Just engage!

Re-engaging through supporting autonomy development

In my recent book Why We Teach I share research that shows about 60% of teachers – and about the same proportion of employees in other sectors and countries – are disengaged from their work.  In short, their work has little meaning for them.

I also show that by curbing autonomy in young people through the use of reward and punishment – in schools especially - we create young people with two mind states (red brain and blue brain), how these interplay determines their levels of engagement or disengagement in later life.

We can break this cycle by supporting the development of autonomy in young people.

To do this, the 60% of disengaged teachers need to re-engage with their work, which means they must change how they approach their work.  They can do this by building relationships with students that support students’ autonomy.

Much meaning in life comes from relationships, so that building the right types of relationships with students – that support autonomy – will bringing more meaning to both students and teachers.  More engagement from both.

What gets in the way of making this change?  The main ones are fixed beliefs about students and what it means to be a teacher, being triggered by students or colleagues, taking bad moods into class, and general overwhelm.

Inquiry is a key activity to fracture and re-frame beliefs, mindfulness is a powerful means for extinguishing triggers as well as supporting the development of insight, used in inquiry.  Bad moods can be managed through centring meditation and general overwhelm is helped through focused attention meditation.

All these can be packaged into regular practice, which gradually changes behaviours.

The fact that 40% of staff have already made many of these changes shows that it can be done and provides a resource for encouraging others, if used appropriately.

There is no reason to delay in getting this underway.

You can download a pdf version of the Why we Teach here.  Click here to register for the webinar on Thursday 27th at 12 pm to explore how to take this further.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

• To purchase a copy of Red Brain Blue Brain or Student Feedback go here