Teachers have been charged to be 21st Century compliant in their classroom. This charge was given by the duo of Mr Samson Kolawole Jesugbohunmi and Professor Olanrewaju Fagbohun while speaking at the 2017 World Teachers’ Day event organised by the Faculty of Education in the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.
Jesugbohunmi, who is the Head of the Educational Resource Unit at Chrisland Schools Limited, identified that the changing dynamics of the world have become of great importance to teachers, more than ever before. While drawing analogies from the learning systems of the 20th and 21st centuries, he challenged teachers to keep updated.
“Learning has gone beyond the Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning. We are no longer limited to the cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspects. We now talk of creativity. Your students in this age are creative. You must recognise this in the planning of your lessons,” he emphasised.
Delivery of Excellence
The Vice Chancellor of LASU, Professor Fagbohun equally added his voice to the discourse earlier when he challenged teachers on the delivery of excellence.
“To whom much is given, much is certainly expected. I ask you, when they say teachers are being celebrated, if you’re a teacher, what is your contribution to the delivery of excellence?” he asked.
“Are you one of those using the strategies and skills of 10, 15 years ago to run the affairs of today? The complexity of our society has changed,” he said.
Learning is much more multidisciplinary with technology
Jesugbohunmi noted that collaborative learning is now what students use, to interprete what they know. They now seek that teachers are able to relate other aspects of their lives to what teachers teach.
This is what Fagbohun described as the changing dynamics of technology in terms of networking.
“In time past, when you’re talking about networks, you’re talking about your immediate constituency. You’re talking about family networks. If you’re a teacher still thinking in the context of your immediate network to make a change, you can think nothing. The name of the game is multidisciplinary expertise,” he revealed.
The LASU VC had also challenged teachers to interact with others, beyond their various fields.
“How do you interact with people who are not in your field? How do you engage in conversations with those who are on the other side of the divide from you – those who have divergent perspectives? It goes beyond your own area,” he stated.
Staying Empowered
The relevance of teacher empowerment to the Sustainable Development Goals was also identified by Jesugbohunmi who asserted that teachers must first be ready to learn to be able to make impact.
In his words, “Teachers must first become chief learners to be able to teach well. To be able to properly handle the digital citizens (students today) you need to equip your knowledge base beyond the texts and the curriculum.”
This is what the academic head of LASU meant when he addressed his fellow colleagues in the teaching profession. He gave the iinsight that readiness to learn predisposes one to improvement.
“You can actually put yourself in danger if you don’t get our of your small comfort zone. You may never be empowered unless you open your mind and be ready to assimilate what activities coming around you,” the law teacher said.
Commendable Initiative
The VC equally commended the leadership of the LASU Education Faculty for convening the event which is a combination of a lecture and a symposium. It is the first time LASU is organising an event to commemorate the World Teachers Day. The event attracted dignitaries from both the private and public education sectors.
