Skills for future-ready teachers

Sindu Aven

The past two years have brought about a radical change to the education sector in India. What started as a coping mechanism to COVID-19 induced lockdowns has now become an integral part of the sector's growth and future. Technology has been a catalyst in bringing about this immense change. As we near the end of this 2-year journey of complete online education, schools are set to re-open. As students gear up to move back to classroom setups, we can't help but wonder how technology will further be integrated into the classrooms to continue this journey of change and growth.

 As we understand that technology will continue to play a significant and long-term role in the education sector, it also brings us to an essential question. What are the skills that India's educators now need to keep up with this change? An equal focus must be laid on both educator and student growth to shape the education sector in our country.

 Collaboration

 A collaborative approach is rather necessary to come together and create a better learning environment for students. Collaboration among educators helps brainstorm creative ideas and ways to enhance learning for students, while student-led collaborative activities need to continue. With the advent of technology and advancements in the education sector, the need of the hour is to create new ways of teaching and working together, unconsciously developing that skill set as learners progress to ensure seamless lessons.

The ‘back to campus’  mode where it’s only about a physical classroom setup can never be the same again. Schools will need to consider ‘device and data policies’ to ensure collaborative activities continue regardless of space and time. After all, collaboration is a keyword in NEP implementation.

 Creativity and innovation

 If we are to achieve Level 5 of Bloom’s Taxonomy, practice, and challenging projects and activities are mandatory. Students of all ages learn by creation as it helps synthesize information and brings meaning to their educational experience. So it is an educator's role to devise ways to enable creative thinking and performance in their students. Is it part of the learning outcomes defined and if yes - what’s the implementation strategy? Yes, we do need to look at Project Based Learning even in the Hybrid model.

Creativity cannot be a paid lip service and result in ‘creativity and innovation gaps’ in schools. It’s the practice, the reflection, and the opportunity to use the creative edge or innovative thought that fosters it further.

 Critical thinking

 One would imagine this to be a basic skill in this day and age of ‘Information Explosion’. How do you sieve information and arrive at answers? How do you train the mind to process information for: analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, self-regulation, open-mindedness, and problem-solving? It’s a combination of reading skills, metacognition, and reasoning. Our educators define the methodology in which the lessons are imparted to students. We would look at further defining techniques and strategies in ways to ready the students to develop critical thinking capabilities. While the board of education sets the curriculum, it is an educator's thinking skills that pave possibilities that ensure students' success.

 Adaptability

 Innovation or redevelopment brews new and exciting opportunities, which stands true in educators' cases too. The pandemic has given ‘adaptability’ a wider connotation. For an educator (personally and professionally)  adaptability can mean a possibility of role change, chances to upgrade, and career growth options as well. Educators can continue to rescale their careers if they are adaptable to this change. Joining courses and training programs is a quick way for teachers to understand the market dynamics and reskill accordingly. Planning an individual growth curve is just as possible. With the right skill and time investment, our educators can jump back higher and bring onboard new teaching techniques that will go a long way in defining the new and emerging education sector in years to come. Applying the same context to our learners, we are preparing them for careers that don’t exist today. Building adaptability as a key skill in learners will result in long-term benefits and help them to pivot their skillsets of learning new technology at short notice. This then means that a teacher focuses on creating different learning environments, building resilience, promoting self-regulation, dispelling the fear of failure, and encouraging continuous learning.

 Tech Savvy

 The spurt towards digitization in education has led to a massive demand for educators to be technically savvy to realize the best potential in current times. In line with the National Education Policy, teachers are encouraged to utilize continuous opportunities for self-improvement and learn the latest innovations for better performances. When does the technological divide between students and teachers disappear? There are online tools for collaboration, engagement, assessment, and more - how much is too much or too little? Students need to know the balance as well. What can a teacher automate and what part of automation is helpful for a student as he/ she goes along? We would want our learners to be tech-savvy, cyber-safe, physically fit individuals and that’s a tall order! It begins and ends with the right balance.

 Communication

 Communication is perhaps the most essential soft skill for educators. An educator must be an excellent communicator and be able to do so with different types of people, majorly involving their students and parents. Educators in current times require to also know how to pivot the lesson plans; custom-make them according to current events. These require educators to develop good communication lines with students while creating an environment that makes students feel comfortable.

 For a student who has a significant screen time presence in life, the design for communication skills activity will need to be different versus another who uses lesser screen time. And what forms are we looking at? No doubt that language basics of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing need coverage - and that goes beyond languages and borders.

 Developing these skills, bringing the same to the classroom, and enabling learners to practice the same - that’s when it is a job well done!

The writer is COO & Co-F, OrangeSlates

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