The mainstream schools have always been concerned with what is to be taught, i.e. the syllabus, curriculum, minimum level of learning (MLL) and the teacher as a means to deliver learning. The central concern has been the syllabus and the teacher. Take away the syllabus, books (promoted by publishers) and the teacher, the school collapses. I had once asked a group of forty odd teachers a straightforward question, “Imagine if you were to come to school on a Monday morning and you have no access to books, syllabus, curriculum etc, what would you do? Would you be in a position to continue to teach?” There was no answer, the faces were blank, inscrutable. I asked politely, repeating my questions, “Would you be able to teach? Would you know how your timetable would look?”. There was still no response, however, I could see few faces nodding, indicating refusal, a worried expression. Some gathered courage to respond and said, “If we don’t have books and syllabus, we would not know what to do, we are dependent on books”. A teacher’s role is directly linked to the books. Teachers prepare their ‘lessons’ based on the books and the curriculum. It is a book that guides the teacher, children are only a recipient of that lesson, whether they like it or not.
Let us explore what learning could mean in an integral learning environment. Let us first start exploring the teacher as an adult (in a typical mainstream school)
Directive: It is about giving directions as the teacher deems fit. Children feel directed, a laid path which they have to travel.
Prescriptive: Consider a prescription by a Doctor, you take the prescription, hardly ever question and then just go about following it.
Didactic: This approach states that the old way has ‘worked’ so far and it ‘works’. The teacher is the authority and the primary concern is the result.
Focused on product: The ‘end result’ is ‘exceptional marks/grades’, ‘smart’ child and comes out of school as a product that can be fitted as a cog in the corporate wheel.
Evaluative and judgmental: The teacher, with whatever ‘conscious time’, if at all she gets, tends to tag, judge the child. The teacher’s evaluation is the last word what does the child feels about the teacher, the school and about himself or herself finds no consideration whatsoever.
Transition: from being a teacher to a guide or a facilitator
The integral learning environment demand a necessary transition from being a teacher to being a guide or a facilitator. Let us explore what does it mean to be a guide and a facilitator.
Nondirective: A non-directive facilitator is the one who willingly allows processes to happen and is in no way directive in approach.
Nonprescriptive: A non-prescriptive facilitator is the one who is not interested in telling or instructing as much as s-he is interested in drawing out and listening.
Nonauthoritative: A nonauthoritative facilitator invites a culture of participation and is open-ended in approach.
In the light of the above transition from being a teacher to a facilitator or a guide, the following questions become important for learning:
- When do you teach?
- When do you facilitate learning?
- Do children always need facilitation?
- When do children need guidance?
Answer to such questions demands a facilitator to be profoundly conscious and observant. The capacity to watch, observe without any biases and prejudice or without any ‘noise in the head’ is necessary for integral learning processes to come to fruition. There will be moments when a child will come with some questions and it would not be important on such occasions to give an answer but allow the child to go back with possibilities and may be some clues.
Directive for integral learning principle
Knowledge and wisdom lie within the human consciousness and can be awakened and manifested in life and action.
So, to summarize, the dominant teaching mode in a mainstream education and school would be by way of instruction, teaching, demonstration that primarily draws on textual, printed text like books and in many cases the publisher driving the agenda. The primary reference, in this approach, is towards external authorities and experts. The facilitative approach or the Integral way of learning is by way of dialogue, discussion and draws on personal experience as a primary resource. The primary reference in this case is to personal wisdom, understanding and validation.
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