World’s Greatest Teacher
If you find your way into any staffroom and go to make a cup of tea, somewhere close to the kettle there will be a cupboard full of assorted mugs. What is also a certainty is that amongst the varied collection of shapes, sizes and colours you will come across one that proudly declares the message ‘World’s Greatest Teacher’. These generic end of term presents are an easy ‘go to’ gift for caring pupils who want to express gratitude for their teacher’s hard work. Sadly, the fact that there are literally thousands of these mugs in existence can somewhat devalue the well-meant sentiment behind the present.
In the same way that the motifs of Greatest Dads, Greatest Mum’s or Greatest whoever’s that adorn these mugs or other trinkets, the message is not specific enough to have real meaning. I am, however, not suggesting for one second that parents should feel obliged to spend even more money to make these gifts bespoke by adding personal names. Actually I would much prefer if these items of staffroom ballast disappeared altogether.
There are a couple of very simple observations I would make. Firstly children learn from people they like and secondly every primary school child should love their teacher. With this being the case I get the fact that pupils will want to say thank you to their teacher. Wouldn’t be great though if the thankyou’s focused in on the things that made their teacher one of the best in the business
I think is that it would be really easy for anyone to compile a checklist of actual qualities that an outstanding teacher possesses. They just have to ask the children!
This could then be something that parents and children could reference when thanking the teachers at the end of the year.
Best teachers in the world, according to this discerning audience, do interesting activities, are clever, quite strict but have a sense of humour, would not be bossy, shout all the time, give unfair punishments or set work that is too hard. The best teachers are excited, enjoy themselves, have purpose and say positive stuff. I am fairly confident that any possible components of this fictional checklist would not have changed at all in many years. The world we live in may be unrecognisable but children are still children and if you want to find out what makes a good teacher ask a child.
Having been in schools for many, many years I am not really certain where the end of year tradition of giving gifts to teachers emerged from? I would presume that their origin lies somewhere in the clever marketing strategies of firms in the greeting card industry who habitually come up with new and ingenious reasons for us to celebrate something or someone. The fact is that ‘The World’s Greatest Teacher’ trend is here to stay. It is just a shame that those really special classroom artists, magicians and educators who help shape our children’s future are swept up in one bland, generic descriptive term.
For me the reality is that our profession is heavily populated with fantastic teachers who serve our schools and academies day after day, year after year. These committed individuals provide the energy, enthusiasm and expertise to make a difference and they absolutely deserve recognition. Just don’t give them a mug!