TEACHER LEADERS SEE WHAT OTHERS CANT SEE

(A version of this article has been published in 5th volume of the magazine TEACHERS PRIDE, March-April 2018 issue)

Do you see anything that others cant see?. No? Then possibility for you to become a good leader is very scant. Padmashree Jaggi Vasudevs definition of leadership goes like this. A leader sees what others cant see.

Bachelor's degree in education aims to instill some leadership qualities in the teachers as she/he is supposed to guide generations towards their maximum potential for growth and development. It is intent upon building certain perceptual skills in future teacher candidates. For sure, ability to lead spontaneously grows out of teacher personality when she develops that habit of “seeing what other people can’t see” during the preparatory phase of her profession.

Often parental perceptions of their wards are incomplete and sometimes flawed. Teachers help to complete many parental perceptions by communicating what they see in their students.

Teacher's perception of the span and range of psycho-social development of the student and myriad possibilities for the same-- is alien to the parental world. Maybe due to this, the image of a professional teacher in the minds of parents gets elevated from the "carrier of subject knowledge" to a "person who is able to see what they (parents) cant”. The society when convinced of this ability of a teacher allows her to be seated on a perch called leadership. They trust her instinct to guide and value her perspectives and opinions about growing generations.

Nurturing leadership

           Ability to see what others cant see is a habit which can be cultivated by conscious effort. This ability is the prerogative of a teacher who is highly receptive/sensitive to ripples in the society. Such teachers intermittently polish their perception about the society and update their awareness about manifold issues pertaining to it. They engage in identifying and articulating problems and ruminate over possible solutions. Trying to find the connection between seemingly unconnected things they strengthen their propensity to see what others cant see. Their untiring urge to push the envelope and coax people into the truths they see(experience) make them leaders par excellence. 

The inclination to probe into the why's of things is the quality of a good leader. A teacher with inferior leadership qualities focuses only on "hows” and “whats" of classroom teaching and student behavior. For instance, how a student behaves will be the concern of an average teacher. But an effective teacher will be interested in "why" a student behaved in a particular way. Her awareness and knowledge about student behavior will be superior to that of her colleagues and she will be in a better position to deal with issues/problems which arise inside and outside the classroom. In other words, she will be in a better leading position.

From classroom to society

           Leadership, integral to teacher-ship begins to function at the micro level which afterward carries itself to macro levels of professional space. At the micro level that is in a classroom environment, the teacher guides the student to accomplish certain levels of intellectual and psycho-social development.

  Leadership qualities of a teacher manifested at the macro level is an extension of activities taking place at the micro level. In other words, the act of leading at the micro level (classroom) carries its ripples to a macro level ---societal level---in a self-regulated manner. A teacher who recognizes the extent of her influence on students will be very much aware of the potential of her profession to mold the society. 

The working memory of a good teacher leader will be very much alive in the awareness of this macro-micro connection while interacting with her students. Social development of students will be one of her cardinal objectives among the myriad mandatory objectives she has to accomplish in her professional life. What equips her for excelling in her leadership qualities is nothing but her impeccable "social awareness" and uncompromising readiness to keep it afresh and alive.

Why some teachers are not leaders?

 The world is in constant flux. In this rapidly changing world, the problems or issues faced by individuals always assume new hue and texture and older ways of solving issues become gradually ineffective. World quit looking up to a leader if he hasn’t anything new to offer to deal with new demands and issues. Leading role of a teacher demands her to be highly sensitive to the changes taking place in the society.

           Such social sensitivity is the prime factor determining the leadership in teachership. Teachers who feel the pulse of society usually set out as trailblazers of socially relevant messages or causes. Nowadays, social issues hardly get a chance to enter into the professional space of a teacher. By taking refuge in comfort zones provided by classroom walls and examination oriented teaching methods, they create a big chasm between education and society.  

          It will not be an exaggeration if one opines that commercialization of education and globalization has narrowed teachers' vision and he/she is not willing to carry his/her teaching role beyond classroom walls. It seems no amount of technological revolution in education can bring back that non-mandatory goodwill of a teacher to become a social leader and guide generations for a better tomorrow. Educationists must be aware of this social dilemma plaguing teaching professionals of the new millennium. And reforms in education in our nation must address one additional dimension- “improvement of leadership qualities of teachers” in its agenda. Then only the system of education can function as a tool for social change.