WANGARI KABURI
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TEACHER: My name is Wangari Kaburi. As an Award staff at The President’s Award-Kenya, my work has put me in a privileged position where I get to see, read and listen to the young people and others not so young anymore, tell about how The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award has and continues to transform them and their communities. I get to work with adults supporting the Award, many of them are teachers. They say the Award impacts them too.
As a trained teacher myself and having practiced classroom teaching for several years, non-formal Education is not a term I came across often, and as much as I helped my students learn outside the classroom through participation in clubs and societies, I never gave it the priority and attention it deserved. My understanding of learning and teaching is today different. It is broader and deeper. If I was to be a classroom teacher again, I would be a different kind of teacher. I would be one that is keen on learning outside the classroom, as much as I do inside the classroom. This is because I truly believe that all young people must be supported and given opportunities to discover their full potential, to. I would ensure that they acquire key skills they would need to thrive. Today I know that formal education alone is not enough to do this.
Young people say the Award gave/gives them a positive alternative at critical stages of their lives. For some, the ground you spring from as a new student joining secondary school and institution of higher learning. For others, an anchor you need to hold on to, and a tower from where you see a possibility of your wildest dreams come true. In a unique and at a personal level, they become better versions of themselves, better equipped with skills to be ready for the world.
I have learnt so much from the people in the Award: those I support, mentor, serve and work with. HRH’s legacy is bigger than we can imagine. It will live on in us and through us.
As a trained teacher myself and having practiced classroom teaching for several years, non-formal Education is not a term I came across often, and as much as I helped my students learn outside the classroom through participation in clubs and societies, I never gave it the priority and attention it deserved. My understanding of learning and teaching is today different. It is broader and deeper. If I was to be a classroom teacher again, I would be a different kind of teacher. I would be one that is keen on learning outside the classroom, as much as I do inside the classroom. This is because I truly believe that all young people must be supported and given opportunities to discover their full potential, to. I would ensure that they acquire key skills they would need to thrive. Today I know that formal education alone is not enough to do this.
Young people say the Award gave/gives them a positive alternative at critical stages of their lives. For some, the ground you spring from as a new student joining secondary school and institution of higher learning. For others, an anchor you need to hold on to, and a tower from where you see a possibility of your wildest dreams come true. In a unique and at a personal level, they become better versions of themselves, better equipped with skills to be ready for the world.
I have learnt so much from the people in the Award: those I support, mentor, serve and work with. HRH’s legacy is bigger than we can imagine. It will live on in us and through us.
