By Mrs. Sanjana Katoch
Principal
Suraj School, Bawal

“Teaching is Helping”

The teacher must adopt the role of facilitator, not a content provider.

“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him, discover it within himself.” Never teach pupils but only attempt to provide the conditions in which one can learn.

A facilitator is a person who assists a group of people in grasping at their common targets and in achieving them without any intervention on his/her behalf. When we say the teacher has to play the role of a facilitator in the classroom, this means that the teacher should not be the king who controls the activities of the learners. He/she should grant the learners some space to let the spirits of creativity and innovations. In other words, the learners must get involved in active participation that would be represented in argumentative discussions and teamwork activities, so that the process of learning becomes comprehensive.

Teachers are becoming learning facilitators. Their role is shifting from instructing students ‘construct their own learning.’ Traditionally, teachers are the ones with knowledge and expertise in a particular field. They impart that knowledge through a variety of means to their students.

A successful facilitator embodies respect for others and a watchful awareness of many layers of the reality in a human group. A facilitator is a person who helps a group of people to work together in a better way, understand their common objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives during meetings or discussions. In doing so, the facilitator remains neutral, meaning he/she doesn’t take a particular position in the discussion.

As a facilitator, the teacher’s job is to support every student to do their best thinking and practice. As a facilitator, the teacher encourages the full participation of students, promotes mutual understanding, and cultivates shared responsibility among students. By supporting every student to do their best thinking, a facilitator enables all students in a group to search for inclusive solutions and build sustainable agreements.

As a facilitator, teachers also require a good understanding of processes, how to enable group decision making, structuring agendas for appropriate results, problem-solving, etc. Teachers who are the high facilitator of personnel growth have these characteristics: Effective listening, genuineness, understanding, respect, intelligence, and skill in interpersonal communication.