Mel Rogers about educational trend

Mel Rogers, Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of British-Belarus Chamber of Commerce, answered a few questions about modern education special for Global Child Magazine, which can be downloaded here

— What is the core actuality for a modern child’s education considering current industrial, technical and economical development of the society?

— There are many theories about 'child development' ranging from Freud, to Piaget and more latterly John Blowby. Having looked at these theories I am inclined to agree in principle with Blowby. He advocates early relationship building between the child, their parents and caregivers to give strong bonding to make the child secure enough to explore the world around them. Encouragement to seek new adventures helps to stimulate the mind and make the child more inquisitive to learn new things. Children grow in areas of Sensory, Physical/Motor, Social/Emotional as well as Cognitive, Language and Literacy. Each is different and dependent on each other. Once children have developed the sensory motor skills necessary, and formed the secure attachments needed to feel safe and comfortable with themselves and their surroundings, they will be ready to learn. But trying to force learning to happen before the child is ready is not only pointless, it can also be damaging to the child.

When children are playing, they are learning. If children have the experiences and positive interactions that prepare them for abstract cognitive thoughts and concepts, and the opportunities for gross motor and movement activities, rest, and nutrition, most of them will learn to problem solve and think critically.

From my own experience LOVE is the most important element! I was asked by my lawyer once 'How can I protect my 14 year old daughter and 16 year old son from drugs?' My reply was 'Do you love your children?' Of course his reply was 'yes', but I insisted — 'do you really love your children'. He thought for a while and replied very softly — 'yes, I love my children very much'. The next question was different 'Do your children love you?' This time he took his time and answered 'yes, I am sure they love me' Then my reply to his original question was clear — 'it is very unlikely that children who are loved and cared for become addicted to substances and if they experiment with drugs they will be open and talk about it'.

You see, love, caring, building bonds, providing security and being honest ensures that children grow up safe and secure in their environment. Stimulating them to learn new things helps them to reach their own levels of excellence helping them to succeed in today's society.

— What are benefits and prospects for modern children whose parents invest into their education?

— Well, you cannot buy education and for parents who invest in the best education they can afford for their children they are providing two important elements. Firstly they are giving their children every opportunity to become successful in whatever field they choose, whether it be in the arts, commerce or governmental administrations. Secondly they are adding to the value of the country they live in for the benefit of others less fortunate.

— What is your opinion? Since what age is it suitable to engage a child in the family life (expenses, home duties, finance, etc.)?

— I guess the question is about family responsibility and when to contribute.

Well, there are two ways to look at this. One way is to try to build a sense of responsibility and make the young person realise the cost of things like electricity, gas, food etc. and ask for a contribution. The other way is to give as much opportunity to the young person to be free from these responsibilities until they feel it is necessary for

them to contribute. Each family that shares love will know when is the right time and the right amount for contributions to be made — sometimes the payback is when the parents are older and need support.

— What is the ideal school for you? From both child’s and teacher’s perspective.

— Ideal school for me would be a combination of educational excellence combined with sporting activities and social events. For a teacher I expect it would be attentive students who work diligently and

are polite but have a sense of fun!

— What is the “child of the future” will be?

— The child of the future? Who knows? The real issue is that we all have a responsibility to ensure that every child has a better life than the previous generation, grows up in a caring society free from worry and has every opportunity to be who they want to be.

— What are the obstacles for child’s natural potential development?

— Obstacles? The only obstacles are those that we impose on our own children and those that macroeconomics dictate. If you love your children then you will not impose any obstacles and they will become what they are capable of becoming!

— Tell us a few words about your educational project, please. What is online-class.by?

— We provide a platform that stimulates students and provides creative learning for pupils from any age to any age. We teach in small groups of up to 5 students simultaneously and want to make learning fun and enjoyable to enable excellence to be standard for everyone. Because we do not rely on a single text book alone, we can mix and match from various educational books to give the best alternatives specifically for each group, because it is 'live' we can use today's information available on the internet to make sessions interesting and exciting but most of all because our teachers bring their personality into the virtual classroom, the lessons are vibrant and

create a successful learning environment