Academy for Educational Development
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New Approaches in the Classroom Prepare Students for Civic Involvement
New Approaches in the Classroom
This school could be located in any number of countries, including Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, and Nicaragua, which are working with AED to create education systems that prepare their students to be active members of a democratic society. At first blush, the connection between the way children are taught and the way a country is governed may not be completely obvious, but AED experts believe that decentralizing education creates systems that cater to children’s specific needs, support individual teachers, and empower communities. “Education in many ways really is the key to democracy,” said Alison Price-Rom, a senior program officer with AED’s Participation, Education, and Knowledge Strengthening, or PEAKS, project. “It is about more than just teaching facts and skills. It is teaching children to participate in society.” Student-Centered Learning Kyrgyzstan is one of the countries in which PEAKS is working. The changes underway in the classroom as a result of this five-year, USAID-funded project are emblematic of the changes happening in the education systems in Nicaragua and Namibia as well. The key to the success of AED’s education reform projects is student-centered learning. Instead of teaching the whole class at the same pace, teachers now respect each individual student’s progress, and each student’s achievement guides his or her instruction. “This is ultimately more successful,” said Price-Rom. “Top-down models of education focus on one level of students, and those not learning at that level are left behind.” The same student-centered approach is also being implemented in Namibia. The point of this work is to teach the students that they cannot simply repeat the information being taught to them, they must be able to do something with it, according to Rudi Klauss, vice president for Global Education Planning and Management. “Student-centered learning is intended to encourage students to question, to think about issues, and take responsibility for their own learning. They work together for the betterment of their school community,” Klauss said. Students Working Together
In addition, students are taught to ask questions, analyze multiple sources of information, and reach their own conclusions. This contributes to the empowerment of students and encourages them to think for themselves. Students are putting these new skills into practice through student governments that the project has introduced. Student leaders are selected and task forces formed to make decisions about what kinds of activities the school should pursue. For example, at one school, the students were disturbed by the litter in their schoolyard. They voted to impose fines on anyone who was caught throwing trash on school property. As a result, the school ended up with a neater yard and some extra funds. “This was the students’ decision,” said Brady. “They took action and they saw a very positive result.” AED successfully put these same principles of student-centered learning and student government into practice in Guatemala and is working similarly with schools in Peru on these same approaches. Parents Supporting Schools Communities in Nicaragua are working closely with their schools through parent councils that weigh in on such important issues as security, infrastructure, and facility improvements. “School is no longer the dominion of teachers and the teachers’ unions, but the whole community is involved,” said Sergio Ramirez, a deputy director in the AED Global Education Center. Parents in Namibia, Nicaragua, and Kyrgyzstan are also participating in classrooms. As a result, the parents are more aware of what goes on in the schools and are more willing to become directly involved. In Nicaragua, community organizations have been effective in bringing people together around common issues. “Nicaragua is a very polarized country,” said Ramirez. “but these community organizations are helping build bridges between the different factions.” Together everyone works on improving the local schools and is proud of his or her accomplishments because the schools are a visual representation of the community, he added. Because of the parent councils in Nicaragua, communities there were much more prepared to respond to a natural disaster such as Hurricane Mitch, according to Ramirez. “They were self-reliant and responded immediately instead of waiting for a government helicopter to arrive,” he said. In Namibia, communities are especially involved in supporting children orphaned by AIDS. AED is administering small USAID-funded grants through a local NGO to communities that design and run programs to care for their orphans and make sure they attend and succeed in primary school. Through this program communities are making decisions in concert with government policy makers about how to best educate their orphans and other vulnerable children. “This program provides community empowerment and voice around issues at their schools,” said Klaus. Getting parents involved in schools is a cornerstone of AED’s education reform projects. But the changes taking place in the classroom—especially teachers’ efforts to actively engage their students—have been even more monumental. In Nicaragua, Namibia, and Kyrgyzstan, educators previously were trained to teach according to strict guidelines that required children to memorize facts and figures without much context or independent thought. In adopting the research-based, student-centered approaches that AED promotes, all of the teachers were required to learn a new way of teaching. To do that, they needed professional development. “Many teachers in Kyrgyzstan were in need of professional development that the state system of education could not afford to support,” said Price-Rom. “Clearly the teachers could not use the same materials and techniques designed under the previous system which emphasized rote memorization,” she said. In addition, the teachers needed to know how to create their own curricula where possible, and they needed to learn how to incorporate new methods of instruction into the existing state curriculum. “AED is providing this assistance,” said Price-Rom. The same holds true in Namibia, where AED has been operating a USAID-funded project, called Basic Education Support, or BES, for more than seven years. The current emphasis of BES is on site-based and ongoing teacher professional development. However, AED knows that one size does not always fit all, especially when it comes to supporting teachers. As such, the teachers in the BES project identify the kinds of support they need. As the country implements an education system that revolves around the students, a policy of continuous assessment has been established. This has been particularly challenging for the teachers to adjust to because they’ve had to learn how to evaluate students’ progress throughout the year instead of relying on a single test, according to Klauss. But the extra support provided by BES “has helped them learn how to do this more effectively,” he added. Continuous assessment, like the other pieces of AED’s education model, promotes respect for each student as an individual, which, in turn, creates a strong base for building strong democracies. Ramirez summed up AED’s education philosophy by saying: “People think donors stick to the physical things like buildings and books. But what we do, the strength of our work, is going to the heart of education: treating the teachers and the children with respect. It’s a huge change, but the human process is at the heart of education, and democracy. You just don’t give them things, you have to work with them and understand the people you’re working with.” |
The classroom is warm and welcoming. Some of the children are working in pairs, while others are situated in small groups around the room. The teacher moves from table to table applauding discussion and debate and encouraging the students to use critical thinking skills and analysis.
Through AED’s project in Nicaragua, students often work together on assignments and work independently at their own pace. “This combination encourages problem solving with their peers, which promotes tolerance and the ability to work with others,” said Kristin Brady, a deputy director in the AED Global Education Center, which oversees the Nicaragua Basic Education Project, or BASE. “Independent learning teaches students to become responsible for their own actions.”
