I am humbled, if a bit mystified, that you
have given me the honour of speaking to you on the theme for this year's World
Teachers' Day. I have been a teacher for
barely one year. Probably, every one of
you in the room today is more qualified to speak on the subject than I am. However, I am willing to accept the
challenge, if you don't mind taking the risk of being bored.
First, I ask myself who is a teacher? One answer that I like is that a teacher is a
person whose profession it is to make a difference to children, to move student
achievement forward, and to bring students to their highest potential.
If our teachers are to meet
this definition, they have to be of the highest quality. We must be both talented and motivated. It would seem to me that quality is at risk
when:
The
profession is not competitive with other occupations in attracting such
persons; or
There
is a shortage of qualified teachers; or
The
profession is not held in high regard by the society; or
There
are fewer applicants than there are teaching vacancies.
The obvious solutions would
appear to be to:
Improve
teaching's general status; and to
Heighten
teachers' competitive position in the job market; and to
Broaden
the source of teacher supply to include well qualified people from other
careers; and to
Provide
special incentives for teachers whose skills are in short supply; and to
Give
extra encouragement and support for teachers working in difficult locations
Teachers, like any other professional, need
to have our knowledge and skills constantly developed.
Teacher education, induction, and
professional development, are all essential techniques and tools.
Teachers require a lifelong learning
framework.
As an aside, I do regret that I have never
been offered any form of induction programme before I started teaching. I have heard a rumour that such a programme
exists. Perhaps, someone thought I was
too old to learn?
Teachers will matter when only the best
candidates among us are selected for employment. Teachers will not matter when there is no
policy for recruiting, selecting and employing teachers.
There are questions that must be asked.
Is
the tenured employment of a teacher in the public service, and the permanency
this entails, conducive to encouraging professional development?
Is
there any incentive for continuously reviewing our skills and improving our
practice?
Are
there in Anguilla any mechanisms for teacher evaluation and accountability?
Let it not be said of us, as George Bernard
Shaw did, “He who can, does. He who
cannot, teaches”.
I want to tell you about Mr Rais. He was my arithmetic teacher when I went to
boarding school in Trinidad at 9 years of age. This was a long time ago. The main teaching tool then was the chalk
board and a wood-backed duster to wipe it clean from time to time. Mr Rais made me learn my tables. He taught additions, subtractions and
multiplications. It must have been very
boring for him. He used to pace up and
down the spaces between the desks as we did our class assignments. He would peer over my shoulder at my exercise
book. Every time he noticed an error, he would rap me on the top of my head
with the wooden back of the duster.
As a result, to this day, I cannot multiply
beyond 5. The 10 times table was
easy. You just had to add a zero to the
figure. If I have to work out 8 times 8,
I can only do it by adding 3 times 8 to 5 times 8. Or, for variety, I might subtract 2 times 8
from 10 times 8. I failed mathematics at
O-Level twice.
I loved physics and chemistry from Form
1. I asked for a chemistry set as a
Christmas gift every year. I did well in
those subjects right up to Form 5. Then,
mathematics entered the picture. I failed
both physics and chemistry at O-Level.
When I think of that teacher, a special loathing rises in me.
Probably, if he were still living, and you
asked him about those days, he would tell you that what he remembers is that,
“For every person who wants to teach, there are 30 not wanting to learn.”
I am sure none of you makes
a similar mistake with your students.
Unlike Mr Rais, you know that teachers matter.
A speech given, as a
High School teacher myself, at a workshop organised by the Anguilla Teachers’
Union at the Rodney McArthur Rey Auditorium on Friday, 11 October 2008
