This applies equally to those organisations seemingly doing well but desiring to gain some competitive edge to outsmart rivals. One way through which an organisation can overcome hurdles and achieve goals is to recruit the right people. The question that remains to be answered is what do we mean by right people. In an endeavour to outfox rival organisations increasingly place a high premium and faith on people possessing lofty academic credentials? But, looks as they say, can be deceiving and so are lofty academic credentials. This piece seeks to argue that the best employees are those who bring their hearts to work rather than those who merely flaunt academic credentials. Talent is a deep thing and does not necessarily go hand in hand with qualifications.
Organisations seeking to shed a deep-seated culture of under achievement are increasingly under pressure to revise and tighten recruitment processes in order to attract the right and capable human capital. The local education industry, with its notorious distinction of under-serving students, finds itself particularly under extreme pressure to get it right at least on the human recruitment side of things. It is believed that the so-called right people would have what it takes to change the education sector’s performance trajectory. The silver bullet, it is believed, would come from those possessing glamorous and glittering academic credentials. What makes the demand for high academic credentials appear more justified is not only the desire to ensure organisational competitiveness but also the need to avert the possibility of receiving overwhelming applicants. Setting the bar high eliminates many potential job seekers, assisting the organisation to receive and manage a handful of top notch applicants. As the job market continues to shrink, the demand for lofty academic credentials is becoming the norm rather than the exception.
Jobs are hard to find for those seeking employment opportunities and there is no longer a job security for those who are already employed. If they are to escape redundancy and remain competitive, employees are compelled to up-skill and retool. This is the reason the quest for upgrading qualifications is continuing unabated. Opportunities for better and lucrative job offers remain a little more open for those flaunting high qualifications. It is not without justification to see many organisations, both in government and private sector, placing job advertisements demanding lofty academic qualifications. Apart from achieving the already mentioned short-term goal of eliminating the possibility of receiving overwhelming applicants, it is assumed that, high paper qualifications are synonymous with productivity. Nothing can be further from the truth. Experience has shown that this is not an evidenced based position? While lofty academic credentials are desirable and admirable, they do not necessarily guarantee productivity. This position is anchored on my close to three decades association with the teaching profession as a classroom practitioner, examiner, education manager and policy maker and implementer. Teaching is a different ball game altogether and it is not necessarily a respecter of lofty academic credentials. Teaching is a distinct and a unique profession with peculiar requirements. Three things matter in the teaching and learning industry. These are talent, love and passion. These are rare, natural and innate traits not necessarily acquired in school. All teachers with the relevant academic credentials could, with little coaching, display some degree of mastery of content but not all teachers have the talent to deliver content in a manner that excites, thrills, challenges and motivates students to bring their best selves to the classroom.
Teachers gifted in the oratory naturally connect well with students and always leave their students desiring more. Talented teachers have the ability to simplify complex learning tasks, breaking them into simple and easily comprehensible segments. This is a gift, if you like, from God. It has nothing to do with acquisition of lofty academic credentials that so many education recruitment agencies are looking for.
When recruiting an educatorz both for the classroom and management roles, it is best to go deeper than paper credentials presented before the recruitment panel. So a great educator should be a great communicator. Success in the education sector is also anchored on love and passion. These are quite distinct terms but I prefer to use the words love and passion interchangeably. Those who desire to join the teaching service should be subject to thorough scrutiny and interrogation. Who are these people seeking to teach our children or assume managerial responsibilities in the education sphere? What do children mean to them? Apart from championing an academic programme, a school, regardless of its level, is a nursery, providing care and love to children who may be coming from under privileged, difficult and less caring circumstances. Children should find at school what might be lacking at home. A school should offer soothing and comforting experiences to children in distress. When there is no food at home, schools should provide not just food but a rich and balanced diet. Those applying to become educators should not only bring their professional competencies but should also bring along their hearts. Passionate educators are not job hoppers. They stick to their profession in the best of times and in the worst of times. They are like emergency fire fighters on a rescue mission who cannot shirk their responsibilities. Passionate teachers feel duty bound to rescue children from ignorance and poverty and they cannot trade the teaching profession for anything.
Whoever seeks an association with the education sector should also have some degree of technical understanding of the issues inhibiting provision of quality education? Given the shrinking job market, it is possible for the education field to attract job hoppers motivated by a desire to improve their personal livelihoods and not necessarily driven by the love to advance the cause of children. Even when desperate, the teaching profession should not make the grave mistake of being a safe haven for economic refugees. Just like a home, the education space must be characterised by fatherly and motherly love. Teaching is essentially a home for those who love children and those who can bring their hearts to the job. For almost half a century, the public service was proudly manned by people who have been educated by talented, passionate and loving teachers holding primary teaching certificates. They worked under very trying and sometimes appalling conditions but could not jump ship because they were motivated by their deep patriotic feelings and undying love for the children under their care. Teaching was ingrained in their hearts. These are the heroes and heroines deserving national accolades.
