SHOULD SCHOOLS ENCOURAGE ‘INTRAPRENURSHIP’ TO MEET THEIR FUTURE SURVIVAL NEEDS?

I am indeed worried. As an educator with nearly five decades of engagement with teaching and educational administration, I am worried because the pace of change is probably impacting the school systems more than others. Every piece of technology and every new scientific gateway to look, observe, interpret and research things is providing and creating multiple pathways to learn, experiment and move forward. Education systems have always faced the first assault of any new knowledge. But we are now in times where the fundamentals of our thinking models are being challenged, due to inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary knowledge and skill integration. The speed of creation of new knowledge is happening day in and day out. There is no point in discussing whether Education is in 2.0 or 3.0. The linear progress models will take us nowhere. We need to disrupt the way we need to approach learning patterns.

Says Richelle Mead, the American author and novelist “Throughout history, people with new ideas--who think differently and try to change things--have always been called troublemakers." So, do we call these modern interventions of technology and skill sets as troublemakers to education? No, certainly not. We need not be consumed by them but we need to face them with courage. It is often said that “there are no old roads to new directions”.

It is time that schools open up to newer models of empowering and enabling knowledge through promotion of curiosity, research, inquiry, design thinking and celebration of experimentation. It is not the responsibility of a single school pedagogical leadership, but it calls for inculcation of a ‘mindset’ in the entire learning culture of the school. It has to become the shared vision of an organization. Learning has to be liberated from the shackles of imprisoned knowledge. Long ago, Voltaire said “Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road." We need in schools’ people who will make new roads.

Who will do it? The school leadership should create a wealth of ‘intrapreneurs’ in schools or should facilitate their teachers to turn into intrapreneurs, who would usher in new visions, new perspectives, new knowledge and bring vibrance. ?By this, I am not intending to add stressful models that currently exist. We need models which are stress-free, joyful, self-engaging, empowering and promoting self-esteem and self-direction. It will be a model that promotes ownership in learning and ‘awareness’ of learning objectives and goals. It shall not be a model which is either broadcast or telecast from an ivory tower.

Who are intrapreneurs?

As against entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs are the employees of an organization vested with the responsibility of ensuring the progress of the institution through their passionate approach to the field of work they are in.

Intrapreneurs normally:

·?????? Follow their passion

·?????? Are proactive

·?????? Engage with new visions

·?????? Provide leadership

·?????? Are willing to take risks

·?????? Ensure progress and productivity

·?????? Take the organization to newer destinations

In doing all of the above, they define their own learning curve, their progress and the growth process. Possibly, that helps them to move from being an ‘intrapreneur’ to an ‘entrepreneur’. In this process, there is a huge wealth generation both for the individual and for the institution.

In school systems, there are a number of teachers who have intrapreneurial attitude, who can demonstrate their rich abilities and competencies, who are willing to take risks, experiment with new models, adopt to technology and create new brands for the schools. They radiate energy to the team of people working with them whoever they are – students, colleagues, parent or the community.

?All that those intrapreneurial teachers need is the freedom to think, freedom to operate and an acknowledgement for the work they do. Unfortunately, in the linear, colonial, cascade mode of school administration, further fuelled by ‘licence raj’ of one kind or the other, by the State, they are demotivated, silenced, crippled and tamed to fall in line. This appears to be doing a great damage to the institution building and the development of institutional cultures. It is time that education system liberates itself from the erstwhile compulsive models, because they cannot work in a changing society. "You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."- says, Andre Gide, the French author and a Nobel Laureate.

Intraprenurship is not a prerogative of any business or industry, but it is really a licence to any creative pursuit that assures progress, growth and branding. All schools of the future would need them. The schools of the future would face the question from the clients – ‘why should I come to you? What are your deliverables? What difference do you make? How are you going to ensure and insure my growth?’ ?To prepare themselves, the school would need several leaders and each intrapreneur would become a leader on their own right. This would facilitate collaborative and participative leadership with every one contributing to the institution building and branding.

If the current school systems are unwilling to reflect on these issues, they will be lost in time just like several top-notch companies that ruled the entire world were swept off in the current of change. I could hear some one whispering “Sir, we have some limits”. "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." says Arthur Clarke, the famous science fiction writer.

What should schools do?

·?????? They need to identify the passion and talents in their teachers

·?????? They should develop a positive and growth mindset in them through appropriate acknowledgement of their skills\

·?????? They should give freedom to think and freedom to work, allowing them to work with groups with similar or parallel competencies – to nurture and mentor them

·?????? They should allow the intrapreneurs to engage with joint ventures to bring in new ideas and new collaborations from outside

·?????? They should think that schools are not board rooms for lesson planning or textual transaction and assessment

·?????? The intrapreneurs should be invested with the power of converting each classroom as a “thinking classroom”

·?????? The schools should use intrapreneurs to generate wealth – wealth of knowledge, wealth of skills, wealth of trust, wealth of goodwill and wealth of human resources for the future.

The future is bound to create a world that has not existed before. Man-machine interface is changing the course of journey as Machine-man interface. There is a lot of difference in both.? Let us recall the words of Stephen Hawking who said “There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition”.

Intraprenuship in schools will be a great value addition in their operational dynamics to invest themselves for future rewards.