E A R T H S I D E
USEFUL TEACHING IDEAS FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS
The Teaching Relationships
All meaningful education arises out of the relationships that are developed between two or more people.
The relationship is both the medium and the catalyst for individual development. Children learn by socialising with other people; they learn with and through them.
At school, the most obvious relationship is that between teacher and student. There are also relationships between teachers and classes, as well as the many relationships between individual students and groups of students, and those between staff. Often ‘hidden’ from view during school hours, and inadvertently discounted, are other crucial relationships, such as student/parent, and the powerful, but generally underdeveloped, relationship between teacher and parents.
Schools, and perhaps particularly Kindergartens, strive to help children to build relationships. The younger the child, the more emphasis this is given by the teacher. Kindergarten teachers can be seen tying themselves up in knots trying to get Johnny to play creatively, without assistance, without prompting, and to have him play with others in a natural and rhythmic way. When at last Johnny does this, the teacher sighs with relief.
Often, when something is so basic, we find it difficult to explain. Why is creative and social play important in any school?
All education is Relational Education. Our teaching relies upon healthy relationships. Johnny needs to be present enough and socially connected enough to begin to really learn. Children are able to focus and learn if they feel socially supported and well-liked by both their peers and the adults in their lives. Children with intransigent social difficulties often do not build up the momentum to take their learning forward.
The size of a school, the size of classes, and the manner in which the school is organised, will all have an effect upon the way relationships are developed. Generally speaking there is a tendency in larger organisations for bureaucracy to act as a constraint upon the healthy development of relationship. Anecdotes from very small schools highlight the close relations which can develop under supportive conditions.
If schools support relationship-building, then any loss in terms of ‘efficiencies’ of scale are more than offset by the strength that the relationships engender in the teaching and learning process. It is more efficient education.
Earthside Education
http://www.earthsideeducation.com/
earthside.education[at]westnet.com.au
0449 025167
ES006© Sean David Burke 2010. Free to Copy as is.
Sean is the author of Lighting the Literacy Fire: Creative Ideas for Teachers and Parents
Earthside Blog Index
1. Get a Grip: Starting the Day with a Handshake
3. Teach Something Meaningless
5. The Teacher as a Sower of Seeds
8. A Succession of Memorable Experiences
9. Writing Verses for Your Class
