Student Voice and Teacher Professional Development by David Morris

Author:David Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030234676
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Trust and Empathy

There is good reason to believe from the literature that when pupils are safe in the knowledge that they will be listened to (Mullis 2011) and their opinions taken seriously (Stenhouse 1975), then they will trust their teachers to the extent that they can be open and honest (Lodge 2005). This was noticeable during the Teach a Teacher project and was exemplified by the level of openness and trust which appeared to exist between the teachers and their pupils when it came to them declaring their lack of IT knowledge and skills.

During a session where one teacher, Mr Maxwell, was being shown by pupils how to embed sound files, he said, ‘I’ve tried and failed in the past to do stuff like that,’ and when being shown how to create hyperlinks he openly confessed that: ‘This is brand new territory for me.’ Another teacher, Mr Kennedy, found keyboard shortcuts confusing and preferred to use the menu options he was used to rather than being shown alternative ways, and when asked by pupils to open a new tab in his browser, he said: ‘I don’t know what a tab on the internet is, guys.’ What is evident here is that where teachers build such narratives with pupils there needs to be openness and honesty in order for that trust and empathy to develop and take place. Although Mr Maxwell provides pupils with a straightforward account of how technology is a challenge for him, and Mr Kennedy is quick to declare unfamiliarity with terminology, there is clearly a level of trust with their pupils which has allowed them to make such admissions. It is possible that this trust stems from the reasons that pupils gave for wanting to work with their chosen teacher. In the first instance, all pupils wanted to work with their teacher because they liked them, and secondly, they showed empathy in recognising that their teachers needed help and were non-judgemental about their lack of IT skills.

During one of the pupil focus groups when asked about why they wanted to work with their teacher, Craig said: ‘She’s a really nice teacher and sometimes when we’re in her lessons she struggles with things to do with the computer. She doesn’t know that she’s frozen the [ interactive] board and then its simple things that she forgets,’ to which Lenny added: ‘Yeah, she gets a bit confused sometimes.’ This exchange between Craig and Lenny raises the question as to why they felt they could approach their teachers so openly about what is potentially a sensitive area for them. In the same way that the teachers were honest and upfront with their pupils there evolves, from the data, the possibility that there existed a shared commitment to achieving common goals (Lizzio et al. 2011)—in this case the development of teachers’ capability with ICT to enhance teaching and learning.

Above and beyond liking their teachers and accepting that they needed help with their digital skills, another feature noted in the focus groups was the perceived shift in their relationship with their teacher as a result of the project.

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