Breaking the nexus!

For the long-term benefit of our children

In Why We Teach I unpack a case study that shows about 60% of teachers are not engaged in their work, their work is not meaningful to them.  I also cite research showing similar numbers in the US education sector and in a wide range of other sectors and countries.

What does this mean?

For someone who has a developed sense of autonomy, who is empowered, such a situation is temporary.  They will change their attitude and approach to the work so that it becomes meaningful, or they will change their circumstances and find work that is meaningful to them.

When the situation is not temporary it indicates that the individuals concerned do not have the capacity to make these changes, they lack autonomy/empowerment.

This is not good for the individual as having meaning in our lives is an important constituent to our well-being, both physical and mental.

This is not good for society.  To maintain and improve our standard of living, work that is done needs innovation and renewal on a continual basis.  Where it is only a minority that is doing this work of renewal – and gaining meaning from it – then it is an uphill battle.

There is a further problem in that if we continue as we are then the next generation will also be made up of the same proportion of the disengaged.

Breaking this nexus means re-engaging those 60% of teachers who are not engaged today in such a way that they help their students to develop their autonomy and so avoid the current trap.  This implies that the new approach to their work involves changing the nature of the relationship teacher-student.

Autonomy is an innate drive, so if we stop suppressing it, it will develop naturally.  This gives an indication that the shift is in a teacher’s own self-management and approach to their work.

There is no more important work if we want to prepare our young people for an uncertain future.

Click here to sign up for a 60-minute Q&A via Zoom on 29th October: Curriculum, Pedagogy … and Behaviour?  You can still download a pdf version of Why We Teach here.

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.

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