The Place of Workbooks in Primary School

The reason usually given as to the purpose of having a workbook was for the students to work in independence of the teachers to follow-up and practice each lesson that was covered inside the classroom, so that the limited time in the classroom can focus on 'mastery'.

This view has it's pros and cons. If students are expected to use the workbooks at home, then it might increase the burden of the children.  However, if the child wants to work independently at school or at home, then workbook are a really wonderful resource to further and supplement the classroom learning.

We also want our students to continously engage with their learning and stay connected, in that sense, workbooks serve an important role. And making our workbook colourful and attactive enhanced students desire to be engaged with it. But as mentioned above, it should not be forced or else it become a burden.

Workbook are really useful for some contents that focus on practice and mastery, especially mathematics. While workbook can also be effectively used for enhancing learning in social sciences and language, engaging them in a real life experience is a much more effective pedagogy for most children to learn language and the social sciences.

Saying that, the whole purpose of having a workbook is to supplement the limitation of the classroom...so a workbook should avoid repeating what is already in the textbook. Even if it's repeated, then it should take a step further.

And for workbook writer and designer, your focus is on making learning vibrant enough so that children would rather engage with the workbook in the face of the various activities available to them.  Make the workbook attactive, vibrant, and interesting -it has to be more interesting than the textbook. Know and organize the competencies you want to focus-on to make life easier for the teachers. And please, by all means, remember that workbooks are not meant to be a replacement of a teacher, so don't prepare the worksheets expected of the teachers.

And dear teachers, workbook are meant for your students to work independently at home (with or without support of parents) or when you're busy in the classroom especially when you're teaching multi-grade. Please prepare your own worksheet and remember, workbook can never replace a well-prepared lesson plan from you. Afterall, a workbook is just a book, while your lesson plan take into account your knowledge and understanding of your students which is the most valuable components of an effective teaching-learning process.

Why Progressive School Works....

Our present education system, with all its drawbacks and imperfections, has survived the world wars, drought, famine, disaster, etc. and it will survive in the future as well.  It is resilient, it is easy to start a new one, and it is easy to organize and manage. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s the best.

Whatever progressive education system that are propounded, be it Gandhi’s Nai Talim, Totto Chan’s Tomoe Gakeun, or AS Neill’s Summer Hill schools, they all are context based, and exist within its context only.

For instance, the Summer Hill School has been around for almost a century now, but if it had been a good, practical, economical and sustainable education system, the schools all over the world must have followed its model by now. Instead the Summer Hill School is confined to its original state in rural England surviving because of its prominent supporter.

And Totto Chan’s Tomoe Gakeun was, pardon my language, only for the misfits who failed to fit into the ‘so-called conventional’ educational system.  Of course, I’m saying too much by saying that, but can you imagine having about 1000 Tomoe Gakuen in present day’s Tokyo which is over populated with shortage of space?

And Gandhi’s labour based Nai Talim is for the rural village only, and it failed to survive a simple test of young India’s industrial economy of those days which was a much lesser version of our present day capitalism.  The major problem with Gandhi’s New Education system is not it’s requirement of labour as a base of learning, but because it called for a new and revolutionized society which as we know, is unimaginable.

I'm not insinuating that our present education system is good and the progressive schools are bad or impractical. It is just that the kind of progressive schools we have seen so far are context based, confined to specific area, and were either usually led, not by the system, but by few good people who were fully dedicated to what they do. 

Every now and then, we saw some very excellent Government School, and if you have taken a deeper look at why the school work, most probably you're going to find some dedicated and passionate people responsible for it.  We need that kind of passion among the stake-holders of our education system.

The Progressive schools are progressive because of its founders or proponents' dedication and passion. Like everything else, we need passion, we need dedication, and we need commitment to put meaning to education, and to make something of our education, and to make our education works!  

Terminology I don't like: First Generation Learner

First generation learner???  Seriously, those people never learn before??? Don’t you ever wonder how the child came into being? Out of thin air, or are you saying that the child was born out of some virgin maiden?

The simple fact that the child, who you called a ‘first generation learner’ existed means the parents learned how to make a child, and they also learned how to nurture the child, and obviously, how to survive.  And since we all do whatever we do to survive, it means the parents had achieved something great.  It also means they learned a lot, and that the child is not a first generation learner, but a first generation school goer.

There is a big difference between learning and going to school.  You can learn, live and thrive without going to school, and going to school doesn't necessarily guarantee that you will learn, live and thrive!

So please stop using the term ‘first-generation learner'!  It’s not fair, and it’s against every possible human rights!

Reflection based on Reading of John Holt’s How Children Fail

 

John Holt’s HOW CHILDREN FAIL (1964)
Penguin Education Publication

 

“Most children in school fail…because they are afraid, bored and confused”.

John Holt draws upon his observations of children both in school and at play to identify ways in which our traditional educational system predestines our young people for failure. He argues that children fail primarily ‘because they are afraid, bored, and confused’. This, combined with misguided teaching strategies and a school environment that is disconnected from reality and real-learning, resulted in a school system that kills children’s innate desire to learn.

About John Holt: John Holt (1923-1985) was an American author, a teacher, an educator who first propounded Home-schooling, and a pioneer in youth rights theory. Through-out his life, Holt was very critical of the prevailing education system, and has written extensive critiques on it. Despite some of his radical writings, Holt remains a prominent figure in the field of formal education system; and his numerous books and critiques had led to reforms and changes in the education systems of many countries and inspired many of the later progressive education thinkers and institutions.

The Book: The book “How Children Fail” was first published in 1964 and revised in 1982. Even today, it is considered as an educational classic and a must-read for those who are involved in the field of education. As noted by the author in the forward, the book was divided into four major topics: strategy, fear and failure, real learning, and how school fails.

1. Strategy: This part deals with the ways in which children try to meet, or dodge, the demands that adults make of them in school.
2. Fear and Failure: This part deals with the interaction in children of fear and failure, and the effect of this on strategy and learning.
3. Real Learning: This part deals with the difference between what children appear to know or are expected to know, and what they really know
4. How School Fails: This part analyses the ways in which schools foster bad strategies, raise children’s fears, produce learning which is usually fragmentary, distorted and short-lived, and generally fail to meet the real needs of children.

Based on the structure of the book, this review will also follow the same pattern in presentation, discussing the major themes that arose from the reading, and see its practicality in our present education system in India.

1. FEAR AND FAILURE:

Schools promote an atmosphere of fear that not only quells a child's love of learning and suppresses his native curiosity, but also makes him afraid of taking chances and risks which may be necessary for true learning to occur. Some of the steps taken to address the issue of fear and failure in school in our Indian education system are:

• Prohibition of corporal punishment (including verbal ‘name calling’)
• Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation that evaluate a child’s learning and capabilities in a holistic manner
• Prohibition of test/exam up to a certain class in school
• Prohibition of with-holding/retention of a student

The above mention steps taken are just a step towards reducing fear and failure in school, it still fails to address the bigger issues, that is, the psychological aspects like humiliation from peer groups, and fear of failing our parents and their various expectations.

Secondly, parents are the one who wants and demand that their child be, in the word of Holt, a ‘producer’ that parrots what the teacher says. It shows that majority of parents’ lack understanding of the ‘aims and objectives’ of education, Unless the parents change their perspective of seeing education as an economic investment, school and education will always be a burden for the student!

Thirdly, teachers are also aware of the parent’s expectation, and many teachers took-up the role of a parent to the child in school pushing them towards a certain goals which they have in their mind without ever consulting the students. The achievement of this goal also serve the teachers’ need for a better reputation for their school as a good-mark scoring schools. Besides that, many teachers assumed the role of moral guardian, and think that disciplining the students to be their role. Disciplining students in the name of moral guardianship or to see the reputation of the school goes up, teacher forced their students into a uniform set pattern of behaviours and mannerism which can only kill the child’s unique individuality and creativity.

When I visited Limtara M/S for drawing of greeting cards for teacher’s day, the fear of being wrong can be easily seen among the students who constantly asked what to draw when asked to draw whatever they want, and also, the teacher pushing them by playing vigilant and telling them to do this or that. Such vigilant actions, and disciplining from the school can only result in a confused child who distrust their own ability, and breed a dependent nature in them.

2. BOREDOM:

Schools demand that children perform dull, repetitive tasks which make limited demands on their wide range of capabilities and as such, it becomes boring to most students. Some of the steps taken to address these issues include:

• allowing each states and region to design their own curriculum based on certain frame-work and guidelines
• making each lesson as activities oriented as possible under CCE
• inclusion of teaching-learning materials
• including play/sports at least once a week in our school’s time-table

The synonyms of boredom when it comes to class-room will be ‘interesting’ or ‘vibrants’, and we can’t exactly call our curriculum very interesting or vibrant because the simple fact that we have a ‘uniform curriculum’ for a group of ‘individuals in a class-room’ fails to address the diversity of our students and their capabilities!

Looking at the various progressive schools like Totto-chan’s Tomeo, AS Neill’s Summerhill, Reggio Emelio schools, etc. one thing they have in common is a flexible curriculum where the teacher prepared the lesson plan based on their understanding of the interests of the students.

When visiting Mandroud P/S for class-room observation, I observed a MGML class of Class I & II. While observing, the teacher instructed them to read whatever were written in the wall and left me to take in-charge of the class. The children can, not only read, but memorized each and every word written in the wall and recite them with ease. But before finishing their recitation, most of them stopped and started playing. When I asked them to continue their recitation, one of the class-II students responded by saying that they have been reading it all since class-1 (the previous year). Looking at the small Class-I children, I can observe that peer learning was happening through recognition of word, and association of alphabets and sounds, but in the name of peer learning, we bored the students of Class-II and thus gradually alienating them from learning altogether.

There are various forms of boredom. Totto-chan’s boredom is mostly because of curiosity about the outside world, but some kind of boredom that is commonly observed in our schoolS, including Mandroud P/S, is that of ‘lack of varieties’. There was nothing in their vicinity to arouse their curiosity, they have already explored them including the TLM given to them, and the plants and insects near their school –all they need is a new insights and perspective, and to make sense of it, and that, to a great extend depends on the teachers!

3. CONFUSION:

Once enrolled in school, the child often founds himself being taught things that contradict what he had learned from his parents or other adults, and many other things that don’t make sense. Confusion is a big term, but when it comes to the disconnection between reality and class-room, there definitely is a big gap.

In India, under the NCF 2005, attention has been paid towards forms of knowledge and forms of understanding based on the age-group of a child to ensure that appropriate things are taught among particular groups of children, besides curriculum reform, contextualization of text-book and concepts, activities oriented class-room, field-trips, etc. are some of the steps taken to reduce confusion and bridge the gap between classroom and outside world.

Holts himself talked about his helplessness when it comes to the teaching of various concept which are similar, like a problem that can be solved in different ways. He dryly said that ‘no explanation is better than a bad explanation’. But the ability to explain a concept in the most simple term that will make sense to children require for special skills, and in a big education system like in India faced with shortage of teacher, such skills are not available everywhere.

Also, Holt emphasized that student should be allowed to explore and discover on their own, and to let them learn and own their knowledge they discovered. Most of the progressive school practices such kind of freedom of learning to their students. But to provide an environment for freedom of learning come with a heavy financial cost –the cost of infrastructure, provision of multiple learning materials to arouse children curiosity, provisions of resources to answer their curiosity, and most importantly, we need highly qualified people to manage and stir such environment into a learning environment.

4. REAL LEARNING:

Every expert has different views on what should be included in a child’s curriculum, and furthermore, much of what is taught in our schools is outdated by the time children need to apply that knowledge to real life. This reinforces Holt's belief that there is no single body of information that all children should learn.

It is true that we never know what piece of learning will be relevant to the child in the future, that’s why curriculum are planned for a ‘future just-in-case’ situation. For example, we learn about how to provide basic first-aid because it is important that we know. But left alone, the child will rarely learn by themselves unless they have a practical reason to learn it by getting themselves or someone they know met an accident.

Holt believed that real learning can happen only in the real world i.e. outside of the school and as such he encouraged home-schooling. But how practical and affordable home-schooling is for rural India? And the more important question is, will your real-life learning be counted as a proper qualification when you apply for a job? If we want that real life learning is to be counted as a proper qualification, then the whole concept of formal education and our perspective towards it need to be overhauled.

Besides, to consider a real life learning as a proper form of learning, we have to assume that every adult that the children dealt-with are qualified as a model to the child, and that they are capable of providing the proper answer to the child’s question, which isn’t true at all.

5. CONCLUSION:

How children are systematically failed? Over half a century after Holt criticized our education system, the criticisms still stands valid. Every word that he said are true, but the saddest part is even Holt failed to come out with an alternative system that would provide real learning to our children.

Each and every stake-holder in the child’s learning has failed them. Our education system and our approach to education drive children into answer producer who parrots their teacher through our evaluation and examination system. Parents see education as an investment with quick and observable returns. Teachers see the child’s education as a job, and deliver it as a job. And the community is more than happy to have a ‘producer’ rather than a ‘thinker’.

Here is a look at some of the approach adopted by the so-called progressive school which can give us a quick comparison with our own system, and a quick assessment of their adaptability or the dilemma with the approach when it comes to the Indian education system.

Approach & Process:

• Experiential learning (a lived experience)
• Emphasis on group work and peer learning
• Free or minimally guided learning environment with emphasis on teaching-learning material
• Highly qualified, well-trained and passionate ‘teachers’

Aims & Objectives:

• Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
• Understanding and ability to apply in practice as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
• Development of social skills
• Education for social responsibility and democracy

Curriculum:

• Integrated forms of knowledge
• Flexible curriculum focused on thematic units
• Selection of subject content by looking forward to what skills will be needed in future society

Support Systems:

• Educated and highly aware parents and general population
• Active involvement of parents and community

Concluding Remark: After the 2^nd World War, the education systems of many western countries were influenced by the Japanese who enjoyed rapid economic development attributed mainly to its education system that emphasized on rote memorization and curriculum overload. Starting from the late 1980s the Japanese gradually adopted the progressive approach reaching its peak in early 2000s with their ‘room to grow’ approach and constantly appeared among the top 15 in PISA score, however, in early 2012, they reverted back to their previous system allegedly due to its efficient recall power.

Now, can we say that, in the words of John Holt, ‘producing a producer’ is such a bad thing if one of the major aims of education is to create someone who can contribute as a ‘producer’ to the economy, and if that is what the parent’s want for their children?

What would it take to score 100% marks in Social Sciences?

Attending SCERT conducted training session for Master Trainers in Raipur, I got an opportunity to interact with the participants during one of the activities.  The activity was from the previous day which I didn’t attend.  The participant were given an assignment – they were given a question which they have to answer in an essay mode based on certain (exactly 6) parameters.

The participants were grouped into three and each group were given four answer sheets (without names) to check based on the 6 parameters on a scale of 5 marks.   As a new face, the members in my group were pretty eager to tell me what they were doing and why they were doing so.  I watched them decide how much mark to give, what should be the rationale.  I saw them negotiate mark until one tired participant passed on to the next participant to give mark as s/he wished.

As they scored the assignment, I noticed that out of the 4 papers they checked, two got 3/5 marks, one got 2.5/5 while the other one got 2/5 marks.  They explained to me the rationale behind the score they give which I can understand.

But the surprise came when I asked what it would take for someone to score 5/5 marks (or 100%)! Their response is that such score is impossible because this is an essay!  Then I asked them to bring this situation to a classroom, and consider that –as a teacher, teaching student a specific subject, social studies, for one year, and the student studying that social studies for one year and giving extra efforts of studying each word of the text for about two months in preparation for the final exam, what are the chances that the student would score 100% mark?

One of the participants gave me a prompt response that the chance is 0.00001%!  Most of the participants nodded in agreement! One of the teacher told me about her personal experience of checking the exam paper of a class VIII student with the perfect answers. She said the paper was perfect, and there were no single mistake, the hand writing was good, and the grammar was good, but I have to cut 2 marks and give her 98/100 because if someone else check it again, there might be a difference in opinion and might not agree with the score I give, and also it is not practical to give 100% marks in social sciences no matter how good the paper is!

Initially I find that response shocking but on further reflection, that response gave me an idea of the complexities of social sciences as a subject, and also the grim reality student are faced with.  

In the subject matter, it reflects the differences in how we viewed knowledge and understanding, and not just the complexities and divergence with which we can look a particular subject/issue/situation.  For example, society can be defined in various ways, can be looked from various perspectives; and how would a teacher score such subject?

For the student, it is a very grim reality because no matter how hard they study, and no matter how much they understand and build their arguments, they would not get the perfect score simply because there is no specific answer like 2+2 is 4 which would fetch them 100/100 marks.