What school teachers think about self-education
The modern education has taken a shift that has influenced the perceptions and feelings of stakeholders such as teachers, students, parents and the community at large. The introduction of self-learning in school is a major characteristic of the modern education. It is amazing to realize the ambivalent feelings of teachers about self-regulated learning for the students they teach. Some of them support it while others think it might affect the teacher-student relationship. Overall, teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about self-education influence how they think and integrate it in their schools.
Some of the thoughts teachers have concerning self-education include:
It requires more discipline than schooling
Unlike schooling where internal incentives keep a student-focused, self-directed learning requires a higher discipline. The rewards, assignments and other factors that encourage a student to learn are absent in self-directed learning. As a result, only students who are disciplined make it through self-education. Teachers believe that students can do better with self-education only when they are disciplined. Some encourage self-directed learning as a way of building discipline in the students.
It enhances the learning of skills
Teachers agree to the fact that self-education encourages learning of new skills unlike the impartation of knowledge as in schooling. Most schools use the approach of formal education where they work towards achieving certain objectives. These objectives are teacher-initiated. Teachers think that achieving such objectives is the ultimate goal of learning. They perceive self-education to be lacking the basic idea of objective learning.
It gives the learner freedom
Teachers who advocate for self-directed learning think that it is a good approach because it allows learners the freedom of learning. Unlike having the teacher to make decisions on the objectives, self-education gives students the freedom to determine their objectives. These teachers believe that this freedom is important for the overall development of the child. Besides, it poses some discipline that boosts their way of thinking and their approach towards life.
It reduces interaction between teachers and students
Unlike the proponents of self-education, some teachers think that it would reduce the interaction students had with their teachers. Some students would do personal studies with minimal consultations. This has been experienced in the past with students preferring peer discussions over consultation with their teachers. Self-education can be unpredictable since most of the learners have their objectives and approaches to learning. While it is true that it reduces the level of interaction, students gain much through peer consultations and private study sessions.
It reduces a teacher’s sense of control
Most schools impose the sense of control to the teachers. This culture makes teachers feel challenged when students try to make decisions on their own. Self-directed learning makes such teachers think they would lack a sense of control to their learners.
Many researchers have been done to establish the attitudes and feelings of teachers and students concerning self-directed learning. In such investigations, interviews are conducted with teachers giving their opinions about the subject. In a research that aimed at establishing the attitudes of teachers on self-directed learning, most of the participants felt that students need a specialist to guide them. For teachers, they value their role of directing, controlling, and helping learners achieve their goals. They feel that self-directed learning would diminish their role as ‘gurus.’ It does not only deny them the chance to direct learners but also reduces the impact of their input.
A different group of teachers also responded negatively asserting that students can easily digress or lose objectivity through self-directed learning. They felt that they play a significant role in helping learners maintain their focus on their studies. The teacher-initiated approaches and objectives are more effective than what students initiate on their own. Such teachers would discourage parents and school management to allow their children to trust the impact of schooling and teacher-directed learning.
Most teachers feel they are role models. When interviewed, they asserted the major role of teachers in school is showing a good example to the learners in all aspects of life. Most importantly, most teachers say that they have a role of showing good morals and value to their learners. This may not be possible with self-directed learning that overlooks the importance of teachers’ impact.
Some teachers in the same interview supported self-directed learning. They confessed that they would support students to nurture individual learning. They said that it taught learners to be responsible for their lives including the academic dimension. Some students need time to stimulate the creativity, innovation, and other values that they need in life. They said that education is more than what some teachers perceive. Hence, the agreed to the fact that self-directed learning would be beneficial to them.
It is notable that most students prefer self-directed learning due to the demanding nature of schooling. Most colleges have institutionalized exercises such as custom essay writing. Since students dread writing such academic papers, they rely on essay writing services to help them achieve the teacher-set goals. Term paper writing services are still helpful to the self-directed learners who may want to do essays, research papers, and other academic papers. Overall, many students benefit from professionals who help them do their papers. While they access such services for money, they experience the importance of submitting papers done by experts.
Learning is dynamic, especially in the current system. Unlike the traditional learning system that depicted rigidity, flexibility is encouraged today for the benefit of the learners. Most students need to combine learning with family or jobs. As a result, adhering to the traditional schooling system becomes hard for them. Since self-directed learning gives students the freedom to choose the appropriate time that they want to learn, they can also determine how they want to learn such materials. Some teachers support such programs for students to benefit. However, some have indifferent opinions due to the fear of losing their authoritarian position in schools and colleges. Some believe that self-directed learning would transfer such authority and control to the learners.
