As someone who did all my schooling in Lebanon in the Middle East, how teaching happens in a New Zealand school was a complete mystery to me. As part of an educational psychology paper I got to observe teaching in action in an Auckland primary school that is based in a low socio-economic community. I have to admit that I went to the school with some preconceived ideas about how education would be in a poor, predominantly Pasifika area. I imagined I would see students who were experiencing a dumbed down education, where they were ‘under-served’ by the teachers.
In reality, this school was completely the opposite. When I arrived at the school, some senior students came to the office to greet me and invited me to take a tour of the school with them because their teacher was not ready to see me. The first class we went into was a junior class. The students were ‘doing’ science. This meant they were doing experiments with balancing weights and drawing pictures in their school books of what they saw. The students were in groups and talking about what they were doing. Everyone was very excited and engaged in their experiments. I asked a pair of little boys what they were doing and they enthusiastically explained their task and why they thought they were getting the results they were. It turned out that this was not just a junior class, but it was the new entrant reception class. None of the students had been at school for more than a week and for several of the students, the day of my visit was their first day of school ever! I have to add that this was just before their morning break, so these little students had been in class for 90mins and even after all that time in class they were still so excited and involved in what they were learning.
The teachers I talked with and observed explained that it was the philosophy of the school to provide activities that develop critical thinking, even with the very little children and that this was done by setting up meaningful activities and encouraging learning conversations.
In a humanist approach to learning it is very important for students to be treated with dignity. It is important to build a safe learning environment where students feel accepted and confident to take risks. These little students, even on their first day of school entered a safe environment where they were encouraged to experiment and take risks in their learning. They also entered a classroom where the teacher expected them to be bright and capable and able to succeed and they enjoyed living up to their teacher’s expectations. I wish I had had this kind of experience of education when I started school.
In reality, this school was completely the opposite. When I arrived at the school, some senior students came to the office to greet me and invited me to take a tour of the school with them because their teacher was not ready to see me. The first class we went into was a junior class. The students were ‘doing’ science. This meant they were doing experiments with balancing weights and drawing pictures in their school books of what they saw. The students were in groups and talking about what they were doing. Everyone was very excited and engaged in their experiments. I asked a pair of little boys what they were doing and they enthusiastically explained their task and why they thought they were getting the results they were. It turned out that this was not just a junior class, but it was the new entrant reception class. None of the students had been at school for more than a week and for several of the students, the day of my visit was their first day of school ever! I have to add that this was just before their morning break, so these little students had been in class for 90mins and even after all that time in class they were still so excited and involved in what they were learning.
The teachers I talked with and observed explained that it was the philosophy of the school to provide activities that develop critical thinking, even with the very little children and that this was done by setting up meaningful activities and encouraging learning conversations.
In a humanist approach to learning it is very important for students to be treated with dignity. It is important to build a safe learning environment where students feel accepted and confident to take risks. These little students, even on their first day of school entered a safe environment where they were encouraged to experiment and take risks in their learning. They also entered a classroom where the teacher expected them to be bright and capable and able to succeed and they enjoyed living up to their teacher’s expectations. I wish I had had this kind of experience of education when I started school.