Encouraging Edupreneurs

Sheryle Moon | September 30, 2009

Australia is on the brink of a teacher crisis that will seriously impede our capacity to educate the next generation of children.  According to the Australian Education Union, Australia will be short 40,000 teachers by 2013.

 

It is time for change. The first step to attract and retain great teachers is for education leaders to start thinking and behaving less like a bureaucratic institution and more like a private enterprise.

 

The global financial crisis has handed the education sector a solution on a silver platter. 

 

Schools have long run Teacher for a Day programs and looked to industry to provide

Teachers in Residence to impart particular skills and knowledge. Right now, there is a pool of impressive white collar professionals – who have lost their jobs, are feeling insecure about their jobs or can’t find work – being presented with a solution for a new vocation where they can demonstrate their skills, share their smarts and guide the next generation of Australians.

 

There is also a pool of impressive best and brightest graduates who did not find work in their chosen field who could potentially replace our decreasing, and very much needed, generation of teachers.

 

Many talented Australians think teaching would be a fabulous job, yet many don’t think about it as their number one choice. Now, in an economic environment clouded by uncertainty, the idea of a job that offers security and longevity is much more attractive.

 

What these young executives don’t realise is that it’s them we need to lead the next generation of students and just because they worked for a big bank or accountancy firm doesn’t mean they can’t use their skills in the teaching world.

 

During a national road show this year for the Australian Council of Education leaders, delegates brainstormed the ideal qualities of Australian educators of the future.

The characteristics identified closely matched those of an entrepreneur. They included:

1.       An engaging communicator

2.       High emotional intelligence

3.       Academic strength

4.       An innovative approach to work

5.       A willingness to take risks

6.       Performance orientated

7.       Commitment to the task at hand and passionate about it

8.       Desire to contribute and be part of something bigger

 

The forum coined this group the edupreneur – the ideal teacher of the future. What’s remarkable is that if you conducted a Myers-Briggs test on all of our redundant professionals looking for work, you’ll find that a significant proportion will hit the mark, at least 7 out of 8 from this list.

 

If our education system attracted and retained teachers that displayed these qualities, our education system would be the envy of the world. Many corporate organisations believe in hiring for aptitude, inducting new staff comprehensively into an organisation and then providing the on-the-job and situational training to ensure they are successful. Traineeship programs use a similar approach, teaching people as they are employed to deliver the best learning and employability results.

 

Over 20,800 Australians lost their jobs in the last two months.  If we could convert all these out-of-work people, take their skills and experience and apply them to education, Australia’s next generation will be in very good hands.

 

Great leaders believe it is possible for tomorrow to be better than today, and that they have a role in making that happen. Let’s set change in motion. It starts with only one. That one could be you.