There is a lot of talk about “Corruption in Education as a major drain on development” at the international and national levels of education generally, while silence is maintained when it comes to “Classroom mal-practice”.

I agree with the statement made at the World Education Forum that “Education is a human right. For people, it is often the only way to escape poverty; for nations, it is crucial to development and growth”.

If Classroom mal-practice is not curbed, the values of education such as integrity, equality and social justice, and the general sense of shared responsibility, which is key to social cohesion and good governance, will not be transmitted to the children that will uphold such values.

Teachers, especially those of us at management level, need to pay more attention to what goes on in the classroom with the aim of maintaining excellent practice within the classroom which we are noted for and has been a contributing factor to our advancement.

Why have we allowed so much Mal-practice within the classroom environment?

The “Private Schools” which are the so-called saving grace for the standard of education of this great country are the worst offenders.

Classroom mal-practice is anything done that results in cheating the students and reducing learning time and values in our schools such as;

·         Employment of less qualified and possibly unfit teachers.

·         Inability to create stimulating and effective environment.

·         Poor core-subject delivery, in literacy/good vocabulary and numeracy.

·         Private coaching of students to make up essentials of the curriculum, particularly if the teacher is aware of the financial status of the parents.

·         Inadequate preparation of lesson plans and teaching material.

• Ineffectiveness of teachers in applying themselves to best classroom practices; managing and organizing their classroom, with the aim of eliminating potential behavior and learning problems and setting the stage for a productive year.
  

·         Making use of Classroom displays that are not functional, informative and stimulating in teaching. 

·         Inability to maintain learning centres throughout the term.

·        Inability to follow proper marking schemes and to carry out correction of work done on a daily basis.

·         Cutting down the work load and turning down the difficulty level. This mal-practice has left us with a large population of special students who were not prepared to return to the demands of an integrated regular classroom, especially one in which the train moves at the same speed, on the same track for everyone. The consequence of this situation is that many kids are not being adequately served; both those with learning disabilities and those with faster learning abilities.

·         Not leaving room for anything mentally stimulating in the classroom. Curriculum has been reduced to reading, language and math, and in fifth grade, all of a sudden science becomes important. All subjects were considered important in the past, however now it’s drill, drill and more drilling. A student who was not doing well in his regular class work was asked about the situation and he said he thought that as long as he did well on the (standardized) test, he would be allowed to pass to the next grade or class; no enthusiasm for excellence.

I have witnessed the emergence of what is called the “Hybrid Teacher”—a new kind of professional who creatively builds bridges between curriculum and kids—all kinds of kids with “all kinds of minds.” Let me use this opportunity to list some of the characteristics of this teacher, so that you will recognize one when you see her or him. In my view, a professional with many of the traits listed below is the closest thing I can find to a “great teacher”;

·         Understands the relationship between emotion and cognition.

·         Knows that students learn in different ways, but does not trivialize this.

·         Focuses on the learner first; and the curriculum second.

·         Demonstrates the ability to expose students to a variety of stimuli, and knows when students are connected emotionally and cognitively to the experience.

·        Is guided and energized by finding out what facilitates effective learning and what gets in the way.

·         Understands that it’s not about having kids work harder, but rather that they work smarter.

·         This teacher knows that it’s important to separate skill instruction from content acquisition.

·         Examines his classroom practices to identify what works and what doesn’t.

·         He or she knows how to work as a team with the student as the key member.

·         The teacher is able to cover the curriculum by understanding the child and by considering each child as a unique individual – a practice which for this teacher is not just a euphemism.

·         A Hybrid Teacher is able to read subtle but important behaviour such as eye contact or physical proximity, and accurately interprets these in the social/cultural context of the child.

·         The Hybrid Teacher is connected to kids and kids are connected to this teacher most of the time. This allows the teacher to be responsive to all types of learners in the classroom.

·         This teacher may be young or old or professionally trained or a “natural” teacher.

School owners and Administrators need to seek these Hybrid Teachers out, reward them, give them more time, money and resources to support them and praise them for their work.

They are the hope for children in these challenging times, and my experience gives me the confidence to believe that we have reason to be hopeful. 

Mrs. Ireremena Pamilerin FELIX-OTUORIMUO is the Head Teacher at Olive Dale School, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos.