Based on our work and experiences with schools in different contexts, these are some of the principles, which guide our thoughts and practices:
children learn by doing
The experience of doing things with hands is an important step in the learning process of a child. It gives a child an opportunity to engage all her senses i.e. engaging herself as a whole. And experience followed by reflections and sharing helps in building new connections and understanding, which leads to a better internalization of the whole experience by the child–and it further develops her capacity to take new actions. All the four stages of the Kolb’s Learning cycle Experience -> reflection/sharing -> conceptualization -> Active Experimentation-> New Experience are equally important and one needs to go through all the four stages for a holistic understanding and capacity building.
all children are different
Children are individuals with their own style and pace of learning. They have their own preferred entry points into the learning cycle and they go with their own pace through the four stages of learning. They also have their own preferred way of expression of what they have learnt. It’s important that school acknowledges and respects the diversity of the learning styles among children and also the differential pace of learning and therefore, provides room for children to remain different.
capacity to learn and create is infinite
Each child is born with the innate capacity to learn and create – and there is no limit for this capacity development. But the problem is that children tend to lose this capacity with time and conditioning. Therefore, the real challenge of education is how to enable children in understanding the process of learning how to learn and create so that they become self-learners for life. The capacity to learn how to learn and create is the mother capacity that gives birth to all other knowledge, competencies and skills.
children as active partners in the learning
Children are not blank slates when they come to school. They bring with them their own understanding and meaning of the world around based on their experiences. It’s important to understand the child’s local context, her needs and aspirations, challenges, etc before we start planning for her learning. And more important is that we consult the child in this whole process and involve her as an active partner. Each child deserves an individual learning plan and one-on-one coaching for true excellence.
productive and creative work as the medium of teaching and learning
According to Gandhi ji, work is considered productive if there is a useful and meaningful outcome (in the local context of the child) and in the process children are made to think and reason. It can be a new product, new design, new idea, new and effective way of doing things, making new connections, generating a systemic perspective, etc. The purpose of using productive work as a medium of teaching and learning is to develop the productive/craetive capacity of the child i.e. capacity to think, plan, design, relate and act. The idea is not to train a child for any specific vocation but to develop the creative capacity and problem solving skills. Learning through productive works in the real context also provides the integration and balance of head, hand and heart which is lacking miserably in our present education system.
learning in the context of the child’s social, political and economical environment
Learning through productive and creative works chosen from the real life context of the child provides the much needed relevance and meaning to the whole education process. This not only empowers a child to understand the various dynamics of his/her environment better but also enable him/her to discover the leverage for change for better. It leads to a better systemic understanding of the local context and enable the child to make new connections within and with the real world outside (i.e. social, political, economical, natural and physical environment of the child). Systemic capacity developed during the school enables a child to map, understand and transform more complex systems later in his/her life.
learning about life through life
Working on real problems/possibilities in the real context leads to a deeper understanding and meaning of both learning and real life in the child. Not only it leads to the development of problem solving capabilities and capacity to create among children but also empower children for a meaningful and productive life.
integrated learning
In real life the problems can’t be classified as physics, maths or history problems, rather we have to apply principles from various disciplines to solve real-life problems. Therefore, working with/through real life experiences give children an opportunity to experience problems/possibilities in an integrated manner and more important it provides an opportunity to apply their learnings in an integrated way. Actually, it leads to an integration of knowledge and understanding in a very natural and organic way.
real freedom, empowerment and confidence
Providing opportunities to learn through experiences chosen from the real life context of the child (during the 12 years of school education) helps the child discover his/her strengths, preferred learning styles, interests, his/her relationship with self and the world around and how to leverage it for the betterment of both. This leads to the true freedom and happiness – because true freedom comes from understanding of self in the larger context and understanding gets build by doing and connecting things. Further, learning through real-life experiences leads to the development of productive/creative capacities i.e. fundamental capacity to think, design, relate and act and life skills like planning, problem solving, working in teams, leveraging diversity, economic sense, etc –which truly empowers the child for life-long learning. The child not only develops the competencies and life skills but also the mindset of creation and possibilities i.e. “I CAN” and that generates true confidence.
children learn from each other
Children are very good learners. They need enabling and safe environment to learn – environment where they can make mistakes and where failure is not considered as bad but a learning opportunity and there is no fear of judgment. Working on real life problems and possibilities provides real opportunity and need to children to work in teams and in the process learn from each other. Working in small teams in the early part of life helps children understand the value of interdependence and respect for diversity, which in future leads to real understanding of peace and sustainability.
teachers as designers, facilitators and co-creators
In this whole process of teaching and learning through experience, teacher act more as a designer and the facilitator of the teaching and learning process rather than the sole authority/source of knowledge. The active participation of the children and teacher leads to multiple perspectives and understandings. In this scenario the knowledge provided by the teacher and the texts books is considered one of perspectives/understandings among the various possibilities and that leads to less dependence on teachers/text books. It also validates the knowledge resources and insights outside school especially that are available in the community and its people. This whole process also develops the teacher’ productive capacities of learning, creating, design and relating.
schools as part of the community
The purpose is to learn from the community by designing learning-teaching processes around the real life problems/possibilities of the community and bridging the gap that exist between the school and society. The real knowledge and insights resides in the community networks and relationships and which can only be tapped while working with the community on real issues and in the real context. We can’t get community and its wisdom to the school because it’s very vast, dynamic and subtle–the only option is to go to the community and make teaching and learning processes as part of it.
education as the process of social transformation
Education is not just about accumulating knowledge and developing skills but it is about understanding the self in the context of the society. Therefore, learning experiences in the real life context not only develops the productive capacity of a child but also empowers him/her to discover the leverage for social transformation. Understanding the subtle connections/relationship of the society empowers the child in the true sense and the whole process of empowerment is generative in nature.