Multi-Hat Heroes: Equipping teachers for the diverse roles they play!

Life has moved away from just teaching and assessments to facilitating, integrating technology, creating inclusive classrooms, counselling, and collaborating, to name a few. Education today also requires teachers to take on responsibilities beyond traditional classroom instruction.

Just the other day, I interacted with a teacher who had lost her cool while handling a situation of inappropriate behaviour between two learners in her class. When I asked her what had made her snap, she replied saying that she finds it hard to believe how children have changed so much today. A few years ago, learners would have felt remorse and shame, while today, they are bold and defiant.?

I learned something from this incident. It made me realise that even with all the training and exposure if one does not have a growth mindset, one can never adapt to the continuous change in our world and the present generation. Teachers still have their heads stuck in the textbook. It is time for them to look up and be more aware of what’s happening around them. And it’s not just about adapting to the latest educational trends. It’s more about them understanding the world that their students are growing up in, and how we all need to keep up with the changes that are racing us.?

One thing that I often ask the teachers that I work with is this - since information is so easily accessible to everyone today, what then is the role of the teacher? A teacher has always been the one who has poured knowledge into the students’ brains, which were considered empty. But this has changed drastically today. Students are now expected to think for themselves and make sense of the new information given to them, based on their own existing knowledge and prior experience. The phrase I hear often is, ‘From sage on the stage to guide on the side”. How true this is today! Teachers need to help students “to move away from the reproduction of knowledge to the production of knowledge - and help them become critical thinkers and creative problem solvers so that they can deal effectively with the challenges of the twenty-first century” (King, 1993, p.30).?

This is the new role of the teacher. It is no longer a transmittal model. It has now moved to a constructivist theory of learning, which requires the learners to engage with, analyse, and form a deep understanding of the material that is being taught. Teachers need to realise that by moving away from the traditional dictatorship role of teaching passive learners, we can be more successful by simply trying to understand how students learn and motivate them to play an active role in the learning process. I have seen that students learn better when the teacher personalises the learning process and makes the content more relevant and current. This is when students get curious, interested and engaged.

Seems so straightforward, right? But somehow, I find that most of the teachers I work closely with are struggling with this shift. Teachers want to be in charge. Teachers want to teach and finish their portions. Teachers want to teach, for students to pass their exams. Teachers want to teach in the way that they were taught.

Besides having to deal with a classroom of diverse learners and personalities, teachers also have to deal with students who experience anxiety, panic attacks, depression and other social and emotional challenges. We will never fully understand what this current generation is going through. The most that we can do is empathise with them and try to form trusting relationships with these students to help them with whatever they are going through.?

The only way forward is a continuous cycle of coaching and conversations with teachers and between teachers. Teachers need help to shift their mindsets, to fail and realise that one has to change, and to have effective coaches and leaders helping them along.?

The roles that teachers play are constantly evolving, and they will continue to do so. But one thing that will never change is the importance of the teacher-student relationship, and this ability to connect with their students and build positive relationships is what can make all the difference.?

If you’re a teacher reading this article, I beg you to take a step back every now and then to see whether things are going right or wrong. If you’re a teacher coach, mentor or leader reading this, it is up to you and me to start having these awkward yet important conversations with our teachers.?