Week 15 (02/05/2012-09/05/2012)

Professional Blog

This has been a very busy week as we had a visit from a tutor from Stranmillis, Jayne Moore. It was such a nice surprise to have a familiar face from home come and visit us. We very much enjoyed showing Jane around the local sites, our university, and accommodation and were able to enjoy the sun while filling her in on our experiences. 

Enjoying tea and cake in the sun with Kerri, Trisha and Jayne.

Professionally, this was also a busy week as we had our exam paper to begin writing and we also had our first visit to a Danish school since arriving here which was an amazing experience! I didn’t expect the atmosphere in school to be so different than in Northern Ireland, but I really felt that it was. 

One of the first things that I noticed when arriving at the school is how casually the teachers dressed. I had been told by the Danish students that teachers commonly wear jeans, however Kerri, Trisha, Jane and I  decided to dress in our usual professional clothing as we didn’t quite ‘feel right’ going to a school dressed casually. Even the Principal of the school was wearing jeans and trainers; therefore he wasn’t easily identified by us! The relaxed dress-code in the school immediately made me feel relaxed and also adds to the relaxed atmosphere within the school.

Kerri, Trisha and I outside the School.

In Denmark, pupils don’t wear uniforms; they can wear whatever they like, just like the teachers. The positive, relaxed ethos within the school could be very clearly seen as there are very positive teacher-pupil relationships. This is a result of teachers being on the same level as the pupils, there is no teacher-pupil hierarchy, like there is in Northern Ireland. I think that this is a result of teachers being called by their first names and having a very personal approach to teaching which makes teachers more personable and breaks down barriers between the teacher and pupils. This is the opposite to Northern Ireland were teachers are called by their second names and try to keep their personal life completely separate from their teaching. 

Open outdoor play area on the edge of the forest.

Having seeing it work so well in Denmark and sharing my ideas with Danish students, I think it is important for pupils to see their teacher as a human being who also makes mistakes and for teachers to express their real personality within the classroom. I have seen that this works within the classroom, as the pupils I observed clearly have immense respect for their teachers, a level of respect, which I haven’t seen to the same extent on my teaching practices in Northern Ireland. This is not to say that in Northern Ireland teachers are not respected, they are, but not the level of respect I have seen in Denmark. This is the level of respect that I now hope to strive for, and being lucky enough to observe excellent practice in Denmark has definitely influenced the way in which I see myself as a teacher and a person. 

It is safe to say that I have taken a lot away with me from my visit to a Danish School and am looking forward to putting it to practice on my teaching practice next year, back in Northern Ireland.