International Women’s Day, celebrated on March 8, honours the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women worldwide. This day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The theme for 2024 is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress.’ In recognition of this important occasion, Brainfeed will be highlighting diverse perspectives and insights from women leaders in education.
In this context, we are pleased to present an article below by Sudha Mahesh, Head of School, Campus K International School, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
From humble beginnings to my current role as a school leader, what has consistently fueled my passion is the innocence I see in each child. My commitment is to create an exceptional schooling experience for all students, one that leaves a lasting impact on their lives. As a homemaker when I was grooming my children, my keen observation made me think and led me to contemplate how individuals learn and how their learning styles differ. Through observation, I realized how crucial teachers play in student’s lives.
As a professional, a teacher has much to do while grooming them at school. This inspired me to pursue teaching as a career in my early thirties – A late start to my career! My family was supportive of all the decisions I took in creating a space for myself in my career. In the initial stages of my career, lacking the required educational qualifications, I gradually acquired them year after year, understanding that experience in the field and knowledge complement each other.
I started my career as a kindergarten teacher. Like many other working women, I faced numerous challenges balancing life, work and family. Depending on the situation I have tweaked my roles and responsibilities. No matter what the designation was, I took every experience of my initial years as an opportunity to learn. My focus was on understanding the needs of students, helping peers at work, and learning nuances of teaching and learning.
From Bachelor of Mathematics, I went ahead pursuing a Master’s degree in Child care and Education, followed by Bachelor of Education. I also acquired a Teachers and Trainers diploma from Cambridge University. During the years I spent as an assistant teacher. Every work that I was assigned whether it be substituting the class or making worksheets, I truly believe it helped me weather into a fine teacher later.
At one stage when I had acquired experience and knowledge, I sensed the need to assist newcomers into the field of education. My focus got better and my perspective changed from “How I become a better teacher to how a large community of teachers can become effective?” When such thoughts arose, I pondered on what success meant to me.
I realized my goals had shifted, understanding that not every teacher needs to pursue vertical growth within an organization, culminating in an administrative role. It’s important to revisit one’s vision regularly to avoid getting lost in mundane activities and remain aligned with one’s goals, especially those set during the early stages of one’s career.
Besides teaching, I started mentoring my peers and guided them in lesson planning, student observation, communication, and content creation. I performed these duties, out of passion, pleasure and with the zeal to achieve together as a team. These experiences made me confident as I showed interest in the challenges everyone had and the quest I had to resolve them earnestly.
I felt that every aspiring teacher could not afford to wait for several years down the lane to make a difference in a child’s life. Many newcomers need mentors, colleagues who would share the secret of success and someone who can share ideas. The teacher community must strive for collective growth.
I never knew I had an author in me until one day when I started looking for reference books for classroom management and better plans. I realized that Indian teachers need to read a lot and also need the right resource books that have content relevant to Indian Schools. I decided to write down my experiences and also was positive that this content would be useful for my community.
I have authored and published two books: ‘Being a 21st Century Educator’ and ‘A 360 Degree: Amplifying the Cause and Effect.’ The more I spent on mentoring and understanding the challenges I realized that the curriculum needs to be flexible to suit the needs of students and also needs to be designed based on the school’s vision.
I quit from my teacher’s role and tried my hands on being a freelance trainer for teachers. I looked out for opportunities to assist school founders in framing and designing curricula. This made me take up a school leadership position where I had to handhold an entire team, create curricula and also train teachers. Since then, I have been working as a school leader trying to share and empower the faculty while working towards bringing in excellence for the school as a whole.
When I look back, I have to accept that I have found the purpose of my life- one that revolves around students and all the concentric circles such as teaching, training, and advocacy to parents, empowering all those who play crucial roles in student’s life. Over the years, I have donned various roles as a KG teacher, PE teacher, storyteller, English teacher, Math teacher, Science teacher, content creator, trainer, mentor and a leader today. Every profession and individual possesses uniqueness. When you choose what your heart says, when there are sincere efforts, there is no hurdle for excellence.
Every hurdle refines you to become a better version of yourself. There are no shortcuts to success in life. The more a reflective person you are more avenues open up for, you will locate the purpose of your life which leads to success.
