News, tips and tricks

By WSF - Ricardo Leppe 20 October 2021 Updated on 25 October 2021

I have the privilege of co-authoring a wonderful book.

In it I am currently writing a chapter on a question I have been asked very often lately: what do I need to do in future to become a “teacher”? Here is an extract from my answer:

The teacher of the future

Every day I receive emails from teachers who want to get out and are looking for an alternative. Even pupils and pensioners write to me wanting to work as teachers. Then the question often comes up whether they are able to, and even allowed to, since they have not studied. What comes out of studying, however, we can see very clearly at the moment… A degree, a title or the like says nothing! about what a person is capable of and what kind of person they are. I think that in future we can and should move away from this.

If I were the head of a school hiring new teachers, the following points would be the criteria I would look at, regardless of degree or training.

Do you love children? This question must be answered with a clear “yes”, and there must be a sparkle in the eyes. Roughly the same as when you ask a small child whether it loves its mum. It is important to mention that I mean all children – not just the quiet, well-behaved ones, but also those who have a mind of their own, want to go their own way and are sometimes loud :)
Can you pass on your enthusiasm? There are a great many people who are true geniuses in their field and are completely absorbed in their subject, but unfortunately find it hard to convey their enthusiasm. In class they may talk in a monotone, explain the simplest things in a super complicated way and do not present the content in a particularly exciting way. I am surely only half as good as many a professor of mathematics or physics, but I can pass on the enthusiasm for it very well – and it is exactly this ability that a teacher urgently needs.
Are you familiar with learning techniques for your subject? This point is actually optional, since we do not want to prescribe anything and you can always catch up on it later. But of course it is an advantage. Apart from the obvious things – is the person a drug addict, prone to violence, etc. – I do not check anything else from this point on. Because now comes the most important point:
Do the children like you? I put the teacher in front of the children. They should spend a day or a week together, and if after that time the children beam at me and say “We like him, he is great, he can help us, can he please stay?”, then that is the deciding factor. After all, it is the children who have to spend a year or longer with the teacher and get along with them, not me. What use is it if I like the teacher but the children think they are awful? It must also be possible to replace the teacher if the whole class agrees that the teacher no longer suits them and they no longer want to learn from them. After all, this is possible in every other area of life, so why not here, where people spend so much time together? Imagine you are building a house and the architect works against your wishes and ideas – of course you replace them. Or you get a massage and find it dreadful – then you do not go back to the same masseur next time either. Pupils, however, have no choice. They find a teacher dreadful and sometimes have to sit in their lessons several times a week for years. I remember this from my own school days: pupils were already moaning the day before when we had a particular teacher the next day. It cannot be right that children have no say in this important phase of their lives. After all, school exists solely for our children and not for the state, teachers or any other interest groups. (At least that is how it will be in future!)