Aderemi Aaron-Anthony Atayero, vice-chancellor, Covenant University Otta, Ogun State and education experts have urged teachers of the future to be technology-savvy, innovative, thoughtful and collaborative among others.
They made this known in their various presentations at the 2019 Edustart Summit with the theme, ‘The Future Teacher’ hosted by Covenant University.
Atayero in his presentation opines that teachers of the future would be those who could successfully impart skills for critical thinking towards lifelong learning, adding that they would be those adept at teaching how and not what to learn.
The university don observed that the education of the future was a nebulous terrain that nobody could say with 100 percent certainty what its future would be.
He however said that Covenant University as a 21st century citadel of learning is mindful of her place in shaping the education of the future. “The educational institution of the future has no walls, the future teacher is a global citizen, and he must be able to reach different people of different nationalities”, he said.
Modupe Adefeso Olateju, director, TEP Centre, said that the factors to consider for effective teaching and learning were the physical environment, the curriculum and its assessment, quality assurance and support systems.
Olateju in her presentation titled, ‘How Teaching Should be Done’ said other factors that can shape teaching and learning includes teacher supply, training and development, accountability mechanisms and processes, links and partnerships with parents and community, school leadership, internal organisation and culture, and the well-being, attendance and motivation of all pupils.
According to her, “School leaders must instill passion in teachers and motivate teachers to engage learners. A teacher should strengthen learners’ self-belief and create mentally stimulating educational experiences. Communities should be considered as the ecosystem within which teaching and learning is situated, and schools must maintain requisite or stipulated levels of quality in the school system.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the initiator of the summit, Stephen Oluwatobi, asserted that in order for a nation to achieve sustainability, there must be a National Plan, Manpower Plan and Education Plan. He stated that the future of any country depended a lot on teachers as the quality of governance demonstrated by the leaders of a nation reflected the quality of teaching accessible to the leaders.
KELECHI EWUZIE
