Sustaining a vibrant environment

ONE OF the features of schools is that teachers are expected to do what they are allocated. Any additional initiative is purely by chance or a product of the rhetoric and goading. Creating an atmosphere, where the well being of the teacher is one of the concerns, is either too difficult in the face of the problems faced by the institution or just too difficult to attempt. One way of avoiding the question is through the time honoured sentiment that the school is for the child and the teacher who must offer themselves to be consumed without an iota of the self. To look for anything beyond humane working conditions seems almost a sacrilege. And yet we know that it is only a growing alive human being who can create an environment that is truly nurturing and challenging for the child. J. Krishnamurti in his writings and discussions with teachers has indicated that the school is for the teacher and the student to learn together. Krishnamurti schools in India and the two schools in England and America have a good working environment for the teacher. There is a palpable invitation, not to rest with the given set of guidelines, but to move beyond the confines of one's experience.

An account of the experience of `The School' in Chennai, in this regard is documented here in this article.

Staff meeting

Staff meetings are held once a fortnight, on alternate Saturdays through the year. These are four hour meetings with a tea break, where the whole staff body meets, teachers of kindergarten to higher secondary classes, physical education to music and crafts. The first part of the meeting is a ``general discussion'' where wide educational questions are taken up for discussion. These can be initiated by any staff member and not always by the head and may be done in different ways. Some days a Krishnamurti Video may be watched together or a passage read or a question elaborated as a starting point. The second part of the staff meeting has to do with business matters and details. Issues from junior school, middle school or senior school are raised and spoken about and decided upon. Sometimes a certain point, in its treatment may lead to a lot of discussion of a philosophic nature. This is not avoided. Such a discussion helps each one to learn the various views that are possible and also the views that exist.

However, it is not enough, like in the previous part of the discussion, to merely discuss. A decision is often needed and decisions impinge on what one is expected to do. Usually when a group of human beings need to decide on a matter that is functional, there are few options. One person decides and everyone else accepts. Sometimes problems with the decisions will be voiced. Some correction will be made. The process however can be very much more dynamic and challenging if an attempt is made not to find easy agreement but to find an honestly debated solution. At school we say ``easy agreement is dangerous''. How does a school move from here? Is it through authority, or voting, or consensus? Or is there an intelligent way of moving ahead, where positions are given up and the best decision for the school emerges out of the combined perceptions, through the consideration of many minds? There are various formats that are used in the meetings for unfolding a topic.

One of the key features of these meetings is that any staff member may chair meetings. This is decided by volunteering or the chairperson nominating the person to chair the next meeting. Thus different styles of conducting meetings are visible and also the responsibility of conducting meetings is shared. One may feel that the content and the sharpness may not be well held, However, quite to the contrary, we have seen this shared space emerging as widely held and anchored. These meetings are very valuable since a newcomer is introduced to the debates in education and also the process within the school. There is space in`The School' for a teacher to voice his or her feelings openly, however radical, without ``punishment'' and to learn about the responsibility of working together.

The underlying concern for these processes has been to somehow ensure that the vision remains strong and bright and does not get foggy due to a crystallisation of habit and establishment of ritual.

This has meant creating space for the growth of initiative among teaching staff and for the emergence of a widely distributed confidence andsometimes not fighting shy of confrontation even in open staff forums. Sometimes not only the content but the tone of participation needes to be addressed too.

Stepping out of grooves

In a teacher's life usually one gets lodged in an area of competence and rarely moves from there. At `The School' we have found it possible to invite teachers to teach subjects which they are interested in or have an affinity for. Teaching, it may be argued, is a matter of perspective, acquiring skills and knowledge is easy. A person with a Masters in history can teach social studies in the middle school level and move to geography or English. A teacher with a Masters in biology can teach chemistry up to class X. Environmental studies in IX, X, XI and XII has forced us to gain competence in an area where certification and qualification has not started in a big way. Teachers with degrees in many specialisations including, maths, biology, engineering, medicine and English have had to study and get ready to handle the requirements of these classes. The knowledge that the Examination Board permits schools to send in alternative syllabi has also been used by us to create the Environmental Studies Curriculum for classes XI and XII which has been approved as a subject by the board.

Administration

The administration-teaching staff divide is quite pronounced in most schools. The ways in which decisions are made by the head or other `responsible' people in school often leaves teachers uncomprehending or in doubt. In `The School' we have taken the difficult step of articulating that every teacher is concerned with all aspects of school or no teacher can say that he is not responsible for what is going on. Of course we have had the statement from Krishnamurti.

'The School' is like a submarine and the people here like a submarine crew, are willing to step in and do whatever is needed. Another crucial area is how designated individuals make decisions. In `The School' the style of decision making has been for the person, making the decision to consult two or three people, if not more, for most decisions. A culture of consultation, to unravel the complexities of any situation, reinforces a culture of listening, and understanding deeply that no one person holds the full picture. ``What can you do alone, sir?''

'The School' has moved in a direction where reasons behind a decision are widely unknown. Teachers who have been longer than five years meet to discuss crucial matters such as policies and emerging guidelines. Difficult decisions, such as the resignation of teachers over disagreements is discussed openly and senior teachers are immediately briefed. This does not leave room for rumours and dissipating processes to take root. Transparency is also maintained by inducting newer teachers into the crucial admissions and teacher interview committees. This provides an opportunity for new teachers to ponder over questions like, `what is the criteria for taking in a new teacher or a senior student? How do we interview parents?

Scope for teacher growth

The refrain of teacher growth has been stretched a bit further also. The schools under the Krishnamurthi Foundation have the opportunity of sending teachers to visit the sister schools in England and America. With care, teachers are nominated from `The School'. The experience of entering a sister school far away from Chennai, watching the processes at work, has been most enriching.

We have also drawn up other avenues for a school teacher to pursue interests that may not have to do directly with academics. We have attempted to define `The School' as a place of learning and where living responses to life's situations are being found. A teacher after some years can ask for a one-day-a-week sabbatical. On one week day, say Monday, the teacher need not attend school but can attend to a certain pursuit of significance to the individual. So far teachers have used this opportunity to write books, study specific courses or issues, work towards evolving a course on women's studies etc. There is an advantage in this way of working.

The teacher and the institution understand that the teacher's growth is also the institution's growth. The services of the teacher continue to be available to `The School' for the whole year, so critical academics can go on. And of course an institutionally coherent solution has been found rather than an ad hoc answer which invites doubts about privileges and fairness.

By thinking of `The School' in this manner, all such work that is needed to sustain a new vibrant environment, a wholesome debate, becomes legitimate. `The School' would continue to have the resources of people, who would otherwise not be available, if they were to go away on sabbatical or leave to address other interests. `The School' would be simultaneously training teachers into newer roles and refreshing its staff body. The definition of a teacher's role in this manner will permit us to say, for example. ``We invest 15 per cent of our teaching staff time in growth and future needs' of `The School', and 10 per cent of the salary budget to provide this kind of richness.''

To do this, `The School' has had to review its induction policy also. Teachers are not inducted only against vacancies. On the other hand, `The School' invites interested individuals to consider it as a possible place to work and grow. A capable individual, who will not fragment academic subjects from deeper questions and who has the capacity of working together with others, may be invited into a threshold position. Once `The School' feels that this individual is serious about finding out what it means to be a teacher, there are many options starting with non-teaching opportunities which can be explored.

In conclusion, it is thus that we have been able to move in `The School' towards a culture, an ethos, which permits the operation of many styles and simultaneously makes the demand to move and shift quite legitimate and healthy.

G. GAUTAMA

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Feedback and self appraisal

Over the years, through the debates during staff meetings, `The School' crossed a difficult area rather smoothly and painlessly. It was always recognised that teachers get isolated in classrooms. Classrooms become very isolated and isolating - what happens there becomes ``private'', just between the teacher and students.

Thinking about how to enrich what goes on in class using the expertise that is available with fellow teachers has led to this particular system. In the present culture where only hierarchal models of organisation are available, we created a system which is based on invitation, and the initiative resting with the person seeking feedback. The system that is described below has evolved out of these concerns.

STEP 1: The teacher seeking feedback chooses and invites three of her colleagues to her classes. The three colleagues should be so chosen that they represent the following categories:

- one who teaches same/similar subject to a same/similar age group.

- one who teaches same/ similar subject to a different age group

- one who teaches a different subject to a different age group.

STEP 2: Each of these colleagues need to attend three periods taught by the teacher who has sought their feedback. The schedule for this must be worked at the initiative of the teacher seeking feedback.

STEP 3: There is a feedback form which is to be filled out based on overall observations. Teachers will hand out one copy to teachers seeking feedback and the other to a specific colleague without the names. The feedback forms for new teachers on probation comes to the Principal and the Managing Committee.

To provide an opportunity to teachers to take stock of the year and also to generate information about the state of various experiences in school, a system of self appraisal was introduced a few years ago. Every teacher, just before the year end meetings, fills in a self appraisal form with some clear questions. These attempt to elicit from the teacher a sense of what was done well, what were some of the problems, what was done when problems were faced, were there interesting and deepening situations encountered.

These answers are as much for the person who fills up as for the common space. The self appraisal forms go into the teacher's file but are never used for any evaluation of the teacher for purposes of increment etc. We have seen that individuals feel free to speak about problems, patterns, difficulties with great honesty.

``Truth can be spoken without punishment'' is one of the most important messages for teachers and other staff to hear. The strength of this communication keeps the air clean. The depth and the sincerity of the responses from teachers is as much a gift to `The School' as a learning experience for the person who fills up the form.

GG.

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