I and a colleague from the Facilitators Network of Singapore (FNS) visited a sample of the Goducate Learning Centers in Sabah to assess the teaching practices there in order to see how we might be able to help them. We observed classes ranging from level 1 to level 4.
The community being helped by Goducate here are Filipinos from the southern Philippines who came over to escape the civil strife, unemployment, and poverty they were facing in their home country. As undocumented aliens (stateless people), their children are not entitled to state education. Goducate has been training the more educated of the mothers there how to teach the children literacy and numeracy and primary school lessons.
To our pleasant surprise we observed that a Philippines curriculum was well established and standardised across the centers. The dedication and enthusiasm of the mothers who were doubling up as teachers was striking. Instead of dampening their spirits, the poor environment they live and teach in, often swampy or flooded, together with their limited resources, strengthened their resolve to do their “best” for their students. The teachers not only displayed a high level of involvement but also a measure of accountability and a high degree of motivation, as demonstrated by their passion to constantly upgrade themselves in order to benefit their students.
A few students who have “graduated” from the learning centers have become main or assistant teachers. This engenders a sense of community within the centers. Some other students still studying at the centers at a higher class level are helping as assistant teachers in the lower classes. This gives them a sense of responsibility and experience, and also teaches them about giving back to society. Having assistant teachers allows all students to get sufficient attention, especially in class sizes of greater than 10-15 students.
However, there was minimum interaction between the teachers and students, with teachers feeding information to students but very little discussion about the topic being taught. There was not much encouragement for students who answered correctly or finished a task on time, nor was there group sharing.
We had informal conversations and interviews with the teachers and assistant teachers. We also conducted focus groups. We asked questions pertaining to the highlights and lowlights of teaching, and how to become a good teacher. The teachers were very forthcoming and cooperative. The various answers that we received, consistent among which was a need for training to become a better teacher, will help us at FNS to prepare a program that will enable them to become facilitative and interactive teachers.
Guest writer Parul, Volunteer from Singapore