Last Updated on 12/11/2021 by James Barron
It is essential that teachers treat all students with respect throughout their course, this term encompasses a large number of actions that must be performed to ensure all students are valued within the class. An action that should be performed at the start of the course, or even before, is to learn the names of each student and pronounce it correctly, especially if they are from a different background. This, combined with learning what the student would like to be called, is an essential first step to treating students as individuals and making them feel comfortable and valued within the class. An essential element of treating students with respect is to listen to their views and take account of their opinions. While it may not be possible to action their views and opinions by listening and explaining why it is not possible clearly shows how the student is valued within the class. The relevant information that is gathered during the enrolment process, tutorials and listening to students should be added to the group profile for the student to guide your own and other lecturers actions when interacting with the students. Students may be reluctant to share information about their background, especially if they feel their background is different from the majority within the group. To ensure you fully understand the students background a specific activity should be deployed, such as a discussion of the origin of student names, this is an ideal opportunity for students to integrate, gain an understanding of each other’s backgrounds and possibly beliefs while also assisting the process or learning their names. The information held within the group profile should show how well you know the group and understand the students and their backgrounds. This information can then be used to help manage cultural sensitivities, a method could be a pre-briefing session of subjects the student may find awkward. An aspect that can cause issues within a class is current affairs, these may have a significant impact on the lives of students and it is essential to keep up to date with current affairs in order to understand student actions and motivations while ensuring students are not offended by misinterpreted innocent comments due to the relation to sensitive current affairs.
Author Profile
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My first experience of teaching was in 2016, when I was asked to
deliver a talk to a group of 16-year-olds on what it was like to start
your own business. I immediately knew I wanted to become more
involved in teaching but I didn’t know where to start as I had not
previously considered a career in education. A few weeks later I
agreed to teach a class of Chinese students from the Shanghai
Technical Institute of Electronics and Information, who had travelled
to the UK to learn English and Software Engineering, after that I was
hooked. Within the next few years, I taught hundreds of students of
many different nationalities, aged from 16 to 60, and from
levels 2 to 6. I focused my time teaching with Bath University and
Bath College for several more years until I felt a change was in order.
For the last few years, I have taught remotely with several private
training organisations, provided dedicated one to one coaching
sessions, provided consultancy on teaching and assessment practices
and written about my experiences as a teacher. I plan to continue
with my current activities for the foreseeable future but I’m always
open to new teaching experiences.
