Introduction
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Hello, my name is Emma. I’m 14 years old, my birthday is on December 29th and I live in a small village in The Netherlands. In house I live with my mother, father, one older brother, one older sister, a dog and a cat. I am a second year student on Jac P. Thijsse College. My hobbies are meeting up with my friends just to talk or watch films on Netflix and shopping with my mother. But I don’t do this often because I don’t have much free time in relation with homework. I don’t have a specific sport but I go to the gym sometimes with my sister or run or walk in the woods with my dog. |
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Hello! I’m Britt, I’m doing the A level at school and I’m a second year student at the Jac P. Thijsse College. I love to ride with my lease horse named Mazzel. I have a family of six members, my dog Juul, my younger brother and sister, my parents and me. I used to play hockey since I was six. I’m 14 years old now and I’ve been doing horse riding for about eight years now which I still love to do. I also love to hang out with my friends to watch netflix, have a girltalk or go to a party. |
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Hello, I am Myrthe and I’m 14 years old. I’m a second year student on Jac P. Thijsse College. I live in a small village near school, together with my mom, dad, my older brother, 2 cats and my 36 fishes. I live in a great house. I love doing sports, like volleyball or going to the gym. Last year I also started doing horse riding lessons which I really love! |
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Hello, my name is Marijn and I’m 14 years old. I played hockey since I was five and I play it 3 or 4 times a week. I like shopping, watch Netflix, fitness and chill with my friends. I am a second year student on Jac P. Thijsse College. I live in a small village near school, with my mom, dad, one older sister and my cat Poekie. I my spare time I love to photograph landscapes or people. |
Research
Main Question: Do you think relations in school play an important role in students' lives?
What is your concept of a teacher?
Our main concept of a teacher is caring about students’ interests or questions. What we mean with that is explaining the learning material in a clear and fun way, give extra explanation if you need it, make notes with the most important topics for a test on which the students have to focus. Students of course want to get high marks but teachers want the same so they do have to make an effort to help students. The last thing we think is important is to be open for students to talk to you if you have problems at home, or with bullying or anything like that
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What specific qualities of your teachers do you admire / appreciate and why?
We kind of all relate to the fact that every teacher is different but there are some teachers we like better than others. The perfect teacher would be someone who teaches us in a funny but interesting way, like making some jokes, being able to explain in a way we all understand and of course a teacher who doesn’t gives us a lot of homework! For our class mentor there are some other qualities we think are very important, like being able to listen to problems of their students but also does something about it. Being strict is one of the things which almost all the students don't like about some teachers. I mean everyone gets that a teacher is a teacher and not your friend but at the end when a teacher is too strict students will turn against him or her and won’t learn as much as when they are teached in a nice, funny and gentle way.
How do you relate to your teachers?
In most countries the teachers are very important and the children have to behave formal. This is the same with us, in the rules anyway. The only difference is that teachers say if we can name them by first name, surname or Miss or Mr. often we name them Miss or Mr. We have a formal way to say you to people which is “uw”. To our teachers we just say you in the informal way.
Ways in which you would stop a bully in your school?
There are several ways to stop a bully, but unfortunately it doesn’t always work as good as we hope it does. Our opinion it that when you are being bullied by someone, you should always be able ask for help at your school or at home for example. If you’ve asked for help, the teacher or class mentor should take action. For example, have a talk with the bully and parents about that bullying is really not okay. If that doesn’t stop the bullying, the bully should be suspended from school for a couple of days. If he or she doesn’t stop by then, he or she should be suspended out of the school permanently. Every week we have a talk with our personal class teacher (mentor) about bullying. We are at a school with about 2300 people, and we’re glad that there isn’t a lot of bullying at our school. We also have ‘’The week against bullying’’
once a year. Which is a week in which we give more attention to the stopping of bullying. |
Do you have any teacher's day celebration in your school?
In primary school we had a celebration day for teachers. It is a festivity day where you give presents and do something special with the class. In high school we do not do things like that. Per day you have around 5 or 6 teachers, so you cannot celebrate all their birthdays.
Which is th other staff (other than teachers) in your school? Do you interact with them? How do you relate to them?
On our school there are lots of people. We have conciërges, who make sure that there is not garbage on the ground and tables. They also repair things if they are broken or if they aren’t working well. We have people who make our school schedule. As last we have leaders for each year. They help with problems for example if you getting bullied
Interviews
Teachers |
Students |
Kitty Meijer, Female, Teacher:
‘Most teacher have a quite relax relation with the students. it is not that we are formal and very strict to be called Miss or Mr. We are quite informal at school. I think it is important to be informal at school because my objective is to help students for your further education. I think if you have a informal relationship, you hopefully feel free to ask me anything about subjects you want me to answer. I can talk to you like you are my children or my cousins’ Dorien Merckens, Female, Teacher: ‘I like my students, and it is nice teaching them. I think that I am not strict, in the past I was more stricter. In lower classes the students have a lot of freedom. In higher classes you can do more, because they listen and can work independent. Everyone is nice to each other and if you have a problem you can ask me. There is one rule in my classroom, that everybody is aware of each other, not only in the classroom but also in the society, at home, wherever.’ Candi Zamerano López, Female, Teacher: ‘For some teacher if you call them by first name, they think it is a lack of respect. For me, it is normal you call me by first name. There have to be a boundaries, but the most important thing is to have fun with your students. Teachers don’t only come her to teach students, they have a lot of tasks. My number 1 rule is: have fun that makes your relation better.’ Lisa Opitz, Female, Teacher: ‘A good relation is important, but it is also difficult for me. In Germany is it different. I have to find my way for a good relationship with students and finalize it. I think when you have an informal relation you can have a bond with someone, but at a certain point you have to be formal. To have more authority.’ (Grand)parentsRoos Morssink, Female, Parent:
‘I followed lessons at rather modern primary school. You could call them by their first name, it was very informal. We worked a lot independence. On the high school it was formal, you had to call them by surname or Miss or Mr. You didn’t speak much with teachers. It was more teaching than get a bond with your students. Some teachers were more open than the others, some were nicer and some were stricter.’ Wil v/d Werf, Female, Grandparent: ‘The relationship between me and my teacher was very formal and strict we would talk to them as Sir or Miss. You would get punished pretty easily for doing things they didn’t like. Even though they were strict they could be very nice and not every teacher was the same of course. When I think about school I usually think about the school parties which were a lot of fun! When I graduated I actually became a teacher too, a biology teacher.’ Piet Staal, Male, Grandparent: “My relationship was basically a typical teacher-student relationship from that time. They tried to teach me something and I tried to understand it. We were no friends but this was of course different with all my teachers. Some teachers were more open to talk to students and some were more strict. Some were stressed, some were more relaxed. If children were bullied, I don’t think they knew about it or they just didn’t do anything about it. The relationship in my time was super formal, compared to how it is now. You could never ever talk to them by their first name for example.” Ilse Timmer, Female, Parent: ‘’The teachers used to be very strict. The children had to listen to what the teacher was telling them, and if they didn’t, they might even be hit by a ruler on their fingers. The children had to be very polite to their teachers. The relationship between teacher and student was way more formal than nowadays. But because of that there was a lot of peace in the classroom to concentrate. But the teachers did want the best for the students, their relationship was only way more formal.’’ |
Julius v/d Werf, Male, High school student:
‘I think it is very important to have a supportive teacher who tries to help you whenever he/she can. A really important quality would be social, a teacher should be able to talk to a student in a way both informal and formal. Also a teacher should be able not to take everything personal, when a student won’t listen and keeps talking or gets mad at his teacher a teacher should be able to just let it go when they get home. I think that my relation between me and my teacher is pretty comfortable most of them are pretty kind and I like the ways they teach. In primary school we did have a sort of celebration for the teachers but in high school we actually don't. I think the most effective way to stop bullying is talking about it so people can share some opinions.’ Lot Morssink, Female, High school student: ‘A teacher has to be somebody who is self-assured and can give a good explanation about the subject. She/he has to be there to ask anything. Important quality for a teacher is to control the class. If you don’t get attention, you cannot teach to your class. The teacher has to present good. You behave formal to your teacher, you call them by their surname or you say Miss or Mr. Have respect to your teacher. Against a bullier you have to talk with a large group of people. if you do that it is intimidating, so a bullier is afraid.’ Charlotte Hill, Female, High school student: “I think teachers should be able to explain well to students and help them if they need help. Not only that but I also think they should be able to help you if you have problems at school or at home. Some teachers can be really relatable in informal and formal ways but some teachers are to distant in my opinion” My sister can’t stand bullies so here’s her opinion on how to stop one. “Ignore them, if they bother you just tell them to stop and if they don’t just show them not to mess with you if you know what I mean. Stand up for yourself and if you see someone get bullied, stand up for them. Don’t go to teachers because I feel like they do nothing to help you. Just talk to your parents/family and especially the bullies’ parents/family.” Julian Hill, Male, College Student: Brent Eickhof, Male, Primary school student: ‘I find that the teacher has to treat the students with respect and not get mad without a reason for it. And if you have a question, you can just ask your teacher. And that the teacher explains it if you do not understand something. I like it when the teacher is making jokes and is being kind. And I can just ask my teacher things without him getting mad, and I like it the way it is now and not like how my grandparents went to school with very strict teachers, so I like it if my teacher isn’t very strict. I feel very comfortable in class, especially because I can ask my teacher anything without fear. My teacher has a lot of humor so I can laugh with him and he is very kind to me and he always wants to help me if I do not understand something yet. For stopping bullying I would go to my friends and let them help me to stop the bully, so I would stand up for the person being bullied. And if that doesn’t help, I would see a teacher or ask my parents for help. We do have a teacher’s day celebration at school, on that day, we kind of celebrate all birthdays from our teachers at school, we play games, we bring them some small gifts and we dress ourselves up most of the time. I really like that day, because we have to show them we have respect to our teachers.’’ Noor Eickhof, Female, Primary school student:‘’I think it is important that your teacher helps you if you have a question. And that he treats you with respect. But he doesn’t have to act too kind to the students, so he has to indicate the students his limits, because if he doesn’t indicate his limits, the students might not listen to him anymore. I appreciate the fact that he can help you if you do not understand something yet. And he is very good at making jokes, so I can laugh about him a lot. I feel comfortable in class a lot, the teacher doesn’t have to get mad a lot and I can ask him things that I don’t understand yet, even if he has already explained it a couple of times. I hate bullying a lot! And I would go to see my friends if they can help me stop the bully to stand up for the bullied person. We have a teacher’s celebration day in school, on that day we give a lot of attention and respect to our teachers, and we play games. And we kind of celebrate all their birthdays on one day. And then our teachers treat us on a snack (in the Netherlands, if it’s someone’s birthday, that person treats us on a snack and we sing for them). |
Conclusion
Main question: Do you think relations in a school play an important role in students' lives?
A good relationship with teachers, kids and staff is probably one of the most important things in a students’ life. For example if you don’t have a good relationship or some kind of connection with teachers, students can feel uncomfortable and not able to ask for help. Also being a bit informal to teachers could help the bonding. If you have a good relationship with students you can feel happier and more comfortable in class. This could also help with becoming more social and interactive with other people.