We need only one reform in education

Almost everyone involved in education wants to be a 'reformer' to show how the current education system does not work, and how his 'reform' of education can solve the problem. Some try to nudge the system by adding 'practical ways' of teaching - like experimental education, project based schooling - while some try to shift the education system introducing standardised curriculum. Some try to follow a modern route and claim that 'technology' can transform the education by using different teaching systems.

But very few educationist are willing to admit the basic flaw in the current education system: that the education system is basically 'coercive' and one cannot learn if one is coerced to learn. You can take horse to the water, but cannot make the horse drink. Imagine helping your child to learn something, say addition of fractions. You can make him/her sit on the desk, but cannot ensure that the child learns ' addition of fraction' if you sit and teach the child. In education, one can 'enable' learning to happen, one cannot make it happen.One can teach someone, but one cannot however ensure that the person learns.

One can teach someone, but one cannot ensure that the other person learns.

In short, the current 'coercive' education system cannot work, whatever tinkering one does with it. It needs just one basic reform: Change the education system to 'non-coercive' so that the students and kids take charge of their own learning. 

If the education system is coercive, nothing will work, because we are coercing child to sit even when he is not willing or ready. Periods and sequence are fixed. Group teaching further thwarts any discussion on the subject. Without ensuring basic willingness of the child, better technology will not enable learning. Good intentions won't help. Effective learning philosophies will not be useful. Better curriculum won't ensure learning. Experimental method of teaching won't work.

On the other hand, if the education system is non-coercive, it will work, because we learn only when we want to learn. If the answer is so self-evident, then what is the basic challenge in setting up a non-coercive system of education? It faces three design challenges. 

1. Non-coercive education needs a robust design of curriculum and 'teaching tools': Coercive system is structured, systematic and ensures control. The perception of control is important for both educators and parents. Non-coercive system, because it depends on the voluntary efforts of students, cannot lend this feeling of control. Parents are worried that "if their children do not produce voluntary effort, what will happen to their lives"? Educators cannot take money from the parents for the education of their children if they cannot ensure that the child learns. What structure can offer both the benefits :control for the parents and educators, and freedom for the students? 

2. Non-coercive education also requires assessment to correct the progress of student: Because of the structured system of Coercive education, students can easily be assessed, compared, and then hopefully shown the path of correction based on their grades. We now know that we have abused this system of grading so much that it is now ruling the 'process of education'. Progress in non-coercive education is difficult to assess. Because every individual is growing at a different rate, it cannot be compared. One therefore requires a different 'benchmark' for assessing a child's progress in non-coercive education, if the system has to flourish in the current educational system.

3. Non coercive education requires active partnering from the parents : Currently, in the coercive education system, parent can outsource education to the 'school educators' and let them do whatever they deem fit. In non-coercive education, parents cannot take this approach of 'outsourcing'. They need to partner with the school, understand the progress of their child, fill the gaps themselves when the school cannot tackle the needs of their unique child. In short, parents need to participate more actively with the school educators. Both school educators and parents need to work together to create a mechanism for mutual coordination and control.

Summary

It is not difficult to design these three elements of non-coercive education system. We already know of two such systems which are well proven. Montessori system is one such design. For more information on Montessori design, see these details. Another well tested system is of Greenberg's Sudbury Valley school which started in 1968 and is therefore equally tested.

In other words, the design is available to launch a non-coercive school anywhere in the world. Do we have the educators who have the gumption to take the challenge? Or do we have enough caring parents who would walk a mile to help their children?

Update after the post

1. Here is an update of Fairhaven school which uses Sudbury valley system method ( democratic school)
2. Here is an interesting differences and similarities between democratic school and other models like Montessori and  Waldorf.

What is the purpose of today's Indian schools ?

Despite Korean students ranking first in reading and maths, and third in science, in the 2009 PISA survey, South Korea’s ex-minister for education Byong Man Ahn made this comment on South Korea's system of education

“While Korea's students excel at learning, they believe its purpose lies not in self-development based on personal interest or motivation, but in entrance into a highly ranked university. Students have no time to ponder the fundamental question of “What do I need to learn, and why?” They simply need to prepare for the test by learning the most-effective methods for digesting tremendous quantities of material and committing more to memory than others do.”

When I read this, i thought that the South Korean Minister is speaking of Indian schools. Our schools are also, I think, preparing students to get into better Engineering or Medical colleges through digesting huge material in the coaching classes ( not schools) and then getting it out in the engineering or medical entrance tests. Although accounting stream and vocational courses like ITI are encouraged indirectly through the focus on basic skills of numeracy, other streams of arts, design, or literature ( literacy oriented) are not even encouraged indirectly. But even in the basic education skills of numeracy and literacy, India ranked below average in the PISA 2009 ranking of countries, so I am not sure if we are doing that well in the basic education of numeracy and literacy.

And if you look at our education system, the purpose of school system is very confusing. If you see the number of ITI insitutes in India , one wonders if the schools are meant to provide a set of skilled employees for the industrial labor market  to the growing industry? If you see the scampering of students in IIT's and engineering colleges, one wonders if the schools are meant to provide top level students in science so that national economic competitiveness is improved ? Or, if you see the growing number of alternate schools in India, one wonders if the schools are meant to develop the ‘whole’ child – emotionally, intellectually, creatively? Or if you see the Governments attempt to make education compulsory, are the schools meant to just help the students get the basic skills of numeracy ( numbers) and literacy ( language speaking, reading and writing)?

Because, if we get our objective right, we can at least find the best possible route. All the above objectives are not either/or. They can coexist. But the objectives should be clearly articulated. Because it then helps to focus on making the system more effective. For instance, if want to develop more ITI students for the industry, we can 'spruce up the ITI curriculum, get more industry participation, add curriculum of entrepreneurship for trades like plumbers and electricians . If you agree on a destination, you can at least find the best possible use of limited resources.

Instead, what we’re left with is a public discourse permanently afflicted by the curse of binary, oppositional arguments. The either/or positioning (selective vs. comprehensive school systems; instruction-led teaching vs inquiry-led; head vs hand; academic vs vocational; knowledge vs skills) is further aggravated by constant political interference, resulting in a series of pendulum swings with every change of administration. That diffuses the already limited resources and we are left with nothing in hand.  No real progress can be made in such a situation.

A universal school will soon vanish if ....

In my days of schooling, we had only one school. That school was meant to help me explore all my abilities - maths, sports, arts, verbal. Everything was offered in one package. This was the era of universal school. If i was not good in academic abilities of maths and verbal, i was labelled as poor student and had to find a way to get my self belief. If i was good in them, i was lucky. Sports and arts were considered as extra curricular activities. If i was good in them, i still had to prove myself.

Now the schools have become slowly and surely into specialised schools. They offer alternative paths of development. Parents can now take advantage of these schools depending on their child's development trajectory !

Sports based school:  Last week, i had gone to a school at a small town near Nashik, which calls itself a sport school. It offers students to explore different type of games starting from a field game like hockey to individual game like tennis. It has sports coaches. Some of the games have been handed over to experts in that field on BO - build and operate - basis such as volleyball.

Although these schools focus on deepening interest in sports, it also offers good academic atmosphere to ensure that the students also do well in academics. 

In this school, 'sports' acts as a motivation engine for students who yearn to display their physical mastery. Once they express well through sports, they are able to gain the 'kernel' of self belief which enables them to work on their academics. Sports enables them to develop their 'character trait' of self regulation ( like we saw in this example) which then helps them grow in academics. ( Remember the talent rule: Developing Talent = Developing Cognitive abilities(CA)+ Developing Character traits(CAT)+ Developing Conative traits(CAT). These schools smartly exploit development trajectory of those students who develop faster through 'sports route', and help these students find their 'self belief' quickly. 

Arts based school: This school helps a student to explore and deepen the growth of artistic interests in dramatics, dancing, music and other performing arts. Although i have not yet seen a school which specialises only in these artistic endeavours, i have seen numerous schools who have huge infrastructure and specialised teachers to help the students explore their 'artistic' interests. 

It is common knowledge that students upto VI and VIIIth class show extra interest in artistic endeavours. If this inherent motivation energy of arts can be tapped at this age, it helps the child to express herself/himself and find self belief. Some students, who have this development trajectory, benefit immensely from this route. By developing character traits through 'arts', they open the path of developing their cognitive abilities later. 

Academics based school: Some students tend to learn a subject, say mathematics, faster than their colleagues. The more they learn mathematics, the more challenges they desire. Please remember that a student is motivated only when 'the challenge is high enough than his current ability'. If the challenge is too high, he gives up. If the challenge is too low, he feels bored.  So, if a student is following a development trajectory, of learning mathematics, it is important for the school to offer increasing challenges in mathematics so that the student's motivation engine and learning engine are synchronised. For some 'academically brilliant' students, this is the right development trajectory. They either learn  mathematics, science, software or other technical domains. These students, who can follow the Ability route to develop, are lucky, because these schools are numerous. A typical universal school however is not useful to them, because this typical school is unable to offer them constantly increasing challenge. It needs an academic focused school to help the student to use his development trajectory. 

Other kind of schools: There are many other kind of schools which focus on different trajectory of development. Some tend to use the 'nature' route by enabling the student to explore nature actively through gardening, trekking and farming. Some are open schools that focus on development of conative traits like 'purpose' through meditation, yoga, dealing with philosophical abstractions. These are Krishnmurthy or Ashram schools. 

Summary

Arts, sports and academic schools are not meant to develop the talent of students in arts, sports or academic respectively. That happens later in life. At the school age, these domains are merely the 'zones' that allow a student to come out of his shell and express himself. They act as motivation engines, rather as cognition engines. And while engaging in them, they help the students to develop their important character traits of self regulation, emotional stability and creativity.

Once these character traits start getting formed and crystallized, these specialised schools then enable them to align with the learning of cognitive abilities later. It is a matter of sequencing. While academic schools help the student to learn cognitive abilities first and character traits later, these specialised schools help the student to learn character traits first and cognitive abilities later. Parents can smartly use these schools by choosing a school which aligns with the development trajectory of their child. 

Is home schooling viable for Indian Parents?

More than 20 lakhs children in the United States get educated at home, rather than at school. In the town I am living, in Nashik, there is a growing population of parents who are also engaged in home schooling. John Holt is considered as the father of Self-Directed, Home-Based Learning. See his website for more information  on the benefits and other resources of home schooling.India also has an association called Indian Association of Homeschoolers called Swashikshan. They also have online presence here.

Why so many parents favour home-school learning? 

Researchers have discovered three main reasons for avoiding the normal schooling. One, most students - bright, average, or failing ones - lose their zest for learning by the time they reach middle school or high school.  In school, children often are seen to be bored, anxious or both. Other researchers have shown that, with each successive grade, students develop increasingly negative attitudes toward the subjects taught, especially math and science. Two, school students are disconnected with the actual life and the community around them. These students not only lose the opportunity of learning, but they also do not learn the 'skills' to navigate real life problems. And three, the unwanted homework creates a huge problem in the families that further decreases the opportunity of learning for the child.

Parents are not surprised to know that learning is unpleasant in schools. However, most of the parents think of it as bad-tasting medicine, tough to swallow but good for children in the long run. Many of the parents therefore tend to shrug off such findings and tend to put their children in the school as an inevitable hardship of life. But some parents wish to do something to counter these disadvantages. One of the alternative is home schooling.

These parents provide a home environment that facilitates learning, and they help connect their children to community activities from which they learn. Some of these families began this approach long ago and have adult children who are now thriving in higher education and careers.

There are various research reports on the benefits of homeschooling. See these reports here. One of the report is on Indian Village in Kerala. According to these reports, the main benefit of this approach lies in the children’s continued curiosity, creativity and zest  for learning. The above mentioned authors are completing a study of approximately 80 adults who themselves were home schooled in this self-directed way when they were of “school age. Their results are awaited.

However, home schooling parents have to overcome two big handicaps of home schooling, if they want their child to benefit: 

Knowledge of development and education for parents: One is the availability of one competent parent at home. Lot of Content of teaching is available on the internet. With MOOC sites like Khan Academy, EDx ( managed by top universities like Harvard and Berkeley), and Courseera ( another site managed by top universities in the world) , finding content on any subject has become very easy. Here are some books on homeschooling, and videos on home schooling. Indian association also have lot of resources.

But the gap is elsewhere. The parents must understand the fundamental difference between learning versus teaching, appreciate the developmental bottlenecks of growth of child that impact learning, and help the child to negotiate typical learning bottlenecks in, say subjects like Algebra. In other words, a home schooling parent needs to find a person -  good 'educator' and 'developer' - who can help her understand this, and guide her whenever she is stuck. 

Fill the gap of social learning: One of the big gaps in homeschooling is the unavailability of 'social medium' to enhance a child's learning. Researchers know that the learning happens best when it is driven by curiosity and 'social interactions'. Social interactions play a major role in the learning of a child, because a child learns by seeing the difficulties of other child, understand the fine nuances by sometimes helping someone else solve a difficulty, or sometimes getting help from others. Social context is also critical in building interest in non-academic domains such as play, arts and other areas.We have seen, how playing of tabla can help a child develop qualities that are complementary to his talent. Parents have to find active 'social groups' in different areas to help her child. This group need not be just active in non academic domain like arts, but they can also be passionate about some subject like Astronomy or Robotics. 

Summary

In other words, if a parent can manage to fill these two gaps, home schooling is definitely a viable option. I know of some parents, who prefer home schooling for a different reason. For instance, one of the parent has a child who has 'queer' mannerisms and therefore finds it difficult to deal socially with friends. I also know a parent who prefers home-schooling because her child is extremely good in 'Arts', something that is not encouraged in a school. Another parent uses homeschooling because she is herself a good teacher. 

Therefore, if you are interested in avoiding school for your child, it is practical, doable and also beneficial for your child. 

Gap between teaching and learning can be bridged with these three enablers

Teaching and learning are different. Teachers teach and students learn. Teaching necessarily does not lead to learning. To ensure that teaching does get converted into learning, Teachers can only 'enable the conditions that foster learning'. As Loris Malaguzzi, writes

The aim of teaching is not to produce learning but to produce the conditions for learning, this is the focal point, the quality of learning.

Teachers therefore have to find the best conditions that encourage learning. One of the simplest ways to find these conditions is to track research and use that enablers in your class.The research on learning shows that three biggest enablers of learning are Choice, Contextualisation, and Personalisation.

1.Choice : Student's choice to learn is important, because it converts 'external motivation' to 'internal motivation' making it easier for the student to 'want to learn'. In a Montessori method of schooling, this choice is inbuilt in the school philosophy and goes a long way in ensuring learning.

In a conventional school, however, teachers can still manage to do a lot. For instance, instead of using language like 'you must' or 'you have to' with students, learning is more likely to happen when the teacher uses language like 'you can' or 'if you choose'. Even the choice of 'giving wrong answer' helps. Instead of asking questions to bright students, the teacher can make learning happen if the teacher asks questions to lagging students and uses the wrong answers to 'dig out' the mental processes of a student.

2. Contextualisation: Out of three causes, this is the biggest cause of students for not being able to learn in their classes. Students learn chapters and subject without knowing 'what it is being used for', or what is the purpose of learning the subject, or what is the background of learning this new material. For instance, they learn Trigonometry without knowing trigonometry is used to calculate heights, for instance, such as height of tall building. Or the student is taught periodic table, without knowing the basic purpose of periodic table was to categorise elements in a 'logical group'. Or the students learn multiplication, without knowing that it is 'same operation as addition, but with the same number'. Or when the student does not know what is the purpose of learning history, he fails to learn anything from history.

 Stephan Ceci is one of the researcher who has studied students at different levels of formal educations and spanning different countries. After testing students in complex rules of triangles,squares and circles, in the context of a 'video game' the children learnt the concepts so well that Stephan Ceci claims that young children can learn complex concepts if appropriate context ( instead of disembodied laboratory level context) is given to the content.

3. Personalisation: Diana Cordova and Mark Lepper  studied with fourth and fifth grade children to find their speed of learning arithmetical operations ( addition, substraction, division and multiplication) and how they work in parantheses. They personalised the tasks by using the student's name, age and background. The learning outcomes changed drastically for better.

Personalisation, it seems, also affect internal motivation by making the task look like a 'choice that has been exercises by the student. If the teacher therefore uses personal variables in teaching 'abstract' subjects like mathematics, it is helpful for the student. For instance, teacher can teach ' algebraic patterns' by using the ' relationship' of student's height and weight. Or teach history, by relating a student with his 'family tree' of father, grandfather and great grandfather.

Summary

Of course, all the researchers unanimously agree that the biggest learning happens when the conditions of teaching are enabled by three enablers - contextualisation, personalisation and choice - together. Individually, the effect of each variable is not very high, but together they cause a drastic increase in learning. 

Can we use development coach with test expert to customise education?

I found an interesting approach to address three of the seven bottlenecks of learning in schools when I read about the father of Intelligence testing, Alan Kaufman. Let me explain how.

Alan S. Kaufman, who introduced the notion of Intelligent testing and told us how IQ tests should be used. Most of the time IQ tests are used to spot students with learning disability. Or to find how gifted is the student. Global IQ tests (which takes the average performance across different subtests) are of no use, according to him.

What is the intelligent testing approach, as coined by Alan S. Kaufman ? 

Instead of this approach,  let us use IQ tests intelligently, Alan Kaufman suggests.  If a student is finding grave difficulty, say in learning mathematics, he may be referred to a Test expert. The clinician may decide to administer an IQ test - not a global IQ test, but a specific test - to determine the student’s pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses in mathematics and then design a custom-tailored intervention. Or, if the student is scoring poorly in faring fast-paced tests, the test expert can test the students 'Working memory' bottleneck. Or, a student may want to increase creativity. Creative thinking is an important skill, but which is often missed when someone just looks at an individual’s global IQ score. For this you require an astute test administrator.

But test administrator is not enough.  A tester can focus on the person being tested, and how that student responds, or why that student responds in a certain manner, in addition to how well they respond. But he also needs a support of a smart student development coach.

What is the work of development coach ?

The smart coach will also observe the behaviour of the child such as anxiety, or his problem-solving strategies. As IQ tests do not capture emotional reactions like stress, distraction, or the student's method of employing willpower strategies, the coach will observe these traits and share with the Test administrator. Neither do the tests capture the conative abilities like passion and desire to study in a domain, which a coach is trained to observe. A development coach is also trained to observe the complete profile of a student, ask the teachers and parents about his behaviors that are unfolding. Test results are meaningless until the individual’s scores are put into context by the test administrator with the coach.

In other words, we should look beyond global IQ scores. More importantly, the development coach has the knowledge of intelligence-creativity research, is aware of the latest theories of development of students including prodigies. He can bring in many aspects of development psychology to bear in the analysis and interpretation of a test scores.  He can understand and use the powerful peer effects to accelerate the student's learning, if required. And he can help the student to focus on domain so that he can use his 'limited IQ' to produce more than commensurate results !

Conclusion

In other words, test administrator and a development coach can help us address the three bottlenecks of learning: no assistance to slow learners, lack of encouragement for fast learners, and no importance of non-academic learning in schools. Test administrator and development coach can together help the student remove the-bottlenecks of their learning and keep them motivated by finding avenues for non-academic abilities.

Morever the development coach can also help teachers in using the diverse traits of a student, instead of overtly focussing on academic IQ. For instance, the coach can share the multiplier effect of development with the teachers. This will enable teachers, for instance, to appreciate how a student's small lag of ability at the age of 3 may have put him behind by miles at the age of 6. This will help teachers to understand the learning styles of their students and help them alter their teaching method to help some 'kinesthetic learning' students !

In the next blog, i will share with you a group which is doing good work on  giving quick feedback to the students on their learning effort ( the first bottleneck of learning). Because the student does not feedback on what they have learnt quickly enough, they cannot correct their learning progress quickly enough. This group helps the students fill this gap by giving this quick feedback.

Can our schools overcome seven major bottlenecks of learning in the future?

Students face seven major bottlenecks in learning ( please remember the distinction of teaching and learning that we talked in the earlier blog) in a normal learning-centric school in India. Let us list them so that we can appreciate and find how we can re-dress them in the later blogs.

1. Common standardised tests that test reproduction of content are used to evaluate students : Every student is grouped together by age and grade irrespective of the pace of his or her academic learning. They are given the same standardised tests which are meant to measure the ability of the student to reproduce the content ( and not apply the content!).  Standardised tests are meant to label students  as 'average' 'below par' or 'excellent.' Excellent students feel good although they are not aware that these tests do not measure subjects or skills that are useful. Below par students however feel demotivated, because others brand them as failures.

2. No feedback system is used to measure the 'quality of delivery' of teaching content: Because  feedback is not collected on the teaching content, the teacher never knows if his 'method' of teaching is appropriate or not. As this feedback system is not taken, teacher never modifies the 'teaching method' or even tries to improve his method. Teachers are not even aware that their teaching methods may need modification ! As such, teachers do not learn from each other. Neither do they learn from their experience. Therefore, when the student is not 'learning' the content, the teacher can easily assume that the student is either inattentive, lazy or dumb.

3. Slow learners are penalised: Every student is assumed to learn at the same rate. Students who are learning slowly relative to their same-aged peers , fall behind even more in the next class, because next class builds on the concept of the earlier class. These lagging students then are asked to attend 'special coaching classes' to raise their performance on these standardized tests. In the new system where no student is failed, they are promoted till 9th class. However, if their performance is not improved even till 9th, they are dropped from the school to ensure that school has a 'clean record' of successful results in SSC board exam. The loss of motivation is a common side effect observed in these students!

4. Fast learners are not encouraged: Because every student is assumed to learn at the same rate, students who are learning too fast are also stuck up. Schools refuse to even recognize that they can do something to benefit these fast learners of a subject from accelerated learning in their interested subjects. These students are supposed to wait for next year to get demanding curriculum. If they lose motivation in the mean while and get engaged in other activities ( which typically happens at the age of adolescence), the schools are not responsible for that eventuality. Boredom arising from the lack of challenges is the common feeling among these students.

5  Non academic domains are ignored in schools: Domains such as art, music, computing or language style are considered optional. Schools assume that development of these non-academic domains ( although important to develop a person)  is not their responsibility, and therefore there is no rigor or commitment in conducting these courses. On the other hand, other domains of excellence such as entrepreneurial domain, commerce, accounts, politics, civil governance or design fields are not even considered as optional and therefore are not even introduced in the schools. Students good in these non-academic domains find themselves branded as lazy and dumb.

6. Schools do very little to develop 21st century skills ( Life Skills) : Schools avoid developing  critical skills of the future life, such as problem solving, planning, decision making, creative thinking, communication and social skills, although they profess these skills ardently. Today's students need them more urgently than our fathers did, but schools cannot impart them through classroom teaching. Unable to find time and expertise to develop them ( we have seen the elaborate and methodical steps that Montessori system takes to develop social skills), they leave today's students unprepared for 21st century global competition.

7. Personal needs are not considered as valid requirement of learning: Social and emotional needs of the students are rarely accommodated in teaching, except by good teachers. Personal goals, dreams, and aspirations of a student are not even accepted as a valid input in teaching. Many personal characteristics of a student that are bursting to express are not even noticed. In short, all the personal and individual characteristics of student are ignored by the schools. Because a students needs are not acknowledged in the schools, students motivation of learning never becomes 'internal', it remains focused on 'external' characteristics like marks and rank.

Learning, if it happens under this situation, can only occur by chance. What can schools do to address these seven bottlenecks of learning?