A teacher’s job is difficult. They enter the profession with a vision of what the job will be like but are greeted by various struggles.
Creating a learning environment that provides equal opportunity is no easy task because teachers have to deal with bureaucracy and financial challenges.
Schools still function today as they did a century ago, so there’s not much to report about what actually happens in classrooms.
Even as time progressed and technology made processes seamless, the teaching methodology should’ve changed, but it hasn’t.
The lack of change isn’t just limited to teaching; the scheduling system, grading, subjects, and even the bells that ring in schools throughout the day haven’t seen any changes since the last century.
On the other hand, if schools do change, it is directed by the teachers instead of the management.
It is common to see teachers forced to adapt without proper infrastructure or support by the school administration.
The worst part is that these methods irritate and alienate teachers against changing the curriculum without prior warning.
Why? Because sudden or uninformed curriculum changes disrupt learning processes for students, which also causes misunderstanding between teachers and students.
Schools can be transformed by initiatives that promote change. We can address several challenges that the administration and students face by implementing needed changes.
Innovation requires vision and leadership to ensureteachers instill students with the skills needed to succeed in their academic and personal lives.
Educational leaders are often forced to implement changes to their methodology when addressing public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or shifting from traditional teaching to a project-based learning approach.
For this and many other reasons, educational institutions prefer hiring teachers with an advanced educational degreethatgives teachers an upper hand in managing unforeseen circumstances.
With that established, let’s look at some practical ways of implementing meaningful changes in educational institutions.
- Teachers should lead change
Today’s schooling systemsareknown for their lack of organizational structure. This arrangement might have made sense a century ago, but today superintendents and administrators are too dissociated from teachers.
It is common for teachers to be excluded from crucial school decisions regarding finances, technology, scheduling, etc.
The systems and departments responsiblefor making decisions are just for show, and power lies more with the teachers and parents than the experts themselves.
A new role needs to be created in schools, allowing teachers to control learning and make the necessary changes.
As a result, this would also positively disrupt the profession- giving teachers opportunities to develop their careers and move forward instead of remaining in a single position (or, worse yet, leaving the job).
The management and administration should empower teachers to influence change in the curriculum for creating the best learning environmentsfor students.
- Collaboration is key
Change initiatives are imposed on teachers and students without consulting them. Educational leaders should seek input from stakeholders during the planning process to foster cooperation and collaboration.
In turn, this engages individuals, develops ownership, and nurtures a sense of collective responsibility.
Teachers and students must be viewed as partners in educational change for success. The problem-solving and goal-setting process will demonstrate respect and acknowledge everyone’s contribution.
- Incorporate student feedback and data into learning decisions
This one is controversial, but we’d like to start by stating that student data shouldn’t be used to fire teachers or reflect negatively on schools.
Basically, student data provides insight into how effective a teacher, a program, or a school at large is.
As a teacher, you’re obligated to ask your students for feedback every year because the ultimate goal is their satisfaction.
However, school systems operate regardless of student satisfaction toooften. Therefore, assessment data and feedback evaluations should be part of every decision that schools make, as we need to involve students as much as we need to include teachers.
This approach would be more beneficial than the current high-stakes testing system to demonstrate the effectiveness of a teacher.
What about other assessment and evaluation methods such as interviews with students, video recordings of the teachers, and progress monitoring tools?
Still, schools aren’t taking advantage of the technology and resources available to develop a better evaluation method for students.
On the other hand, if schools are serious about implementing meaningful change, this is crucial.
- Train and support ‌employees
Teachers can make a difference in education when they have the right tools, training, information, and professional development to help them through transformation.
Change initiatives that expect teachers to implement student data-driven instruction may require support resources such as software programs that efficiently collect student data.
Teachers may also need training on how to plan lessons using student data. The thing is, if we genuinely want to revamp, update and modernize the education system, we have to transform teachers into students, too.
Just like students have a designated time to learn, we have to assign learning time to teachers.
The Takeaway
Innovation and hard work are needed to change education. Leadership can transform schools to ensure equity and justice for all students.
Teachers shouldn’t get away from their students to grow –but instead, to learn alongside their students and model authentic lifelong learning.
Ultimately, this is what education should be all about. It is no longer about teaching discrete subjects to students and expecting them to pass test after test.
The goal is to create life-long learners capable of adapting to change, as the school models them.
