My name is Mercy Ndoro and I am a lecturer in the school of Education and Leadership at Arrupe Jesuit University in Zimbabwe. I mainly teach courses in the Bachelor of Honours degree in Transformational Leadership. I was the first to introduce the TFT methodology to this course after an online workshop we had at our university with our sister Ntombi as core facilitator. Then I was trained by a TFT team in August 2021. The next year I was invited to co-facilitate a Gender and Feminism module for TFT Diploma students in July 2022. These are opportunities I will always be grateful for.
Personal impact
Both my training and co-facilitation had an impact on me and the way I approach my work. At a personal level, I embraced tolerance as a core value. I learned to respect other religions and cultures and accept people for who they are. This has remarkably improved my relationship with others in my community and multicultural work environment. I am more reflective before taking action and am more able to adapt to change and deal with conflicts.
Generally, I am a very strict lecturer when it comes to students meeting deadlines. I had an incident where students were supposed to make presentations that I had to grade. The students did not prepare well so their presentations were substandard, and I asked each one to mark their own work. They awarded themselves low marks. I reflected and realized that they needed more time to prepare for the presentations which I accepted and asked them to redo. The next time they made very good presentations and earned high marks. This came as a surprise to the students who had taken classes with me earlier before my exposure to TFT training for I would never have availed such an opportunity before.
Impact at work
My classes became more liberal after my TFT training. Students are free to participate and express themselves in class. My role is to create an environment where conversations take place in a manner where students respect one another’s views and emotions. I facilitate the acquisition of knowledge by guiding students to discover things for themselves and find solutions to problems and then I equip them with the necessary academic terms and concepts, therefore, knowledge is co-created by students and myself. We work together to understand new concepts and knowledge.
Most of my students have to manage their studies with an active work life. To help them find balance, we start our days with centering that helps them to ease into and become present in class after the long hours of work.
Student feedback and impact in their communitiesStudents appreciate the steps of digging deeper where we show a familiar problem and allow them to analyse it in a critical way and find practical solutions. “In the Gender Reconciliation course, the way of learning was so unique and simplified. We learned from each other’s experiences and we co-created knowledge. The two weeks were filled with emotions from our lived experiences as we openly disclosed very personal information but agreed that whatever we shared in the small group stays in the small group.” This was an evaluation from one of my students. Another student explained how knowledge and skills from the Gender reconciliation course had helped him to resolve family disputes and establish peace in the family. I am getting feedback from students on how the knowledge and skills gained have helped them at individual, family, and community (especially church) level to be change agents that create peace and harmony. One of the students held a gender reconciliation workshop with twenty members of his church. The participants were able to open up about wounds from gender violations in their families. A healing session where both men and women apologised for their harmful behaviours towards the other gender, offered forgiveness, and accepted promises made for better gender relations.
Value of the TFT methodology in School of Education and Leadership at Arrupe Jesuit University
Dr. Kaulem, the Dean values TFT methodology and makes sure that every year a workshop is held where lecturers are equipped with this methodology. I have been used as a resource person to staff develop other members of the department so that they understand the methodology. The teaching methodology in our school is guided by TFT methodology and Ignatian Pedagogy. The two complement each other and result in unique classrooms where students and lecturers (facilitators) co-create knowledge in a non-hierarchical environment. Our students are not only positively impacting the university community but also the various communities they come from in Zimbabwe and other African countries since we have many international students. We envision a university in which this methodology dominates in all schools in the future.
