From all of my teachers, I have learned, and from my students – most of all
Preschool and elementary school is a warm environment with an amazing potential to shape a child’s character and essence in the short and long-term. At these ages (from preschool to 8th grade), the student can be brought closer to his mental, emotional and cognitive potential in preparation for his adult life and future.
Essentially, during these years, educators are a crucial factor who have a huge influence on the student’s development and life.
World leaders expect that within two decades, over 60% of the jobs in today’s market will disappear. On the other hand, no one can predict which jobs will be in demand in two decades from now.
So, which skills should we be teaching the young generation to prepare them for an undefined future?
Therefore, educators must be uniquely prepared and provided with empowering cognitive tools that will enable them to develop their students with the relevant methods and skills for thinking, behavior and cognizance.
From all of my teachers, I have learned, and from my students:
most of all
Education that focuses on excellence is based on the principles of cognitive and personality development. The challenges that society faces also exist in the educational system, and the demand for instant gratification leads to frustration.
The process of making the change in kindergartens and elementary schools is simple, and based on the underlying belief that instead of investing efforts in fixing, let’s invest resources in building the system in a manner that keeps the challenges of the keyboard era in mind.
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination
In preschool and elementary school environments around the world, despite this great potential to influence and shape children’s lives with long-term results, we find an inherent paradox – these children, who can be empowered through so many subjects and methods, learn from people with huge educational potential whose contribution is expressed primarily as didactic, pedagogical teaching (which is also important). But they do not truly undergo a holistic empowerment process during the time spent with their teachers in elementary school.
With great caution and respect for the role of teachers in elementary schools (including kindergarten), we may say that today, in most of the educational systems around the world, the centrality of the teacher in the educational process and in shaping the student’s character is not properly realized. It is possible to transform elementary school teachers into people who do so much more than transfer information.