Award for Contribution to Women in Education
It is with profound gratitude that I accept
this award on International Women’s Day 2014, as I humbly acknowledge the effort
and achievement of the status of the Women’s Committee in the St Lucia Teachers
Union. Your theme for International Women’s Day 2014, “Inspiring Change” can’t
be more appropriate for these trying economic times, as we attempt to help
families deal with the realities of factors impinging on the education system.
Our roles and responsibilities are numerous, but are entirely inexpensive. I
pose the question “How then can we inspire change during the regular teaching
process to reap non-academic benefits?” I focus on non-academic benefits
because at this year’s conference, the Minister for Wellness, Health, and
Gender Relations, Hon Alvina Reynolds called for women to contribute to
developing “strong families, secure opportunities and a socially just world”. Indirectly, she expects us to achieve this
while interacting with our students because a focus on academics alone can pose
several challenges for teachers. We must continue to inculcate morals and
values as we empower our graduates and attempt to produce a powerful workforce.
The reality
is that every child entrusted in our care is expected to belong to a family.
However, some teachers lack that thrust to touch the future of each student,
although teachers are charged to perform the role of parents in their absence, a
role which is needed now more than ever. As women, we have the potential to
identify the root causes for delinquent behaviors but some of us choose to remain
silent although we have the power to make a difference. The high rate of
absenteeism these days may be influenced by so many factors to include lack of finance
for school lunches or bus fare. We often
complain about the behavior of students but fall short of some responsibilities
resulting in classroom activities being more stressful and less enjoyable. Some
of us wish we could stay away from the classroom because there are monsters
which we ourselves created.
We take too
many things for granted as we focus merely on delivering content to students.
We must find ways to “raise the bar” to help develop strong families and to
secure opportunities for school leavers. When we received teacher training some
time in our career span, we accepted that our role to develop the child holistically
was optimal, whether at primary or secondary level. We got high scores on exams
because we were able to express that if Maslow’ lower level of needs hierarchy
was not fulfilled we would have challenges throughout the learning process.
During teaching practice we demonstrated ways by which Pavlov’s stimulus and
reaction principles were fundamental to psychological research in order to
influence positive learning outcomes. Why then, do we fail to make an analysis
of our learners and assess their ‘performance gap’ prior to delivering
instructions? The more knowledgeable we are on students’ needs, the more
opportunities there are for inspiring change.
The old proverb, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” affirms that every
teacher must play a part.
As the status
of women’s committee laments for more teachers to become agents of change, let
us take some time to question our students about their learning styles, and use
this information to enhance the learning process. Let us do daily reflections
on how our actions may have influenced a student either positively or
negatively. Do not teach content, teach a child. Let us learn ways to design meaningful instruction
to sustain their attention. When this is accomplished, expect your salary to be
blessed and stretched and join in saying….....
“I touch the future, I teach”
Julie
Augustin-Charlery
VFCSS
Campus B
June
2014
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