Sharing Good Practice exam criteria ? How much time did their teachers have to give them that a robot could not ? Not much . That ’ s when I knew I had to leave .
I have never looked at any of my students ’ predicted levels or scores at the start of any school year . I begin the year with an open mind without anyone else ’ s label on any of my students . What the ‘ Pygmalion Effect ’ and ‘ Golem Effect ’ studies have taught us is that students fulfil what is expected of them . These studies show that teachers are influenced by what they are told about students . In the Pygmalion study , teachers were informed that some students were expected to achieve great things and blossom in that year . They did not know that all students were chosen at random . The study showed that these students made the most progress by the end of the year .
The Golem effect showed the opposite is true . It is imperative therefore to have high expectations of every student , and to reaffirm this constantly . I tell all my students that I believe they can compete with anyone else in their year group , that they have the ability to rise . They love to hear this .
I now work in Abu Dhabi . I remember how my first year was full of wonder and exciting surprises . I was allowed to make decisions on what I wanted to teach . I was asked whether I had anything I wanted to contribute . I was given resources and told ‘ feel free to use / edit / bin !’ by my wise head of department . I was trusted as a professional .
My head of department at the time told us that the beginning of term should be about ‘ getting to know the students .’ I couldn ’ t thank her enough for seeing the value of teacher-student bonding . Who are my students as people ? What matters to them ? During this pandemic these questions have taken on even more importance .
me it made them feel secure and offered them a sense of belonging , togetherness . But beyond that , they asked themselves fundamental questions : Who am I and who do I want to be ?
I asked my former students who now have the power of reflection what made English so successful for them . This is what they attribute to their success . ‘ I think the fact that you took the time to get to know each of us as people instead of just another GCSE class to get through the course , being able to joke with all of us about our own traits and personalities also caused the success .’ ( Ava ) Strong relationships with my students matter . ‘ More often than not , teachers forget about the part that includes being a friend , a confidant , for children who need someone to talk to .’ ( Aamina ) I believe what Aamina said is true , young people often cannot talk openly when they leave the school space . Giving them this opportunity not only gave them confidence but strengthened their progress in my subject .
Who are your learners and what do they know ? As you think about your next lesson I urge you to consider how effectively you can answer this question .
I teach English . It ’ s words , it ’ s debate , it ’ s discussion , it ’ s dedicated space to talk . We held a debate lesson every two weeks where my students brought in their own topics . They told
Rafeef Kadhum is an Assistant Headteacher at British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi . During her 13 year career she has held various positions within schools both in the UK and internationally . Developing both colleagues and students is at the heart of her work .
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