Teachers as effective facilitators play a crucial role in ensuring holistic development of students by not only providing knowledge and developing their cognitive skills but also by nurturing in them personal-social qualities and necessary skills so that they are able to perform their best in every aspect of their personal, social and academic lives. Imbibing and displaying of personal-social qualities such as care, concern, sensitivity, acceptance, empathy, cooperation etc. by teachers, students and other stakeholders in classroom/school helps in creating a conducive environment, which is the precondition for learning.
In the 21st century we are surrounded by umpteen opportunities for interacting in virtual world. As a consequence, the need to interact meaningfully in real world is diminishing. To nurture in students the value of real world relations and build their capacities for building and nurturing healthy interpersonal relationships, it is pertinent to create an effective and conducive teaching – learning environment wherein both teacher and student can transact effectively, thus making the process of learning a meaningful endeavor. This article provides guidance for developing personal social qualities in students and also helps state resource groups and teachers to assess themselves on these qualities and showcase them in their interactions with students. It will help teachers to build their understanding about the personal-social qualities, reflect on their own personal-social qualities for the development of the same in learners, develop qualities and skills required to provide guidance in classroom, create an environment in schools/classrooms where everyone feels accepted, confident, cared and are concerned about each other’s well-being.
How can teachers demonstrate sensitivity and care to
• facilitate student learning
• make them feel accepted, encouraged and motivated.
Some qualities and skills teachers need to develop for creating healthy environment in school/classrooms and provide guidance to students are given below.
Sensitivity and Care
Being sensitive and caring about one another is one of the primary qualities necessary for building, maintaining and improving any interpersonal relationship. In the teaching learning environment these qualities play a crucial role in building and strengthening the bond between teacher-student, student-student, teacher-teacher, etc.
In the classroom, sensitivity and care when expressed through verbal and non-verbal behaviour by teachers to students and between students, conveys an understanding for each other’s strengths and weaknesses without being judged or evaluated. This feeling encourages all to exert more effort and strive to improve upon their weaknesses and strengthen their abilities, thus leading to a psychologically safe and conducive environment.
Sensitivity also involves awareness of one’s own attitudes towards issues such as gender, culture, disability, social disadvantage, human rights, etc. which help to recognize one’s actions (in thought, feeling and behaviour). Sensitivity assists teachers in knowing, understanding and evaluating their students’ strengths, weaknesses, unique characteristics, etc. in an unbiased way. To be sensitive and caring, one requires to be a good observer of one’s own and others’ expressions, have the capability to understand feelings and thoughts through verbal and non-verbal expressions, have the ability to accept oneself and others as they are without any bias, ability to share one’s resources (physical, cognitive, etc.) with dignity and show respect towards others’ resources. Being sensitive and caring also requires patience and communicating the same to others.
