Friday, July 22, 2011

Attracting and retaining the top-third graduates for careers in teaching

I interact with a number of engineering and management education institutions on a regular basis. One thing I notice always is the faculty at these institutions. Where we mostly talk about improving the "teaching", really no one talks about hiring the best teachers for various reasons.

The research by McKinsey on the "Talent Gap: Attracting and retaining the top-third graduates for careers in teaching" identifies this as an opportunity to improve the academic delivery and also as a measure that has strong correlation to the economic performance of the country. The report makes an interesting remark stating that "Top performing nations recruit 100% of their new teachers from the top third. In the U.S., its 23% and 14% in high poverty schools". The report also talks about the many other factors on which graduates decide their occupation other than monetary considerations.

Of course I didn't come across a similar opportunity study done for India, but I guess it is a fair opportunity for tier 2/3 institutions in India as well to attempt and create an ecosystem which is amicable for hiring teachers from top third of the graduates.

Aren't there ways and means to leverage this in the Indian context?

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