How does the roles of the teacher change in today's world?

04. 04. 2018
6th international conference of exopolitics, history and spirituality

The way education is changing, the role of the teacher in today's world is changing. Today, the way of education goes far beyond school buildings. There are more and more opportunities to learn something and how. School is gradually becoming just one of the many options we have, and in my opinion it is only a matter of time before it ceases to be an automatic, let alone compulsory, choice for education.

However, the quality of various educational resources varies. Just as there are better and worse schools, there are better and worse online courses or other educational platforms or institutions. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find your way around the menu. Among other things, this shows that assessing the quality of an educational institution is very subjective and it is impossible to find objective measures.

In my opinion, one of the few criteria for a person interested in education to orientate is credibility. (I intentionally leave aside the so-called objective criteria, ie the current quantitative evaluation data on the success of pupils, graduates, etc.). And this is where the teacher enters the scene.

The teacher gets a new role and the most important criterion for choosing an educational institution or platform is credibility

It is precisely the person of the teacher, and therefore the teachers who represent the educational institution or platform. They are the ones who represent it and are the bearers of credibility. They are the ones who can reach future students and their parents. It is the teacher, the person who enters into a relationship with the student.

If we accept the assumption that education is moving more and more into the field of voluntary relationships, where students (but also teachers) have a choice of who they will learn from, the function of trust is one of the most important.

A small turn. Yes, we can argue that in the case of compulsory schooling, we have no choice, but this is not entirely true. There is still the possibility to move to another school, or to a mode of alternative or home education. Above all, however, competition is growing in the classical school, which naturally creates pressure, thanks to which the role of the school is more or less declining.

I think that's why the importance of the role of the teacher increases, but also the demands on his personality.

The teacher gets into the position of a leader who shows the way to his students. It is also a guarantor of the quality of educational content, both professionally and communicatively. He must understand his field, but above all he must be interested and able to mediate his knowledge. He must be able to inspire confidence in students and build the credibility of his person in the long run, but also the educational institution or platform he represents.

At the same time, the teacher takes on the role of guide, coach, but also mediator. He thus plays the role of a subject interpreter less and instead advises pupils where to draw relevant information.

The role of the teacher is changing, anyone who wants to learn and has something to say can become a teacher

It is also important that other people who do not have a standard pedagogical education also become teachers in a more or less natural way. "Paper" not necessary. Credibility is important if you want reputation and demonstrable skills.

Of course, you don't just become a teacher overnight, it takes practice and effort and, of course, above-average orientation or skills in a specific field. But the range of possibilities where one can already learn to apply today is really varied.

As a result, parents also become teachers (I do not mean forced teachers when writing homework), friends, practitioners, scientists, employees of interest organizations focused on children and youth, and so on. In short, anyone who has something to offer and has a desire to learn.

Above all, the teacher is a leader - how do John Holt, Ron Paul and Carl Rogers see him in the light of their work and their own experiences?

As I think about how best to grasp the role of the teacher in the coming era, I come up with three views on the role of the teacher outlined by my three favorite authors. They are all or were personalities who are actively involved in education in some form.

I believe that you will find inspiration in their thoughts

1.) The teacher has to get himself out of the game as soon as possible, says John Holt

Peculiar pedagogue and writer John Holt claims that a good teacher knows that his disciple will soon cease to need him.

According to Holt,always the first and most important task of each teacher to help the student become independent, to learn to be a teacher„. It follows that the teacher will teach his student the right technique for how to develop in the field, recommend quality resources and help him with orientation.

"A real teacher,"As Holt says,"he must always strive to get himself out of the game."

According to this well-known educator, a teacher is not meant to pass on knowledge to students. Above all, the teacher should teach students to use knowledge, develop skills based on what they have already learned, deepen their newly acquired skills. Holt gives a very specific example of what he expects from his cello teacher. "What I need from my teacher,"He says,"there are no standards but ideas for getting closer to the standards I already know."

By the way, John Holt was not a trained educator. But learning attracted him. He is a beautiful example of a person who has decided to teach and educate children and adults, even though he did not have the appropriate qualifications according to generally accepted standards.

After his initial teaching experience, Holt got the impression that the traditional way of authoritative teaching did not work, and gradually he began to work his way up to homeschooling and unschooling. His experience and interest in the development of children led him to seek non-directive forms of learning, without degrading evaluation and constant comparison. In other words, he focused on the development of children's personalities and skills, instead of shaping them according to a predetermined template.

2.) Teacher is the lead who leads his own example, says Ron Paul 

Ron Paul, an American physician, writer, and above all a well-known libertarian, presents teachers with the challenge of passing on leadership skills.

In his view, leadership is mainly about self-discipline and taking responsibility for one's own life and, to a certain extent, for one's surroundings.

Of course, this is also related to the approach to education. The teacher, the leader, develops the pupils' ability to take responsibility for their own education. It is important that this is done not by enforcing hard school discipline or a sophisticated system of pupil assessment and comparison, but on the basis of an example from the teacher. This, of course, places completely different demands on teachers.

The teacher must be the leader himself, he must have natural authority. He does not strive for respect, but leads by example. In America they call it "leadership by word and deed"The leader does what he wants from others. Teacher "does not lead to others lining up,"Says Paul, but"leads by its own example."

Paul points out that leadership is not what we commonly see among politicians and people in positions of power who force obedience to functions or the threat of the use of force. Leadership considers it a daily effort to change the world around us for the better of our own efforts, which can inspire others who will then join us. It's definitely not about newspaper photos and self-importance.

"The essence of leadership, "As he himself says,"is self-mobilization and self-management, which gives us the opportunity to explain to others why we do what we believe."In addition, and I consider it essential, he said, leadership is"commitment"As well as the ability"understand the philosophy of freedom and be able to apply it to specific theoretical and practical cases."

To sum it up, Ron Paul wants teachers who will educate responsible leaders, who will be responsible for themselves and, of course, for their education. Future leaders will be able to work for the benefit of the community because they will feel it is a commitment, a natural way to exercise their talents. At the same time, they will not see leadership as a way of exercising power, because they respect freedom as one of the highest values.

3.) Teacher creates a safe space for pupils to become themselves, suggests Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers, whom you may know as a humanist psychotherapist, is coming from elsewhere. According to him, the main role of the teacher is to create an atmosphere of security, understanding and trust and thus enable students to grow.

As Rogers says, it's about allowing them to become themselves. According to Rogers, every living organism has the potential to grow, has all the necessary resources, and at the same time naturally leads to growth by its very nature. We are so simply nature-based. The teacher is then here to help the students develop this potential. This means nothing more than that he will support them in their own efforts, even if it seems at first glance that they are not interested in learning.

To support Rogers in the conception really means that the teacher unconditionally supports the pupils in what they do, what they want to do themselves. He does not try to push something into them or manipulate them in any way, even in good faith, that it would be so-called for their good. Rogers doesn't want to force students in any way, he doesn't even want to provide them with teaching materials on his own, unless they tell them to. He considers any evaluation of pupils or their mutual comparison to be harmful. It has nothing to do with learning, growth.

If teachers succeed in creating a growth-friendly environment, then, according to Rogers, "the student will learn on his own initiative, will be more original, will have more internal discipline, will be less anxious and less driven by others."What's more, students are so"become more responsible for themselves, more creative, better able to adapt to new problems and significantly better able to cooperate."

It is interesting how Rogers, in his specific way, agrees with the two authors I wrote about above in terms of the concept of individual freedom. For him, it means "the right of each person to use his or her experience in his or her own way and to discover his or her own meaning in it."That's what he thinks"one of the most valuable potentials of life."

Rogers dreamed that his empathetic and nonviolent approach to people would spread to all areas of interpersonal relationships. He believed that if we allowed people to become themselves, human beings would become more receptive to each other, violence and evil would subside, and humanity would move to a higher level of being and coexistence overall. Rogers sees man in exaggeration as an island. And if a person "willing to be himself and when he may be himself,"May, according to Rogers,build bridges to other islands."

Is there anything to add? It may sound naive to you now, but know that Rogers really lived by it, and he did what he preached. And he did well. So why shouldn't others? Is it worth trying, what do you say?

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