Motivating the actors in Education Sector

Sonali Mishra
Nov 5 · 7 min read

ASER reports that in 2018 only 2.8% are not enrolled in school and average student attendance is 85%. 22 states recorded 80–90% attendance of teachers. Over the years access to education in India has progressed well however, students have not fared well in the learning level of ‘beyond basics’ while they have shown improvement in ‘reading’ and ‘arithmetic’ [1] [2]. ‘Beyond Basics’ particularly exercised their analytical and logical reasoning skill. Students were given a series of tasks to perform that involved multiple steps — calculation, evaluation and reasoning. Hence the focus now needs to be on quality education.

I see three actors involved in the mission to improve quality education — teacher, students and parents. Rukmini Banerjee, CEO of Pratham said “teachers are “teachers are getting discouraged… parents are getting disappointed… and the kids are just disinterested.” In this article, i have outlined 3 solutions to motivate students and teachers with right incentives [3].

Cultivate a Hobby or Recreational Skill

[Problem] — Rukmini Banerjee cites that students are physically present but not learning enough primarily because they are disinterested [3]. They may not have enough reasons find school appealing.

[Solution] — We propose creating a space for students to pick a hobby of their likeness. Students will have something to look forward to in school and this can also serve as a backup career option in future. Additionally, hobbies are known to enhance creative cognitive skills in people.

[Implementation] — We need to design the kind of hobbies that can be offered at school. This can be centrally driven where CBSE (central board of secondary education) consults with psychologists on benefits of various hobbies and then do a market forecast analysis to assess which of these hobbies can be a potential career option. Thereafter, the polished list must me matched with what hobby-demands are placed by students. The union of this is what the school must deploy. Students must be assessed in their recreational skills as well (to ensure they take it seriously). Since the purpose of this activity is to give students what they like, they and only they must be allowed to pick what hobby to choose. This entire process should be included as a part of school’s annual audit process along with the other work streams.

[Outcomes] — The success of this methodology can be assessed basis performance of students in their hobbies and their other subjects as well (where indirect influence is expected). Some measuring criterion can be grades, involvement in school activities, feedback from parents, grades in their hobby subject. Gradually, they must also reflect in ASER’s ‘beyond basics’ learning levels.

[Potential Impediments]

We already have crafts classes in schools — The current setup doesn’t involve scientific reasoning of what hobbies should be offered and there is no mechanism to evaluate. Students change hobbies every week. Most of them see it as a free interval.

This will help them increase efficiency only in that subject — giving them a mix of interesting and boring aspects is better than giving them only boring aspects at school. Hence, the net motivation will encourage students to come to school with a positive spirit. Moreover, when these kids grow up and apply for jobs and colleges these recreational skills will enhance their profile. Creative hobbies work the best when they are started at a young age. Also, these days top universities prefer students with creative skill that they have harnessed over time because it adds diversity and leadership qualities in the candidate’s profile. Facebook CEO Mar Zuckerberg wants all this employees to have a hobby. He explains that it improves productivity of the person on the whole, teaching them new skills [4].

Will this be cost effective? — This process will involve huge amount of effort in terms of research and stakeholder interaction but very low additional cost, mounting to psychologists’ consultation and additional hiring.

What if too many students choose one hobby and too few choose another hobby? — In that case we must add support in the skill which has high demand and subsequently compensate by reducing in other skills. We should not place any restriction and alter the choices of students artificially.

MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) Video Creation to bridge the gap between grades

[Problem] — Niti Aayog explains that there is a cut-off age for all, by when one must be well equipped with some critical skills. Beyond this age it will become difficult for them to grasp. Rukmini Banerjee says “if you start with things people can’t do, then the disinterest comes in much earlier.” The difference in syllabus between grades is quite often very drastic and difficult to absorb. For example, 10th grade chemistry syllabus has a chapter on introduction to carbon and components. That’s is the first time students are exposed to an organic element and in 11th grade they are expected to solve chemical equations of complex organic elements. Hence, the practice of tuition spikes everywhere exploiting the complexity of this transition. Some medium paced-learners may also feel the need to go through concepts of previous grades from time to time.

[Solution] — MOOC videos can be created covering crucial topics of every grade. These videos will be prepared by students under the supervision of their teachers. Additional bonus grades can be linked to this activity hence, inducing competition among students to feature in these videos ensuring best quality videos are made. Students will attain publicity which will also act as an incentive for students to get chosen for these videos.

[Implementation] — Every grade can have top 10 students per subject making videos on these concepts. This must be on rotation basis (change every quarter) to ensure competition is in intact throughout and more students get the chance to do this. This entire process should have a feedback mechanism where parents/students can raise new topics to be covered or improvisations on previous topics. The MOOC should end with MCQ assignments.

[Outcomes] — Monitoring factors like assignment results, no of students accessing the MOOC, feedback received, and involvement in feedback sessions will signal the success of this proposal.

[Potential Impediments]

What if students miss classes knowing they have a video backup? — Students can access the videos of grades lower than their current grade only. This is to ensure students do not take advantage of these videos and miss classes. Also other factors like minimum attendance and pass mark in current examination will avoid this exploitation.

What incentive do parents/students have to provide feedback? — The videos are created because there is a requirement by students making them the agents and the creators of MOOC the principals and who better than the agents to drive improvisations.

What if appropriate technology doesn’t exist? — MOOC can work with minimum internet with downloadable facility. Students who don’t have internet at home can visit cafes or download the video and bring it back home. In a worst scenario there can be physical class with a schedule published to students to conduct class after the school hours.

Alternating Teaching Environment

[Problem] — Teacher’s motivation lies in the motivation of students. Teachers complain of being slaves to the curriculum and monotony. They don’t have opportunity to exercise their creativity as much [5].

[Solution] — Rukmini Banerjee has highlighted that importance of outdoor teaching is not acknowledged [3]. We suggest to create different environment to compliment the topic in discussion. Although this proposal will enhance both students and teachers performance, teachers will find every new environment as a mini research project for which they are being recognized. This can be publicized like research papers. Teachers can share their frameworks and environments on social media or in form of blog posts or in form articles in publications. In a way this should utilize a public engagement model. For teachers this is one space where they should be left free with their creativity. This will then truly reflect the interest of teachers.

[Implementation] — Teachers must plan for the setup and leverage aid from students whenever needed. For example, Mughal Dynasty in History can be taught with a skit using minimalistic props or solar energy can be taught in outdoors with live demo of cooking rice and potato which kids then get to eat (:P). The focus should be on topics that are mostly theoretical as they are difficult to memorize and pictorial image makes it easier to remember. There must be at least one auditor (who can be one of the senior teachers) in the teaching environment to assess the quality. End of every school year teacher must submit a summary of such alternating teaching environments created by them.

[Outcomes] — A more direct way of measuring this would be to sum up number of publications/articles/research papers that are published. This will indicate if teachers are approaching this model with interest.

[Potential Impediments]

Investment in setup and props will be time consuming — This is a one-time effort. Once done it can be stored for future use.

How will this culture catch on? — Just like how the culture of blog post caught speed, this too will need time for people to be aware of this. Every writer will want to have blog posts or every singer will want to have a music cover on YouTube therefore anecdotally speaking, every teacher will also want to have as many alternating teaching environment proposals.

What is teacher’s incentive? — This will be a factor in measuring the teacher’s performance as well. The auditor shall also keep them on their toes. Above all, this will address the issue of lack of opportunities to get creative.

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