We are probably all familiar with Krishnamurti’s statement, ‘The first step is the last step’, but what preoccupies teachers on a daily basisis how they will approach a particular student; how they will make theirteaching ‘not boring’; and whether they have the tools for the job, both interms of knowledge and psychological readiness.
There is a churning in the world of education. Teachers, parents, administrators and policy-makers are being driven to question anew: ‘What are we doing with our children?’ ‘What values, dispositions and concerns are we creating in them?’ ‘What is the quality of relationships with peers and others that our children are imbibing?’ ‘What will be their relationship with the society and environment they are part of?’ ‘Will future generations be able to find wholesome responses to the many complex challenges of their times?’ These questions are not speculative or academic, but stem from sensitive observation of everyday realities, as much in the classroom as in the society around us.
