It was during a discussion on precisely such views that the idea of a listening workshop emerged. Colleagues in the Institute of Educational Development (IED) in BRAC University, Bangladesh felt that a \’listening workshop\’ might help them understand teachers and grassroots functionaries better.

Listening workshop – a straightforward structure
It was agreed that before forming any views, it is critical to simply listen to teachers and head teachers. Hence a straightforward meeting / interaction / workshop was designed around the following three questions that would be asked of teachers and head teachers:

• What do you really do? Exactly what does your work involve?
• What do you like doing?
• What do you find difficult or dislike doing?

It was also agreed that IED colleagues initiating the discussion would only listen, and not prompt or provide leading questions or offer any comment from their side. In other words, they really had to listen rather than talk!

So why is all this worth writing about? Because around ten such listen workshops were actually conducted, and most turned out to have  a very interesting pattern, followed by an unexpected twist.

What teachers felt
The listening workshops, it transpired, tended to proceed in the following stages.

• Teachers found it really difficult to believe that anyone could come down from the capital only to listen to them! There had to be a \’hidden conspiracy\’ or an \’agenda\’ they were not aware of… It would take anywhere from 40-60 minutes to convince the participants that the intention really was to listen to them. (What do you think this tells us about the functionaries that teachers usually deal with?)
• Once teachers believed the above, their initial reaction was that of giving vent to all their frustration and anger at \’you people who sit up there and form all kinds of views about us without ever visiting the field and observing the realities for yourself.\’
• Finally, teachers would pour their hearts out on the three questions given above.

The teachers\’ replies have of course begun to inform the work of the institute in many ways. However, it was the completely unanticipated outcome below that left everyone (cautiously) elated.

The unexpected \’reform\’
In the case of a large number of teachers who participated, a few days after the listening workshop it was found that they were implementing many new pedagogical actions in their classrooms! In the entire discussion, at no point had they been asked to make any improvement in their classrooms. So it was not as if teachers did not know improved methods – a large number of in-service interactions had ensured that they had had exposure. It\’s just that they were not using them. But for some reason the listening workshops triggered a change process in the classrooms!

What do you think this tells us about teachers, about their motivations, and about the kind of relationships they experience? If you can bear the initial first hour, isn\’t holding a listening workshop the simplest way to initiate educational reform at the local level?

Perhaps this is more the case in Asian societies. Apart from most Indian states, I\’ve found myself caught in this discussion  in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos… and there\’s an amazing unity of thought across these varying geographies and cultures! Children need to be guided and taught — if their errors are not corrected as soon as the occur, it will be too late to correct them later on! (All this is said in a deep, sonorous tone to emphasize its seriousness.)

Interestingly, these are also cultures that teach you to respect your elders (whether they have any quality other than age or not!). In short, in societies where control has a role to play, \’discipline\’ comes to mean doing the will of the powerful (because they are adult, or older or richer or occupy a \’position\’). These are also the same places where the guru or the master or the preceptor is venerated (i.e. given a status next to God herself).

This sits a little uneasily with the clamor for greater democracy in the classroom. Active / joyful learning is now advocated in most of the countries mentioned. In India, the recently enacted Right to Education actually mandates activity-based classrooms where children will construct their own knowledge. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 makes an eloquent plea for \’democracy in the classroom\’, where collaboration and partnership with children (rather than their \’sincerity and obedience\’) will be the hallmark of quality.

As you can guess, change is a long way coming. Despite the fact that democratic classrooms are \’Official Policy\’ backed by law, and nearly a decade and a half of yearly rounds of in-service teacher training emphasizing the virtue of active learning,  classroom teaching tends to remain teacher-directed, instruction-based, with asking questions and offering one\’s opinions being considered almost a sin on the part of children.

When reports last came in, thus, D for Discipline was clearly winning over D for Democracy!

1. is sharp, can quickly see what needs to be changed, and has effective ways of helping others see this too, but without getting into a conflict!
2. can spot opportunities for introducing change
3. does not have a sense of hierarchy; does not discriminate
4. has a sense of humour, which gives her/him the ability to live with the difficulties and slow pace of change
5. at the same time, s/he can take quick decisions and act fast if needed
6. is aware that he may himself by a victim of the old ways of thinking and living; so is constantly examining himself and trying to improve himself
7. can help a person see what is wrong without feeling bad or without that person feeling he is being disliked.
8. has a sense of strategy – that is, of actions that will slowly, perhaps indirectly, bring about the change desired, in stages
9. is honest and has the greatest accountability to herself, on behalf of those she works for
10. is aware that there will be some conflicts, and has a plan and ability to deal with this; if necessary, generates conflict, though in a calibrated manner
11. is aware that his role is that of enabling others to deliver rather than deliver on their behalf
12. knows how long change takes, and does not give up
13. Can work as a team member, and also get others to work as a team – for which, helps by:

• Sharing goals

• Sharing information

• Recognizing, utilizing and balancing the strengths and weaknesses of the group

• Ensuring recognition as a team