“Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” John Dewey
I believe the role of education is ensuring that our children are empowered to be active citizens; to take action and make change, not only to their lives but within their local and global communities. It is important that education lays the foundation of societal values and beliefs. The 21st century demands a holistic approach, which will nurture citizens that are critical and analytical thinkers, who are creative and collaborative and who communicate and cooperate.
My role as an educator first and foremost is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of my students. I see my role as building a safe, happy and respectful learning community in which each student has a voice. I want to ensure that my students feel valued and have a sense of self worth. I believe it is my role to build their confidence and make them feel that they can achieve anything they want in life.
I will achieve this by;
• Building relationships with my students and understanding their unique qualities and abilities
• Encouraging collaborative and cooperative communities
• Providing an integrated curriculum, using the inquiry process
• Integrating ICT across the curriculum
• Guiding students to manage their learning by setting goals and reflecting
I am facilitator to their learning. Their journey is my journey. We will remain open to continuous learning, and together we will learn to take risks and to reflect and share our journeys. Together we will listen, grow and build our community of learning. I will foster a partnership between school and home and will always provide an open door policy for parents to be actively involved in their child’s education.
The key to effective teaching in the 21st century is ongoing learning. Our motivation and passion should guide us to ensure we have the best teaching practices in place. Curiosity,creativity and imagination will be the guiding principles that will drive the planning and implementation of a multidisciplinary inquiry based learning program that is engaging and challenging.
