The professional image and ethos of teachers
During the 24th and the 25th of April, the Council of Europe organised a conference as a part of the Pestalozzi progamme titled”The professional image and ethos of teachers” in Strasbourg, France. The conference was open for teachers, teacher representatives, educationalists and governmental representatives. OBESSU Board member Ida took part in the conference as a speaker and school student representative.
The aim of the conference was to highlight the importance of education for the preparation of a life as a democratic citizen in diverse democratic societies. The sessions during the first day also played the role to feedback to the draft Manifesto for Teachers of the 21st century that was presented at the conference. Different workshops were organised to discuss different parts of the Manifesto. OBESSU’s contribution to the discussions was mainly on the importance of a learner centered approach in teaching and the basic principles of school democracy and school student representation.
In the afternoon Ida took part in a panel debate together with representatives from Education International, the European Students’ Union and the European Parents Assosiation. The topic of the panel was ”What is the perfect teacher for you?”, and the panelists all agreed on the different competences that are needed for a teacher in today’s world. OBESSU raised the point that it is important that education is adaptable and keeps being updated in a fastly evolving world, but that also teachers themselves need to be open for change. OBESSU and ESU strongly underlined the importance of involving the learners in decision-making, and also in methods used in the classroom. This was also questioned by the audience, and the panel was asked how to, as a teacher, deal with students who simply have no interest in taking part in their education. The answer to this was that it is the responsibility of everyone involved in education, and ultimately the teachers, to make sure that the education system and the teaching methods used include the learners enough to make them feel engaged and interested in their education, and to give them a sense of ownership of what is happening in the classroom. OBESSU also pointed out that there are no good and bad students (as this was a wording used repeatedly), instead there are many different types of learners and the current mainstream way of teaching does not simply serve everyone. This is another argument why teaching methods need to be varied and why teaching needs to be more individualised.
