My journey into education and child development

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle." ~ Steve Jobs

I am taking a break today from my usual Child Safety to talk a bit about my journey (still in progress) into Education and/or Child Development. 

I must confess that this post is long overdue. Please sit back and enjoy reading. 

I began year 2019 with a quest to get some knowledge about working with children - be it teaching, educational consulting, daycare etc. I wasn't exactly sure about the different areas or what I needed to focus on. This led me to enrol for the Professional Diploma in Education (PDE) with Corona College of Education, Lagos. The programme is a one-year diploma with an option for full time or part-time. I took the part-time option with classes that held on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays).  
Half-way through the session was a mandatory Teaching Practice (TP) of 12 weeks (8 weeks at the minimum) in a primary or secondary school. Having a full-time job, I had to take a leave of absence from work to enable me complete the Teaching Practice. It was really kind of my employer to let me take the time off considering that it is an area totally unrelated to my current job.
For the award of the diploma, Students are required to submit a dissertation based on original research. My dissertation was on "Study Habits and Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State". 

Dare I say the programme was quite an experience! I remember when I just completed my Masters in Finance and Investment Management about 10 years ago, I thought I'd had the last of classroom and degree awarding programmes that required me to submit a dissertation; I thought everything I'd do afterwards would be some professional development or short term courses (2-3 months at the maximum)...not an entire year of classes and submitting a dissertation before being awarded a degree. I must say it was worth it. The College was very supportive of students, although I wish we didn't have to take so many courses (absolutely necessary for newbies like me though).

I think the mandatory Teaching Practice is one of the 'not-so-many' things that the National Policy on Education (NPE) got right. Let's not even begin to start exploring all the things that we think are not right with the policy. Before I go on, I must acknowledge that things are changing in the Education sector lately. 

Now, it is mandatory to have an educational degree / qualification to be a teacher in Nigeria. No more "Ah, you just graduated and can't find a job yet? Oya come and teach in XYZ school while you wait for the job that you really want". One also has to be licensed (i.e. get authorised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria - TRCN) to become a teacher. Although slow in enforcing,  I think it is a massive progress from where we were where before where ANYONE could just be a teacher. I hope the authorities continue to enforce this.

I know it's tempting to start bashing Nigeria for demanding certificates for everything, but trust me, you want your child to be taught by someone who is really qualified to teach. For some of my classmates who were already teaching at the time of the programme and had been teachers for a number of years, they admitted to learning new things and having a better grasp or understanding of the sector and teaching generally. When you have knowledge, you are able to critically analyse or review your previously held beliefs or opinions about a thing and start to think of ways you can contribute to making changes in your own little way.

Anyway, it was a necessary experience I must say. One thing I learnt is that sometimes, we can idolise a particular thing/career from the outside until we get in there and fully understand how it works. At that point, it might be too late to get out considering how much time and resources we have spent in getting there. Teaching Practice helps with that, especially for professionals seeking to switch careers to education. You get a first-hand experience of how teaching works. That is what happened to me somewhat.

I honestly think teaching is tough in its own way; thanks to the lockdown as a result of Covid-19 last year, people now appreciate the job/profession that it is. 

Compared to Investment Banking (that I currently do), one might say it may not be as mentally challenging or tasking, especially for the lower classes. Investment Banking involves a lot of negotiation to close deals, building and thinking through financial models, structuring transactions, engaging various stakeholders etc. 

Teaching exhausts one…it drains oh!!! Haha! Well, until you get used to it like I did, and then you start to enjoy it. That's what happened to me in my first week. 
It’s almost like non-stop talking for the ENTIRE day. Imagine a bunch of 20 - 25 kids talking almost continuously. Before my TP, all the experience I had about teaching was just helping siblings, cousins, etc with homework as well as teaching children at Sunday school. For Sunday school, I'd spend just about 2-3 hours with the kids once a week so it's easy. Most times though, I usually go home just reminding God that I want just one child. 😃

As I was saying, teaching seems to consist of telling children to keep quiet, repeat multiple instructions while ensuring they actually get it and are doing as told, listening to constant ‘reporting’ from the kids and settling misunderstanding and differences. Between doing all these, I get reports of "Miss Essien, X touched me while you were busy, Y took my water bottle, Z moved his chair too close to mine, W called me names etc." In all of this, one needs to ensure that the children are actually being taught and are learning. I was assigned to Year 6, Year 3 and Year 1, so I think I got the entire experience of engaging with the children at those different levels/ages. I enjoyed it though.

Also, it is always a joy for teachers when parents are very supportive rather than making excuses for their children when they know there is an apparent situation that needs to be addressed. Teachers interact with children (their primary responsibility), school admin/management (their employer), fellow employees and of course the parents of children, meaning they need all the support they can get. 

To conclude on this my 'still progressing' journey, I should state that I am a qualified teacher (on paper that is, as I do not have the requisite formal experience if one was looking for an experienced teacher). But, I can teach, and can really engage children; it is something I love to do.
Would I really want to focus on classroom teaching for the long term? I am not sure, but I would love the experience; who knows, I just might love it and decide to stay there.

One of the things that interests me right now is Development/Child Psychology. Learning about child behaviour, parenting styles, relationships & socialising, cognitive development, counselling etc. I think I would love to particulary focus on the area of child behaviour. 

I shall keep you up to date as I make progress on this journey.

In the meantime, I remain The Baby Analyst, a financial analyst/investment banker who loves kids.