HEADTEACHERS must have a clear vision of all the children who attend their schools.
These were the words of senior educational assessment specialist Richard Wah at the opening of the 43rd Fiji Headteachers Conference at Montfort Technical Institute in Savusavu on Thursday.
He said teachers should always have an inquisitive mind in order to know their students.
"The key is not only to think but also make a critical analysis and document.
"As heads, we should be guided by our visions of the teaching and learning process that we subscribe to," Mr Wah said.
"Knowledge is transmitted to learners and language is a vehicle by which the transmission process occurs.
"In this view, teachers transmit knowledge to students, who are thought to be passive receivers."
He reminded the school heads that their students come to school with open minds, ready to absorb what they would be taught by their teachers.
"Learning takes place in a vacuum.
"The dramatic consequences of this view are that the learners come to school as empty vessels and the teacher fills them up with knowledge," he said.
"We have to focus on the learner when thinking about learning and not on the subject or lesson taught."
The two-day conference ended yesterday.
Mr Wah is from the Assessment, Research and Development Unit under the Secretariat for the Pacific Board for Educational Assessment.