Kaizen Philosophy
With the Western perspective in regard to education and curriculum development, a Japanese philosophy known as ‘Kaizen’ perspective has left its own impact on the curriculum development for the students. Kaizen is a combination of two words in Japanese, ‘kai’ meaning change and ‘zen’ meaning better. It is said that it means to change for the better and continuous improvement.
The main difference between the western perspective and the Kaizen perspective is that of western perspective’s focus is on the result whereas the kaizen perspective’s focus is on the process of getting better every time. This Japanese philosophy says that there is no need of repairing only when it is broken, instead it can look for the areas that need improvement and work on it continuously so that there comes no day where it is broken. Education is one such aspect where there is a scope and need for continuous practice and improvement.
Kaizen technique follows the 5S step, which advocates that smaller improvements add up to something bigger in the long run. The 5S are,
Sort – to sort what is on the top of your priority list and marking red tags to the distractions.
Set an order – to have an orderly manner or a place to work and prevent the loss of time while searching for equipment and tools required for the task.
Shine – to keep polishing the working machine, the brain, with regular breaks and nutrition.
Standardise – to maintain a certain standard and pick only the best habits. To keep a higher standard and the things associated with it higher will make the work done be better.
Sustain – to keep the training and learning going on with disciplined behaviour.
For you to follow this principle and get improved results by focusing on the process, you will first have to identify a problem. Classroom is such a place where many challenges are thrown at you. To prioritise what problem needs more attention from you and needs to be improved has to be picked first. To make this step easier, you can
Make a list of all the problems that you currently face.
Problems can be distinguished on what sort they are, such as frequent or unique ones.
Pick and start working on the one that tops your list.
To try and determine the root cause of the problems and challenges you are facing right now could itself be a challenge. Attempting to do that in a dynamic environment like a classroom would not help you much. You could possibly start off by thinking of when you noticed the problem for the first time or how frequent it is. Along with that, another factor that has to be determined is what is triggering or leading to that situation. All these will help when you are trying to find a solution.
It is true that identifying the problems or what triggers them solves most of the problem. The rest of the part lies in finding a solution. While looking for a solution, it is better that you ask your friends or mentors and take their inputs as well. You might come across a different approach to the problem, which you might have not considered. The solution that you come up with has to have the solution to the triggers, must be implemented in a stepwise manner, and the solution should have a plan which states the timeline of the plan and how you will be executing the solution by using the resources available in your environment.
To test the solution is the final part once the plan is implemented. If you feel that the solution isn’t working then try and be consistent with the process and you might see the result. Or start fresh from the step where you find the root of the problem and plan something different which might work for you.
Giving the process enough time with patience and disciplined consistency, the positive output of success will find its way to you.
