Events and Projects
2025
Two-part teacher/middle management professional development essay
This workshop segment examines the fundamental disconnect between teachers' instructional objectives and learners' emotional and social needs in the classroom. While teachers focus on curriculum coverage, skill development, and future preparation, students prioritize being noticed, feeling safe, avoiding embarrassment, and connecting with their interests and peers. Through research-based evidence comparing student-nominated versus non-nominated teachers, participants will explore how quality teaching and learning emerge from pedagogical responsiveness rather than control-based approaches.
The session highlights that effective teachers build rapport through genuine care for student well-being, establish trust and encouragement alongside high expectations, create varied and engaging learning experiences, and foster interactional, project-based environments where students make sense of their world. In contrast, teachers who rely primarily on imposing control through rules, consequences, and competitive environments, with limited differentiation and peer interaction, struggle to create the conditions necessary for meaningful learning and positive classroom dynamics.
Practical activity
Following the presentations and facilitated discussions, teachers and middle managers engage in collaborative group work designed to translate theory into practice. Each team examines a contextually relevant case study featuring a lesson plan grounded in traditional top-down instructional methods. Through critical analysis and creative redesign, teams are allocated dedicated time to develop an alternative lesson plan that authentically integrates African educational philosophies, incorporating elements such as community-based learning, dialogical pedagogy, cultural affirmation, and collaborative knowledge construction. Upon completion, each team presents their reimagined lesson plan to the full cohort, articulating their pedagogical rationale and highlighting how their approach addresses learner needs, fosters inclusive participation, and promotes transformative learning.
The workshop concludes with a plenary discussion that creates space for collective reflection, cross-pollination of ideas, and the identification of practical strategies for implementing these pedagogical shifts within participants' own educational contexts.