ABSTRACT
Once we realise the crucial role the teacher plays in the mental and emotional life of students, it becomes essential to examine the attitudes and expectations he brings to the relationship. The teacher will be aware of some of these and not at all aware of others, yet they will all deeply colour the way he views (a) the nature of his role, (b) the way he perceives, interprets and responds to the students’ behaviour, and (c) the way he expects to be regarded by them. His convictions will be based on his life experiences and what he has learnt from them. They will have developed on the basis of what he felt towards those responsible for his education (not only his teachers but members of his family and other mentors), the way he perceived their adult behaviour and how they set about the fulfilment of their task as educators. It will be of the utmost importance whether the teacher’s attitudes are based primarily on an identification with the good qualities of parents and teachers and an appreciation of a child’s difficulties and struggles; or alternatively, on the more unhelpful qualities of his parents and teachers and/or his own unsatisfied child-like desires. Let us consider the following statements made by student teachers in discussing their choice of career;
‘I enjoyed school and liked my literature teacher in particular. He was enthusiastic about English, encouraged me to go on when I felt hopeless about my progress, but was strict when I was shirking work. I found him a great help and would like to become like him.’
‘I hated school. I couldn’t bear all the rules and disciplines. When I become a teacher, I want to let the children do just what they like and I will help them to rebel against anyone in authority.’
40‘I had a very strict upbringing. Self-control, doing what you were told and being punished if you did not obey were the order of the day, both at home and at my boarding school. I did not particularly like it, but think it was good for me and I believe that this kind of discipline would do the kids of today a power of good.’
‘My parents cared only about my academic achievements. I did well at school, but I became a blue-stocking and my social life suffered. I would like to show the students I teach that I don’t only judge them on the basis of their work performance but that they matter as individuals.’
These comments show how much the aspiration of the student teachers derived from their identification with admired, respected or feared adults on the one hand, and their identification with children on the other. The teacher thus approaches the student with a dual perspective. He looks at the student from the point of view of an adult responsible for educating him; at the same time he has some awareness based on his own experiences of what it is like to be a child, an adolescent, a pupil and hence he has some preconceptions about the feelings which students may harbour towards adults and teachers. We should note further that it was the students’ perception of the nature of the relationship between teacher and taught which shaped their concept of teaching and made them want to pass on to the next generation the kind of education they had had or, alternatively, wished they had received in the past.