Many teachers constantly think about what to teach, rather than at whom their teaching should be directed. Teachers often believe they are there to fulfil an academic requirement — to teach a subject well. Many of them pay little attention to the wellbeing of their pupils. Instead, they focus on how pupils internalise knowledge and receive information. They are less concerned about the capabilities, potential and abilities of pupils to be more than mere bookworms.
Before a teacher teaches anything he or she needs to engage pupils socially at a personal level. For example, a teacher could begin every day by devoting 10 minutes to so-called greeting time, during which pupils move around the class, shaking hands and inquiring about one another’s day. The contribution of such an activity is its positive effect on the development of trust, friendship and networks.
I call this a “ventilation” process, in which you allow pupils to exhale before they plunge into a day’s work. Pupils work well once they feel a strong sense of belonging and recognition. The same activity could be repeated just before class finishes for the day.
Pupils should be given a chance to end their day by assessing the effect of the day’s work on them.This way they will feel the need to come to school the next day because they feel appreciated and are given a chance to contribute towards their personal development.
Not just empty vessels
Pupils are smart people who are often mistaken for empty vessels that need to be filled with “matter”.
When I was still teaching I chose to regard my pupils as young individuals who, with the correct tactics, had the potential to be more. I based most of my teaching on the basis of respect for my pupils, putting them first in everything I did.
Whenever class decisions had to be made, I would allow the pupils to discuss the solution among themselves first, before I intervened. It is always easier to get full co-operation and commitment from pupils who have properly discussed their own Âproblems and created their own solutions.
Teachers have a crude tendency to look at their responsibilities as guardians of knowledge and wisdom and focus less on their mentoring role. In this scenario pupils’ role is imagined to be that of a receiver of things and not a co-creator.
Teachers would do well to lower their impossible expectations of pupils and give them the freedom to be children in a developmental environment.
They forget that the reason we have 12 years of schooling is to give children a chance to grow every year.
Precision, knowledge acquisition, academic excellence and perfection are processes, not occasions. As teachers we need to allow space for self-discovery and that occasional imperfection, which, by the way, is the essence of education.
Xolani Majola is an education policy analyst.