Public and private schools throughout Anguilla participated in a unique and enjoyable exercise on Monday, October 6, whereby teachers and students exchanged roles in the classrooms. In other words, principals and teachers became the students and the students replaced the teachers.
In some instances, the teaching staff of the schools found themselves ordered around and even written up for late arrival, improper attire and other infractions of the rules.
The event was among a series of activities drawn up by the Anguilla Teachers’ Union in observance of Teachers’ Week 2014 under the theme “Unite for Quality Education: Better Education for a Better World”.
The union, through its energetic and influential President, Ms Emma Ferguson, found it relatively easy to secure the involvement of all the schools. This was confirmed by Mr Andrew Blake, Principal at the Central Christian School, which boasts a pre-school and a primary school.
“We got directives from the Teachers’ Union folks that we were going to have a teachers turn-around today. It was a first for us and very, very exciting,” Mr Blake told The Anguillian. The students and teachers who participated were ecstatic. When I stepped out of my car this morning in my short pants, the whole school was in an uproar. Everybody was pleased and happy that the teachers had a sense of humour and were able to make themselves look, feel and sound just like students; and the students were very comfortable and very happy with it.”
Mr Blake told some stories about teachers being disciplined by students. “Both a Grade Five Teacher and I were reprimanded for using our cellular phones in class, and I was sent to the Principal’s Office for coming back too late from lunch. So we got disciplined for these and other issues,” he told The Anguillian. “I was talking in class so I got in trouble for that as well. It was a very good day. The only thing that was needed was for us to maintain order in the classroom. The kids really did a very good job teaching.
“In the first place it has taught some of our students how unreasonable they can be, sometimes, when a teacher asks them to be quiet or to pay attention. The two teachers who were taking care of my class learned the hard way but, for me, I was able to grasp the situation because I purposely gave them a hard time so I was able to get from them what it is like to experience discipline. I was not exactly a well-behaved child in school, so it was like bringing back memories to me. It was a pretty interesting day.”
