Barriers That Teachers Neglect in the Classroom to Support Student Learning

 

Barriers That Teachers Neglect in the Classroom to Support Student Learning

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

A barrier to learning is a kind of obstacle that comes between the students and the learning tools and obstructs them from achieving their educational goals. Due to the varied learning environment, students will encounter barriers in one way or another during the entire journey of learning. Barriers can be in the form of issues like poverty, race, gender, motivational, emotional, cultural, social, or the type of learning environment that students experience (McGarry, 2019). If barriers are kept unattended or are not responded to by the teacher right from the classroom itself, serious barriers to learning are obviously going to take place (Rica, 2021). It has a direct impact on the learning outcomes of the students. Quite often, teachers neglect certain barriers that are hindering students during the learning process for many reasons that have resulted in poor learning outcomes. This write-up discusses some of the barriers that teachers neglect, knowingly or unknowingly, although they make efforts to support learning in the classroom.

Emotional Barriers

Emotional barriers like fears in different forms, lack of motivation, and other barriers that challenge students to cope with the new environment hamper their learning (Rica, 2021). It is due to the fact that students come from different family backgrounds and may have some emotional conditions that are really hindering them during the learning process. Teachers quite typically neglect to address such issues in the classroom and sometimes fail to motivate students through encouragement. The type of encouragement that any student receives from their teacher, friends, and parents matters a lot in sound learning because it enables students to go ahead confidently during their learning journey (Success at School, 2022). Thus, barriers like emotional and mental illness that students experience hamper their learning (Oliver, 2019).

Social and Cultural Barriers

Sometimes students may not be open in the classroom due to societal barriers such as abuse and neglect, bullying in school, poverty, and other family conditions back at home (Oliver, 2019), and teachers quite regularly fail to provide timely and appropriate assistance. On the other hand, the student’s success depends on their ability to interact confidently with their peers in the classroom because learning in the classroom happens fruitfully if they are engaged through meaningful interaction that involves a discussion about any content-related issues to find solutions for lifelong learning (Success at School, 2022). Low-performing students are unknowingly neglected because dominant students speak a lot in the classroom and the teacher keeps going.

Students with disabilities

Quite typically, all students in the classroom are treated the same by teachers, and the disabilities of students are often neglected. For the academic success of such students, they need support from the teacher and the other students in the classroom so that they are saved from severe consequences (R2ecwdsite, n.d.). They become the victims of negative comments from their peers, which even give rise to the bullies' creating stereotype situations in the classroom, that go unnoticed (CDC, 2020). Lack of knowledge from the teacher’s side and sensitivity from their peers' side can make students with disabilities demotivated to learn and can also affect their emotional state (OHRC, n.d.)

Learning Environment Barriers

Mostly, teachers in the classroom stick to their course syllabus and the text alone in the classroom. They don’t go beyond the text contextually to make the learning more engaging. Instead, a vast amount of information is disseminated in the classroom within a short amount of time without giving contextual experiences (McGarry, 2019). Moreover, the teaching lacks variety and is the same and monotonous throughout, with minimal use of teaching-learning materials, and they are never bothered about variety but are concerned only about syllabus coverage and timely completion of the lesson.

Why do teachers overlook the above barriers?

The following are the reasons why teachers often neglect the barriers mentioned above:

·       The very reasons could be because teachers are focused on their content coverage due to the syllabus coverage pressure from the school academic section, or they may want to complete their syllabus to avoid extra classes at the end.

·       The student’s emotional state is overlooked by the teacher, and they are neglected in trying to understand what they are going through. This is due to the lack of a teacher-student relationship whereby the teacher fails to communicate well and understand their student in knowing their learning status and any insecurities they carry, such as fear of failing due to their past experience.

·       The teacher’s failure to understand the student’s background is the reason from which they understand the entire history of the student. Knowing about students’ family background and their emotional position is integral in providing assistance to the student’s learning. It is because many students would not be emotionally fine in the class due to family problems or situations at home.

·       The teacher might not take any reported minute bully cases seriously and neglect them due to too much focus on their teaching.

·       Teachers may be pedagogically inept or lack knowledge of various teaching strategies due to a lack of ongoing professional development programs, or they may be less serious. Maybe because of that, a huge chunk of information is passed to the students within a limited time frame, making learning hard for students. Or, due to their seriousness in the lecture method, teachers fail to conduct activities that encourage interaction and collaboration and, as a result, fail to focus on them and address the issue.

How can teachers overcome the above barriers in the classroom?

The above issues are a total failure from the teacher’s side due to their failure in teaching pedagogy, lack of interest or knowledge about classroom support, use of antiquated old-fashioned school policies, or the school’s focus on the end product of academic achievement for the school’s name and fame.

All the stated barriers can be addressed by the teachers in the following manner:

·       Teachers should understand the educational goal and start working on achieving it seriously.

·       Teachers should teach the lesson not only to complete it but also to contextualize the content and to improve student engagement and collaboration for better learning.

·       Introduce a variety of learning activities and engage students in groups or peers so that they develop social skills to understand their peers better.

·       A kind of reinforcement from the teacher’s side with optimum teacher-student relationships is required so that they can understand the situation closely and solve it together without hindrance. They should ensure students that their teacher is available to talk with them and address their problems (ED Blog, 2020) and take even the smallest problems seriously and immediately without neglecting anyone in the classroom.

·       The teacher should introduce a reward system in the class to encourage and motivate students. They should also provide timely feedback and a support system.

·       Teachers need to address emotional, social, and bullying cases seriously and immediately help students restore through the appropriate procedures.

 

 

References

CDC. (2020). Disability Barriers to Inclusion. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-barriers.html

ED Blog. (2020). Common Barriers to Learning and How to Eradicate Them. https://blog.edclass.com/common-barriers-to-learning-and-how-to-eridicate-them/

McGarry, O. (2019). 6 Barriers to Learning (and How to Overcome Them). https://www.learnupon.com/blog/barriers-to-learning/

OHRC. (n.d.). Main barriers to education for students with disabilities (fact sheet). https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/main-barriers-education-students-disabilities-fact-sheet#:~:text=Physical%20Inaccessibility%3A%20Students%20with%20disabilities,transportation%20to%20and%20from%20school.

Oliver, F. (2019). Student Learning Barriers That Go Unnoticed. https://rmhshighlighter.com/8682/features/student-learning-barriers-that-go-unnoticed/

R2ecwdsite. (n.d.). Systemic Barriers to Inclusive Education. http://www.included.org.za/R2ecwdsite/docs/Factsheet%206.pdf

Rica, G. (2021). The Most Common Barriers to Learning – And How to Overcome Them. https://www.thinkific.com/blog/barriers-to-learning/

Success At School. (2022). What are the Most Common Barriers to Learning in School? https://successatschool.org/blog/507/What-are-the-Most-Common-Barriers-to-Learning-in-School%3F#:~:text=Motivation%20or%20%22availability%20to%20learn%22&text=A%20lack%20of%20motivation%20is,to%20really%20enhance%20their%20learning.