Teaching: The destiny shaper

Tshwarelo Hosia | Monday August 19, 2024 06:00

On account of its critical role as a destiny shaper, the teaching profession cannot afford to underachieve or succumb to any affliction because its demise will spell doom to so many lives depending on it. Keeping the teaching profession alive is as good as keeping humanity alive. It is therefore our collective responsibility to share best practices on how we can sharpen and reposition the profession to accomplish its indispensable mission. What is undeniable is that the teaching profession needs to keep its head above the water. It needs external help as much it needs self-help. Help from all possible capable hands can relive the profession but the most sustainable and everlasting solution should come from a sobre and emotionally detached soul searching programme.

Here is an examination of some self-help scheme, which the profession should embark upon. Success begins with a high sense of self worth and esteem. Teaching is nicknamed the noble profession to recognise the fact that it has no parallel in terms of its game changing duties. It’s an extraordinary special profession with an extraordinary mission to fulfil. The thought of its uniqueness should keep teachers going even when the chips are down. Those who are privileged to have joined the ranks of the teaching profession have no reason to despair or fail if they are consciously driven by the knowledge of its nobility and the peculiarity of the job. There is a noble call.

Teaching must continue to sharpen its tools, keep itself alive if it is to continue to discharge its messianic life saving mission. It is therefore important for the profession to remind itself of fundamental classroom practices and principles that make teaching and learning a thrilling, fulfilling and challenging affair for both classroom practitioners and students. A fun-filled yet serious and thought provoking teacher-student and content interaction motivates and challenges teachers and students to bring their best selves into classroom teaching theatre while positioning themselves to look forward, with great anticipation, to their next professional engagement. Whereas dull, mundane and unspiring classroom interactions achieve the exact opposite, a total destruction of the morale and confidence of both classroom instructors and their students. The latter does not inspire hope and confidence and given a choice, each frustrated party could jump ship. But teachers are no quitters. They are designed to pursue quality without relent.

For teaching to thrive and prosper, the two parties engaged in the instruction (student and teacher) should recognise fully each other’s rights and obligations.

That is to say, teaching like any other professional relationship, is a contractual agreement anchored on the principle of mutual survival. It is a symbiotic relationship requiring each contracting party to fulfill its bit in order to keep the contract alive and well. Mutual survival means when planning instruction, teachers should consider student expectations and varying levels of development. Catering only for the gifted few is a disservice to the chronically low achieving majority of students. Taking time to develop an inclusive agenda is a laborious but effective approach, which will push many students towards proficiency.

All teachers should endeavour to deliver as expected and avoid falling short of student expectations. Students too must come on board. They too have a duty to gauge teacher expectations especially after the first or two interactions. Each party should give as much as it wants to receive. Getting a bit deeper into the world of students, one can say that students go to every instruction room with high expectations of receiving top-notch learning. The right to be taught and taught well is an indivisible right that cannot be compromised. To close any avenue of frustration and disappointment, teachers should not deliver anything short of meeting the learner expectations.

Any student behaviour falling short of the high expectations teachers have of their students is a frustrating experience. Students, as clients, should not regard themselves as passive recipients but key drivers in the learning process.

Teachers badly need to know that their efforts are not in vain. A quiet, docile and unengaging class deprives of the teacher the feedback desired to plan and re- configure the next teaching and learning assignment. Students should be conscious of the power they wield, which can make or break a teacher. An active and resourceful class is not only an inspiration but also keeps the teachers on their toes, challenging them to deepen and refine their offerings. A teacher thrives when subjected to a bit of pressure. An unengaging classroom atmosphere creates teacher complacency. And that it is in the best interest for students to create a climate in which they can facilitate their own learning. The teaching profession is not suffering from any drought of novel ideas. It is worthy of the name - noble of profession, as it has the power to restore itself to its former glory days.