After the thumping win in the last World Championship of Twenty Twenty Cricket, this year saw a complete turn around followed by the usual blame game. The just concluded IPL matches and after match parties were responsible for the dismal performance at the World Cup! Anyway, everyone enjoyed the month long cricket of the shortest version. So short that when we went for the ICL T20 match last year, one innings was over by the time we retrieved our tickets and found the seats. But see the number of young and promising players who were discovered in this IPL tournament! The energy of the youth is contagious.

So, why are we talking of T20 cricket now? I will come to the point in a minute. As I have become interested in teacher education since last few years, I do a lot of research in this area. I have found many youngsters volunteer time and effort to improving education. Many have made commercially successful ventures in the field of e-learning, soft skills training, science teaching and so on.

I go back to my childhood and probably a common game almost every young child plays is ‘teacher-student’, because they mimic the people they see everyday. Apart from parents, teachers play a crucial role in molding their lives.
Though, cartoon characters from TV have pervaded children’s lives, the influence of a teacher on a child is immense. When we grow up a little, in middle and high school, our favourite subjects and careers keep changing every year with the entry and exit of an inspiring teacher. Parents think we are fickle minded, but our mind is set on the most interesting subject - made so by a good teacher.

Even when we reach college or university level courses, our interest in a subject is always decided by the teacher. And many times such teachers also teach us much more than the subject. They make us better persons. They transfer their love and enthusiasm for the subject and create a spark in us.

This spark, this love and enthusiasm is what makes a person succeed in whatever endeavour he chooses. The number of inspiring teachers a person gets to see in his student life is dwindling because of the sheer number of educational institutes – schools, colleges, deemed universities etc. No wonder the industry keeps complaining that most of our graduates are not readily employable. Working is all about doing what it takes to complete the task at hand and this comes not from text books but from passion and willingness to learn.

Traditionally school teaching required training in education but colleges assumed that any expert can teach. The new paradigm is to accept that teaching at any level is complex and needs considerable training. The teacher is not just transferring his knowledge to passive learners, but helps learners construct and discover knowledge. There is also emphasis on inter-personal skills and cooperative learning – as against competitive and individualistic context in the old paradigm.
If you Google on the internet for education, teaching and related words you will find an ocean of information on new methods of teaching and learning being tried/used in premier institutions world-wide. Perhaps this is happening in premier institutes in India too. But they are definitely not percolating to other colleges.

We need bright, motivated and enthusiastic teachers, who are willing to explore these methods, customise them to our Indian environment and create learning experiences which are both enjoyable and effective.

Our society needs men and women who have character and live by ethical principles, who take responsibility for themselves and the world they live in, who can solve real problems and be excited about life. And these cannot come unless we have good teachers who live by these same principles.

Through the concerted efforts in several five year plans, India has certainly increased the access to formal education but the teachers who deliver this formal education should see the spirit behind it and not limit themselves to the text.

If something is not done to fill the huge void of good teachers in schools and colleges, we will lose the edge which we have today in global economy. Most colleges are struggling to hire teachers to comply with the university regulations. Very often, they are appointed ‘just-in-time’ for the academic session. It’s harder to retain good teachers. Colleges hardly have the time and inclination to train the teachers.

When someone chooses a career with interest, he would be willing to learn the tricks of the trade, and become successful over a period of time. This period can be shortened by suitable training and mentoring. But when people come to a career as a last resort, they are low on self-esteem, motivation and subject knowledge and such people become a negative resource to the workplace.
And so it is with teachers too. Unfortunately, there are not enough people in the first category, to cater to the increasing number of colleges and schools.

Now we need a T20 campaign for paradigm shift. We want the top twenty percent (T20) of young and bright graduates and post graduates to choose teaching. And to help make this choice, I have listed down 20 reasons to teach:

1. A teaching career is very exciting -you always get to be with young people, you see the latest trends in behavior, fashion, gadgets and lingua.

2. Their minds are open to new ideas and are very fertile. They are energetic and eager to try out what you say – a good place to instill values.

3. If you connect with an individual, you will almost always make a positive contribution to his life. Thousands of stories of inspired people.

4. Perhaps no other career puts you so close to human psychology. So if you have an open mind, the opportunities for learning are unlimited. As Talmud says, “Much have I learnt from my teachers, more from my colleagues and most from my students.”

5. If you do a good job, you will be adored by many generations of your students and their families.

6. The power of the numbers - you influence the lives and thinking of many people. You have a captive audience for your classes for an entire academic session. New paradigms of thinking have almost always taken birth in academic institutes.

7. Very often there is a huge gap between courses studied and practices in workplace, but in teaching you get to remain with your domain of study.

8. Teachers don’t stagnate – since most curricula are frequently updated, professional development is a must. University and college teachers must keep themselves abreast of industry trends and have plenty of conferences and workshops for such networking.

9. University and Aided Colleges have facilities like Study leave and lien for teachers. Some even work in industry in their lien.

10. And since most of these activities are self driven, you feel truly free. Academic freedom lets you pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference.
11. Minimal bureaucracy, visibility and performance based incentives are what teachers like in private institutes.

12. Autonomy in the choice of texts and of teaching methodologies is a big advantage in autonomous and deemed universities.

13. Flexible schedules. Though industry has now realized that their employees need to balance work and life to be productive, teaching careers beautifully achieve this.

14. Many opportunities exist for independent research work and consultancy. If you have the skills, you can get sponsored research projects from industry or from agencies like AICTE, UGC, CSIR, DRDO etc.

15. Schools/Colleges always had some wing of social work like NSS. You can take an active role and make a difference to the society in more ways than one. The corporate social responsibility wing in industry is popular only now.

16. There are many events and competitions for students and they are always looking for teachers to help them out. You can contribute your cultural or artistic inputs.

17. School/College annual days festivals usually have participation from teachers too. So you’re not too far from your corporate colleagues with their retreats and parties.

18. If you could measure the quality of your life in rupees, the income from a teaching career is as good as or perhaps even better than a corporate salary.

19. Many teachers also supplement their incomes through private coaching.

20. The farewell parties of final year students never end without the teachers and students shedding buckets of tears – of joy and sadness. That’s when both realize that they did make a difference.

Now the skills needed are here. Apart from a large dose of self-motivation, if you want to be a teacher, you must have the ability and desire to do the following:

• Share knowledge with others
• Challenge, inspire, motivate, and encourage students
• Support and guide future leaders
• Make a difference in an individual's life
• Feel pride in your own and as well as your students’ accomplishments
• Obtain more knowledge
• Lecture on material that interests you as well as material that may not interest you
• Look for teaching beyond the classroom

From a large number of people, we actually collected a list of qualities their inspiring teachers had they could be broadly classified under subject knowledge, delivery and classroom behavior, out of class behavior or personal qualities and some individual feelings. By and large, many people felt that their current values or subject knowledge were due to these teachers and they really were grateful to have had them. Armed with this motivation, go ahead and try your hand at teaching! You will never regret your choice.


You can visit www.inspiring-teachers.com for more information for teachers.
The author is a teacher educator and instructional consultant. She conducts workshops and training programs for school and college teachers, and undertakes long term development projects. She is also a consultant at EnhanceEdu, IIIT-Hyderabad and Heads the Centre for Faculty Development and Management at NMREC.