" I work with a progressive school" was my response to the question asked by somebody I met at a seminar few days ago. "And what about you?" was my question to her. With a smile came the reply "I try to be a progressive teacher though I do not work with a progressive school." What followed was an exchange of thoughts, practices and our interpretations of 'what is progressive education'?
I have had the good fortune of having closely been associated with progressive education for over fifteen years now, first as a parent and later as a teacher. My own schooling has been in a convent school, a very formal and conventional school set up. Getting good marks was very important and this almost defined the purpose of education for most of us. Getting all the Math sums right in the test, each answer in the History test should not be less than three pages. The more you write the more you would score. our History teacher would tell us. It was never the other way that the more you know the more you would be able to think and write. Answers had to be learnt word to word and then reproduced. I particularly remember the Math teacher who threw chalks at us in the classroom and I hated him as much as I hated the subject. English Literature was my favourite subject and I looked forward to the class as much as I looked forward to being with the teacher. She had made Shakespeare come alive for us and I could visualise the characters in their Roman settings. For the school annual day we did a drama on 'Midsummer Night's Dream', researched on the costumes, backdrops, created movements for the dances. We became the characters and lived in the world of fantasy and imagination for weeks and weeks.
It was the same school and two teachers who were part of the same system. Yet one was able to create a love for the subject which lasts to this date; I relish literature, poems, prose, dramas and stories. I never could understand Math, have a block for numbers till this day and was always scared of the subject.
Then comes the question, is progressive a mindset or a system? People with progressive mindsets create a like minded community and the outcome is the system. The true essence of education is the relationship between a knowledgeable caring adult and a motivated child in a democratic environment. Learning guided by children's questions, child centric education where the child is the focal point. The role of a teacher is to connect with each child as an individual, in order to comprehend her/his individual needs, learning style, social and cultural background, interests and abilities. All facilitators can be teachers but not all teachers can be facilitators. There can be no clear compartmentalization between progressive and conventional schools or systems. In a conventional school too there are facilitators who continue to make a difference because of their progressive mind sets or approaches. Who create contexts for children, encourage them to ask questions, are sensitive and create the love for learning. In a progressive school there can be teachers who are very conventional in their approaches and handling of children. Progressive education is a belief , a conviction, a thought process.
When my children enter the classroom, I am there to receive them - I communicate comfort and faith. From their questions I pick up what is it that they would like to learn. From my observations - I know how they would like to learn. We like to think in terms of extreme opposites, formulate beliefs in terms of either /or, this or that and do not recognize intermediate possibilities. When the bell rings, stop Math and begin Science. But Science can be integrated with Math. What is the present weather condition, what are the reasons for changes in weather, let us keep a record of the weather temperature for fifteen days and compare the data.
Human capacities are diverse and personal so there cannot be a narrow view of intelligence. Cultural progress and achievement depend on the cultivation of imagination and creativity. While children learn from their observations, we learn from our observations about them. While they learn from processes we facilitate, we learn from the process we go through to initiate the facilitation. While children reflect on their day at school, we reflect on our day with them.
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