What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a career in the Education sector? Is it skill enhancement, growth opportunities or reaching your true potential? I doubt you thought of either of these at first. Education is one of the fastest growing sectors in India, yet it remains one of the most under serviced when it comes to providing development opportunities, growth and over all skill enhancement to educators.

In the last decade, the Education sector in India has grown to become one of the largest education systems in the world with more than 1.4 million schools and over 227 million students enrolled . However, Education continues to be conventionally viewed as a subjective industry and a student’s academic achievement is often the only yardstick to measuring an educator’s performance. While most schools don’t have programs that set teacher performance standards and frame works that act as guiding tools that enhance teacher accountability, those who have such programs lack uniformity, standardisation and implementation across the board. Consequently, subjectivity and lack of transparency during annual performance discussions and appraisals lowers morale and diminishes the interest of those within the system or applying for jobs in the sector.

How does one tackle the issue of standardising performance management programs to eliminate subjectivity and bias? Let’s take a look at the challenges and opportunities for technology-enabled talent management programs in the Indian Education Sector.

The New Age Education System
With increased access to broadband internet, affordable computers and smart phones, the last decade has seen a marked increase in technology adoption across the Education sector in India. Smart classes, visual aids, online learning programs and the development of learning apps by companies such as Byju’s has disrupted the way we look at teaching and learning today. However, what continues to be the same is the way we evaluate and assess educator performance. Educational institutions often rely on trusted pen-and-paper method of collecting and giving feedback. This is not only a tedious process for the school management but can also be biased and subjective without taking a well-rounded view of the teachers’ potential and capabilities outside of the students’ performance.

Think about the corporate sector, regardless of which company you’re from, employees

usually begin the year by setting goals in line with the overall vision of the company and department that they’re working in. They have clearly defined roles, objectives, assessment benchmarks and routine check points to measure progress. While one might argue that the corporate sector is vastly different from Education, what is common between the two is that people are at the heart of it. Mutual understanding between the leadership, managers and employees is essential for improved performance, employee success, and job satisfaction. Similarly, if educators are aligned to the vision of the Institution, department and have a clearly defined roadmap to track performance and progress in their careers, they’re likely to be more satisfied and perform better.

Finding the Right Talent Management Solution
People Analytics is the hot trend in the Talent Management space right now. Using data and machine learning algorithms companies help individuals and organisations set goals, measure potential and performance, keeping personal biases to a minimum. But, a one-size-fits all approach does not work for the Education sector. Education has always been a traditional industry in India and while efforts are being made to transform the sector, change is happening at a slow pace. Therefore, specialists who understand the industry feel that the need to create specialised frameworks and break them down in to qualities and attributes that Educators can relate to is the most essential step to building a Talent Management framework.

Partner with the Talent Management Service Providers to set expectations and timeline for staff members to make sure they fill in their goals, have regular check-ins and end of year reviews

A challenging aspect of the Talent Management Program is technology adoption. Most schools may have the drive to introduce a performance management program but often lack infrastructure to implement it. In order to have consistent adoption across the school system, Talent Management Programs need to have buy-in from the entire school ecosystem – school management, leadership and most importantly the educators.

When selecting a talent management program, here is what institutions should keep in mind:
- Clearly define what you expect to achieve from the program and make sure everyone on the school management and board is aligned
- Work with the Talent Management Service Provider to create a contextualised framework that is unique to your school
- Ensure that the right infrastructure to drive and run the program is in place
- Partner with the Talent Management Service Providers to set expectations and timeline for staff members to make sure they fill in their goals, have regular check-ins and end of year reviews
- Be patient. Adoption of a structured external platform and managing internal expectations is a time consuming process. You will need at least a year to see results.

If executed well, Talent Management programs not only lead to great job satisfaction and improved employee morale, they also create a cadre of people committed to the organisation and help build their leadership capability.

Despite high enthusiasm about using technology in education, introducing a Talent Management Program is not without its challenges as school staff members have limited time owing to the different roles they play as educators. Hence, it is essential for schools to have commitment of all its staff members in order to ensure the successful implementation of the program. Technology can play a transformative role in education to empower both students and teachers in the next few years if rightly harnessed to adapt to their needs and concerns.