We believe that ethical and humane teaching represents
an indispensable foundation for achieving positive
engagement and successful learning outcomes.
Friendly and Fair Teaching
Friendly and Fair Teaching (FFT) has grown out of thoughts beyond the classroom. It is linked to philosophies anchored in nonviolence, community spirit and personality development.
FFT began in the Netherlands as an initiative of Secondary Education teachers. They were looking for the preconditions that ensure students develop their talents and interact well with each other and the world. These teachers assume that if students experience the lesson as meaningful, order will come naturally.
Creating this website took years of time and effort, during which the creators considered, unravelled and rewrote their own practices. They supplemented their experiences with quotes from literature, professional literature and philosophy. This brought into focus foundational principles that were independent of any casual personal style, circumstance or type of school.
Important additions from students, teachers, trainees and experts can be found at the bottom of each topic under the heading ‘Credits’. FFT sees all their ideas together as a ‘collective memory of teachers’.
Meanwhile, teachers apply elements of FFT in Primary Education, Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Higher Vocational Education.
Goals to achieve with Friendly and Fair Teaching
1) Becoming an expert teacher
In Friendly and Fair Teaching, it is paramount that teachers recognize the needs of individual students and respond to them in a sensitive and meaningful way. These teachers show enthusiasm for their profession, deal flexibly with where classroom learning is headed and are able to improvise. They show that they truly enjoy teaching and interacting with young people. In practical classroom terms this might mean that:
- On the one hand, a teacher explains topics to the entire class and links that explanation with exercises through which students get to know each other.
- On the other hand, a teacher searches for or designs assignments that allow a student to discover a subject through play. Students are free to invite others to collaborate on a topic.
The more open the group is to each other, the more voluntary cooperation arises.
2) Being able to resolve a classroom disruption
Teachers resolve a classroom disruption efficiently with behaviour management strategies: In education, there is always a need for a strategy by which a teacher resolves a disruption, especially given the explosion in the number of young people with mental health issues, a trend exacerbated by the pandemic.
In doing so you are a model to your students for how to relate to the student’s self and the world.” Biesta 2022
Not to suppress expression and creativity, also not just let it happen but bring what or who expresses itself into dialogue with the world. Arousing the desire for wanting to exist in the world in a grown-up way.” Quote from Biesta in a lecture in Lyon.
The balance between group identity and individuality is the key to successful social systems.” Christakis, 2019
-Haim Ginott
The influence of a teacher
This quote from child psychologist Haim Ginott (1922-’73) encapsulates the crucial responsibility and decisive role of the teacher in creating a positive learning environment. Today we would probably consider Ginott’s reflective thinking as an example of the crucial importance of what is now commonly referred to as emotional intelligence, something that is every bit as important, if not more so, than a teacher’s IQ. The recipe for successful teaching might therefore be considered to be EIQ + IQ + ??? We invite you, the teacher, or trainee teacher, to reflect more on this, and also on what you think are the other crucial “ingredients” that contribute to successful teaching.
To find out more about the people who have designed Friendly And Fair Teaching go to About Us.
Find out more about how to get started.
Tutorial €0,-
Get started independently with the theory of Friendly and fair teaching, which can be viewed free of charge on our website.
‘Where I used to be at a loss when a group was a bit more challenging than average, I now have a whole arsenal of options to change this behaviour. The students are visibly impressed by the approach.’
Course €400,-
Take a 4-hour course with a maximum of two people and develop your own teaching style with fewer disruptions. Including six months of personal guidance.
‘This approach can be immediately applied in practice an with astonishing results! As a teacher, I feel that I suddenly have many more tools to tackle unwanted behavior in class.’
