Towards Quality: Role and Responsibility of Lecturers

Towards Quality: Role and Responsibility of Lecturers

  

The purpose of this rudimentary Paper is merely to facilitate discussions on the subject matter and to attempt to understand and appreciate the expectations in regard to the role and the constraints testing a lecturer at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Some issues are raised here with the objective of provoking discussions and seeking solutions through collective wisdom.

The paper tries to set out the following:

a)      To identify the role and responsibility of a lecturer;

b)      For internalization of the context in which the lecturers are working ;

c)      To place the subject in its proper perspective with a view to initiating a discussion on the subject.

The Context:

A student remains with a school for long years. All the time, in school, he or she is receiving knowledge and ideas. Education at this pre-College stage has a special importance because in these years when the human mind is most impressionable, and also because most of the students will leave off formal education after completing class XII. The students are under the care and influence of the pre-primary, primary, and secondary school teachers during the most formative years of their lives. The learning there is of considerable significance to lecturers but is an exogenous and uncontrollable variable.

While education in the school level is primarily national and value-oriented, the education at the Professional College like ours is internationally biased and attempts to make the student a global citizen adding value to the business community who are our direct sponsors. The transition from the school to a professional mould is quite a challenge. The international targeting makes education quite different from what the students have been used to in the past.

Lecturers endeavour to train and mould the minds of the young people so as to make them worthy financial and / or information technology keen citizens. The training that we impart is supposed to accelerate the pace of growth of the nation. That change must make for a better and healthier nation. That means that a tremendous responsibility rests upon the lecturer to mould young minds into valuable assets in economic building.

 The Lecturer Perspective: The Limits to the Discharge of the Responsibilities:

The Need For An Attitudinal Change

There is an emergent need to be a catalyst for change: the transformation from a lighter syllabus to a heavy, voluminous, technical vocabulary driven context is a tremendous challenge before the lecturer. The difficulties of expressiveness and communication in the student tend to be impediments. They even appear to give the student a certain restraining complex even as he sets out for this great journey of learning.

The Lecturer is aware that he is a change agent here. Instilling an attitudinal change requires a conviction in the catalyst.   There has to be an attitudinal change manifest in the individual lecturer concerned; he (or she) needs to be galvanized with certain dynamism and a spirit of dedication that transcends the ordinary. There has to be a powerful motivation.  

The Need to Inspire as much as to Instruct

Educators are often called instructors, but the student seeks inspiration more than instruction perhaps in greater measure. The task is daunting when weighed against the background of the fact that at least some of the students tend to be working long hours before attending classes.  By the time they reach the lecturer, they are tired if not fatigued. This is an exogenous, uncontrollable variable. The lecturer has a motivational element to facilitate the absorption of complex tasks.

Need to Arouse a Scientific Temper

The need to balance between an exam driven student and the need to instill deep abiding knowledge in him (which his sponsor and our Management expects) is a challenge. To make the student mind dedicated to an evidence adducing learning is a cumbersome task. Given that reading habits are weak in the formative years, and that the influence of the visual media is pronounced, this is a daunting task. Despite attempts, sometimes, students still expect lecturers to coach rather than facilitate. The lecturer’s efforts to challenge the student to higher responsibilities of independent reading are fraught with mental obstacles in the recipient himself.

The need to post him for examination

This is what the student expects most in the lecturer. The student’s singular worry is how to pass the examination. The benchmark for the performance has also gradually turned to be the performance of the student as a group in the examination. This requires a certain re-orientation on the part of the lecturer by consciously driving towards exam focus rather than knowledge imparting. Are lecturers fully examination technique driven? Most lecturers would think so; but then are there reflections of such a belief in the ground reality?

The need to cover vast portions in given time frames.

In a given Semester (trimester) time frame, the balance between the occasional weak comprehensive abilities of at least a segment of the students and the short time frame is a matter of time pressure[1]. Given that students do complain about non- availability of time after class and office hours, over the last few years there has been a stretching of contact hours in all specializations: from MBA to Diplomas. This has to be viewed against the backdrop of profit motivation that is being suggested in the business development context.

The need for effective Faculty time

Sometimes faculty are burdened with correspondence and administrative duties at least indirectly. Faculty has to think, read and write to improve.

The need for Unanimity of Approach

The lecturers need to present a coherent approach with regard to the approach to the student community, particularly in regard to discipline. The Team View strengthens the students to respond positively.

The need for Coordinated Approach to Learning

Often, lecturers are seen to be working in departmentalized islands with a willingness but no-opportunity to share with colleagues. This is manifest sometimes even to the student. Lecturers may be observed not to move in tandem, but as departmentalized bureaucracies. Experience sharing is a regular event or a semi-annual event, which needs to be institutionalized. There has to be organizational memory and collective wisdom.

  

Need for Long Termism rather than Ad-Hocism

Gradually, there appears to be a short ‘termism’ in our approach to solutions and people. This has a brought about incertitude in the minds of the affected. As organizations are permanent, even if individuals are transient, there appears to be conscious need for institutionalizing long ‘termism’ particularly with the younger stakeholders. There is a need for identification with the institution in totality in case there has to be longer-term research orientation.

The Perspective Shift:

Lecturers need to move over to be a place of ‘excellence in knowledge’, to ensure personal development of both the students and the staff and bring in more confidence in themselves.  How exactly do we do that?

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[1] Selectivism in subjects / modules/ chapters may often misfire. So there is need for comprehensive coverage.

Comments on this paper may be sent to Dr. Jayaram Nayar at  jaynayar@gmail.com