"Almendannelse": The Philosophy of a 21st Century Educator
Posted by Emmanuel Onu | 3 years ago | 1,235 times
Recently, while I joined a virtual conference of global educators, the keynote speaker made an Interesting quote that caught my attention and which has informed this discourse. He said, "If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow". This statement as figurative as it may sound underscores the importance of growth and personal development for contemporary teachers.
Teaching and learning in the 21st century have gone beyond the conventional pattern of compelling students to memorize theoretical rhetorics and arithmetic formulas to be part of the workforce at the end of the day. There is a realization that education should facilitate the formation of responsible and democratic-minded citizens. This is the idea behind the philosophy of " almendannelse".
When I studied the Nordic and Danish approaches to teaching, I discovered the reason their education system has been generating widespread positive interests. There is a clear understanding of what education entails and should be in these climes. They have demonstrated this perception through a model called "almendannelse". This concept originated from the Danish vocabulary to mean "wholesome" education. It emphasizes that the essence of teaching is to form "whole" human beings, who are willing to become responsible members of society and also demonstrate academic competencies such as independent and critical thinking, "soft" social skills such as empathy, collaboration and working with inner motivation. This makes valid the saying that teaching is an art and science.
However, achieving this is a function of the teacher's quality. If the saying remains true that you cannot give what you lack, then, there is a need for educators to be intentional and aggressive about investing in their growth. The 21st-century teacher must develop holistic competencies to be able to deliver quality pedagogy to his or her learners. This is because to teach, you must first learn and an ideal teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary - always willing to consume information and process new ideas.
The task of transforming Nigeria's education system rests on every teacher more than it does on the government. This is so because the former takes responsibility to develop and implement diverse learning strategies to meet the learners' needs. The government may provide an excellent environment for learning to thrive, but without teachers with the right mindset and quality, not much will be achieved.
Showing commitment to growth and an unrivalled passion for knowledge is enough motivation for the learners under your care. This is the reason William Glasser declared that "when you study great teachers you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style."
Therefore, We must all be holistic to create a generation of holistic creatives capable of excelling on all fronts. Let's all go disruptive, educators.
