What works in education: the lessons according to McKinsey
Every country tries to put down the best plans and policies to improve the standard of education. But we find that there are big variations in the education standards between countries. The findings of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have shown that the best performing countries in education continue to perform better: Canada, Finland, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Our View:Though the findings seem “obvious” when one reads the report, clearly most countries around the world are failing to get the best people into the teaching profession (the 1st step in creating better school systems). As the report points out, teaching is not really a high paying profession even in the countries where the top 33% percentile of the population is choosing teaching careers. What these countries seem to be doing is to provide social recognition and a good working environment for teachers, while maintaining reasonable salaries. Thus it is a matter of pride to be a primary school teacher in Korea and not easy to become one.
We believe similar steps in India, which lead to teaching becoming a “profession of choice” can have a huge impact. Certainly, salaries should be improved where necessary, but equally or more importantly, the stature of the profession needs to get the respect due to it. There are a few things which might help to achieve this (many of these ideas have been discussed in different forums before)-
1) Establish premier “Indian Institutes of Education” like the IITs/ IIMs, with stringent entrance requirements.
2) Launch a public awareness campaign about teachers and the teaching profession
3) Like the “Teach for America” corps in the US, create a system where top graduates can spend 2 years teaching in government schools, at the government salaries. A few might choose to continue- and the many who go on to corporate jobs would at least be sensitized to issues in education.
We are sure there would be more ideas on how to get the best people into teaching, if we were to discuss this.
The leading consulting organization, McKinsey, has given policy recommendations based on the findings of PISA. They tried to find out the common factors between the successful countries. According to McKinsey, schools need to do three things: get the best teachers; get the best out of the teachers; and step in when pupils start to lag behind. These don’t sound like the most ‘innovative’ ideas but if taken seriously they would change education radically.
Hiring the best teachers is the first step. One South Korean official says, “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.” Studies have shown that, if you take pupils of average ability and give them to the best teachers, they end up in the top 10% of student performers. In Finland, all new teachers must have a master’s degree. South Korea recruits teachers from the top 5% of the graduates. Primary school teachers have to pass a four-year undergraduate degree from one of only a dozen universities, and getting admission requires top grades.
Teacher training is also a crucial factor determining the quality of education. Singapore provides teachers with 100 hours of training a year and appoints senior teachers to oversee professional development in each school. In Japan and Finland, groups of teachers visit each others’ classrooms and plan lessons together. In Finland, they get an afternoon off a week for this. In Boston schedules are arranged so that those who teach the same subject have free classes together for common planning. This helps spread good ideas around.
The other common thing between top performing countries is the intervention they provide for students who lag behind or start failing. Finland has more special-education teachers devoted to laggards than anyone else-as many as one teacher in seven in some schools. Singapore provides extra classes for the bottom 20% of students and teachers are expected to stay behind-often for hours-after school to help students. .
None of this is rocket science. Yet it goes against some of the unspoken assumptions of education policy. Scratch a teacher or an administrator (or a parent), and you often hear that it is impossible to get the best teachers without paying big salaries. But McKinsey’s conclusions seem more optimistic and are based on research findings: getting good teachers depends on how you select and train them; teaching can become a career choice for top graduates without paying a fortune; and that, with the right policies, schools and pupils are not doomed to lag behind..
To read the full article you can visit the below link. http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9989914
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9989914
Our View
Though the findings seem “obvious” when one reads the report, clearly most countries around the world are failing to get the best people into the teaching profession (the 1st step in creating better school systems). As the report points out, teaching is not really a high paying profession even in the countries where the top 33% percentile of the population is choosing teaching careers. What these countries seem to be doing is to provide social recognition and a good working environment for teachers, while maintaining reasonable salaries. Thus it is a matter of pride to be a primary school teacher in Korea and not easy to become one.
We believe similar steps in India, which lead to teaching becoming a “profession of choice” can have a huge impact. Certainly, salaries should be improved where necessary, but equally or more importantly, the stature of the profession needs to get the respect due to it. There are a few things which might help to achieve this (many of these ideas have been discussed in different forums before)-
1) Establish premier “Indian Institutes of Education” like the IITs/ IIMs, with stringent entrance requirements.
2) Launch a public awareness campaign about teachers and the teaching profession
3) Like the “Teach for America” corps in the US, create a system where top graduates can spend 2 years teaching in government schools, at the government salaries. A few might choose to continue- and the many who go on to corporate jobs would at least be sensitized to issues in education.
We are sure there would be more ideas on how to get the best people into teaching, if we were to discuss this.
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Undergraduates and post graduate students may earn credits for teaching in school. Some of them make excellent teachers.
Professionals and people from the corporate world who enjoy teaching, may be invited to teach topics of their choice- one benefit from this is a school/classroom-workworld link.
Teacher is no more an only source to impart a curriculum in the current context. It is high time that we treat them as human beings and give the necessary training that is required for them. while we talk about the teacher’s role as ‘vocation’, we need to give her/ him that kind of a student material to create wonders. Only if the raw material is good , the product will come out well.
If you say, we have to break the Assembly line of Thought in teachers and help them to create a sound system of education for students, I am with you all!
But if you wish to create an image of God for today’s teacher with all disadvantages in front of them and talk of only idealism, I beg to disagree!
Let us empower the teachers and then ask them to perform! If they do not, then blame them !
Similarly, let us free the children from the horrors of examination! Let them be free and let them be learners al through out.
Indeed this discussion is much thought provoking… The essence of the whole discussion is creating awareness, educating and willingness to ‘take personal responsibility’. Initiatives through EI must be in collaboration between Ministry of Education and schools (both government and non-government) in India to provide quality instructional materials to educators.
It is not just hiring the best teachers that is important. It is keeping them motivated by providing the right challenges so that there is personal and professional growth. The freedom to innovate and to provide wide opportunities to help them create knowledge is essential. While it is easy to say that teaching is not a job ,it is a commitment, in reality , it is all about one’s passion .The teacher evolves as a person with the experiences and challenges that he/she faces.
For teaching to be effective the Educators need to be passionate about what they are doing .They need to have a genuine love for children .They must be commited and 100% involved .At the same time the head of the institute must create a good working atmosphere where the teachers are free to innovate and be creative and not be afraid of making mistakes .And very importantly the educators themselves must have the willingness to keep growing and learning keeping abreast of the changing times .
A good teacher will make the student feel why the class ends when the period concludes and not why at all this class begins at the outset of the period itself.
Secondly, whatever be the topic taught, as the end of education is character, the teacher should try to bring in moral values relevant to the subject and inculcate the same in the minds of the students. A teacher by virtue of instilling good values, nourishing these values and weeding away the bad thoughts and deeds, is like Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara.
The person teaching the children in school is not only the teacher. The nature, people, family, society, our self experiences etc., teach us many things. A teacher in the school guides the students in building their character, carves the mind to sharpen their nature(attitude), helps them to become smarter, enhances their knowledge to turn into an all-rounder, inspires to achieve success, stands as a role model to be remembered forever.
I have believed that teaching cannot be taken as a career…It is a commitment that inspires a teacher to give of herself- not just her knowledge but her time , values, caring – all intangible and non measurable. I believe that teaching is inborn.Rigorous training will do little for a person aspiring to be a teacher who doesn’t have Love for children!A good teacher inspires students to explore and learn…and that is the best kind of teaching learning that can happen!
Mediocre teacher tells. Good teacher explains. Superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. I think we have teachers of all the above categories in our schools but blessed are the schools that have teachers who inspire their pupils. Many start well but then if the school environment is not positive they might become demoralised…slide down to being mediocre. So encourage and motive them to progress.
What I have experienced over the years is that much can not be left on the teachers as they will keep leaving and joining the school. The system of the school has to be the backbone for effective teaching. The school should have a system through which it is able to control the nerve of all teachers.Although the contribution of an individual’s capability can not be ruled out but even then it is not something which can be taken for guaranted.
Teaching is the mother profession and the noblest of all professions. It is true that the best of the talent is coming to the teaching profession. The major reason for this that teaching is not lucrative and the salary does not compensate the unattainable goals teachers are expected to acheive. The teacher training institutes should revise its curriculum and have an integrated curriculum to produce effective and creative teachers.
A School is as good as its teachers, not preachers. Surfeit of paper qualifications don’t necessarily make one. Communication skills, ability to motivate and innovate, and above all, love for children is what makes a teaching professional. They have to prove it right out there in the classroom, day after day, year after year. Committment, therefore, has to be either inborn or inspired under good leadership.
The Education Department needs to have more teacher training institutes. Improved salary standards and the need for social stature at par with other professions is of course necessary, but most of all, the teachers need to commit themselves to the profession.
True, traditionally education in India is treated as a duty of the teacher. learned brahmin was not supposed to look for money through education but it was his God defined sacred duty. now a days old ideas are being replaced as no one is leading a hermitic life and everyone needs money to survive. it is high time teachers are paid well and saly every thing in india changes slowl very slowly in deed. so have patience
Recruiting good /best teachers is an uphill task as long as the salaries continue to be what they are.All school managements need not pay the teachers the minimum that the government insists on , but enhance the scales as they are done for Principals or Heads of schools.At least in Delhi there would be a maximum of 2 schools where the head gets the govt. scale.If we pay better we will attract good people.
Undergraduates and post graduate students may earn credits for teaching in school. Some of them make excellent teachers.
Professionals and people from the corporate world who enjoy teaching, may be invited to teach topics of their choice- one benefit from this is a school/classroom-workworld link.
Attracting best talent seems to be most reasonable solution to change the face of currently learning standards.
But are we poised for that?
With corporate houses venturing into education, scene is set for the facelift of ‘learning standards’. It is quite surprising that these schools are investing a lot on ‘infrastructure’ -buildings,facilities etc but do little when it comes to paying teachers, taking care of their ‘professional development’ by large.
It is high time that our society realize the importance of the role of teachers in students’ learning and consider ‘business sense’ to invest into their development.
Though ‘passion for teaching’ is the most desirable attribute in a teacher, paying them ‘well’ can only attract and retain the best minds. Only this can make intelligent young lot look for ‘teaching’ as a career.
Teaching profession can also be made attractive by providing teachers with the challenges by allowing them to innovate, experiment and be their creative best.
I also see lot of scope to invite professionals from corporates who ‘enjoy’ teaching for occasional classes as the beginning to attract ‘best minds’.
Freshly passing out after my masters from IIT, I started looking for ‘teaching positions’ and applied to dozens of good schools. The response from ‘those’ schools is yet to come…
(These are just general comments and not to undermine the good initiatives taken by many proactive schools.)
I believe that teaching is a process, the motivated teacher mixed with involved parent will give a best disciplined child.I dont beleive in imprinted textbooks but beleive that an education given in a right manner can give a bright dynamic citizen.
I am a huge fan of MRS devi kr for always believing and upgrading the school system .She has not only set examples but lead examples to follow .
hi, nowadays teaching is considered as professional course, but do in actual sense a teacher gets respect/salary/facilities compared to a doctor/engineering/ or MBA person. No the only reason is the society doesn’t give them or may be the government too doesn’t have any good policies for them except on papers.
so the first and foremost thing is to change the view which cannot be developed but should be strictly implemented.
then definitely all the people who are having urge to teach or themselves believe that yes i am the best will be there teaching and the next generation will get the best.
so its not compulsion that a highly qualified or knowledgeable person is needed.
i guess our mom is the best teacher anyone can have, only bcoz she has being given the power, rights and position.
The first thing that strikes me about education is knowledge gain. Education gives us the knowledge of the world around us. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on everything in life. People debate over the subject of whether education is the only thing that gives knowledge. Some say, education is the process of gaining information about the surrounding world while knowledge is something very different. They are partly right. But the conversion of information to knowledge is possible because of education. Education makes us capable of interpreting rightly the things perceived. Education is not about lessons and poems in textbooks. It is about the lessons of life.