Impressions from a township school

To me it seems like most of the teaching is about getting the learners to learn and remember specific facts. To reflect and to think yourself as a learner happens rarely. The teacher is speaking; the learners are listening and trying to find the right answer to the teacher’s questions. It is facts based on facts. At this point the teaching is very different from how it is in the Danish school system. At VIA University College in Aarhus we learn how important it is to teach each learner differently, because each learner has his own learning style. Some learn best by listening, some by talking, and some by discussing in groups and so on. Cooperative learning is a keyword in Danish teaching.

Here it seems like every learner learns in the same way and they don’t see the learners indviidually. I am left to wonder which kind of teaching is the best. And there is neither any right answer for that. I think sometimes you have to sit on your chair and listen, you have to learn to listen, to understand and remember. From that point of view the Danish way to teach seems like a modern, new idea which is more based on having fun in school and listening to the learners than for the teacher to be in charge and actually teach. From that point of view I see the traditional teaching with tests as necessary. But in reverse I think different kinds of teaching and varied methods can be a very motivating factor. To Danish students in these days this teaching in the township schools would be seen as old, traditional teaching, which is similar to how it was in Denmark 50 years ago. And what about individual student conversations and cooperation between parents and teachers, which is very important in the Danish school system?

I also noticed how different the faculties in South Africa are compared to the Danish’. They’ve got the faculty Life Orientation, where they learn about life, relationships, how to behave, career possibilities, alcohol, drugs etc. The last mentioned are warnings. In the Danish School system we have a law about the school’s responsibility to teach the learners. It is like the mission of the school. For instance it says that the learners have to learn how to behave in life and in our society. But the different is that we don’t have a specific faculty about that. Why do they have it here? In that context I asked some of the learners, what the school means to them, what they learn and if they like to go to school. These questions resulted in a very interesting conversation about the importance of going to school. “We have to educate or else we haven’t got a chance in life. “I love to go to school – It is my second home.” “We learn how to behave.” If I asked the same questions in a Danish school, how would the answers be? Without prejudices I think most of the learners in 7^th, 8^th or 9^th grade in Denmark would give me the opposite answers than the South African learners did. Interesting and thoughtful.

From this teaching practice I got many questions, thoughts and experiences to bring home. The learners are so polite and disciplined, and I think we, in Denmark, can learn a lot from that mentality.

Dorte