Category: school

about me, Education, Online learning, parenting, school

Are you an Night Owl?

A Learning Leader
Night Owl

If you have been struggling all your life to wake up early to start your day before the Sun rises but haven’t been able to successfully incorporate it quite yet!

Welcome to the club of Night Owls! you must have heard that, to be able to make most out of your day, to be successful, you must get up early and most probably you would have spent some years in your childhood growing up learning the poem… 

Early to Bed and Early to rise!
Makes a man Healthy, wealthy and wise!

Well! it is certainly a debatable topic in todays era, when night shifts, collaboration and travel around the world has made night shifts a commoners life style . A lot of people has their favorite time to work as evening and night time.

Literature often romanticizes night owls. The fact that they keep unusual hours, and that they are most productive in the evenings or even at night can make them seem mysterious — both appealing and somewhat frightening.

Definition

A night owl, evening person or simply owl, is a person who tends to stay up until late at night, or the early hours of the morning. Night owls who are involuntarily unable to fall asleep for several hours after a normal time.

Characteristics of a Night Owl

Usually, people who are night owls stay awake past midnight, and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or even after dawn. Night owls tend to feel most energetic just before they go to sleep at night.

Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift. Night owls who work the day shift often have difficulties adapting to standard daytime working hours.

Night owls have often been blamed for unpunctuality or attitude problems. Employers, however, have begun to learn to increase productivity by respecting body clocks through flexible working hours.

Some research has found that night owls are more intelligent and creative and more likely to get high-paying jobs than larks. However, they lag behind larks in academic performance, and they tend to have unhealthier eating habits, as well as higher rates of smoking.

Some night owls, with great difficulty adopting normal sleeping and waking times may have delayed sleep-phase disorder. Morning light therapy may be helpful in shifting sleep rhythms for the night owl.

Given the high number of people who are naturally inclined to go to bed late and wake up late, it is essential to understand what impact their rhythms may have on their health, and why. In more general terms, research about individual body clocks and sleep-wake patterns can help us build a healthier and happier society.

What are the best habits in the night considering you are a Night Owl?

sleep routine
  1. Always brush your teeth before going to bed and if possible, take a shower.
  2. Read at least 10 pages of a book. If it’s not fiction, so much the better.
  3. Stretch before bed. This will relax your muscles and help you get a good night’s sleep.
  4. Always have a pen and notebook near your bed. Sometimes ideas that will change your life can come to mind at 2 AM.
  5. Have a glass of water before sleeping. If you don’t, at least do it first thing in the morning.
  6. Write down 3 things that you are truly grateful for. Keep a journal to track the progress of your day. Also write down your expenses.
  7. Choose the clothes that you will wear the next day.
  8. Pack your suitcase for work or study tomorrow. Make sure you are not missing anything important.
  9. Spend 10 minutes without thinking about anything.
  10. Inhale Exhale.

Changing perception towards Night owls

Researchers say “If, as a society, we could be more flexible about how we manage time, we could go a long way towards maximizing productivity and minimizing health risks,”

“If anything, it’s actually economically illiterate not to offer this as you have a whole host of people working way below their maximum potential, which morality aside is simply bad business,” the same person asserted.

And night owls do have their advantages, which researchers also acknowledge. One study from 1999 argues that “early to bed, early to rise will likely make you anything but wise,” finding that night owls score better on intelligence tests than morning larks.

As an educationalist and parent, I feel that we need to understand that for today’s generation of our children and students we need to understand and accept that Not being a morning lark is not a crime at all and night owls are still Wise owls!

With hopes to have a more positive perception towards night owls, and while this happens, let’s follow what our heart, body and soul says…

“Listen to the night as the night knows your truths, your stories, your aches, your dreams, your cravings, your forgotten memories, not so forgotten.”

Victoria Erickson

“I will always write.
I will capture nights all over the world
and bring them to you.”

Henry Rollins

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Education, Online learning, school

Revival of an oldest University-The Nalanda!

A Learning Leader

Nalanda has been an epitome of education once! Every educationalist should know what was and what is Nalanda?

The story of Nalanda -the first university

Nalanda the oldest university..

Nalanda (ISO: Nālandā, pronounced [naːlən̪d̪aː]) was an ancient Mahavihara (university), a revered Buddhist monastery which also served as a renowned centre of learning, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India. The university of Nalanda obtained significant fame, prestige and relevance during ancient times, and rose to legendary status due to its contribution to the emergence of India as a great power around the fourth century. The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna near the city of Bihar Sharif, and was one of the greatest centres of learning in the world from the fifth century CE to 1200 CE. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries, and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. Kumara Gupta was the one who established this university primarily, a Buddhist monastery that worked as a university set up at Bihar was an important center of learning long before Oxford, Cambridge, and Europe’s oldest university Bologna was founded. 

Can anyone believe the array of subjects which were taught in this prestigious institution like Nalanda? The Subjects like vedas, theology, grammar, logic, astronomy, metaphysics, medicine, and philosophy were taught in those times?

Much of our knowledge of Nalanda comes from the writings of pilgrim monks from Asia, such as Xuanzang and Yijing, who traveled to the Mahavihara(university) in the 7th century CE.

Nalanda was destroyed three times but was rebuilt only twice. It was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khalji in c. 1200 CE. While some sources note that the Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion after this attack, it was eventually abandoned all together and forgotten until the 19th century, when the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India. Systematic excavations commenced in 1915, which unearthed eleven monasteries and six brick temples neatly arranged on grounds 12 hectares (30 acres) in area.

The university in its golden period attracted renowned scholars from all over Asia, surviving for hundreds of years before being destroyed by invaders in 1193. 

RESURRECTION of the lost most renowned and prestigious university

In 1951, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (New Nalanda Mahavihara), a modern centre for Pali and Buddhism in the spirit of the ancient institution, was founded by the Government of Bihar near Nalanda’s ruins at the suggestion of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president. It was deemed to be a university in 2006.

The idea of Nalanda as an international center of learning is being restored by a group of statesmen and scholars headed by the Nobel prize-winning economist, Amartya Sen.1 September 2014 saw the commencement of the first academic year of a modern Nalanda University, with 15 students, in nearby Rajgir. 

It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning. The university has acquired 184 hectares (455 acres) of land for its campus and has been allotted ₹27.3 billion (equivalent to ₹35 billion or US$490 million in 2019) by the Indian government. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was appointed as the first chancellor of this operational university.  It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and others.

Nalanda university today not only speaks of the kind of education we had centuries ago but the importance of having a large education center could ward off all the distraction which could affect a youngster at that age.

As an Indian we should be proud that we were the first in the world to have a university which benefited students from all over the world .We are the ones who brought enlightenment of knowledge and wisdom in ignorance.

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Story credit : Pooja

Education, HIndi, school, short stories, skills

Folktales-5 Recognize the strength of your willpower.

A Learning Leader

People around the world talk about forest conservation, however trees,plants and nature is so much inculcated in Indian culture and rituals that they can’t be separated. Trees have been treated like companions and family members from ages in Indian society and we do learn life lessons from them too .

Here is one for all of us, in the form of a Indian folk tale…

Our Will power is stronger than we think!

लघुकथा

अपनी संकल्प शक्ति को पहचानें।

(मानव जीवन में संकल्प शक्ति बहुत सिद्धि देती है। संकल्प शक्ति के बल पर व्यक्ति की अच्छी और बुरी इच्छाएं तुरंत पूरी हो जाती हैं। जब कोई व्यक्ति यह अनुभव करने लगे कि उसकी विचार और संकल्प पूरे होने लगे हैं तो उसे सावधान हो जाना चाहिए क्योंकि यह स्थिति बहुत खतरनाक साबित हो सकती है। मनुष्य की इसी संकल्प शक्ति को लेकर यह लोक कथा लिखी जा रही है।)

एक बार एक मुसाफिर किसी जंगल में पैदल जा रहा था कि रास्ते में एक हरा भरा सुंदर वृक्ष दिखाई दिया। वह व्यक्ति चलते चलते थक गया था तो उसने सोचा “चलो इस पेड़ की शीतल छाया में थोड़ी देर के लिए विश्राम कर लेता हूं।”
उसे यह पता नहीं था कि जिस पेड़ के नीचे वह बैठा था, वह कल्पवृक्ष (संकल्प पूरे करने वाला) पेड़ था जैसे ही उस मुसाफिर ने उस कल्पवृक्ष के नीचे बैठकर विश्राम करने की सोची तुरंत आसपास का वातावरण शीतल और सुहाना हो गया। लेटते ही थोड़ी देर में उसे प्यास लगी और उसने इच्छा की कि कहीं से ठंडा जल मिल जाता तो प्यास बुझा लेता। तत्काल उसके पास ठंडे जल का भरा हुआ पात्र प्रकट हो गया। उसने प्यास बुझा ली। कुछ देर बाद मुसाफिर को भूख लगी। उसने मन में भोजन की इच्छा की तो तुरंत भोजन आ गया। भोजन करने के बाद उसने आराम करने के लिए सोना चाहा तो उसके सामने गद्देदार बिस्तर का पलंग प्रकट हो गया। वह मुसाफिर उस पर लेट गया।उसकी इच्छा शक्ति तेजी से काम कर रही थी।

यहां यह ध्यान देने की बात है कि उस मूर्ख मुसाफ़िर ने एक बार भी यह नहीं सोचा कि इस निर्जन वन में ये सब सुविधाएं कहां से आ रही हैं, कौन ला रहा है, क्यों ना रहा है? बस वह मुसाफिर तो संकल्प से जनम लेने वाली इच्छाएं किए जा रहा था और वे पूरी हो रही थी। उसका विवेक तो जगा ही नहीं। कुछ देर बाद उसे पलंग पर लेटे लेटे नींद आ गई।

आंख गहरी लग गई और जब सोकर उठा तो शाम हो चुकी थी।अब वह बहुत चिंता करने लगा और सोचने लगा कि “अब मुझे चलना चाहिए। अंधेरा हो गया है। कहीं ऐसा नहीं हो कि कोई शेर आ जाए और मुझे खा जाए।” उस मूर्ख मुसाफिर ने इतना मन में सोचा ही था कि एक शेर उस पर झपट पड़ा थोड़ी देर में उसे खा गया। मुसाफिर ने जो भी कुछ मन में अच्छा या बुरा सोचा, वह साकार हो गया देर ही नहीं लगी।

कई बार जीवन में हम भी ऐसी ही इच्छा और विचार करते हैं तो वे तुरंत पूरे हो जाते हैं। इस जगत में प्रत्येक कल्पना, विचार, इच्छा महत्वपूर्ण होता है और जब हम उसे पूरे मन, चित्त और संकल्प से इच्छा में बदलते हैं तो वह किसी ने किसी समय अवश्य पूरी हो जाती है। इसलिए हम अपनी संकल्प शक्ति को पहचाने और ध्यान रखें कि वही इच्छा करें जो हमारे लिए अच्छी हो। वरना तो परेशानी में पड़ सकते हैं। इस कहानी में कल्पवृक्ष से हमारा आशय संकल्प शक्ति (will power) से है।
इति शुभम। 🌹🙏

Story credit:

Mr. Dalchand

A Storyteller by heart

Storytelling has its own charm in learning and teaching. Native stories make a strong impact, with ease of understanding as they are deep rooted in culture and community. Hindi being my mother tongue never left its space in my heart. I strongly believe that in early childhood teaching in mother tongue is definitely the easiest way to reach to a child’s heart.
Indian folklore has been passed through generations over the centuries, with the words of wisdom which benefit young and old equally. I plan to share these short stories aka folk tales every once in a while to my audience, use them as a warm up activity, lunch break filler, going home time activity or simply read to your own children. Stories have their own magic!

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Education, Online learning, parenting, school, skills

Learner Centered Pedagogy

A Learning Leader

In 21st century, Learner Centered Pedagogy has spread globally and has been widely endorsed as a “best practice” in education by international and national educationalists. 

In spite of its prominence in education policies, implementation has been challenging, and changes to classroom practice is limited as teachers and learners struggle to make the shift , just like the recipient of a donor organ may reject it after a transplant.

What is Learner Centered Pedagogy?


It refers to a pedagogy that places learners at the center of the teaching-learning process. Students are more active and engaged, and the process turns knowledge transferred into a negotiation between teachers and students. Furthermore, this pedagogy starts from learners’ interests and objectives, it carries out a learning process based on practical situations and materials, using the current technologies to favor this process. In the process of teaching and learning, learners are at the heart of curriculum design, classroom interaction and evaluation techniques.

Learner centered classroom in a nutshell is a classroom where the lesson on not focused on the teacher and transmission of information. Most of the classrooms are where the teacher is like a conductor and controlling every aspect of the lesson, the teacher micro-manages the lesson, asks questions and speaks during most of the lesson-time.

learner centered classroom

In a learner centered class the responsibility for learning is placed on the learner. learners work in small groups helping each other asking questions, they might evaluate their own progress of the work , rather than have teacher mark everything. Learner centered classrooms are more co-operative and organic, rather than top-down instruction from the teacher.

Learner centered classes help learners to become more independent and more responsible for how they learn (learnability). Learner Centered Pedagogy views learners as active participants in their own learning, with their education shaped by their interests, prior knowledge and active investigation.

Learner Centered Approach & Online teaching learning process

As the pandemic has hit the online teaching-learning button for all teachers and learners, Every organization wants to get the maximum benefit from its online teaching learning initiatives. A key element of any successful online program is to keep the learners engaged in the course. A learner centered approach is a proven way of keeping learners engaged, and thereby ensuring effective Online Learning. A learner centered approach is one where the complete Online Learning experience is focused on the learners.

Advantages of Learner Centered Pedagogy in Online Learning

learner centered online teaching learning pedagogy
  • Better learner engagement
    The first step towards the success of any Learning program is participation. A learner centered pedagogy addresses all the essential needs of learners, ensuring learners get a personalized and convenient Online Learning experience.
  • Better knowledge retention
    Given that a learner centered approach places high emphasis on relevance and engagement, it greatly influences learners’ interest levels with more engaging and simulating content. 

  • Boosts overall performance
    A typical learner centered program will have a lot of scenarios, case studies, role plays, etc. with a lot of engaging and interactive content will help learners grasp the content more effectively. This way, learners are more likely to apply their learning at work, leading to improved work performance.
  • Develops problem-solving skills
    A learner centered Learning course has a lot of real life examples, including games, quizzes, and challenges which will force learners to think of solutions. This kind of training develops problem-solving skills, which is useful when learners encounter similar problems in real life situations.
  • Fosters collaborative learning
    Learner centered courses provide the opportunity to foster collaborative learning. The Learning program should be designed in such a way that learners have to involve their peers, which makes learners come together to solve problems, and thereby share learning. This approach not only encourages collaboration but also promotes teamwork.
  • Makes learning enjoyable
    Use of games and stories in Online Learning makes learning more fun. A learner centered approach provides a lot of choices to learners. With these elements like videos, ppts, story etc. learning is no longer perceived as boring and monotonous.
  • Provides personalized learning.
    All learners do not have the same learning needs. Some may just like to understand the basics of a concept, while some may like to understand a course in detail. Also, some learners may already have some knowledge about a topic, whereas some of them will be entirely new to the concept. A traditional Learning method will treat all learners the same way, and may not respond to the needs of different types of learners. Things are different with learner centered program you get the option to learn the basics or dive deep into the topic.

To conclude, as opposed to other approaches, such as a content centered pedagogy or a teacher centered pedagogy, learner centered pedagogy  provides many more benefits, why not give it a try when learning is just taking a new shape.

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Education, school, skills

Pedagogy

A Learning Leader

Pedagogy

Pedagogy is frequently used term in Education settings but at times, we use it without learning its context and meaning. let’s find out What is Pedagogy?

Pedagogy is an education-related word which is more frequently used in other languages such as French or German. Etymology and definition of the word pedagogy (from the OED): “ adopted from French pédagogie (Calvin 16th century), adaptation from Greek παιδαγωγία office of a παιδαγωγός: see pedagogue. So modern German pädagogie. “

Pedagogy is “The function, profession, or practice of a pedagogue [ a man whose occupation is the instruction of children or youths; a schoolmaster, teacher, preceptor. Now usually in a more or less contemptuous sense, with implication of pedantry, dogmatism, or severity; the work or occupation of teaching; the art or science of teaching, pedagogics. “

Moreover, pedagogy “refers to the art and profession of teaching. It stands for how a teacher teaches, the methodology one uses as a teacher, and the style of teaching a teacher chooses. It also refers to the preparatory training or instruction would-be teachers acquire in teacher education programs.”

(from the Greenwood Dictionary of Education, 2nd edition)

In ancient Greece the person who was given the task of educating the children was known as a ‘Pedagogue’. The word pedagogy is related to this being the method of teaching used by a pedagogue. Thought to be ‘over formal, pedantic, and dull’…

Pedagogy (etymology and pronunciation) is the discipline that offers the theory to follow in schooling of children. The instruction of adults, however, is also referred to as Andragogy.

Relation between Learning and its 3 major component: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment

Pedagogy in education simply means giving the practical knowledge rather than theoretical knowledge which can be through any means such as cultural, social, spiritual, and ethics.

It is just like a doctor understand the physiology and treat humans. Just like a software engineer learns programming. It is as important as air for a teacher to impart knowledge. Without understanding pedagogy, a teacher will not be a competent & professional educator.

The position of teacher is normally formal and ongoing, carried out at a institution or different location of formal schooling. A individual who wishes to emerge as a instructor needs to first obtain special official skills or credentials from a university or college. These legit qualifications may just comprise the traning of pedagogy, the science of educating. Academics, like different specialists, should/ must continue their education after they qualify, a method referred to as continuing authentic progress. Teachers may use a lesson plan to facilitate pupil learning, offering a path to learn which is known as the curriculum. Assessment is the next step which evaluates the effectiveness and guides the path of learning.

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Education, leadership, school, skills

Let your child struggle a little!

A Learning Leader

Let your child struggle a little!

Protecting the child , from all the big and small hardships, is the the first parental instinct and the greatest moral struggle of our time. However, unless the situation is life-threatening, it’s often better to let your child navigate the problem on his/her own, struggle and fail at times. With children, shielding them from struggle builds a safety net around them — but your child won’t have that safety net when he/she goes into adulthood.

We are a generation of parents, who don’t want our childhood to be replicated and want to avoid all the hurdles that pained us, in our childhood but, remember it’s that struggle what made us today what we are. We don’t need to rescue our child if he/she is scared or nervous about a situation by sheltering the child from those situations or providing excessive reassurance.

Learning to handle difficult situations and making decisions is critical to lead the life. 

As I mentioned earlier too, Butterflies are my favorite, let me bring in a story of butterflies again.( Never give up)

Once, a man walking in his garden saw a cocoon of a butterfly hanging from a branch. Now every day that man started looking at him, and one day he noticed that a small hole has formed in that cocoon. That day he sat there and kept looking at him for hours. She saw that the butterfly is trying hard to get out of that shell, but even after trying for a long time, she could not get out of that hole, and then she became completely calm as if she had given up.

So the man decided that he would help the butterfly. He picked up a scissor and made the cocoon hole so big that the butterfly could easily get out. And this is what happened, the butterfly came out easily without any further struggle, but its body was swollen, and the wings were dry.

The man kept looking at the butterfly thinking that at any time he would start flying with his wings spread, but nothing like this happened. In contrast, the poor butterfly has never been able to fly and has to spend the rest of her life flailing around. Nature has made the process of release from the cocoon so difficult that by doing this, the liquid present in the butterfly’s body can reach into its wings and fly out of the hole.

Forcing our offspring to come out of small difficulties on their own is just like getting out of the butterfly’s cocoon, in fact sometimes struggle in our life is the thing that we really need. Without hard work and struggle, they can never become as strong as they are capable of becoming. Getting out of the cocoon in the form of these troubles will teach them something that will take care of the flight of their lives.

The goal is to teach your children to overcome obstacles and cope with situations  more independently. Letting younger children struggle through obstacles can teach them how to deal with a difficult person, how to stay calm when they’re being punished, or how to perform independent tasks.That is why it is important to see the difficult moments in life from a positive perspective.Your child will emerge stronger, develop better coping skills, and learn to make good decisions and accept the consequences of poor decisions.

Your hardest times often lead to greatest moments on your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.

Roy T. Bennett

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Education, school, skills

An open letter to parents-1

A Learning Leader

Dear parents,

The school has come to your home, but learning doesn’t have to limit itself to sitting in front of computer/laptops or mobile phones.

Lock down has brought in a new definition to Schooling and learning at home. While schools have come to home in order to ensure that your child doesn’t miss on anything in academics.

A school offers so much more than mere core subject teaching. Your child is inspired and motivated to be creative in writing, public speaking, presentation, games, sports, leadership, and whatnot?

As school is a place for holistic education.How do we compensate while being at home, learning of core subjects continues via online video apps such as zoom, teams etc., yet Parents need to ensure that their child’s creativity keeps flourishing.

Encourage your child to read more, write more and let them write from heart!

Their writings don’t have to be structured or perfect but it should be meaningful to them. You will be surprised by their work , what they produce with little bit of freedom.

Here is one example of how your child can express herself .

More in upcoming letters!

Thanks,

A teacher and parent !

Learning in Lock-down

By: Khushi Verma

She is a Grade 8 student,

and is exploring her writing skills .

Here are her thoughts on learning as a poem.

We learn different things everyday ,
From Alphabets to Engineering ,
We learn how to use things from pencil to hammer,
We learn a new thing everyday,

By learning people start to invent new stuff ,
By the new stuff people from all over the world learn ,
And we would be well known as ,
Isaac Newton who found Gravity ,
Charles Babbage who made the first computer,

Some people learn how to help people learn ,
Some people learn and understand how to construct ,
People like me learn how to learn to play sports like badminton ,
All people in the world in the world learn everything of their choice ,

By learning we are able to choose what our dream is ,
If our ancestors didn’t start learning,
 we would not be this much intelligent ,
Learning new things is amusing ,
And it is very important .
Learning at home has to be creative in all aspects.

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Education, leadership, school, skills, Uncategorized

Approaches to Schooling:

A Learning Leader

Approaches in schooling,

What can be inculcated,

once the schools reopen?

As the pandemic Covid 19 has given us all the reasons to pause from running the hamster’s wheel and ponder upon what can we improvise upon in our education system? The National Education Policy 2020 has come at the right time, where the schooling approaches can be put in place slowly as we move into the New normal schooling and education in India. Its the time, we can rethink on our teaching methodology, techniques, classrooms management and overall schooling approaches. Changes which begin at small scale and transit through the system are adapted well.

Early childhood Education is being provided through multiple approaches around the world. It might not be practical to shift the whole pedagogy to a different one in Indian Formal schooling system, its definitely viable to pick up best practices from each one, induce one by one in our present pedagogy, not bringing drastic changes but slowly moving towards the improvement.

Here, I will discuss in brief the approaches and philosophies to schooling around the world used in Early childhood Education along with their prominent features.

Preschool Philosophies

  • Montessori 
  • Waldorf 
  • Reggio Emilia
  • High School 
  • Bank Street
  • Creative Curriculum
  • Kindergarten

Montessori

This approach, developed by Maria Montessori in Rome in the early 1900s, is child-centered, with teachers serving as guides. In the Montessori school, play is a child’s work. While there is a focus on academics, the distinguishing feature is that children learn at their own pace. There are special Montessori toys called manipulative that are self-corrective.

Features of Montessori

  • Learning takes place at its own pace
  • Don’t organise the room to specific age
  • Children learn by example
  • Same teacher for all preschool years
  • Mixed age aspect
  • how children learn to work quietly and independently at a task.

Waldorf

If you find a Waldorf school, you can trust that it is true to the Waldorf philosophy, since each school and all of its teachers must be Waldorf certified. This play-based approach is characterized by a predictable structure, providing children with a dependable routine, such as certain days of the week for set activities like baking or gardening, as well as mixed-age classrooms with the same teacher for multiple years.

Features of Waldorf

  • “There is an emphasis on creative learning, reading, singing, acting … It’s great for kids who want that predictability.
  • Home Like Setting-warm and Friendly
  • Natural and Wooden toys
  •  Against traditional grading systems and exclusion of media in the curriculum
  • Does not involve academics 

Reggio Emilia

There are many Reggio Emilia-inspired schools based on the approach developed in the 1940s in the town of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. After World War II, the community, along with schoolteacher Loris Malaguzzi, came together to develop schools that would help children become better citizens. “The overall philosophy is that kids are really encouraged to explore. The teachers are there to help them explore,”

Features of Reggio

  • Project based approach and curriculum
  • Find it out together approach
  • Child oriented but teacher framed
  • Documentation is an important part
  • Taking photos, making  videos and writing observations

Other Approaches:

There are these few approaches which are popular in certain areas and are a proportionate mix of academic and non academic approaches as well as some features from above. They were introduced to cater different people at different times.

  • High scope – community based program
  • Bank street- Play based learning 
  • Creative curriculum- written formal learning programs by for profit organisations

As, a school teacher or leader we may choose, what fits in our need or circumstances, but its always good to know what does exist in our field around the world.

Education, leadership, school

National Education Policy 2020

A Learning Leader

India’s

New

Education

Policy

2020

:Key points

A full version of National Education Policy 2020NEP 2020

Indian Union Cabinet approved the National Education Policy 2020, on Wednesday 29 July 2020, paving way for transformation reforms in school and higher education sector in the country after a long spell of 34 years. The draft of the NEP was panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Kasturirangan and it was submitted to the Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal when he took charge last year. The new NEP replaces the one formulated in 1986.

The new National Education Policy is set to usher in a slew of changes, ranging from reduction in school curriculum to discontinuation of M Phil and so much more. It aims to create an education system that contributes directly to transforming the country, providing high-quality education to all, and making India a global knowledge superpower.

What all we need to know at this stage, as an Educator or school leader in India?

School Education

  1. Foundational Stage (age 3-8 years): learning based on play and active discovery
  2. Preparatory Stage (8-11 years): Building on play and discovery; begin the transition to structured learning
  3. Middle Stage (11-14 years): Learning concepts in subjects; begin navigating to adolescence
  4. Secondary Stage (14-18 years): Preparing for livelihood and higher education; transition to young adulthood.

In this reformed pattern:

  • 3 years of Preschool and rest of the 12 years to maintain continuity in schooling
  • Learning will be in the form of discovery method and experiential learning till Grade 5.
  • Up to grade 5, regional language or mother tongue may be used as a medium of instruction.
  • Subject Introduction and Exploration will be introduced from Grade 6th to 8th
  • Secondary Stage will comprise four years of multidisciplinary study and will build subject depth, critical thinking, attention to life aspirations with flexibility for student to choose for example one may opt for Bakery with Math.
  • Preschool Education will be universalized.
  • A proper curriculum will be made by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) for Preschool education and teachers will be provided regulated training.
  • School curriculum to be reduced to core concepts and there will integration of vocational education from class 6, under new National Education Policy.
  • The new policy seeks to expand access to higher education for 50% of high school students by 2035, and achieve universal adult literacy before that date.
  • The Policy aims to ensure that every student in Grade 5 and beyond must achieve foundational literacy and numeracy .
  • Teacher to be facilitator- capacity building, a robust curricular framework, learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed.
  • Coding will be introduced right from the 6th Grade.
  • Technology will be extensively used for delivering the curriculum.
  • There will not be rigid separation between streams such as Arts, Science, music etc. Curricular and Co- curricular will be taught in the same manner
  • There will be reduction in syllabus because of this it will be easier to focus on the Core Concepts.
  • Students will have 10 bag less days in a year from grade 6th on wards which will be like a mini internship and will be considered part of assessment.
  • Traditional report cards with only 2 dimensions like marks, attendance will be changed to a holistic assessment including:
    • Self Assessment- To increase self awareness and make the students more accountable.
    • Peer Assessment- To imbibe a sense of social obligation and belonging.
    • Teacher Assessment- As it has been done traditionally.
    • The overall assessment will be done with help of Artificial Intelligence which will be a blueprint of child’s learning journey of the all schooling years.

Higher Education

  • If one wishes to drop out and then continue again after a fixed time. An academic credit will be given for every course Taking a break after completing one year then resuming is acceptable under this policy.
  • Like schools, colleges will be multidisciplinary & one can take up subjects of choice along with their majors without losing academic credibility .
  • Common norms to be in place for private and public higher education institutions under Central government’s new Education Policy. “As on date, we have different norms for deemed universities, central universities, for different individual standalone institutions. New Education Policy says that for reasons of quality, norms will be same for all and not as per ownership,” said Amit Khare, Higher Education Secretary.
    • UG Program – 3-4 years
    • PG Program – 1-2 years
    • Integrated Bachelor’s + Master’s – 5 years
    • M Phill discontinued
  • All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, to be governed by single regulator.
  • Common entrance exams to be held for admission to universities and higher education institutions, as per Center’s new Education Policy.

The NEP 2020 aims to increase public spending on education to nearly 6% of gross domestic product from around 4% now, while also capping fees charged by educational institutions.

The National Education Policy provides a broad direction and is not mandatory to follow. Since education is a concurrent subject (both the Center and the state governments can make laws on it), the reforms proposed can only be implemented collaboratively by the Center and the states. This will not happen immediately. The incumbent government has set a target of 2040 to implement the entire policy. Sufficient funding is also crucial; as we have seen in the past that 1968 NEP was hamstrung by a shortage of funds.

All in all its definitely a positive change and we all have to wish for a fast and effective implementation.

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