For the second article in our “As Told By an Educator” series, we explore the changing roles of teachers with Ms. Manju Nair from Global Indian International School, an educator with over 25 years of experience.
Living in rapidly changing times means that the needs of our children are vastly different from our needs when we were growing up. Schools have to adapt to the changing needs of their students, both in terms of the curriculum and learning experience they offer. Along with that, teachers have to rethink their roles as educators and adapt as well.
We spoke to Ms. Manju Nair from Global Indian International School (GIIS) to further understand the changing roles of teachers in the 21st century. On top of being the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) Coordinator at GIIS, she’s a highly experienced PYP educator who is also a member of the IB Educators Network with roles such as Evaluations Leader, Programme Leader, and Workshop Leader.
Thank you for speaking to us, Ms. Manju. Before we go into the specifics of the role of teachers in today’s world, could you briefly share with us why you think this role has changed?
There’s no denying that the role of teachers has changed significantly in the last few decades. My view is that this is in response to our increasing understanding of how students learn. New ways of teaching aren’t just fads or trends, but rather a reflection of how students learn best.
Teachers are more than just transmitters of knowledge; we are called to be confidantes, nurturers, motivators, counsellors, and more. Gone are the days when a teacher was the ‘sage on the stage’! We are now required to take on a far more complex and multifaceted role. This includes being a guardian of the socio-emotional wellbeing of students, as we understand that their wellbeing has a direct impact on their learning.
Let’s start with the aspect that people are most familiar with – teachers as transmitters of knowledge. How has this aspect changed today?
I’ll use the IB’s focus on the role of teachers to explain. The IB has clearly stated approaches to teaching, and the role of the teacher is closely aligned with these approaches and expectations.
First of all, teachers are facilitators in the classroom; but this goes beyond mere transmission of knowledge. It has often been said that we live in an age of knowledge explosion. This has resulted in two powerful changes in the way we approach learning, both of which are IB approaches that are underpinned by research:
- Learning needs to be underpinned with conceptual knowledge which is transferable, universal, and enduring.
- Teaching method needs to move away from direct instruction to inquiry-based learning.
These changes necessitate an immediate shift in a teacher’s role. As facilitators, teachers ‘guide on the side’, nudging, and moving students along the path to exploration, discovery, inquiry, seeking of patterns, and to independent learning.
Another thing that families are starting to be more aware of is that not every child has the same learning needs and preferences. How does this affect the role teachers play?
That’s true, this is why the IB PYP looks at teachers as designers of the curriculum. Any highly prescribed or prescriptive curricula cannot meet the needs of all students. A ‘one size fits all’ approach to education leads to frustration for both students and teachers.
Embedded in the concept of inquiry-based learning is the expectation and empowerment of teachers as designers, and not merely deliverers, of pre-existing curricula. Though the PYP curriculum has certain broad expectations, they are all contextual. This means that a school’s particular context or demographics is taken into account, and the curriculum can be tailor-made to suit the context of its students. As you can imagine, this requires a very high capacity building of the teaching faculty. The IB provides professional development to enhance teacher competence and capabilities in these.
Is it right to say that teachers have agency as designers of curriculum?
That’s right. The PYP has a strong emphasis on agency. While teachers have agency, so do the students. Students exercise their voice in all aspects of school routine and learning, have choice in the way they would like to engage in and express their learning, and take ownership for their learning.
As such, teachers have to be very careful to create an atmosphere of democracy, safety, and inclusion for all students so they can exercise their agency. This requires teachers to exercise control over their own sense of authority and direct students in their learning. You could say that teachers are promoters of student agency. For me, this is one of the most important transitions teachers of traditional curricula have to make when they move away from that to a curriculum like PYP.
You mentioned that one way students exercise agency is through choosing the way they would like to engage in and express their learning. Does that mean that teachers also have to provide personalised learning and teaching?
Yes, education that is differentiated to meet the needs of all learners is linked to the notion of student agency. Teachers have to think about universal enhancements (enhancements that will work for all learners), as well as accommodations and adjustments for individual learners. In this aspect, teachers play the role of adapters of personalised learning and teaching.
Once again, this demands highly developed skills from teachers and their role becomes a very complex one. Teachers have to keep themselves abreast of new research and use the findings to create their own Action research. This is because teachers are also expected to be ‘everyday researchers’: testing hypotheses, implementing changes, and evaluating the results of these changes.
We’re only talking about the academic aspect of things, and already a teacher has to play so many roles!
That’s not all – teachers also play the role of curators of the learning environment. Many curricula, including the PYP, regard the learning environment as the third ‘teacher’. A classroom is not sufficient for this; so we use the built and natural environments within the precincts of a school and beyond as ‘teachers’ too.
Teachers have to carefully and intentionally design the spaces so that children learn in a self-taught manner as much through instructions. The design should also organically invite collaboration and teamwork, as many of the learning experiences teachers design are for collaborative learning. It’s also not enough for teachers to just design the environment, they have to learn how to constantly change it to make it more stimulating.
Can you elaborate more on how a teacher is also “guardian of the socio-emotional wellbeing of students”?
In that aspect, teachers play the role of mentors and motivational leaders. This role calls upon a very high degree of expertise and professional competency. Teachers need to be more watchful, more engaging, more supportive. They do all these by constantly speaking to, conferencing, and motivating their students. As teachers, we can no longer separate teaching from the assessments. The very purpose of assessment is to improve teaching and learning, which in turn requires continuous monitoring of learning, giving students feedback, and motivating them. Teachers will need to understand the psychology of motivation, how to develop dispositions within their students to help them develop resilience.
And what about teachers as role models?
More specifically, reinforcers and models of key values. Most educational institutions focus on developing certain values and traits in their students. These are values that will guide students far beyond their student life and will be the inner reserves they draw on.
Teachers will need to draw upon various real life examples to hone these values, traits, and attributes. They also have to be role models of the same. For example, the IB has identified the Learner Profile as desirable lifelong attributes to develop in students. This includes being balanced, principled, reflective, caring, thinkers, and more. While it’s a teacher’s role to intentionally develop these, it’s an expectation that teachers model these. Students learn best through examples and exemplars. Hence, teachers have to become the best examples and paragons of lifelong learning.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with us, Ms. Manju!
Learn more on how teachers deliver the IB PYP at GIIS via the school’s website, or see it for yourself by booking a school tour.
This post is in partnership with Global Indian International School.