Speaking at the 34th SPELT International Conference on 4th November 2018, Abbas Husain presented his first talk of the day, “Chained or Changed? The New Rules of Engagement”. Having worked as a teacher trainer and educationalist for more than two decades, Mr. Husain has achieved something of a fan following: a range of people, old and young alike, who look up to Mr. Husain as a mentor and instructor.
I could only understand the truth depths of Mr. Husain’s fan following when I attended his talk at the SPELT Conference and was greeted by a horde of people clamoring to get a good view of him. Some resorted to sitting on the floor so that they could hear him speak and afterwards groups of people waited to take a selfie with him: a new rule of Engagement indeed! When he finally began his talk, there was silence in the room: a kind of revered quietness as the crowd hung on to every word.
In this talk, Mr. Husain stressed the importance of Caring of Souls. Drawing from the works of Thurston, Kuile and Phillips, the talk ruminated on the multiple roles that teachers can inhabit in the classroom and beyond. In particular, the talk stressed on seven different roles as the Gatherer, Seer, Healer, Steward, Elder, Venturer and the Maker. Hence, the talk explored the various connections that the teacher has with the child as a mentor and scaffolder.
Beginning with the Seer, the teacher helps students perceive and approach the sacred. As a teacher, the main goal is to find common language that connects the students with religion and rekindle their spiritual connection. Next is the role of the teacher as a Maker who reminds us to be human. In this digital age where children are increasingly connected to each other via mobile phones and the internet, only a teacher can cajole the student to the right path. Recounting his own encounter with a student, Mr. Husain explained how one student lamented, “I gave my teacher the words of my heart and they came back bleeding.” Through Mr. Husain’s experiences, he highlighted the dismal state of education in Pakistan where teachers focus more on the idiosyncrasies of language instead of fostering creativity and imagination in young minds.
Next is the role of the teacher as a Healer. It is the healer who breaks the cycle of violence and neglect. The healer recognizes that there is violence and suffering and that one should never raise their hand over a child.
The role of the teacher also revolves around being a Venturer. A Venturer recognizes when the child deserves help and is adept at giving children the right resources to achieve their goals and encourage unconventional ways of learning.
From there emerges the role of the teacher as the Steward who creates infrastructures of spiritual life. In this fast paced era of the 21st century where sacred places are continually encroached, it is the job of the Steward to recognize places where sanctity can be accomplished whether that be the classroom or outside.
It is also important to recognize the role of the teacher as the Gatherer who forms communities and a system of collaboration where children learn to lean on each other and other community members. As Mr. Husain succinctly highlighted, the first casualty of modernity is history, or rather the sense of time, “Indeed, to be locked in the present moment without a sense of past or future is to be purposeless.”
Finally, teachers may take on the role of the Elder who attempts to ground us in history and community for as Mr. Husain stressed, “It is only those who have roots have wings.” Indeed, it is the Elder who connects children with tradition and religious roots alike so that children can truly learn to fly and rise from their enclosed spaces of the home and the school.
“Indeed, to be locked in the present moment without a sense of past or future is to be purposeless.”
As the talk drew to a close, Mr. Husain recognized the diverse role of the teachers as Healers, Venturers, Gatherers and so on and offered the audience a way to recognize the main aim of the teacher of the 21st century: to act as an interface between time past and time future.