Pupil’s welfare takes centre stage at stakeholders’ forum

The role of a teachers in moulding the destiny of individual students has been emphasised over time as it had been established that how a child adapts to academic work and the educational well-being of students depend on the attitude of teachers to work and the ability of the teacher to touch each student on a personal level.

In a bid to create a platform for teachers to network and connect through partnership and impart the technique of collaborative learning on teachers in order to create a collection of great teachers that will produce great students, some teachers came together under the auspice of Teachers Connect, to help each other to be good professionals.

Teachers Connect is the brain child of a professional teacher and consultant, Mrs. Evelyn Adebayo, under the umbrella of her company, Teaching Defined International Consult (TRIC), a firm that specializes in teachers’ professional development, teachers’ recruitment, school improvements, classroom resources and special education needs support.

The Teachers’ Connect forum was born out of the need to create informal support for teachers and create the opportunity of getting help from other teachers in a way that would make their jobs easier and put them ahead in their profession in the interest of their students.

And last week in Ibadan, teachers from public and private schools as well as school owners and administrators came together for a Christmas brunch to further discuss issues pertinent to the welfare of their students and ways of becoming the pillar needed to push their students to greater heights at the TRIC center in Apata, Ibadan.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the Christmas brunch, the convener of the forum, Mrs. Evelyn Adebayo said the major purpose of the forum was to create opportunities for teachers to learn from one another.

“Teachers Connect was born out of a desire to provide a platform to connect together, learn from one another, share good practice techniques and encourage each other to be better and committed teachers,” she said.

The group started on August 18, 2016 with just 12 members that later grew to more than 60 and it had its first training for members in September 2016, just before the students resumed for the new session to prepare teachers for the task ahead in the new academic year.

The theme of the training was ‘Teachers back to school professional development: Changing mindset’ with sub themes that included, using ICT to enhance teaching and learning in classrooms, effective teaching and creative use of recyclable materials amongst other topics.

“We held the training to develop skills and to revise as well as redefine the craft in a way that will inspire our colleagues to further put in their best and teach with the best practices acceptable internationally in line with our principles.

“Our principles on Teachers Connect is to inspire intellect and passion for the job, to encourage trust among members, create opportunities to collaborate and learn, to focus on each member’s potential for growth and also to recognize teachers as talented professionals,” Adebayo stated.

She explained further that Teachers Connect is pivoted on the recognition that teachers need to network to get support for their careers, give strength to each other, create opportunities, empower themselves and share news on best practices to make the classroom a better place for the students.

“Our aim on this platform is simple; we want to position teachers to be role models for their students while connecting and reaching teachers on multiple levels to forge strong relationships as well as teach important life lessons beyond academics and tests.

“We want to make learning fun, inspire teachers to work harder and encourage them to guide and mentor students as we believe that great teachers make great students,” the TRIC founder stated.

While giving a teachers wellness talk with the theme, ‘Teacher well-being, Mrs. Adebayo stated that being well is not merely the absence of physical ailments but a total good condition of the whole body system; physically, emotionally and psychologically.

She urged teachers to resist the temptation of taking their emotional troubles to the classroom or associating a pupil’s bad attitude to the child thereby creating a wedge between the teacher and students.

“A teacher should love every student equally and should not judge any child even if such a child has a bad attitude. A good teacher will separate a child from such attitude and treat them all equally. A teacher should always take care of himself; we need to always need in good health in order to give our best.

“And no teacher should allow the pupils see that she has emotional issues though we are all human because those children feel the undercurrents and it affects their attitude to learning,” she said.

Mrs. Adebayo emphasized that teachers need to think of themselves and take care of their health because how they feel determines the success of the school.

“A teachers well being is critically relevant to the whole schools’ well being,” she concluded.