Like love and laughter, learning is available elsewhere but it is unquestionably the essential component of schooling
Laughter doesn’t discriminate – it’s for everyone. We can, and should, be fun-loving at any age. Young people only stop being playful if we condition them away from it. Given that they spend such a large proportion of their childhoods in schools, it wouldn’t actually make sense for fun and laughter not to feature.
that is a tough ask. No violin or pity cap needed here, I imagine. I can safely state that we teachers are the butt of a lot of abuse and criticism. Some among us may deserve it, but not all.Whereas learning could perhaps be the whole point of schooling in the days of reading, writing and arithmetic that is not true of learning in the 21st century. Like love and laughter, learning is available elsewhere but it is unquestionably the essential component of schooling.
Twenty-first-century learning happens in real time with new questions constantly emerging. There are more questions than there are answers and this is warmly welcomed. Learners know as much, if not more, than their teachers, and this is recognised without in any way compromising a teacher’s expertise and justified role in their students’ learning. In the same way as we value more than the academic about our students, society must embrace more than the academic in us as teachers.
And so, as the rigid knowledge-based approach fell by the wayside, the gap between students and teachers narrowed. A different affinity has grown and paved the way for the three Ls: learning, love and laughter. Each one has its part to play in forming accomplished and contented 21st-century learners