Let students have a voice, and let it be heard

Let students have a voice, and let it be heard

Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta

Sometimes it is possible to ask teachers what they consider to
be a well organized and disciplined class and get answers that
are, in essence, really quite disturbing. Often for teachers an
organized and disciplined class emerges as a mundane and
practically oppressive place in which students are required to be
little more than passive observers of what the teacher wants them
to see and perhaps occasionally do.

Often, it seems that students are not expected to speak up in
class. But worse still there is even a tendency for it to be seen
as unacceptable and even disturbing for a student to speak. For
some teachers the only acceptable voice to be heard in class is
that of the teacher. The students are only required to speak when
called upon or deemed appropriate by the teacher.

In this kind of setting clearly the teacher is at the center
of all attention. The notion of a well organized and disciplined
classroom is, then, entirely orientated around the teacher's
position and imposition of control. However, it has to be
questioned what precisely the teacher is in control of. If the
teacher is simply a dictatorial controller of a group or "crowd"
of people then a certain amount of success might be seen to be
achieved.

However a teacher is, or at least ought, not be just a crowd
controller. A teacher should be the creator of opportunities for
learning to happen within the classroom. In this way the teacher
is the instigator and facilitator of learning for the students.
The teacher should be the stimulator of action and involvement
from the students.

Quite consistently, though, it is possible to see that
teachers are not acting as the instigator, facilitator and
stimulator of learning in the classroom. Instead, regrettably,
often teachers may act as the regulator of students' behavior in
a manner that is, ultimately, oppressive and confining of the
students' ability to both participate and, importantly,
understand and learn about what is going on in the classroom.

Of course, there are situations that can be highly demanding
of the teacher's attention and potentially set up a condition in
which the teacher considers it necessary to become a "crowd
controller". Large classroom sizes would be one such situation in
which a teacher would likely consider it necessary to hold a
position of practically dictatorial control.

However, even in seemingly untoward conditions such as having
large numbers of students within one classroom, just a little
initiative and imagination can go a long way. The teacher, quite
simply, does not have to be permanently and endlessly the center
of all attention and activity. Indeed activity is a key word
here, because students will quite naturally need and benefit from
having activity in the classroom.

The teacher can create opportunities for the students to have
activities together. By breaking up the class into groups, that
will work together, creates a different format for the classroom.
Students given a focus for their attention and a challenge to
their intellect are no longer merely passive viewers in the
classroom. They have become active participants in the learning
process and instantly they can become motivated and diligent
players in the classroom environment.

A large classroom broken down into smaller groups can become
more manageable and livelier for both the students and the
teacher. But the classroom divided into smaller groups becomes an
environment in which the teacher gets greater opportunities to
interact with the students and effectively get to be closer to
them.

Students in a classroom should be able to participate in an
open and discursive way. They should be encouraged to exercise
their minds and powers of critical thought. Naturally enough a
key way in which they will be able to exercise their powers of
critical thought is by actually being required, and getting the
opportunity, to voice a response to what they are receiving. They
should not just to be passive receivers but should be active
respondents in the classroom.

It can be an extremely sad and frustrating experience to
encounter students that are simply not capable of being active
respondents to the learning in the classroom. Too often students
are simply neither requested nor expected to have a responsive or
critical thought when they are attending school.

Similarly, though, it is possible to encounter teachers that
do not have room within their minds for responsive and critical
students.

The teacher in the classroom should be able to create an
environment which combines well disciplined organization with
sufficient scope for the students to exercise their natural
curiosity which, if appropriately stimulated, will grow into
their powers of both critical and original thought.

It was a chairman of the Japanese electronics giant Sony, Akio
Morita, that memorably said that "curiosity is the key to
creativity". This is something that is worthy of teachers'
consideration. Those words "curiosity" and "creativity" should be
keywords and guiding words for teachers. Over zealous conformity
and confining of students will stifle curiosity and limit
creativity.

By giving students a voice and involvement in the classroom,
control is not being lost but is being shared in a democratic and
productive way. As teachers in Indonesia have to come to terms
with the new national competency-based curriculum it will become
increasingly important that they find ways of truly including and
stimulating their students.

The writer is Executive Principal of the High/Scope Indonesia
School. The opinions expressed above are personal.