Under What Conditions?
The debate between “traditional” vs “progressive” teaching is redundant. Because, everything works. But the question is: under what condition.
Under What Conditions:
1.
Some years ago, I had bumped into a video on youtube. A documentary maker from US had gone to Finland in trying to find out the answers to the question: why Finland’s education system is better than American education? One thing that stuck me was a response given by a particular teacher.
Docu-maker: What do you teach?
Math teacher: I teach students how to be happy.
2.
Finland, it seems, is also the country that has removed the concept of homework. Which is fantastic. The system of education they have built over there surely allows this to happen.
Now here’s the meaty part.
The conversation and narration among many teachers and educators in Nepal has become something like these:
“testo po hunu parne teacher bhaneko ta. subject kina padhaunu paryo, happiness po padhaauna parcha ta” (Oh, a teacher should be like that. Why teach any subject content? One should teach happiness.)
Similarly,
“Finland ma homework diney system nai hataai sakyo, hamro ma bhane homework diyerai hairaan garchan school haru le” (In Finland, they have removed homework system. But our schools are still stress by giving loads of homework.)
Those things about Finland are of course true.
However, here’s the problem with such narrative, especially in a country like Nepal. What happens in Finland can not be a prescription for Nepal. (Also, prescription is a very anti-progressive concept, isn't it?)
Homework may work or may not work.
The question is: under what condition
What is the function of homework in the first place? Why did it exist in the first place? One might have to find these answers first.
Teachers may or may not want to teach maths.
The question is: under what condition.
On the same note,
Dictation works.
Inquiry works.
Feedback works.
Explanation works.
Discovery works.
Inductive works.
Deductive works.
Practice works.
Reflection works.
Instruction works.
Self-exploration works.
Group discussion works.
Text book works.
Experiential activity works.
Lecture works.
Project-based learning works.
Explicit instruction works.
Guided inquiry works.
Motivation works.
No text book also works.
And,
Homework works.
Also, homework doesn't work
The debate between “traditional” vs “progressive” teaching is redundant. Because, to paraphrase Dylan Wiliam, everything works in education. But the question is: under what condition.
At present, the more threatening questions are:
Is the teacher/institution willingly ignoring these core questions in the name of some fluffy charming one-philosophy fits all ideologies?
Or, is the teacher/institution willing to figure out the conditions in which learning happens for real?
This reminds me of a paper written by N. S. Prabhu related to language teaching: "There is no best method - Why?". He concludes:
"Perhaps the best method varies from one teacher to another, but only in the sense that it is best for each teacher to operate with his or her own sense of plausibility at any given time. There may be some truth to each method, but only in so far as each method may operate as one or another teacher's sense of plausibility, promoting the most learning that can be promoted by that teacher."