“Never Stop Learning because Life Never stops Teaching” ANON
I am sure I can and will return to this subject many times.‘Teaching and Learning’ is almost an academic subject area. It is talked about in schools when I think what they really mean is pedagogy without much consideration for the learning bit. Teaching is one skill which is something that we do to or for other people whereas learning is something we do for ourselves.
I know there are many eminent philosophers and anthropologists who are far brighter than I am. They have spent their whole lives studying this/ these subjects so I am probably a bit clunky in my eloquence and my views. I think one of the fundamental things that makes us human is curiosity and a desire to learn. I can’t speak for any other countries as I only have a light touch experience of them but I know in the UK, our education system seems to be set up to put people off from being curious about learning new things. It is far too much about producing people to work in the ‘mills’. The less curious the workers are, the better for the owners. In other words, our Victorian Education System tends to take the wonderful excitement we have for learning before we encounter authority and beats it out of us, although not literally I hope.
I have worked with hundreds if not thousands of new tutors, trainers and teachers and I have been a passionate advocate of the premiss that, as teachers we need to be excited about learning ourselves. I don’t know how I have held on to my excitement about learning because I really didn’t have the best journey through education but it is still there. I am currently learning about websites, how to deliver a story and I am always excited to learn from history (I am a bit of a historic house addict!).
One thing I have learned is that I can hone my teaching skills, learn new delivery skills, set the environment for my learners to be the best it can be but this doesn’t guarantee learning. The learner has to be ready to step into learning in whichever way the lesson is delivered. We have observed this in some of the World’s politicians recently. Lots of teaching is being sent to them but they are refusing to listen and learn from the messages.
As someone from the Physical Education teaching fraternity (originally), I know that many children enter the PE and Games world already blocked to accepting any learning in this arena (no pun intended). I suppose they get this block to learning through various channels but even the best teachers fail to get through the barriers, in part because they have to deliver their teaching in a way that a Government Minister, who knows little about being a teacher, decrees it must be so.
I could get very ranty now about the state of the country but I want this to be a positive message. I want to challenge you to find ways that brings a real joy of learning. In order to do this remember:
- Learning is part of us, it is not a luxury to do when we have the time (which we never have)
- You are allowed to be curious
- You are allowed to learn new things, however old you are
- Learning rarely happens in a classroom – facts may be delivered there, practice may be undertaken but I am not sure how much learning happens in one?
- Learning needs reflection, analysis and action as well as the gathering of facts
- Learners thrive the best when they have a teacher who asks the right questions
- Learning is FUN!
- Learners need teachers (I will leave you to define what or who is a teacher)
- Teachers need to be the most enthusiastic learners (we all need role models)
- The day we no longer want to learn is the day we lose a big part of our humanity
- The day we no longer want to learn is the day the light goes out behind our eyes
The more I observe the older members of my family, the more they are teaching me to live every minute as joyfully as possible. Just remember, that minute isn’t coming back your way. They don’t know they are teaching me this lesson, to be honest, it wouldn’t be as powerful a message if they did. I do know though, I am even more enthusiastic about both learning myself and inspiring others to learn now, even after 40 years of being a coach, teacher, tutor, whatever title you want to give me.
Live a life full of learning and open your eyes and mind to all the wonderful teaching which is around for you to hear and when appropriate, bring into your soul.