CAN A TEACHER INFLUENCE A CHILD’S LEARNING?

It is not an overstatement to say that a great teacher can change a student’s life. It is worthy to note that a child will spend most of their formative years – outside of the home – with teachers from all walks of life but most especially teachers in an academic institution or setting. While some answers to this age-old question have been no, a lot have been yes to teachers influencing a child’s learning. But how do we know this? Is there empirical proof? What does this influence even look like or doesn’t look like? 

When programming and coding started to become lucrative career choices in Nigeria, a lot of tutoring schools – both online and offline – started to pop up and there was an influx of students trying to vie for seats in the schools closest to them or most affordable for them. However, soon enough, we started to see a dwindle in these schools for many different reasons but most notably that they weren’t getting students anymore. Asking the students why they stopped going brought about a few responses and a lot of them cited either financial constraints or the inability to understand what was being taught. Bearing in mind that learning disabilities aren’t diagnosable in Nigeria, it is safe to assume most of the teachers expected every one of their students to assimilate and learn the same way with no regard for their capabilities or limitations. It makes one wonder if the percentage of students who dropped out would have lowered if their teachers took the time to teach them in a pattern that would help them understand better. This in its own form, is a kind of influence. 

Karina Richland, M.A., who has spent many years researching, learning differences and differentiated teaching practices states in a 2017 article that “Teachers’ influence and expectations of students also play a big role in the motivation of students. The rules and goals also play an important role in the thoughts and beliefs of the students. It is important for teachers to view themselves as being able to stimulate student motivation to learn.”

Besides an educational degree in the base subject, a great teacher, we will all agree, is one that makes learning fun, stimulating, and engaging and inspires their students to succeed, whatever the metric maybe for them. Every person, adult, or child can readily tell you two teacher stories. Their best and worst teachers and in most cases, the best teacher’s story has an air of gratitude and inspiration which might have led to getting a better grade, enjoying the subject more, or even the inspiration of a life journey while the worst teacher story sounds like contempt and annoyance with an anecdote of how they failed or almost failed that subject and in some extreme cases, students thinking they are not good enough for that course-related career-path.

The thing is influence is most times seen as a very big phenomenon, especially in this digital age where you must prove that you have or can influence people. But influence is also in the smaller things. Influence is a teacher understanding that their student has a hard time assimilating abstract phenomena that are rampant in the programming field and using non-abstract examples to draw parallels and help the student understand. Influence is also realizing a student has it hard maintaining focus and switching up the teaching methods and techniques to hold their focus and help them stay present during classes and study sessions. Little by little, it becomes easier for said student to draw their own non-abstract parallel and understand without help from their teacher. The best part is the extra boost in self-esteem that the student feels when their peers are discussing a subject and they can contribute or even bring a different perspective. 

A vital recommendation worth referencing from this Frontiers in a Psychology research paper which focuses on answering the question of if a teacher has any general influence on a child’s life is “This finding indicates that it is also likely that positive teacher-child relationships can promote children’s cooperative engagement in classroom activities and improves their social competence, while with negative teacher-child relationships, children may avoid school and demonstrate more externalizing behavior problems and less prosocial behaviors during interpersonal interactions (Hamre and Pianta, 2001; Hughes and Im, 2016)”. 

Children are malleable and impressionable and all it takes is a patient, understanding teacher with the right attitude to help a child learn whatever subject matter they may be interested in. A great teacher is observant and understanding of a child’s learning limit and helps them to improve and reach their goals. A great teacher understands that being part of a child’s formative years is a privilege and they take it seriously and make sure they impact every useful knowledge said child might need. 

It is often understated how much influence teachers can have on a child’s career path. There’s been a lot of instances where children feel like they can’t do a certain profession or even feel like they may amount to nothing and all it took was a teacher who showed them they could, and they did. A great example of this is Oprah Winfrey, who has, times without number, credited her 4th-grade teacher Ms. Duncan for setting her on the path she took and contributing to the extraordinary attitude to work that made her successful. 

A teacher who can influence their students’ learning ability is as important as a good government who understands what the people need and provides it for them. A positive learning experience helps the student grab the subject matter, digest it, and excel at it which in turn means the parents of the said child get a return on investment on their child’s education in terms of fulfillment and a possible lucrative career path. 

On a final note, it is without a doubt obvious that a teacher’s attitude towards how a child learns a subject matter and retains information on it is very vital and important. Children may be the leaders of tomorrow, but teachers are the potters shaping the minds of the children and providing them with the needed educational skills to excel and succeed in life.