Teaching is made in pursuit of knowledge, learning is, hence, a complete process that enhances one’s knowledge and perceptions, and such a process is planned.
Teachers are knowledgeable when they are fully informed about their profession. However, with modern trends, some have found it hard to keep up with the changing face of how best to manage a classroom or adapt to the radical teaching system.
A considerable number of teachers are unaware of modern science and global trends; they are still locked into the past methods, hence, cannot clearly discern the dynamics that come with conducting lessons in the modern classroom.
Teachers need to have the ability to understand the way in which students think and learn. This is very important, but it also implies a need for a distinct form of instruction.
In an effort to unearth the science of how young children think, I have realised that this aspect is so relevant, especially now that we have transformed from the traditional system of knowledge transfer to the kind that facilitates engaged systems. And this calls for participative forms of learning and teaching.
Pursuing a knowledgeable generation has been at the helm of many governments’ deliberations across the world. The main emphasis has been majorly on pre-primary and primary schooling, but to make this a reality; there is need for more work.
As a researcher and a passionate educationist, I have had the opportunity to interact and connect with many scholars and players in the education sector. This has played a big role in terms of forming my credence for my argument, especially in trying to bring home the concept of human learning.
Two weeks ago, I held a 45-minute dialogue with teachers. The brief interaction I had with them acted as an indicator that our education is wanting and the quality we pursue is slowly but seriously descending into nothingness.
We discussed human memory, attention and motivation which I believe are relevant to both teaching and learning processes. However, a considerable number of them were ‘green’ about these basic teaching practices which are critical in understanding and nurturing critical consciousness of our children for the future that we envision.
I believe teachers should be able to learn how children reason; they should learn this in the process of their own teacher training because this is the benchmark of behavioural change, hence knowledge acquisition.
Teachers need to unchain the way young children learn and nurture them accordingly.
Children can be stubborn but it’s how the teacher reacts in such circumstances that defines the level of professionalism they have acquired.
What teachers need is not theories and abstractions, but strategies, and with this, creativity and innovation are the key points.
The writer is a PhD student at Beijing Normal University
pontiankbr@outlook.com