Real Problem Faced By School Leader
Students are not able to relate the present curriculum with their future prospects. Students do not value the importance of education (upbringing by rich and in many instances uneducated parents). This scenario has led to lack of discipline and interest in academics and poor grades.
Please suggest the steps that a school leader should take address these concerns.
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Suggested Solutions to Real Problems Faced by School Leaders
Involving students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders while designing the curriculum.
Making them realize their roles and responsibilities.
Learning with fun needs to be ensured.
Inquiry-based learning should be promoted.
Every child should play a vital role in TL process.
Children should be motivated for self-learning.
Intrinsic motivation in teachers and students.
The purpose behind every concept and its’ usability needs to be taught.
Vimla Nihil
Firstly, we need to focus on improving the approach of teaching and bonding amongst stakeholders.
Instilling life values in students.
Spiritual and social quotient has to be developed in students.
Students’ involvement in school activities has to be deliberately encouraged.
Students’ council members should be given daily responsibilities.
School's management should be student-centric. They should be the centre of attraction for everything happening in the school.
Parents should be invited and involved in maximum school activities. Counselling sessions for parents should be arranged.
We have a concept of AMC i.e. Active Mother's Club in our school. Which is very unique and brought tremendous changes in our students and parents approach towards the overall concept of schooling and education.
Frequent educational activities should be conducted to bring a child and mother together.
Secondly, we need to focus on the practical aspects of the curriculum. In context, it becomes difficult to nurture the practicality of the syllabus, focusing on future aspects, if we rely only on textbook teaching. Teachers need to comprehend the guidelines about what minimum concepts should be taught to students while analysing the curriculum framework through education boards’ textbook. They should also make anote that they can always go beyond the textbooks. They can revise or modify the curriculum to meet future challenges and needs.
Introduce new practical subjects like financial literacy, traffic rules and management awareness, IT, animation or film making or some skill-based programmes like vocational workshops, astronomy etc.
Bimonthly career guidance programmes
Current affairs based social projects
Frequent Group discussions/debates/elocution /Quiz contest on various future based topics.
Preparing students for research grants like Dr Homi Bhabha Jr Scientist, Skimmer, Jet Toy making Competitions, etc. Inspire them for awards and competitive exams.
Encourage students’ participation in Roadshows/streetplays about current problems in society.
Vijayalaxmi Manerikar
I feel that that very goal is impossible in its conception for the following reasons:
At the current rate, no one has any idea of "that future". Probably going to get worse with each decade.
A foundational skill has infinite possibilities. E.g. addition. How do we connect to all of them?
Rather than worry about mapping to future prospects, we could teach them how to learn. Whether we take the route of PBL or Mantle of Expert, the key, I believe, is on getting the child to learn how to learn.
Anand Krishnaswamy
About the Author
Dr. Atul Nischal is the Founder of the International Council for School Leadership (ICSL) and serves as the Program Director of ReSET, the 3 week online certificate program for educators.
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