Teaching as a profession, has been always important in history, documented from the early Greeks, with Aristotle and Plato still regarded highly into today’s world. I still believe we are learning new strategies for learning.  As the human race develops, so does teaching. From early Neanderthal man teaching other primitive man to hunt transformed to our current a complex educational profession. We have to contextualize our learning to what is happening around us. The learning has to be relevant to our needs. 

 As Plato,Father of Western philosophy, once commented ‘The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life”.

A teacher’s job is to open doors, transferring knowledge, values and skills to their students. Using a variety of skill sets and constantly learning. A teacher plays more than a faciliator of education but a role model which can effect the development of a person, providing a moral conduct thus helping a person to find right direction of their life. Schools creates life learners, but only if the test result are right?  

 Plato states ‘If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life’. But what is the purposes for gaining education? Is it because education helps to maintain a person’s social and financial life. Or is it because the child gained a certain score in test?  This is a well speculated discourse. We can all list the benefits of education and how ‘knowledge is power’. But recently the government has put an important purpose of education on the test scores? As higher levels of education in the future should help reduce poverty and unemployment but mental health issues in primary school continue to rise to record levels due to the stress of test. The importance of good teachers should not be defined by their class’ test results. Otherwise, teacher will teach students how to pass the test instead of enriching children’s educational learning experience. 

A learning experience can be as wide as minding the step, to an epiphany  moment. We are learning all the time, every day, which helps develop us as a person. But as we are all different so are our ways of  learning. We are all familiar withNeil Fleming’s VARK Model.  Which states ‘Fleming argued that although demonstrating a preference for one style, some people have a mixed and balanced blend of all four styles.’ But how do we think/know what style best suits us. over-reliance on any one style and an unwillingness to adopt another style when it might be more appropriate might hinder learning.  Once I had be reintroduced to this theory, I started to analyze my practice. How I was using the Vark’s model in my practice?

I have identified barriers to learning which reflects how I learn As a primary school student, I was not assessible to some of the teaching because I am a kinesthetic learner. In addition, teaching in the early eighties was very different compared to the teaching in the modern day. I think teachers in the eighties were not aware of Vark’s model, and solely based the learning themes on auditory task. My practice has been developed through reflection.

I have been reintroduced to ‘reflecting’ by this course. Thank you! The process of reflecting both negative and positive experiences have a positive outcome on my practice. The course so far has enabled me to use reflection  and develop my practice further.