Inclusive Education: A Different Perspective
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” This quote by William Arthur Ward, an American writer, demonstrates that though the word ‘teacher’ denotes only one aspect of a teacher’s job that is teaching, in reality, there’s a lot more to it. And one of the most important aspects of the job is inspiring and helping the students develop their skills. But which students should these be? The students at the top of their class because they understand the most, the students involved in extracurriculars because they are the most talented, or people who participate in sports because they are the most active?
We often talk about inclusive growth and education, but is it only restricted to those from poor economic background? Do we include those with not so good grades or people who are mostly shy and don’t speak much? You answer a question correctly in the class and you are awarded with appreciation from the teacher, but unfortunately if your answer goes wrong, you have to face the teacher in front of the whole class which often leads to embarrassment. Do we ever try to speculate the reason behind the wrong answer, or do we just conclude that the student wasn’t paying attention? When applying for a job or a new educational institute, if you are a candidate with great extracurriculars then you are considered skilled, but if not you are considered someone who lacks talent and incapable of multitasking.
The TED Talk by Qayam Devji called “How Teachers Can Help Students Achieve Big Ideas” shows the importance and influence the teachers have on a student’s life. The Sparks Foundation also recognises the importance of inspiring students in its mission statement, “To inspire students, help them innovate and let them integrate to build the next generation humankind.”
A teacher is one of the most important persons in anyone’s life as they have the ability to mould the personality of a student and give the life of a student direction. Hence, it is a teacher who must understand and believe that all students may not be equal, but are all capable of doing great things. Once this trust is built, a teacher needs to understand the different personalities of the students and how to help these different students excel in their lives.
The different types of students and what can be done to fulfil their requirements:
- The Slow But Steady Learners
Every student may have a different learning pace and might be difficult for the teachers to provide the right curriculum to fit everyone’s pace. The teachers might be under the pressure to complete the syllabus before the upcoming exams which would make them teach at a faster pace, causing the slower learners to lose out on the understanding of the subject thus getting lower scores on the tests. The problem arises due to the fact that we tend to concentrate more on the results than the actual learning process.
The student may be trying his best to understand the concepts but due to the faster speed may not be able to grasp it fully. Hence, instead of belittling the student for not performing well during a test or not answering a question correctly, it is very much necessary to identify the reason behind it. Revision sessions and doubt solving sessions may help tackle the problem to an extent by addressing issues such as difficulty in understanding the tough concepts or clarifying the basics of a subject. A few other methods to do this is written in the article “10 Tips to Teach and Improve Slow Learners”, by Samiksha Athani.
2) The Shy But Talented Ones
Talent can be found in every person, but does everyone get opportunities to showcase them? And even if they do, are they confident enough to get on the stage and showcase it in front of the audience?
Many talents are wasted and opportunities are lost due to students having a reserved nature which leads to low self esteem. Motivation may work upto a certain extent but there’s a lot more required to tackle the issues arising due to low confidence. Teachers and educational institutes could help a lot to aid students to overcoming these issues.
Some of things which can be done to tackle this problem could be:
- Having compulsory participation in extracurricular events. The choice of selecting the event to participate would be the students’, which could range from cultural, literary or sports events.
- Arranging communication and personality development sessions in schools and colleges on a regular basis to ensure a continuous process of improvement.
3) The Smart But Economically Backward Ones
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” This quote by Anatole France, French poet, signifies the importance of dreaming and believing in the dream. Dreaming is easy, but believing in it might not be that easy for some of us due to various reasons. One of the reasons which hold the students back to dream is having limited resources and opportunities to fulfil their dream.
Though there maybe ways and means of accomplishing them, but due to lack of awareness many dreams are left unachieved, or even destroyed. Our job as educators is to ensure that the dreams of every student are sheltered and developed.
Students from the lower economic background may want to achieve certain things in life; however, due to limited resources they may grow skeptical of their own potential. Something that teachers and educational institutes can do to protect the dreams of these students are arranging career guidance sessions not only for the students but also for their parents so that they are aware of the various schemes to reach their goals. Another thing is to show them policies available which could help them achieve their goal even with limited resources. Parents of these students may not be financially well to do, but these sessions will introduce them to the possibility of ensuring their child’s success even at limited costs.
“A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instil a love of learning.” A quote by Brad Henry, showing us the power a teacher has which can transform the lives of the students. Encouragement and motivation may be all a student needs to rise from their comfort zone and do great things. With the help of their mentor, they can not only change themselves, but change the world. Hence, The Sparks Foundation includes program such as Student Mentorship Program and Student SOS Program to inspire and develop the students.
Written By: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaguftatahsildar/
References -
The Sparks Foundation -
https://www.thesparksfoundationsingapore.org/
10 Tips to Teach and Improve Slow Learners, by Samiksha Athani -
https://logicroots.com/MathBlog/tips-to-motivate-slow-learners/
TED Talk by Qayam Devji, “How Teachers Can Help Students Achieve Big Ideas” -
