Students Diverse Backgrounds, Its Impacts on the Teaching Philosophy and Practice

 

Students Diverse Backgrounds, Its Impacts on the Teaching Philosophy and Practice

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

 

Abstract

Teaching philosophy depends on how an individual reflects on his teaching practices and beliefs about the teaching and learning process. It enables any educator to reflect on his methodologies to achieve intended goals. Teaching philosophy enables any educator to analyze teaching and learning outcomes from the student’s perspective. An educator will be able to understand the behavioral aspects of students based on their achievements and actions during their learning process.

Any educator having teaching philosophies is aware of his students based on their development and learning and is engaged in transforming the student’s knowledge, after understanding the student’s past experiences concerning the present (Licklinder, 2008). We know that different students learn in different ways, some are fast learners whereas some are slow. An educator should be a psychologist who can effectively perceive the interests, abilities, knowledge, and personal problems of students. At the time, we as an educator often find students with instance problems that they do not easily reveal. Such problems affect their learning unknowingly. Thus, an educator should be proactive in identifying such things so that students do not fall behind on quality learning.  

Reasons that Hampers the Lives of the Students and Their Performance in the School

Several reasons hamper the lives of the students. As educators, the teaching philosophy that we have enables us to identify them based on student’s learning habits in the schools and their psychological behavior. The following are some of the reasons:

We find that children are neglected quite often in Bhutan by their parents on the verge of going abroad simply to earn money. Their children are left behind to be looked after by their grandparents or relatives who cannot give them the equal love and care that they could. Thus, the love and care are not met by their children and they experience the feeling of being neglected emotionally which negatively affects the children's ability to receive an appropriate education (Weinberg, 1997). Since there is no one to give them intensive care, they show less interest in their study and remain pampered at home. Back in their schools, their performance level goes down and they are often seen without homework or show less interest in their studies with the rising disciplinary problems among neglected children.  It has adverse effects on their future (Eckenrode, Laird, & Doris, 1993).

With the increasing number of divorce cases in Bhutan, the negative effects on children are often traced out in comparison with children who have both parents. Children become more vulnerable and their educational attainment lowers due to the stress associated with their parent’s separation (Kreidle, Stipkova, and Hubatkova, 2017). Subsequently, the negative outcomes hamper their studies in school and give rise to depression and conflicts. Students who come from separated parents often show lower performance than others and they are mostly silent in the class.

Bhutan has observed the drastic change in parental love today where personal and real care has shifted to caring and showing love through providing money and mobiles to their children. It serves two purposes, love and care are met well and the parents can meet their engagement in their work or social media. The children are innocent, but slowly their interest shifts towards socializing more with their friends than concentrating on their studies. Moreover, the use of mobile phones will drive their attention towards the reality of social media, not to the real world that they live in. With the increasing side effects of mobile phones, their performance will drastically decrease due to declined attention, a rise in temper, sleeping disorders, distractions, and depression that they experience (Federov, 2008). Subsequently, it hampers their study.

Subsequently, violence against women and children and alcoholism are among many reasons in Bhutan that bring down the children’s performance in school. Students coming from such households are found relatively poor performers in school because they are the victim of abuse that make them suffer from distraction, depression, and violence, as a result, they cannot concentrate well in school. The physical violence in Bhutan is in the form of corporal punishment, be it at home or in schools (UNICEF Bhutan, 2016). In most cases, the abuser is mostly a father or stepfather, and relatives (The Bhutanese, 2018). Such abuse would result in complex mental trauma in students with an adverse effect on student’s performance and the behavioral outcomes that are associated with their prolonged trauma (CFCA Resource Sheet, 2014).

 How does this Impact Teaching Philosophy and Practice?

 As educators, it is felt that there is a call from students to improve their lives. The problems stated above really impact our teaching philosophy and practice when coming to imparting quality education to our students. The performance level of such students would not be good because of the trauma that they are undergoing at home. Students rarely share their problems with their teacher, instead, they prefer to remain quiet and reluctant in school. When a student don’t speak in class when they behave violently in school when they do not do their given task etc. the performance level of such students will be very low, and adversely, the teaching philosophy and the practices of educators will be affected drastically because they won’t be able to meet their expectation that they have when their children are not readily working or giving priority to their study. It too harms their future endeavor. It would be difficult to associate with them since they are already vulnerable and their minds are fragile due to the emotional pressure they experience. It would be difficult to understand their mind to handle their problems until they share with the teacher openly.

 How to identify and address students' diverse backgrounds in our teaching practice?

Education plays a vital role in shaping young people to become quality members of society and education begins from their house because their home is their initial place from where they begin to learn about socialization that lays their educational foundation (Anonymous, 2019). To identify and address students’ diverse backgrounds in our teaching practices, firstly, as an educator, we need to build a relationship with the students to gain their trust because it allows the teacher to handle the higher-order cognitive thinking that enables them to open up. It is the trust that brings the teacher and students together and helps students to build up their learning experiences. Once the students open up, we come to know the reality of their problems which ultimately opens up for the educators to intervene to solve their problems. Educators should discuss the problems keeping in mind their emotions and then even extend to visiting their house. Parents are to be created with the awareness based on the behavioral aspects of their child in the school so that they can solve the problems. 

Another thing that educators can do to look at the instructional materials and reorganize them for better implementation in the classroom keeping in mind the social, emotional, and cultural aspects. On the other hand, feedback from the teacher plays a crucial role in the classroom. A teacher should highlight the positive aspects of what they do in the classroom for timely correction.

The correct counseling program for vulnerable students like students from separated families and who are the victims of abuse is to be arranged for the betterment of their emotional state to let them focus well on their studies. Teachers too can play the role of being their friend to counsel them in a friendlier manner to make them understand the reality of life and their life ahead. Thus, an educator plays a crucial role in the life of students in shaping their future.  

 

Reference

Anonymous. (2019). Influence of Home Environment on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Imo State. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://www.grin.com/document/507988

CFCA Resource Sheet, 2014). Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect for Children and Adolescents. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/effects-child-abuse-and-neglect-children-and-adolescents

Eckenrode, J., Laird, M., & Doris, J. (1993). School performance and disciplinary problems among abused and neglected children. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 53–62. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.29.1.53

Federov, O. (2008). Excessive use of cell phone may cause depression and distraction. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7520941199.pdf

(Kreidle, M. Stipkova, M. and Hubatkova, B. (2017). Parental separation and children’s education in a comparative perspective: Does the burden disappear when separation is more common? Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol36/3/36-3.pdf

Licklinder, B. (2008). My Philosophy of Teaching. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/my-philosophy-of-teaching/

The Bhutanese. (2018). Child Abuse Cases on the Rise. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://thebhutanese.bt/child-abuse-cases-on-the-rise/

UNICEF Bhutan. (2016). Research on Violence against Children in Bhutan- A Report. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://www.unicef.org/bhutan/media/341/file/Research%20on%20Violence%20Against%20Children%20in%20Bhutan.pdf

Weinberg, L. A. (1997). Problems in educating abused and neglected children with disabilities. Retrieved July 29, 2021 from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/47328251/s0145-2134_2897_2900051-320160718-29682-c0d30d-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1627572804&Signature=F4DHhD4HMBijiU1boK8d61DBPpHUNQ4iSL9aXA50HrD9Am9XGEHDWHLNKOxQwSoUNYhdYZlfZEW5MaJV5EcFR~iuAz4dApLcNf9BVJkfyTzhCWJXI2W-r8lpwUuO~ptzEuL6~0QI9juIbmbFCloVI2Ywk7UHK9FC0a4EwOQaYeePbIDIobbxOIu64VZaZMYhp6G6DMSabwxlOLu4vpct0zYui3cgkKlx2LbGseovyfxluYU3bCKi17FI1-7qSMS4yMV6Kfl26nAVCpv0s6bb0C-c3ADOTDN2VvHVI1cUe~xIul0ISANr2V1dN3AQNMGlYdtJqtvZFK-szJv7qR8S6w__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA