STUDENT CENTERED EDUCATION

ETHEL ARCEO TAMAYO

Different research studies have confirmed what was actually obvious in the first place. Good teachers and effective teaching methods matter more than particular curriculum materials or proven programs. In such obvious stake, a research study isn’t really needed because the use of common sense can actually do the task of figuring out what really matters the most. Cases like this shows the situation similar to having a good community regulations but there is no one to implement it. As basic as that, what is the sense of having great curriculum when there are no effective teachers to implement it?

It’s not that curriculum doesn’t matter, but the point is, curriculum cannot stand alone, a good and effective teacher is need for the success of a certain curriculum/ program. In today’s situation for example, Department of Education implements the K-12 program, hence, as an elementary teacher you must learn to adjust and to cope up with the new program, but adjusting and coping up means a lot of changes in ways of teaching, in style and even the practiced strategies might changed as well. If a teacher will not be able to go with the flow of the new system and continue to base her way of teaching with the old system, what will be the sense of having a new and improved system? If a teacher cannot apply the improved version of a new program with her means of teaching, then the sense of having such program will be non-sense. It only shows that for a curriculum to be successful, effective teachers are really needed. As this situation suggests, a good teacher must be able to cope up with changes because changes is the only thing constant in this world, what if a teacher is really effective for this program but she’s not good for the future programs? It is because she did not absorb the changes and she did not tried to discover the best things to do in a certain curriculum/ program.

Talking about the best things to do in a certain curriculum, as an Elementary teacher, it is sometimes hard to apply some of the things that go with our new curriculum. Especially when you are dealing with little children who are sometimes completely dependent on their teachers about the lesson, you will find it hard to do the “student centered education”. It’s not because elementary pupils cannot do the task but it’s just that there are times wherein they are really not ready for standing on their own and doing most of the talking because they are still young. A teacher should let them do reporting, let them express their thoughts and hear what they already knew and hear the things that they wanted to add into the discussion by letting them stand and talk in front. But not all the time those things will work, because majority of the children are shy and they think they cannot do such things and they happen to depends on their teacher and they are not yet ready because they haven’t discovered their ability yet. If these cases happened, the work of an effective teacher is needed. Student centered education doesn’t mean that you will let the children to do things alone and to learn alone, you still have the responsibility to help them and to make sure that they learn the things they needed to know. But helping them doesn’t mean spoon feeding them with information. Let them learn on their own but always make sure that you are still doing your part as their teacher and to take care of them because effective learning will always come with demonstration not just doing tasks al one.

To sum it all up, there are a lot of changes in the curriculum that will come along the journey of teaching, but the key for it to succeed are the effective teachers. There is no such thing as best curriculum for better learning, only great teachers with effective teachings. Being a good teacher doesn’t mean perfecting every single thing about the curriculum, you just have to look for the greatest angle and bring out the best in the new curriculum because it is, indeed, the answer for all the “how’s and why’s” about the changes in the curriculum.

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The author is Teacher III at Lourdes Northwest Elementary School, Angeles City Division