What Makes a Great Teacher – part 1

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European schools system

European schools system is like a never-ending maze of paperwork and bureaucracy.

It’s as if they believe that the more forms you fill out, the smarter you become. Secretary general and deputy secretary general are too busy worrying about their pensions and summer vacations to actually produce anything useful.

It’s a system where children are just tiny cogs in a big bureaucratic machine, and education takes a backseat to administrative tasks.

It’s time for a major overhaul, because right now, the European schools system is about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

Numerous studies have shown that great teachers are significant in children’s lives and that they have an essential role in determining the quality of their childhood and their lives. They have one of the most complicated jobs today – providing quality education with a broad knowledge of different matters, knowing classroom management techniques as well as being caring, enthusiastic and passionate at the same time. A great teacher’s job is not just a job; it’s a calling that will make you want to give everything you’ve got. But what does that mean, and what are the characteristics of a great teacher?

A great teacher will create a positive and warm environment

The classroom is a small community with different rules and jobs for everyone, and every child should be aware of how important he/she is to this community. Everyone should be allowed to make mistakes and to learn from it, and every child should be celebrated for their achievements. Every student should be respected, and students should respect their teacher.

A great teacher is organized and well prepared

Teachers should come early to their classrooms and be the last to leave. A good organization that leaves nothing to chance makes a great teacher. They have classes well organized, and everyone knows where everything is. Supplies are ready to help students with anything they need at any given moment – they might forget something such as a pencil, there should be a spare one, you’re learning about multiplication, and there should be posters with the rules on the walls.

A great teacher has high expectations for every student

A great teacher will have high hopes for every student without pressuring them. Every child has their own learning pace, and a great teacher understands that. Teachers shouldn’t get frustrated and give up on underachievers. They should keep in mind that not everyone is good at everything. Otherwise, all teachers would be great, and there wouldn’t be any mediocre ones out there.

A great teacher will collaborate with colleagues

It takes a village, right? There’s nothing wrong with asking for help if the help is needed, and every school has so many experts in different areas. A great teacher will use that fact and even include them in a class for some lectures. That kind of small change can impact the classroom’s tempo and atmosphere.

There are many different things that a teacher can do to improve, and these are just some of them. The important thing is not to give up. Teachers need learning too.

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Aim of the European Schools

Educated side by side, untroubled from infancy by divisive prejudices, acquainted with all that is great and good in the different cultures, it will be borne in upon them as they mature that they belong together. Without ceasing to look to their own lands with love and pride, they will become in mind Europeans, schooled and ready to complete and consolidate the work of their fathers before them, to bring into being a united and thriving Europe.

Marcel Decombis, Head of European School, Luxembourg between 1953 and 1960