In active learning, the teacher must have confidence in the child’s ability to learn on her own, the traditional teaching methods which require the teacher to be a sole information giver to passive students is outdated and does not reap positive results. To help children become adaptive learners it is important that the learning environment they experience is relevant to their cultural context so that they are able to relate their knowledge to their surroundings. Obviously the traditional teacher would adopt textbook guided methodology in classrooms which has failed to produce thinking and productive individuals. If the ECD intervention in the classrooms has to work, the focus will have to shift from teacher dominated classes to children centered learning spaces.
Once the classroom activities become student centered, the children will be encouraged to ask questions, to explore and draw their own conclusions. The teacher’s role will logically become that of a facilitator who will assist the students in developing new insights and connecting them with their previous learning. Classroom also transforms into physical space within which the teacher interacts with the children, transfers knowledge, facilitates learning activities and helps them form inter classroom relationships with other children and their surroundings. For this purpose, the teacher has to develop her classroom. This may prove a difficult transformation since most instructors are prepared for teaching in a traditional setting. According to Susan Hanley, “classes are usually driven by ‘teacher talk’ and depend heavily on text books for the structure of the course. There is the idea that there is a fixed world of knowledge that the students must come to know. Information is divided into parts and built into a whole concept. Teachers serve as pipelines and seek to transfer their thought and meaning to the passive students. There is little room for students – initiated questions, independent thought or interaction between students. The goal of the learner is to regulate the accepted explanation or methodology expostulated by the teacher.”
ECD also demands from teachers to build a strong relationship with the parents of children and community. The parents have the responsibility of pro- viding children with the love and nurturing they need from the moment of conception to the day they venture out on their own, but no parent can do it all on their own. It takes an entire community to raise a child and as a community, one must have the vision to ensure that children have the right support and services in place to help them develop and grow. Therefore, effective ECD teachers must become liaisons between the schools and communities, ensuring parental involvement, providing support to the communities and helping both to facilitate the process of children’s healthy development. Henry Giroux, in his book “Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals” (1988) argues that teachers must take on the role of transformative intellectuals who are committed to understanding and engaging the struggles for equality and justice specific to their classrooms, schools and the communities they serve. This holds true for ECD as well, where teachers have to meet various challenging demands of dealing with children to ensure their holistic development.
References:
• Jeanne. Ellis Ormrod, Educational Psychology, Developing Learners, Second Ed, Chapter 4, “Adapting to Individual and Group Differences”, Library of Congress Cataloging – in – Publication Data 1998 Prentice Hall, Inc.N.J, New Jersey.
• Howard Gardener,“ Frames of Mind”, The theory of multiple intelligence Chapter 5, Aesthetic Sense. New York, Basic books.
• Stenberg, R. J. & Wagner, R. K (1994), “Minds in context”: Internationalist perspectives on human intelligence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University.
• Jeanne. Ellis Ormrod, Educational Psychology, Developing Learners, Second Ed, Chapter 2, “Adapting to Differences In Cognitive and Linguistic Development” Library of Congress Cataloging – in – Publication Data 1998 Prentice Hall, Inc.N.J, New Jersey.
• http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/piaget.shtml.
• http://www.child.gov.ab.ca/whatwedo/earlysteps/page.cfm?pg=index
• http://earlychildhood.about.com/cs/childdevelopment/
• http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_schugurensky/assignment1/1988giroux.html
• http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/5erly_ch.htm
• http://marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/vygotsky.htm
• http://marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/mind/chap1.htm
• http://marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/mind/chap6.htm
• http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/~elmurphy/ elmurphy/cle2b.htm
• http://sk.com.br-piage.htm
Compiled by Saima Maheen
Aga Khan Education Services, Pakistan (AKES, P)
Saima Maheen is working as Assistant Program Officer, RCC, in AKES, P.
