Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with
inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they
accomplish this impossible task. Schools, however,
cannot survive on miracles. Every teacher deserves
effective tools and skills. The question is: Can
psychology provide them? Can therapeutic concepts be
translated into specific educational practices?

I say "Yes." On the basis of techniques developed in
child therapy and tested in the classroom, concrete
suggestions and practical solutions can be offered for
dealing with daily situations and psychological problems
faced by all teachers.

As one young teacher put it, " I have come to a frightening
conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is
my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power
to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my
response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or
de-escalated, and a child humanised or de-humanised."

Many teaching problems will be solved in the next few decades.
There will be new learning environments and new means of
instruction. One function, however, will always remain with
the teacher: to create the emotional climate for learning.
No machine, sophisticated as it may be, can do this job.