This year’s UNESCO World Teacher’s Day champions the central role that teachers have played during the pandemic and subsequently in education’s road to recovery.
In my daily work at AMC, meeting and speaking with teachers regularly, and also as a parent with school-aged children, I’m aware of the many difficulties presented to teachers by COVID-19 in the past 18 months in both the private and state sector.
Multiple factors lead to technical challenges across the delivery of online learning and logistical hurdles in getting children safely back on school premises.
But despite this there has been a breakthrough success; teachers have still managed to find a way to maintain stability for children during this insecure time. They’ve been able to build real, strong relationships with pupils even without being in the same room, cultivating the fundamental element of trust.
UNESCO describe their efforts as having been “determined and diligent”. As educators grapple with new challenges, whether it’s the introduction of Saturday lessons to catch up on the missed learning, or the roll out of vaccines for 12-16 year olds, one thing’s for sure, teachers the world over have helped our children cope with the uncertainties.
I‘m sure when children become adults, they will remember the ways their teachers adapted in order to help them through the century’s biggest challenge.
Here’s to ‘determined and diligent’ teachers around the world. Happy World Teachers Day.
