Najat Vallaud-Belkacem Quotes

By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school, far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability, is simply attracting the best-educated, most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there.

The countries who do the best in international comparisons, whether it's Finland or Japan, Denmark or Singapore, do well because they have professional teachers who are respected, and they also have family and community which support learning.

I think some parents now look at a youngster failing as the final thing. It's a process, and failure is part of the process. I would like it if the teacher and the parents would connect more. I think that used to be, but we're losing a little bit of that right now.

I started out as a high school teacher in inner-city Chicago and realized quite quickly that my students weren't that motivated.

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.

Like most of the other teachers, I'd done a bit of teaching and we all think we're great at what we do, but you realize that normally you have an audience who are all onside, who all want to listen.

As a former high school teacher and a student in a class of 60 urchins at St. Brigid's grammar school, I know that education is all about discipline and motivation. Disadvantaged students need extra attention, a stable school environment, and enough teacher creativity to stimulate their imaginations. Those things are not expensive.

You have to have teachers who are empowered to facilitate great teaching.

Education and the process of educating is a total integral, contextual situation which includes students, teachers, parents, administration and environment.

Most of my teachers probably found I made less trouble if they let me read.

I tell young teachers who are determined to dissent from some of the Draconian aspects of the current orthodoxy that the best form of protection is to be incredibly good at what you do and keep good discipline in class.

You have to give kids things they're interested in reading. That's what teachers do who are engaged in what their students want.

My parents, grandmother and brother were teachers. My mother taught Latin and French and was the school librarian. My father taught geography and a popular class called Family Living, the precursor to Sociology, which he eventually taught. My grandmother was a beloved one-room school teacher at Knob School, near Sonora in Larue County, Ky.

The best teacher is an entertainer.

As the daughter of a schoolteacher, I feel very strongly that the most important thing in school takes place right there in that classroom, and the interaction between the teacher and the child.

I had a public school education - 3,000 kids when I was there. And there were a lot of teachers who would just sit there. You'd come in and sign your name and the teacher would just sit there at the head of the class and you would literally just have to stay in your seat for 40 minutes and that was the only thing you'd have to do in class.

An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home.

Parents matter, buildings count, curriculum choices, materials, resources - all these things are important in a top-class education. But, in the end, it comes down to the teachers.

Education is a shared commitment between dedicated teachers, motivated students and enthusiastic parents with high expectations.

The best teachers are those who keep students motivated, challenged and flourishing.

I think the best teachers had a real interest in the subject they were teaching and a love for children.

The teachers are trying to build the same culture in the classroom as we're building in the organization.

People think of teachers who are born to teach, and you think of all these charismatic folks. Some of the most successful teachers are some of the least charismatic, interestingly. But they have a gift of figuring out what motivates people.

I think a lot of teachers feel like they're teaching to a test. Our response is you teach to a student, you really teach to the kid.

When you have teachers saying, 'I don't have enough time for hands-on activities,' we need to rethink the way we do education.