value-based ecosystem —one that creates meaningful value for all and enables those who create that value to get a fair share from it.

Medicine is also a highly noble profession, yet we have evolved an ecosystem where medical professionals can command much higher compensation than those in teaching. Maybe, as a society, there is something to learn from that ecosystem.

What could this look like?

Industry, government and society, perhaps represented through the parents’ bodies, could bring real problems into the education system, with an indicative value attached to each. Teachers could guide student teams to work on them, with the complexity scaled to the level of education.

Equally, teachers and students could identify opportunities and problems whose resolution could create value for industry, government or society, and take these forward as learning opportunities.

The value of the resulting solutions could then be assessed and shared among those who created it—through money, recognition, opportunities or other forms of value.

Such a system could also enable us to recognise the value created by teachers more meaningfully—not merely through qualifications, years of service or student results, but through measures such as the number and type of problems identified, teams guided, problems solved, solutions successfully implemented and value created.

Models like this already exist in pockets. It is time to scale them from competitions and projects into the way we learn, teach and create value.

If we can measure more of the value teachers create, we can recognise it. If we can recognise it, we can reward it.

And if we can reward it, we can make the profession more attractive to people capable of creating that value.

Perhaps that is what we should really be working towards on this Teachers' Day.

Teachers have been giving back to society for generations.

It is time we give back to them —in kind and in cash, too?

Once again, Happy Teachers’ Day to all those who teach professionally and socially!