Working towards Advanced Performance by Putting Respect at the Centre of Teaching and Learning: Laerskool Oospark

Mary Grosser

Respect is a fundamental trait that is needed to be successful in one’s personal and professional life. A changing and challenging world of the 21st century therefore demands not only the teaching of knowledge, but also the cultivation of thinking skills and in particular well developed dispositions/attitudes (in short, competencies to think and to behave) (Eyre, 2016; Pink, 2006). It is therefore essential that education should enable learners to become Advanced Performers, by moving beyond producing individuals who can read, write and count. Education must be transformative and bring shared values to life, and cultivate an active care for the world and for those with whom we share it (Eyre, 2016; Pink, 2006). According to Gardner (2010) a respectful mind, is one of the five minds that learner will need in future. This implies a mind that is aware of and appreciates differences among human beings and human groups.

Respect is difficult to measure, and as such, difficult to teach. With careful purposeful attention, observation of good role models, and re-enforcement this disposition can be nurtured in learners impeccably. Laerskool Oospark in Vanderbijlpark decided that the purposeful and intentional nurturing of “respect” should stand at the centre of teaching that aims to instil good thinking habits among learners at the school during 2017. The school joined the research project Developing Advanced Performers for the 21st century at the NWU Optentia Research Focus Area which aims to assist schools to help learners acquire the skills and dispositions of Advanced Performers. On 9 June 2017, the staff members at the school attended a workshop on how to proceed with the purposeful nurturing of respect among all learners. Teachers and learners at Laerskool Oospark collaboratively are in the process of deciding on what “respect” constitutes and developed a logo, which will display their conceptualisation of “respect”, and is displayed at strategic places in the school building.

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Each letter in the word “respect” will represent a different dimension of respect on which the focus will be placed. For now, R represents rules, E represents enthusiasm, and S represents self-discipline. As the project unfolds, the remaining letters will be linked to a dimension of respect. Other sub-dimensions that are considered as part of nurturing respect include diligence, neatness, service, discipline integrity, optimism, loyalty and humbleness. The logo symbolises the idea that respect is a thinking disposition that is understood in your mind (head), carried in your heart, and should become a habit when executing all daily activities (hands). The logo is also displayed on the letterhead of the school and against all the classroom walls, to make the importance of respect visible in the school.

In order to make the focus on respect visible in the school, each learner and teacher wears a red silicon wristband with the word of the dimension of respect that is reinforced in and outside the classroom. The word “rules” is branded on the wristband and serves as a constant reminder of what the focus in curricular and extra-curricular activities at the school is. Different colour branded silicon bands will be used to reflect the different dimensions of respect.

Some of the posters displayed in the school building.

Learners with their “respect” wristbands.

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References:

Eyre, D.M. (2016). High Performance Learning. How to become a world-class school . London: Routledge.

Gardner, H. (2010). Five minds for the future. In J. Bellanca & R. Brandt (Eds.), 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Learners Learn. (pp. 9-31). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Pink, D.H. (2006). A Whole New Mind. Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future. New York: Riverhead Books

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