𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝑪3 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒆'𝒔 𝑬𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂 5𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓-𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒓.
Passionate and productive counsellors often go out of their way to empower students
Photo: Nnane Ntube leading a session at the Open Dreams Summer Academy in Douala Cameroon
Twelve years ago, when I embraced the teaching profession, I had a fixed mindset on who a counsellor is or should be. To me, a counsellor should be that person who sits in a small office and waits for students to come and complain about issues related to bullying, unhealthy relationships with parents that impede learning, puberty crises, lack of concentration on studies, etc. This is the picture that I had in mind, informed by the environment I grew up in.
I had no idea that counselling is beyond the above-mentioned cases, beyond an office.
Thanks to the 30-hour training on career and college counselling with IC3 Institute, I realized that counselling can be brought into a classroom and beyond. I understood that counselling is not the duty of a single individual but a 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮.
This training taught me new ways of teaching that seek to match students' needs and skills to subjects (and lessons). By incorporating career and college counselling into teaching, teaching and learning become purposeful. No more statements such as,
— "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒎𝒆?"
But— "𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕?"
Photo: Exposing works of art at the Open Dreams 10th Anniversary Celebration, Djeuga Palace Hotel, Yaoundé
With the Embark Africa training, every teacher becomes 10% 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙨. This enables teachers to understand their subjects better, understand their students' needs, and understand the skills required through their subjects for an engaging learning experience.
Photo: Closing Ceremony, Language for Resilience Remote Theatre Project, Cameroon; Bridging Barriers, a British-Council sponsored Project, led by Anestin Chi and Nnane Ntube
My heartfelt appreciation to all the facilitators of this program. Your knowledge, resources, and time are invaluable to my growth as a teacher.
Nnane Ntube
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