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An expert has called on teachers to be innovative in teaching their pupils in order to improve the quality of education.
A retired professor of Rural Sociology, Janice Olawoye, made the appeal on Saturday, while delivering a keynote address at the third edition of Teachers’ Professional Connect, an annual programme organized by Peridot Global Consult. This year’s programme has the theme: “Exploring innovation strategies in education” coincides with the 2019 World Teachers’ Day.
Olawoye said innovation is important in education as this is the only way to improve on the quality of schools and make teaching conducive for teachers and pupils alike.
She said teachers must make their lessons flexible, noting that a proactive approach must be used to intoduce new things into the classroom.
Her words: Innovation involves the use of technology, ingenuity, brainstorming, change in mindset, being open to new ideas, collaborative effort and active learning.
“Teachers should engage the students and teach the way they learn. Once they are engaged, they would be interested to learn for understanding rather than memorise.
“Teachers should encourage students to use their imagination apart from copying notes and listening, you must also keep up with what is going on in the world and around you.”
Olawoye further stated that innovation is a fundamental different way of doing things, adding that the fact that the education system in the country is accepting things from the western world does not mean the old system should be discarded.
“Not everything should be accepted because it is western. Not everything that is western is good; let us analyse the good things that we have here and let us improve on it, ” she said.
She also urged teachers to monitor their students, saying they should carry out “analysis of emotion” on every student they engage.
“Students should be monitored in both cognitive and non-cognitive aspect,” Olawoye added.
In her welcome address, the converner of Teachers’ Professional Connect, Mrs Bolade Akharume, said the event was to look at ways of exploring innovations and strategies to meet up with the growth and dynamics in the field of education.
She noted that without innovation, learners would still be using slates and chalks.
“I doubt if these students would be able to connect with the kind of instructional materials we would be presenting during our teaching/learning interactions,” she said.