COVID-19 is exacerbating the problem of educational inequity in Nigeria
Without a doubt, the Coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected all aspects of our lives. In Nigeria, the educational system has been devastated and children from poor families are bearing the brunt of it.
The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has no doubt adversely affected the global economy. It has forced many businesses to temporarily shut down and governments across the world to place a restriction on movement while exempting providers of essential services who are to strictly observe social distancing rules while providing services as a way to contain the spread of the virus.
Unfortunately, the educational sector is a part of the receiving end. According to UNESCO, an estimated 1.725 billion learners have been affected as a result of school closures, representing about 99.9% of the world’s student population as of April 13th, 2020.
Embracing technology: To cushion the effects of the pandemic, the world is embracing technological innovations. Virtual interactions are increasingly adopted to replace face-to-face engagements and limit the total disruption to many sectors. UNESCO has recommended the use of distance learning programmes, open educational applications, and platforms by schools and teachers to reach learners remotely.
These could include integrated digital learning platforms, video lessons, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and broadcast through radio and television. The success of these recommendations hinges on the use of high-technology or low-technology solutions, which are based on the reliability of local power supply, internet connectivity and digital skills of teachers, students, parents, and caretakers.
But every student can’t afford this: As pleasant as this solution is, it is said that students from under-served low-income communities will be left out and unable to access learning during this period. In Nigeria, many states have embarked on airing school lessons on radio and television and this is highly commendable.
As a teacher, you’ll play a crucial role in shaping the lives of young people. You’ll inspire, motivate and encourage a new generation of learners and guide them to make a positive impact in the world around them. A school teacher helps their students to be passionate about learning and understands the impact and importance of lifelong education. Plus, salaries and benefits for experienced teachers can be excellent.
The teaching profession is exciting and challenging. Teachers act as role models, mentors, caregivers and advisers. They can have a profound effect on the lives of their students.
Primarily, teachers will impart knowledge to their students to help them learn new things about a specific group of subjects. They find new ways of supporting their students’ learning styles and are mindful that students, especially young people, will learn at a different pace and speed to their peers. Because of this, teachers need to be highly adaptable and flexible with their lesson plans.
A creative mind, a listening ear and strong communication skills are essential to succeed in the role of a teacher. Individuals who are resilient and tenacious are particularly in demand.
Teaching is a career path that is available to anyone that has an undergraduate degree and is able to commit to achieving Qualified Teaching Status (QTS). There are several possible routes to QTS, including on-the-job training in a school where you can earn as you learn.
Most importantly, teaching is a great career choice for those who want to make a difference in the lives of young people and who are passionate about lifelong learning.
What is the role of a teacher?
The role of a teacher is to inspire, motivate, encourage and educate learners. Learners can be of any age and from any background. However, for the purposes of this guide, teachers refer to those who educate young people of school age (roughly 4-18).
Teachers serve many roles within a school environment. Gone are the days when a teacher was merely seen as a classroom educator; someone who just teaches a core subject to a classroom full of children and then goes home for the day – job done. Teachers can work across a variety of subjects which they may bring to life with the assistance of modern and interactive technologies.
A teacher’s role is to “shape the life chances of young people by imparting knowledge – bringing the curriculum to life,” says Harry Cutty, headteacher of Cantell School and vice chair of Aspire Community Trust. “When you have the right culture and systems in place, it’s more than just a job. When you get passionate teachers, they can hugely inspire young people no matter what their background. Great teachers support young people not just in education, but in life and vocation choices.”
The teacher job role is expansive. From imparting knowledge to safeguarding children’s welfare, inspiring critical thought and moral values, teachers play a central position within the community. They are often passionate and dedicated individuals with a strong desire for lifelong learning.
“I have a continuous hunger for improving and extending the knowledge of young people,” says Francesco Milano, teacher of modern foreign languages at Trafalgar School in Portsmouth. “By improving someone’s knowledge, you are improving the world – not just the big world – the one that exists within the community in which you live.”
As long as you hold a degree, teaching is an accessible career path to anyone, at any stage of their career. Education offers the potential to shape the young lives of the next generation. It’s a profession in which you can move forward and gain promotion swiftly if you achieve rapidly. Your salary will rise in line with your increased responsibility, and once you gain experience, your career path can take you in many different directions.
Teaching is also one of the very few professions where you are equally celebrated if you choose to remain a classroom teacher and not to follow the leadership path.
What are the roles and responsibilities of a teacher?
The responsibilities of a teacher are far-reaching and can significantly vary depending on the school in which you teach, your specialist subject and the surrounding community. For example, a primary teacher in a private school with a classroom of six-year-olds will have an entirely different job and career to a history teacher in a state-funded academy school. However, there will always remain some similarities across all teaching roles.
Callum Thompson, from Crab Lane Primary in Manchester, explains how “making children good members of society,” is crucial to his role as primary school teacher. “In my community, there is a high level of social ambiguity, so it’s important for me to ensure the children can communicate well and form an opinion. I teach speaking, listening, manners and communication.
“One of the toughest parts of the job is encouraging children to use their imagination and challenging them to develop consistency, empathy and emotional intelligence.”
The duties of a teacher can include:
Teaching students based on national curriculum guidelines within your specialist subject areas.
Planning, preparing and delivering lessons.
Encouraging student participation in lessons and in other school-related activities.
Supporting the leadership team to implement the school’s development plan.
Assessing and reporting on the behaviour of students.
Providing educational and social guidance to students and/or signposting them to specialist areas of advice when needed.
Ensuring the highest standards of quality and applying the most up-to-date teaching methods.
Taking part in opportunities to boost your own learning and continuous professional development (CPD).
Attending and taking part in staff meetings to support the smooth running and administration of the school.
Collaborating with parents, carers, guardians, support workers, and other professionals to safeguard and ensure the educational welfare of statemented students who may have special educational needs (SEN).
Scott Simmons, managing director for education at London Teaching Pool Ltd, a specialist recruitment agency for teaching staff across London and beyond, believes that a teacher should be responsible for catering to every student’s needs.
“As a teacher, you should have the mindset that ‘every child matters’,” he says. “We fill many temporary assignments with requirements for teachers to be strong in the classroom and competent with their subject matter.”
But Simmons also believes that the responsibilities of a teacher are deeper than that: “Helping children through their life journey, acting as a confidant and making a difference to their lives, is paramount.”
Why should I become a teacher?
So, why be a teacher? For those with a love of learning and imparting knowledge to others, the role of a teacher may be a perfectly natural career choice. Teachers can enjoy many benefits, including good salaries on a pay scale that climbs with experience, longer than average holidays, and a tremendous sense of job satisfaction. See Teacher salary section.
Not only are you imparting knowledge to others but you’re also learning about behaviours, different ways of thinking and challenging pupils. “You need to inspire others to want to learn – it’s not a profession you go into because it’s something to do,” says Kay Sanderson, programme manager for the UK government initiative Transition to Teach.
Some people leave university with a defined career path into the teaching world, whereas others discover teaching much later in life. If you’re wondering if you should become a teacher, then it’s worth knowing that anyone can join the profession, at any stage in life.
Having experience as a teacher can also lead to a huge number of opportunities.
“We call it the ‘teaching jungle gym’,” says Hannah Wilson, executive headteacher at Aureus School & Aureus Primary School. “There are now so many different pathways!”
If you have teaching experience, you can explore career options in places such as charities, social services, local authorities and councils, private or special education, or even abroad as a teacher of English as a foreign language. See the Where do teachers work? section.
“Teaching is not a career to enter in to just for the money,” suggests Sarah Vaughan, founder of homeschooling resource network, The Do Try This at Home School. “People are often born to teach. Children will remember their best teachers and it will stay with them throughout their entire adult life. I became a teacher because my grandparents were teachers and it’s in my blood. My grandparents had their own private school and they were a huge influence on me. I didn’t ever want to be anything else.”
Francesco Milano, teacher of modern foreign languages at Trafalgar School in Portsmouth, believes he has always been a great coach and communicator, so it was a natural career choice.
“I am truly passionate about developing young people,” says Milano. “I believe that you’re not just good because you’re a teacher; you’re a teacher because you’re good.”
What is the best part of being a teacher?
Being a teacher is a highly rewarding role. Many teachers will attest that teaching is one of the few professions where you can genuinely make a difference in the lives of others.
When asked what the best part of being a teacher is, Callum Thompson, primary school teacher at Crab Lane in Manchester, says: “Getting kids to be passionate about learning, especially in the tougher subjects like maths or science. And seeing kids make progress and be proud of themselves is a highly rewarding experience. Kids are amazing; they make me laugh every single day.”
The best part of being a teacher for Fran Crampton, year three teacher at St John the Baptist School in Spalding is doing something completely different every day. “There is never a day when I don’t want to go to work. We are very lucky as my colleagues are my best friends and we’re a big family. Someone is always laughing or smiling, and there’s always someone there for support.
“I have friends who have worked at schools and then left, and regretted it. The relationship that teachers have with each other is typically very close.”
“For me, it’s when someone has learned something that I have taught them,” says Francesco Milano, teacher of modern foreign languages at Trafalgar School in Portsmouth. “When, at the end of the day, a young person comes to me to say they’ve learned something today. It’s beautiful. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Houlia L’Aimable, a retired headteacher, now a teaching volunteer at St. Elizabeth’s School in Hertfordshire – a Pupil Referral Unit for children outside of the mainstream education system – has a different opinion to offer. “I loved being in the classroom and loved doing magic tricks in science lessons. To see the children love the lessons you are teaching is a real joy.
“Gaining the confidence and trust of children with additional needs, and working with their families to bring the children back into education, are experiences that you simply wouldn’t get in a different job.
“I have helped blind children take to the slopes of Austria and France – an experience that was out of this world. Even helping some children to learn how to brush their teeth gives such a sense of achievement. You don’t go into teaching for the money, you do it for the passion.”
Society and the professional world continue to evolve and change with the growth of technology and the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This, in turn, has had a tremendous impact on the educational sphere, leading to a number of growing trends in the world of education. For educators to properly engage their students, they must remain abreast of these latest changes and key factors that affect learning in the classroom. Their understanding of these trends can help them create more effective learning environments.
As teachers prepare themselves to implement these latest education developments, here are the five most important trends with which they should familiarize themselves.
1. Technological trends in teaching and learning
The explosion of technology over the past two decades has not left the education sector behind. Computers and the internet have changed how students can not only access information but even classes themselves. By the fall of 2017, there were over 6.5 million students enrolled in some distance learning opportunity at a degree-granting postsecondary institution. The growth of technological capabilities means that a variety of media and learning-support tools now exist to help students receive a high-quality education through the Internet.
This trend presents a number of benefits and drawbacks for teachers and institutions who want to continue to offer their students the rigorous education they need to thrive.
Technology, for example, may not encourage students to learn soft skills. They might not have the built-in opportunities to engage with their fellow students, the way they might in traditional-style classrooms. For example, opportunities for leadership on group projects will not occur as organically as they once did.
The online platform may also force teachers to change how they teach. They might find it challenging to change how they approach lesson plans to ensure that the students remain engaged even while they cannot see the instructor in person.
Fortunately, the advent of the online classroom and technology-infused instruction also offers a wealth of opportunities for instructors and their institutions. Many teachers notice immediately the greater flexibility they can offer in their learning schedule. Platforms may offer opportunities for students to watch lectures live or recorded versions later. Teachers can appreciate this benefit for students.
The online nature of these courses may also enhance the ability of teachers to offer accommodations for different styles of learning. Advanced students may receive additional learning resources and challenges to encourage them to go deeper into the material without interrupting the flow of the rest of the class.
Learning management systems can also make it easier for teachers to track how their students progress through the course. They can see how their students have engaged with the broadcast and recorded classes, therefore, they have a more efficient tracking system that allows them to provide more timely coaching as needed.
2. Soft skills training: a major trend in higher education
According to the Future of Jobs report, some of the most important skills in the workplace include critical thinking, problem-solving, people management, and creativity. Employers want to see emerging professionals who understand how to make hard decisions and showcase their leadership abilities. In an effort to prepare students for their future careers, schools must have the training in place to help students nurture and grow in these skill areas.
However, as already discussed, the simultaneous trend towards online learning does make this a challenge for many teachers. These educators will need to find a way to balance the screen time involved in their class with the importance of encouraging students to work together face-to-face to nurture soft skill development.
The institutions that uncover quality formulas for encouraging the development of these skills, however, will find that this trend offers them a number of opportunities for growth. Specifically, these institutions will find themselves with a competitive advantage within higher education. Their students will be more employable, which will improve their alumni success rates, creating a virtuous circle as future students look for schools with strong alumni success rates.
3. Student trend: decreasing attention spans
As the prevalence of technology has grown, attention spans have also changed for students. A study conducted by Microsoft looked at the attention spans overall between 2000, which was the dawn of the mobile revolution, and 2015. They found that attention spans decreased by an incredible 4 seconds-- from 12 seconds to 8. This drop has largely been blamed on the nature of technology and the constant stimulation it offers viewers.
The changes in attention span can also be used as an excellent way to differentiate between the different generations. Millennials, for example, who have largely grown up with this technology at their fingertips, have distinct characteristics from the Gen X and Boomers who came before them.
Most notably, Millennials report that when content is highly engaging, they have the potential to pay attention for longer periods than past generations. However, when that content does not engage them, they become among the first to tune out the speaker. To keep the attention of Millennials, the content presented to them must have excellent visuals and dialogue along with an interesting storyline that will hold their attention. This younger group cares more about the narrative and the visual nature of the content that interests them than other age groups.
This difference in attention can also be seen in the behavior of Millennials compared to other age groups. Among young adults, 77 percent report that they will reach for a phone when they have nothing else to occupy their attention. For those over the age of 65, however, only 10 percent report the same.
This change in attention trends also has a tremendous impact on how instructors adjust their classes and keep students engaged with the material. Teachers need to find ways to design classes that will catch the attention of their students, many of whom will fall into this Millennial generation, and adapt the course delivery method and pace. Their course design will need to remember the importance of a strong narrative and visuals.
However, do not forget that when students have material in front of them that is highly visual and engaging, they have excellent potential to pay attention. These modern students want to be challenged, and they value interaction. For teachers who learn how to engage with these students, they can present rewarding opportunities for classroom growth.
4. Facilitating learning versus teaching
As technology has grown, it has also changed how teachers relate to their students and their classrooms. With a wealth of information at their fingertips, students today have the tools they need to uncover a tremendous amount of facts and knowledge independently. In this environment, many students value less of a top-down delivery method. Instead, teachers now function more in a facilitative role. Their job has slowly evolved into a position where they help students understand how to learn, to love learning, and how to uncover and understand the information they find.
This can present some challenges for teachers, who must work on their own soft skills of leadership and problem-solving. They must learn how to foster conversations and create an environment that values team-work. The best teachers will be those who can help students take ownership of their learning.
As teachers become more involved in the students’ learning process, they will also find themselves in a position to receive immediate feedback on their teaching effectiveness. Their ability to nurture and facilitate these skills in their classroom will become obvious quickly as the class moves through the material.
Teachers who want to focus more on student development rather than simply knowledge delivery will find this new model to be intensely rewarding.
5. Life-long learning trend
Each industrial revolution has changed the nature of work and jobs in astounding ways. The current 4th Industrial Revolution may impact an incredible 50 percent of jobs as tremendous technological progress leads to changes in how people do their jobs. Professionals who want to remain competitive in their environment will need to constantly re-skill themselves. They cannot assume that an education they earned in the first half of their professional career will be all they need for the rest of their working lives.
Instead, earning a degree must be followed by ongoing learning. This requires institutions to create a self-development mindset in their students as well as their faculty and staff. Classrooms must leave opportunities for teaching self-learning skills so that students can continue to learn and engage in their chosen fields.
The schools that learn how to master these skills, however, have the chance to remain connected with their alumni throughout their careers. They can offer continual learning courses that will keep their former students engaged with the new development in their fields, and ensure that they keep coming back to the school for the support and education they need. This offers chances for schools to grow as they create new programs and adult learning opportunities to help their alumni thrive within the changing professional space.
As technology changes society, it has also had a dramatic impact on how people earn and prepare for their professional careers. The institutions that learn how to remain on top of these changes will position themselves for growth and success. Consider how these trends may impact education and what they mean for institutions of higher learning moving forward.
Written by EHL Insights | Mar 15, 2020 11:00:00 PM
