Back to school: A day in the life of two teachers

Sam Gan Tan from Manila works at the International Montessori School in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. After starting work at her mother’s fashion design business, she found that teaching was her real calling, and as a former Montessori pupil, she wanted to train in the style of learning she loved. After working in the Philippines and the US, she came to Brussels and has been teaching here for the past eight years.

What is the Montessori ethos?
Montessori is all about the child, and how children can be helped to blossom and unfold. It’s individualised education. We want them to develop inner motivation and discipline, and a love for learning. It’s also materials-based. Children learn on their own by working with materials rather than through direct instruction, and as teachers we’re like a link. Montessori also believes that when you use your hands and your mind together, you absorb more. We have mixed-age classrooms and children are encouraged to direct their own learning, to think critically and laterally and to go out and to explore.

How is it taught, and how is it different to mainstream education?
We give two or three formal lessons a day, with a group of two or four children. In our classrooms children could be working on a project about space, cuneiform writing, an ancient civilisation or a simple maths challenge. It could take 30 minutes, three hours, three days or three weeks! For me, we stand apart from a traditional school in the way we train children for full-time decision making. We ask them to think about what their options are, to consider things such as ‘What would I like to do today? How would I like to start my day?’ We are trained to follow the child. We have to balance the freedom we give with limits, of course; responsibility is attached to it.

How are lessons scheduled within that philosophy?
There isn’t a period for language, maths or geography. We don’t have strict class times; we follow the children. In conventional schools, children have permanent places but here they can sit anywhere, as long as they respect that they can’t disturb the people around them. They can also choose when to have a snack, and they have the freedom to converse and move around. We don’t have exams either, in the primary environment. But we work so closely with them that every day is an assessment – they’re just not aware of it. I have to prepare lessons the night before but mostly just mentally. From your training you already have your curriculum with everything in it. The children ask tons of questions, which forces you to learn and investigate as you go along. That’s why I love being a teacher – learning new things every day. I planned to have a lesson on geography this morning. We have a group of four, but one might really want to continue a project they started yesterday. So maybe I’ll take two instead. You have a plan but because we follow the children, it’s flexible.

How do pupils take control of their own learning?
We encourage them to go out and to investigate. Last year went they went to Planckendael Zoo. We like them to organise trips on their own. We give them a list of parents to supervise the trips and they call them to arrange it. They organised interviews with Planckendael themselves.

How many children are in your class?
There are 30 children and three adults. We have a three-year age range in each class, and we think the classroom should reflect the outside world. Older children help the younger ones out. It’s normal to see third-graders discussing, collaborating and problem-solving with fourth- and fifthgraders. It’s easier for us, too. In a class of 30 all the same age, they would all need the same things.

Why did you become a Montessori teacher?
I was a Montessori child myself, then when I was 13 I had to go to a traditional Catholic school. What I appreciated about Montessori was that we could make our own decisions. I loved learning as a child. I have all sorts of memories of doing what the children do, and I just want to share that. To contribute to making the world a better place. Children are so creative and uninhibited! They have such bright ideas, and they can achieve such great wonders if we just let them.

What’s a typical day for you?
I get up very early, at 5.40. I often hit snooze on the alarm clock! I get my two children ready, drop them off at a sister school of the one I teach at, and get here at 8.10. I live in Leefdaal, which is 20 minutes away without traffic, but it generally takes an hour. School starts at 8.30 and I usually need a little quiet time to read my notes. When class starts, the children can move around and we may have a group working together on one thing, or four children working on four different things. Lunch is around 12.00, and we eat with the children. One child is in charge of heating the lunches. At 12.45 we tidy up, the classroom is cleaned and swept, we put the dishwasher on and then the children go outside. If the weather is nice we stay until 2.00, or we come back in and they play board games. Then we have quiet reading time for half an hour. Outside is a release of energy and then it’s time to gather yourself and your thoughts. Then there’s another hour or so of work. We don’t have blocks of time; we get children into a flow. We don’t like interrupting, so it all depends what time we get in after lunch. At 3.15 we clean up again, and 15 minutes later the children go home.

"It feels like a community - eveyone's helping everyone else"

Born in Tanzania and raised in Wales, Fran Pears has been working at St Paul’s School in Tervuren for 13 years. She hasn’t forgotten her roots while living in Belgium – our visit falls on St David’s Day and her classroom is decorated accordingly. She speaks about her love for her job, the school’s 40th anniversary, and following in her parents’ footsteps.

How does the Christian ethos of the school work with so many nationalities?
The values of the school – the uniqueness of every child, creativity, building character, academic excellence – they’re not particular to one group. Some students are from Christian families, some from Muslim families and some have no religion, and staff are of different faiths. The students all do religion class. They have the choice not to, but they always do. It’s a very inclusive community and I think that’s why people like it. It’s a very welcoming school.

What makes St Paul’s different from other international schools?
The size makes it different from the big ones. I like the way we can be really flexible but with this academic excellence goal in sight. We’re small and can adapt to the children, we can support those who need support, or those who are flying high. We have the British curriculum, and we can take the good bits and leave out the unhelpful parts. I like the flexibility.

How would you describe the atmosphere at the school?
It feels like a community. Everyone wants everyone else to succeed, everyone’s helping everyone else. When you admit you can’t do something, it’s very supportive. It’s a lovely place to work, I just love coming in in the morning. You have to have fun, otherwise it’s a really hard job. And this year is an important one for us, because the school is celebrating its 40th anniversary. For the last 10 it’s had the connection with the Church of England, after the founder retired. The English-speaking church here in Tervuren thought it was too valuable a community resource to let go so they stepped in. There’ll be a big celebration and we’ll look at how the school has changed over the years. It started in another building and has grown gradually. It used to be a farmhouse with the sheep kept underneath the hall!

How do you help children settle in?
We lose a third of the children every year, and the children who are left are very welcoming to each other. The parents look after the parents, because it’s important to look after the spouse who’s not working. You have to be excited for the child who’s leaving, and support them, as well as the ones left behind. It’s harder for them as they don’t have the excitement of somewhere new. The parents sense the welcoming, community feel when they come through the door. They know their child’s going to be looked after here.

What’s your favourite subject to teach?
I love teaching maths. I love the lightbulb moment. It’s important to give children the confidence to do it and the confidence to make a mistake, making sure they’re constantly learning and challenging themselves. We get the children to take charge of their learning, but always with the end in sight. We know where we’re going, and we’re going to get them there. Everybody has the right to be at a challenging level. That’s the job of the teacher.

Why did you decide to become a teacher?
I come from a long line of teachers. My mum, dad, grandmother and aunt were all teachers. I left university not knowing what to do. But I was absolutely not going to be a teacher! Then, I was working as an assistant with a school and I realised this was what I wanted to do. I worked for 15 years in the UK, until my husband’s job brought us to Belgium.

Do you have a specific morning routine?
I get up about 6.00, and I’m in work around 7.30 or a bit after. Sometimes I cycle. This morning I was in the park for sunrise. It takes about 15 minutes to cycle, and I like to go quite slowly if it’s a nice day. School starts at 8.50, the bell goes and at 9.00 we’re in our seats. The first two hours are quite flexible. In the middle, we have a 10-minute break for a healthy snack. Around 11.00 or so, we go outside for 20 minutes, and then we have another hour and it’s lunch. If they’re really into learning we may carry on for 20 minutes. As regards subjects, it varies, though French is timetabled during the week, as is PE. I teach a bit of everything and that’s what I really love about being a primary teacher.

What happens in the afternoon?
Lunch is an hour. I have lunch duty outside once a week. We’ve started playing netball on Thursday afternoon after school but I have been known to join a game at playtime. All the staff sit down together on Monday to eat, and we take it in turns to cook for each other. It can be about 20 of us, with all the assistant staff. The afternoon schedule is more topic-based, where we bring all the subjects together rather than using them in isolation. We may focus on a country like France, using our French but also including history, geography and science. Then school finishes at 3.30. I do my work here at school after class; there’s lots of time spent on preparation and thinking. I never quite switch off from it. I just love it.