ACCOUNTABILITY FOR LEARNING
Armand Vincent A. Sese
I know for sure that teachers often reflect to themselves, pause and contemplate at the end of the day, and ask themselves, “Was I an effective teacher?” Typically, the students’ performance would be the evidence of how effective a teacher is. It is just simple logic to conclude that when the students perform well, they had been effectively taught by a good teacher. On the other hand, if the students have low performance, they must have had a bad teacher. Though it is true that the teacher is a big factor affecting a student’s overall performance, it has been a sad and unfair generalization to always say that when students get low grades, it is because of “teacher f act o r ”.
Yes, teachers have the greatest responsibility for a student’s learning. However, it’s a teacher’s role too to teach students how to be responsible and accountable learners. Our educational system must not miss the part of teaching students to be accountable for their own learning. This will also teach students long term lessons such as being accountable for their lives when they are adults. No one is to blame for how their lives will turn out but t h em sel v es.
In the long process of educating our students in our schools year after year, it is not only the curricular content that we want them to learn. We also must target students to learn the right attitude as they go along the process of education. Respect and responsibility are two important values that we must facilitate them to learn because as they learn these two values, they start to be proactive in their education. Much that our primary concern in school is the welfare of the students, we must also not to neglect the importance of dignifying the school and dignifying the teacher. Amidst the studentcentered mindset we have in our educational system today, the notion that the sole responsibility for a student’s learning lies on the teacher must be erased. Let us advocate partnership, between teachers and parents, between teachers and students. They all have active roles in the learning process.
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The author is Teacher III at Santos Ventura National High School-SHS