What is a Facilitator in Education?

To what extent does your understanding of the roles of a teacher and a facilitator coincide with the ideas in the article?

I recently attended a teacher training where an interesting point was made about facilitation and collaborative learning—"facilitation means helping."

That is, we as teachers do not emphasize our authority; rather, we "blend in" and make students feel we are there to guide them through and then let them go, knowing they can always return if they need help.

It is like a parent who supports the child while giving some freedom at the same time, so the child can explore the world and learn how to overcome small challenges. The child knows mom and dad are always there with open arms, whereas a "helicopter parent" will never trust the child to accomplish something alone, and as a consequence, the child will struggle to trust himself.

My views agree with those expressed in this article.

Do you think you possess the attributes of an effective facilitator? If you think you do, what makes you believe this? If you think you don’t, how can you develop necessary skills?

 

Image: (Conn, 2014)

It took me a while to stop "towering" and talking too much in the class, being too worried my students would be misguided and take the wrong path. Now my students are amazingly confident young adults who are trying out new things and are not afraid of speaking publicly. I have a student who stutters, and because there is empowerment and full support, the rest of the group supports him, so he speaks up and sometimes even leads his team. This student has recently taken on the role of an academic advisor.

My students often work in teams with minimal intervention from my side; I mainly roam around, eavesdrop, and correct things if needed.

"Tell me and I forget; teach me and I may remember; involve me and I learn."

Xunzi

When majority theories are introduced to students, I believe that the more they participate in discussions, the more they try to understand the new concept through trial and error, the better they will know and apply later.

I, as a facilitator, need to ensure they have proper conditions for learning.

In the article, I liked the part about motivation. It's natural to be discouraged when we see students falling behind or refusing to blend in. This should not stop us, however, once we know what exactly the problem is. In the majority of cases, the plan can be adjusted and the student can be involved (EU Business School, 2022).

If we make students more collaborative and make them practice shared responsibility, internal miscommunications can be solved even without the presence of the facilitator, just like in the example of my stuttering student above.

 

References:

EU Business School (2022). What is a Facilitator in Education? | EU Business School. [online] Blog | EU Business School. Available at: https://www.euruni.edu/blog/what-is-a-facilitator-in-education/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2023].

Image:

Conn, S. (2014). The Rise of the Helicopter Teacher. The chronicle of higher education. Available at: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2014/08/05/the-rise-of-the-helicopter-teacher/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2023].

 

 

 

My path to becoming an educational leader.

Image: (Ganesh, 2022)

I read the article by Töremen, F.: A Study of Facilitative Leadership Behavior and Its Role in the Success of Schools, and found it really thought-provoking. I would not say that my idea of leadership was entirely different, but it was definitely very limited.

For me, it all started in June 2022, when, upon returning from an annual leave, I suddenly realized I was promoted to the department’s head position. I had a fusion of feelings—frustration, excitement, fear... Yes, I could finally join the ranks of educational leaders I had always admired, but I also had to perform tasks for which I probably had no experience.

I was given an assistant, and so I sailed our boat.

I had to lead my department of 15 teachers, 2 office staff, and 24 units. Since it is a new university, the workload is also huge and sometimes hard to manage. I had a month to write a curriculum for the 4 years of study and develop syllabi for all the units taught. I am the type of person who likes to be led, but at this point I had to step out of my comfort zone and change.

If in the past, my preferred mode of communication was telegram, I now had to call people to get the problem resolved because messaging back and forth did not always work.

If the previous me was too shy to ask someone for help and would rather complete all the tasks independently, the new me learned how to delegate, set deadlines, and follow up.

I am more confident in what I do now; I no longer panic when I have a large amount of paperwork to complete within a short period of time, or when I have to explain to the teacher that the way they are used to doing things does not work here, and we work to different standards.

Those sweaty palms and shaky voices during first meetings and presentations are long gone.

Later, once things started settling down, I started contemplating how to become a better leader. 

I did not want a mere leader's position; I wanted to be someone inspiring and approachable. I did not want to discontinue my teaching, although there was no extra time for it, because I believe that when you are teaching, you are immersed in the process, you hear the student feedback, you see arising issues, and sometimes you are even able to prevent them. I wanted to see the ins and outs of the academic part of the faculty and attend to, and when possible, anticipate, the needs of the students and team of teachers. I am now trying to function outside the institution as well, engaging with experts and attending conferences.

Now the aim is to become a facilitative leader.

Facilitating means helping others set goals and work towards their achievement; the word itself means "making easy" (Töremen, 2004). I can relate to this, as I consider myself an empath and try to understand what others feel as much as I can.

The role of a facilitative leader goes far beyond being a leader; it impacts positive changes at educational institutions by making effective use of collaboration and teamwork and empowering people (Hallinger & Heck, 1996, p. 9).

As Berry (1993) states, a facilitative leader is not only well aware of the theoretical foundation of rules, policies, and methodologies; they are also skilled at managing time, project management, and planning and are excellent communicators and problem solvers. The list of personal attributes is much longer: "ability to learn; friendliness; tact; sensitivity; sincerity; genuineness; sense of humor; self-awareness; modesty; emotional stability; humanity; integrity."

A facilitatory leader is a driving force behind all the educational processes happening in a particular area, motivating and coordinating teaching staff and making their duties simple and efficient (Rallis & Gohdring, 2002, p. 17).

Töremen (2004) concludes that the facilitative leader plays an indispensable role in leading the team towards common goals. They do this by cooperating, coordinating, and continuously motivating.

 

Reference list

Berry, M. (1993). Changing Perspectives on Facilitation Skills Development. Journal of European Industrial Training, 17(3). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/03090599310026355.

Hallinger, P. and Heck, R.H. (1996). Reassessing the Principal’s Role in School Effectiveness: A Review of Empirical Research, 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), pp.5–44. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x96032001002.

Rallis, S.F. and Goldring, E.B. (2000). Principals of Dynamic Schools. Corwin Press.

Töremen, F. (2004). A Study of Facilitative Leadership Behavior and Its Role in the Success of Schools. International Journal of Educational Reform, 13(3), pp.295–306. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/105678790401300308.

Image:

Ganesh, K. (2022). Employee engagement. Culture Monkey. Available at: https://www.culturemonkey.io/employee-engagement/employee-empowerment-and-autonomy-survey-questions/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2023].

 

 

What do you find hardest about teaching online and using technology in your teaching and learning?

 

I have already been teaching offline for over two decades now, and in the past, if I came across some colleagues who had a distinct web presence with their blogs or social network profiles, etc., I would just admire them and think that my "bonding with technology" time is yet to come.

March 2019, however, had different plans for myself and, I believe, the majority of educators. Educational institutions were closed because of global pandemic restrictions, and both students and teachers were left puzzled and unaware of what to do next.

The majority of my students were from remote regions of Uzbekistan, and very few of them had laptops, so we created a telegram channel where it all started.

I would share jpg images, pdf files, and audio instructions, and students would send their spoken answers in the form of recordings and writings as a photo of the notes.

Considering all the waiting, checking, and providing feedback, a normal 90-minute lesson lasted twice as long. But the first step was taken, which was great.

Then I had to learn how to use both Zoom and Microsoft Teams as both institutions I worked for used different platforms.

I would not say that I have full proficiency now, but I am proud to have good working skills in both mediums now.

Teaching online had obviously demonstrated various advantages – from the ability to work remotely and having more personal time, as I no longer had to commute to and fro.

There are amazing opportunities for conducting surveys and collecting instant feedback from students, ability to embed videos/audios into the lesson without the need to use additional multimedia resources.

I have also encountered a few challenges from both my side and the students.

To be continued…….