Finding your niche

(Photo from http://www.medev.ac.uk)

Education is an all-encompassing discipline. Huge as it is, no one can monopolize knowledge and skills required to provide support to the learners. In practice, it is a product of teamwork.

As conscientious teachers, it is wise for us to find our own niche in this huge arena.

I take the word niche from the field of ecology. The term niche refers to the position or role an organism plays in the environment in relation to others. For instance, plants are called producers because they are the only group of organisms capable of harnessing Sun's heat energy to produce food. Without producers, the entire ecosystem will not survive. On the other hand, animals are called consumers because they benefit from the food produced by the plants. In some cases, animals also become food for other animals but this comes with the pretext that they too have taken the nourishment from the producers. In this ecological scenario, we can glean that the niche of every organism is indispensable for a well-functioning, well-balanced environment. Without one or the other, things won't turn out properly as they should.

Similarly, in education, the roles taken by each and everyone of us are instrumental to our students' learning experience. Whether you are the teacher who plans, manages and facilitates the learning experience, or you are the school head who looks into the curriculum and supervises the general delivery of educational services or you are the auxiliary staff who attends to other concerns of and by the learners, your role is quintessential to the holistic development of the most important educative process that is the learner.

With today's programs in teachers' educations, most of us with proper training in professional teaching are prepared to assume any of the roles in the academe. With few specialized and supervised training, we can equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills required in very specific functions. Knowledge and skills, therefore, are fundamental but easiest to acquire. What is a bit complex yet equally, if not more, important is the honing of the persona it takes to assume our chosen role. This goes beyond the mental preparedness required to fully accomplish the tasks relative to the niche. It involves the totality of our being--who we are, what we desire, what motivates us, what we believe, what we are willing to risk. It talks about our wholeness (or brokenness, too).

Hence, it is direly needed for us to ponder on these questions: What niche do I want to assume in this huge and wonderful arena of education? What does it take for me to fulfill the roles of this niche effectively? What aspects of my being converge or diverge with this niche? How do I intend to mend the gap between my totality and my chosen niche?


If we are able to reflect on these questions, we will gain more confident in proclaiming our conviction to assume the niche we choose to take and will find more reason to begin the necessary changes in ourselves that would make us the better person we chose to become.