Above statement is not startling because now a day’s classroom practices are, in almost all schools, dominated by textbooks. All premises of flexibility of the curriculum and syllabus and freedom of the children and teacher are completely forgotten. It happens when the time an educational plan reaches the classroom. The teachers are seen as either incompetent or lack of accountability or both. The school is seen as devoid of all learning. Material and the environment are seen wild goose chase for child’s learning. The textbook appears as the single tool of best learning in schools. It is expected to receive the entire knowledge child at a given stage. Child does not need to look beyond the four walls. Therefore, ‘teaching the textbook’ becomes the sole concern of schools.
Objectives of learning:
The school of classroom can be considered as traditional system of education which is devoid of interaction. Teacher seems to be meek dictator of textbook culture. There is no place for children voice and experience. Teachers’ main objective is to cover the syllabus in the time. Students are supposed to mug up whatever they have been taught. Teacher seems to be promoting rote learning. The textbook as part of bible, becomes one tool to engage the child in learning. The basic thrust of textbook is to enable children to become able to read write and remember in the main exam.
But the teacher in such classroom practices can be used for variety of activities, concrete learning material, as well as textbooks. What is to be learnt is planned as per the objectives of curriculum and the syllabus. What is to be evaluated is decided on the basis of stage-specific objectives.. The purpose of learning through exam assessment is necessarily to improve the teaching learning process, materials, and be able to review the objectives that have been identified for different stages of school education. Another, objectives of learning should be meant to gauge the degree to which objectives are achieved and capabilities of the learners are developed. It is not just to know how many bits and pieces of facts have been memorized by children in the classroom. There must be full autonomy for the teachers in the classroom in pedagogical level. The textbook should not be considered as final order. Here it would insist the same Gandhi as said “If the textbooks are treated as a vehicle for education, the living word of the teacher has very little value. A teacher who teaches from textbooks does not impart originality to his pupils. He himself becomes a slave of textbooks and has no opportunity or occasion to be original. It therefore seems that the fewer textbooks are, the better it is for the teacher and his pupils.” (M.K. Gandhi, 1939)
Nature of Knowledge:
The teacher’s thinking is very confined into textual knowledge. The teacher needs to understand other dimension of knowledge. Teacher opines that textbook teaching, memorization and successfully writing in the exam are the nature of knowledge? Is this form of knowledge to pass out with excellent grade in the exam? Later on, forget all about, no matter. Teacher needs to understand that textbook as bundle of knowledge is useless through memorization unless it is understood in a practical sense.
Teachers must give space and opportunities to student to articulate their valuable reflection on the matter so that construction of knowledge could occur in the classroom. I am reminded of what Pratima Kale points out in her essay is very much similar with teachers practice with students in classroom, “the teachers projected symbol is of a profession nobly dedicated to the service of society, a body of trained and qualified men, confident in their knowledge of what is best for their clients, with full freedom to do what they think best in educational matters”.
Knowledge is so called intellectual power, and internal powers (Phuko). A learner is supposed to possess good knowledge, competencies if s/he has to succeed in the examination. On the basis of this knowledge, competencies development can be dreamed otherwise it is vague idea. The more developed the power, the more the possibility of the person’s success becomes as a professional. So knowledge of learner is not a one-day play rather it develops throughout time. Knowledge of students depend on their clear understanding and evaluation of the following factors and their inter-relations- students, their family, the community surrounded, the society at large, the country‘s tradition, socio-political and economic situation. So students’ knowledge development is based on both theoretical and practical and also it is influenced by social factors. I find formation of knowledge similar view in Munby’s essay points that there are two major threads, on the character of teachers’ knowledge. “The first thread concerns the work that seems to have influenced to our understandings of teacher knowledge from a theoretical, even a propositional stance. The second thread moves us towards a more practical oriented conception of knowledge as we describe important milestone”.
It is very important to note that teachers should be aware of the future development of the forms of knowledge. The learners’ experiences should be organized to develop basis for all areas. The learner neither needs to know learners can be actively engaged only when they are motivated to learn. The very choice of work needs to be such that it encourages learners to participate and apply themselves. It is true that only active engagement involves enquiry, exploration, questioning, debate, application, and reflection leading to theory building and creation of innovative ideas formation of knowledge can take place. The syllabus of textbook should select experiences that build a knowledge base, capabilities to think rationally, ability to learn, capacity to work and to participate in economic processes, sensitivity to others, and aesthetic appreciation. It should be suitable for the development of a rational commitment to the democratic values of equality, freedom, autonomy of mind, autonomy of action, care and respect for others, and justice.
Teachers’s assumption about learner:
Teacher in such a conventional classroom expects that learner as empty glass. She/he imparts his/her best knowledge to the students. The Learner is perceived as a passive receiver who just learns everything by heart from the classroom and pours out during the exam. If there is no scope for interaction, discussion and conversation among learners, the class is not going to help as fruitful and activities based learning. It is crucial in the classroom to motivate student-teachers to familiar themselves with the structures of school subjects and see their relation with standard-wise objectives, syllabus and mythology. It should be also necessary to help them to understand their students with the help of concepts, principles and theories in various faculties of knowledge.
It appears that it was traditional education (education as practice of domination) which focuses only over teaching rather learning. I realize that most of the students learned more during practical and classroom interaction. One might anticipate about such classroom, where student could not be active role researcher, investigator and critical thinker. I find that nature of learning / learner should be based on Gandhian philosophy who advocates that self-reliance and self-dependent for learner, hand and heart experimental learning, and learners must have the freedom to create their own model of knowledge about the world. It means it could be a interactive session only if children experience and voices are heard.
It seems that school (curriculum, textbook and curriculum) is meant of maintaining norms state authority in the form of I.S.A. (Ideological State Apparatus) according to Louis Althusser. Since nothing big changes have taken place since colonial and after independence in education system. We remember as Shukla points out, “colonial policy used written examinations to evolve a bureaucratic, centralized governance of education. In our social life, the examination systems served the purpose of installing in the public mind the faith that colonial rule was fair and free of prejudice.” (S.Shukla(1978): 112-25,7-80.
Teacher understands of nature and use of teaching-learning materials:
In offered such classroom situation, where official control erodes the teachers’ autonomy by denying him/her to use innovative approach. It does not seem that teacher knows how to use teaching learning material because in traditional classroom. It is seen that T.L.M. are as model and kept for exhibition. Students are not supposed to touch and use. Teaching learning material appears in almost public and private school as show piece. According to Hridaykant Dewan, TML are material which can help in learning and also help in spreading the knowledge. It can be useful only if children will touch, feel, use it and play with it. T.L.M. can provide children an opportunity through which they can enhance their understanding about abstract thing.( Dewan’s T.L.M. vs Teaching Aid)
Textbook can be used as teaching learning material in two ways by teachers. In the first type, “teachers have the freedom to decide what the materials to use for developing a lesson. He /she is trained and expected to prepare own curricular plan and mode of assessment. He/she has authority over what happens in the classroom, in what order, at what pace and with the help of what resources. The second types of education system ties the teacher to the prescribed textbook. She/he is given choice in the organization of curriculum, pacing and the mode of final assessment. She/he must ensure that children are able to write answers to questions based on the any lesson in the textbook without seeing the text, for this is what they will have to do in the examination.” (Kumar p.452).
What does mean it means to ‘know’-who is learning? What is being learnt?
Different kinds of situations provide different kinds of learning experiences to students. Exposure to a variety of learning situations such as self-work, small group work, and whole class (or large group) work helps in widening the experiential base. It also helps in developing diverse perspectives. Therefore, it becomes important to have opportunities for self-learning, peer learning, and learning through interacting with teachers nor could be expected to be aware that the experiences are chosen with forms of knowledge in mind. At the primary level there may not be enough conceptual basis for any clear demarcation of sciences and social sciences. But it could be possible to introduce ways of looking at the social and natural world in the form of practical activities, and making sense out of them.
Additions to that, the entire image of teachers’ practice involve in process of learning, the exchange of idea and healthy dialogue. I also find the teachers practice as same as Shulman argues in his article , the goal of teacher education is not to indoctrinate or train teachers to behave in prescribed ways, but to educate teachers to reason soundly about their teaching as well as to perform skillfully.
The curriculum framework 2000 enables schools and teacher to make choices and move towards greater autonomy. Such a movement towards school autonomy is seen in a positive light by all major policy and curriculum documents but it does not appear in the actual classroom teaching practices. When we come to decisions regarding methods of teaching, pace of learning, material, and concrete examples to be used, we reach the level of school and the classroom. These are concrete decisions that can be made only for specific classrooms and children, as the actual learning happens only in the child’s mind and depends totally on what has been learnt earlier. Therefore, the reinterpretation of the teaching pedagogy, content, and materials are completely within the sphere of practical decisions to be made by the teacher. Finally, what is needed is not a single textbook but a learning material that could be used to engage the child in active learning. Similarly I find superficial statement on the ground and do not find any logic what National Curriculum framework 2005 articulates a new vision of the school curriculum as an inclusive space and the proactive engagement of the school teacher with processes of curriculum redesign is a necessary condition to ensure the success of the NCF. Therefore, we find that teachers do not find enough space for themselves so how one will imagine that children will be given full autonomy and freedom to share their experience and knowledge.
Nature of school she/he is likely to be working in:
It is little difficult to assume that whether school was private or public. But it seems that school was traditional. But it is certain that still almost schools are following traditional methods of imparting instruction. Teachers still engaged in teaching textual knowledge, lecture method, chalk and walk method, encouraging rote memorization with least concern for developing creativity, logical thinking and decision making ability. The methods of teaching are mainly adopted to enhance the cognitive ability in theoretical concepts through frequent repetition method.
At present time, the global competition demands a paradigm shift from traditional methods of teaching to innovative methods of learning. There is urgent need to discourage the use of traditional method and to encourage effective teaching, democratic participatory and competent methods that focus upon inculcating creativity and imagination, critical thinking, curiosity and decision making ability and not rote memorization. In India, there is a tendency to take too wide a definition of curriculum in much of recent literature. “All the publications under DPEP, many innovative NGOs, and recent discussions in curriculum seem to say too often that everything that happens in the school is part of the curriculum. Result of this, the teachers work is to cover the syllabus on time.” (Position Paper, 2005,). Above teaching methods have to be emphasized that develop not only cognitive ability but also affective and co-native ability. It is necessary to use updated discussion methods, scientific methods, heuristic methods, project methods, digital presentations of lecture etc, could become a integral part of the teaching learning process. Therefore, it can help in retaining the students in the education system as well also train them for facing open challenges.
Conclusion
Let me confine my view in nutshell, having heard the statement of teachers, it seemed that there was paucity of learners’ voice and experience. The teacher was using traditional rote learning pedagogy in which it was felt that the children apply their accumulated knowledge (rote memorization) in order to answer the question during the exam. The basic objectives of teacher’s pedagogy is to examine their memory not co-native ability so that they can write during exam and get passed. The learner’s nature was passive and empty vessel where teacher taught the best his/her side. The teacher pedagogy of teaching was authoritarian and less democratic participatory. The teacher has used text as bible by promoting text culture. There was no scope for discussion between teacher, interaction among learners and practical activities. It seems that that banking / traditional theory of mind was being applied by teacher. The classroom seemed to me remind Freire ,Paulo who argues Tradition/Banking education and put emphasis on critical process of enquiry in his ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’.
References
S.Shukla,” education Economy and Socal structure in British India,” Varanasi National Journal of Education1,nos1 and 2 (1978): 112-25,7-80.
M.K. Gandhi [Harijan,September 9,1939)]
Pratima Kale; The Guru and the Professional: The Dilemma of the Secondary School Teacher.Lee S. Shulman ; Wisdom and Practice.
Hugh Munby ; teachers’ Knowledge and How It Develops.
Goel and Sharma, A Study of the Evolution of Textbooks, NCERT, Delhi.
Kumar, K. 1988, “Origins of India’s Textbook Culture”, Comparative Education Review, 32 (4), 452-65.
Chapter 2, “Learning and Knowledge” and Chapter 4, “School and classroom environment” in. National Curriculum Framework-2005, NCERT, New Delhi.
Position paper on Curriculum, Syllabus and Textbooks, NCF 2005, NCERT.
Jarolimek, J, Selection and use of materials.
H.K. Dewan ,Buniyaadi Shiksha,April 2008.
