Pushing students to swell unemployed ranks

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday November 13, 2023 06:00

Our schools have a notorious distinction of failing students and pushing them to swell the ranks of the unemployed rather than helping students to achieve and improve their livelihoods. Schools are linked with the notorious distinction for failing students rather than success.

This is a serious indictment on the teaching profession. It is a truism that not everything is entirely in the hands of teachers. There are well known and documented situational constraints, which are not of the making of the teachers, which indeed require policy shifts and external intervention. Much as there are multiple factors shaping the success or otherwise of students in the classroom, there is no denying the fact that the teacher is the principal actor in the classroom theatre. When students achieve, deservedly so, all praise and glory go to the teacher and in the same vein when students do not achieve the buck stops with the teacher.

The system has lived and co-existed with the stigma of failure for a very long time and if nothing drastic is done to redress this abnormality, the teaching profession runs the risk of suffering irreparable and permanent reputational damage. There is so much at stake and the clock continues to tick. This is a profession that historically commanded respect and to date continues to do so. And any self respecting profession cannot without any fight allow a reputation built over centuries vanish into thin air. It is very clear that something urgent should be done to resuscitate the profession and restore it to its past glory.

Old and tired 20th century approaches, which to their credit, served our students well, are no longer potent and must be rested and relegated into the dustbins of history. The ball is now in the court of policy makers to shed irrelevant policies and audaciously embark on a new unchartered territory. Keeping the status quo has the advantage of maintaining peace and continuity but a system cannot strive for continuity at all costs.

The worrying phenomenon is that students are failing and if students are the epicentre of the school system, it should not be difficult to contemplate undertaking a new course. One of the many ways of redressing the present challenges is to revamp the hiring process. Attrition offers any organisation an opportunity for self-renewal. As people come and go, organisations get a chance to tighten loose ends and to close achievement gaps identified.

However, the challenge with the public service in general and the teaching service, in particular, is that there is a guarantee of job security. The public service is a very nice and compassionate home for all, offering a safe haven to underachievers. The process of loading and shipping out what might be considered a surplus to requirements is intricate, complex and cumbersome. Many in the teaching profession come and go at their own volition and there is hardly any pushing. It is against the background of a dubious history of under-achievement, that the teaching industry should think carefully about its next move every time a vacancy is created. Filling vacancies in the teaching profession should not be a simple exercise of merely asking the next person on the waiting list to come and fill up the forms. Rather, it should be a serious undertaking intended to close achievement gaps. It is clear that presently the overriding factor is the desire to address and to scale down unemployment figures.

This is the right thinking to do but the question is, does it help the children to get quality education? True, our university graduates need to be absorbed somewhere as a matter of urgency and their rights to employment and improved livelihoods must be protected just like the rights of any other citizens. However, it should be borne in mind that the teaching profession has a business to do and a reputation to preserve and protect. New entrants in the teaching profession must be subjected to a robust process of selection so that the system can satisfy itself that it is bringing the right people in the right seats and into the right bus.

Closing achievement gaps should start at the recruitment level and asking the right questions at the level of entry, would help the profession to bring on board the right people. Who are these people aspiring to join the teaching profession? How passionate are they about the job? Can they be entrusted with the care of children? What is their history with children?

As things stand there is no sufficient screening at the entry level and one can never be certain of the future. Every new recruit should join the teaching profession to accelerate change and bolster the capacity of the system to support students. The system cannot afford the luxury of hiring new people content with perpetuating a culture of underachievement. New entrants should know what is at stake and at all times should demonstrate readiness to hit the ground running.

The business of education is urgent and cannot afford to wait. New entrants can only thrive and prosper provided they get support from the leadership in schools. Schools should be governed and properly so. Good governance in schools can only be assured if proper training precedes appointments. How many times do we have to lament about school principals who do not have proper instructional leadership credentials? Yet we seem to be doing nothing about it. Every potential school principal should undergo a leadership course because the days of leaving everything in the hands of God and chance are over. Appropriate professional development should be considered a necessity rather than a luxury. Our children deserve better service.

If job security is the reason for the sad state of affairs plaguing the education system, then the system should overhaul its hiring procedures. Hiring people on contracts especially those in leadership could be the elusive silver bullet the system has been looking for. Contracts keep people on their toes and give the employer an opportunity to get part with ways with underachievers upon expiry of contracts.

It is pretty difficult to navigate a way out of a permanent and pensionable contract. Besides this, the teaching service should endeavour to devolve powers to schools and regional centres. This should be done in the spirit of Are Chencheng for the betterment of our education system and the future of our children!