In New Zealand, one of the first concepts you learn about in teacher education is Ako.
Ako means to both teach and learn. Teachers knowledge and practice comes through watching and learning from the children.
One of the rewarding parts of organising teacher workshops is when I the children themselves are able to come in and talk about their learning.
There are several advantages to this:
- The children show huge pride sharing their learning with other adults in the school.
- You can have lots of little ideas going on instead of one big one.
- The true testament of my teaching isn’t that I can talk about what I’m doing in the class but what the kids can do it.
How often do children make an appearance at your PL sessions?
Teaching the Teacher 