A contribution to the Global Teacher Blog Series
Photo by Olivia Acland
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is reaching Sub-Saharan Africa in bits and pieces. The consequences of the Fourth Industrial Revolution reaching the rest of the world are more likely how we will experience it more and more before we, ourselves, start really engaging with the large scale, technological changes that most refer to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
So, what teachers will continue to flourish here as the Fourth Industrial Revolution plays itself out across the world? We, in EducAid consider that what gives strength to a teacher is her underlying values and approaches to people more than her specific subject knowledge. Subject knowledge and expertise can be acquired by any determined learner but much more important is that we know how to support learners in the acquisition of the knowledge, values and attitudes that they require to themselves flourish in the fourth and any further industrial revolution.
While the detail of how we live this out is our constant discussion and debate, we are determined that we will be the teachers that facilitate our learners to achieve what we call the qualities of an EducAid learner. These are not easy but, we believe they are what will make it possible for our youngsters to cope with whatever changes come their way. We must continue to try and position ourselves to serve their needs.
There is no greater calling and no more powerful way of being part of the world’s development towards a genuine human humanity than being a teacher who facilitates a learner to be the best learner they can be.
And …. Here are the Qualities of an EducAid learner:
Communicators
We enjoy communication. We like to communicate with each other and beyond our own community in a spirit of enquiry and learning and appreciation. We enjoy the learning of languages and different media of communication e.g. dance, art, video, photographs.
Courageous and resilient
We can work together as we can work independently. We do not give up easily but overcome difficulties and challenges with courage. Failure does not overcome us. Failure is an opportunity for personal development.
Holistic
‘I am because we are’ is a key principle. We believe in each individual in relation to all the others. We also know that we are not fully developing unless we look after our physical, social, emotional, spiritual as well as academic development – there must be a balance in all we do.
Integrity
We believe that without integrity and authenticity we are nothing. We reject any easy deceitful way to find money, knowledge, power or success and believe that our word should always be true and be in line with what we do.
Loving
‘Love and Do as You Will’ is our motto. This means we first love and then do whatever we want to do, in the sure knowledge that if we first love, we will always want to do good. Love is the guiding watchword for all our activities.
Meta-learner
We are able to stand back from our own learning and understand our weaknesses and strengths, the skills we have gained and the skills we still need to work on.
Naturally inquisitive
We want to learn skills and to know about our world. We enjoy discovery and skills acquisition. We want to have all the skills required to be fully participating members in society, able to be part of developing our country.
Thinkers
We believe that critical and creative thinking is key to being useful and responsible in society. We are innovative problem solvers.
Value diversity
We enjoy and value diversity. We do not judge people based on their culture, race, gender or on who they love. We value people for their contribution to the common good and rejoice in diversity of backgrounds and experiences as sources or richness.
Well-informed
Although we may not have had the opportunity to travel all over the world, we see ourselves as citizens of the world. We seek to know about and understand the world and issues affecting us locally and globally.
Photo by Olivia Acland
If you are interested in finding out more about EducAid’s work to support improvement in education in Sierra Leone, please go to www.educaid.org.uk
If you would like to support EducAid’s work, please go to https://www.educaid.org.uk/get-involved/