NadTalk

It is a misconception of the corporate world that higher education teaching faculty deals with concepts and lives in a philosophical world, thus they do not understand the reality of the business. If any manager or recruiter thinks in this way, they are naïve. Since the wave of privatization of education, the world of education  has been changed, hence the teaching profession requires much more than merely dealing with theories and concepts. In the changed environment, the teaching staff has to deal with students, simultaneously, as subordinates, colleagues and clients. Besides, they have to deal with the institutions’ administrative staff and the management.

• Leadership skills: In order to manage students, it is imperative to show leadership skills to manage skillful and mature students. Teaching faulty must show leadership skills so that students take a keen interest in the lectures and reading the relevant material.
• Manage Diversity: None of the classroom is homogeneous, but very diverse in all senses. Therefore, a teacher must demonstrate skills to manage diversity. If a teacher is unable to manage diversity, the students will turn the environment unfriendly, which is not good for anyone.  A manager hardly face so much diversity as the teaching faculty.
• Time Management: A manager can postpone some of the activities, but this luxury is not available to the teaching faculty. Time Management is essential to prepare and deliver lectures. Likewise, marking should be finished on time.
• Planning skills: A teacher cannot simply lecturing what he/she wishes. Teachers demonstrate planning skills by designing the modules according to the level of education. Selecting the material for a module demands a lot of planning because it does not change very often. Whether students select the module or not very much depends upon the contents of the material. During the lecture, the knowledge must be brought in at the right time in a right sequence.
• Analytical skills: Higher education faculty does not produce rote learning. The teaching faculty must analyze different theories and concepts and find comparing and contrasting points of them.  Using analytical skills, a teacher must be capable to demonstrate applications of the theories and concepts.
• Performance evaluation: All the teachers have to evaluate students’ knowledge to mark the exams and assignments, which can be justified in case of a challenge. At the higher level, students do not write assignments in a rote manner, which means that they can link information in a unique way. The teacher must show skills in interpreting students’ knowledge in a right way.
• Judgements: While evaluating performance, a teacher acts like a judge. Teachers’ marks are analogous to judicial verdict. It means that a teacher must be objective without any bias or prejudice while awarding the grades.
• Good Communication skills: A teacher cannot inculcate knowledge without having good communication skills. It is not only required to explain the concepts, but also to answer students’ queries. Moreover, the communication is a two way process in which a teacher cannot ignore the students’ concerns. Being a leader, a teacher must show skills of teaching, training and coaching
• Managing conflicts: Conflicts are inevitable in all situations. A conflict can directly be with the teacher or between students. Being a leader, you must demonstrate skills to manage skills. It is not possible to handle conflicts by using one style.
• Learning skills: For teachers, it is a continuous process to learn new knowledge and personal development. In this profession, it is not a personal choice but an obligation to update the knowledge.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: A teacher has to show a strong tendency towards corporate social responsibility. On the one hand, a teacher should be vigilant that student should only pass after having a satisfactory knowledge; on the other hand, a teacher should be concerned about the student’s time, efforts and money that he/she has spent to obtain a degree. An educational institution will not be benefitted if both concerns are not addressed.

In conclusion, if managers can be accepted to be a faculty member, so the same goes with the teaching faculty. The higher education teaching faculty possesses transferable abilities. Faculty members of higher education institutions show above mentioned skills on a regular basis.

Teachers versus Managers

Nadeem Yousaf

27 March, 2016