What Would the Pedagogical Principles Be of Your Dream School?

What Would the Pedagogical Principles Be of Your Dream School?

Back at it again Bloggers, and today I come with a question. What would the pedagogical principles be of your dream school? There’re a few things I know I would certainly have as my pedagogical principles at my school; there’s so many aspects to teaching and learning nowadays that it can be hard to try and squeeze everything in. We need a well-rounded holistic approach to pedagogy and here’s what I would consider to be my principles. 

Starting from preschool age children would gain their knowledge from experience of play. Playprovides important nourishment for brain growth; it actually helps to re-wire the brain, increasing the connections between neurons in the cerebral cortex. Play also hones cognitive skills. (Bekoff & Allen, 2002, p.430). Through play children get to create their own learning, from this they can experience what it is to teach themselves and provide themselves with personal experiences. Children can play alone, or they can play in groups with their peers. From this, they learn social skills and how to communicate with one another. They then begin to understand human emotions better, what others like and don’t like and how they can respect and compromise. Play has an ever-growing list of benefits for children and this is why it would be on my list for a pedagogical principle. In order for the learning experience to be beneficial for the child Some roles that an adult may need to carry out would be participation, observation, picking out resources and equipment” (Santer and Griffiths, 2007, p. 59) 

One of the other things I would make a principle would be Philosophy for Children (P4C) starting at Key stage 1 right through to the end of Primary Education. I personally believe that P4C provides children with and understanding of so many aspects of life and things that they may encounter; People, Animals, The Universe, Their Environment, Emotions etc. Philosophy for children allows free flow thinking and open-minded opinions, throughthis process children ‘develop their own philosophy, their own way of thinking about the world’ (Lipman 2003, p.166).I n such a setting, children can develop shared beliefs about human rights that are real and humane as opposed to doctrinal and adult-induced.” (Mizell, 2015, pp.327-328). From personal experience, P4C has provided me with a greater sense of knowingness and understanding of the world and also bigger questions that I may not think of or realise. P4C has allowed me to respect other people views and beliefs and led me to understand certain situations better and being a grown Adult I have only just begun to experience this. I believe that it’s crucial for children to start thinking and behaving in such a way at their early stages of education. It allows their mind to be an open book that can respect and process information, and I think should be a key principle at all schools not just my dream school. 

This leads me on to my next pedagogical principle which would be, Imagination. I think it is vital that practitioners allow their students to be Imaginative. Imagination, which is the process of bringing to mind things that are not present to our senses; creativitywhich is the process of developing original ideas that have value, and innovation, which is the process of putting new ideas into practice.  (Robinson, 2011, p.2) Schools tend to teach children out of their creative mindset, children are taught that there is one answer to everything and that they can find the answer by reading a text book however that is not always the case. Although it is in certain circumstances it isn’t always the case. Take a look at this video where Sir Ken Robinson talks about children’s creativity and how they are almost taught out of it. He discusses a research study where the same group of children are asked a question at preschool age and then asked the same question at the end of primary education and see how their answers vary. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzBa-frc2JA– Ken Robinson Uses of a paperclip

Moreover, one other principle I would like to discuss is Technology. Practitioners need to include Technology within their pedagogy and I believe it is absolutely essential. Digital competence is one of the most current things within today’s Education. The world has become so reliant on Technology and to be successful and to strive in today’s society it is important to know how to use technology in order to enhance your performance. Many traditional practitioners are not in favour of technology and understandably. There is no doubt that technology can cause children harm if they are disrespecting its use. However, the benefits technology can provide are second to none. The existence of the digital competency framework compresses the skills that will assist learners to flourish in an increasingly digital world (Government, 2016). 

That concludes just a few of my pedagogical principles for my dream school, there are many more contributing principles that I would include and many of these mirrors the framework of the ‘Successful Futures’ (2015) by G, Donaldson. I believe that this independent review of the Curriculum expresses some of the best idea’s there has ever been for a curriculum and will make the changes that we need to see. if we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob children of tomorrow’ (Dewey, 1944).

Take a look at Professor Graham Donaldson’s Review by just clicking Below

https://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf

References

·     Berkoff, M. Allen, C. (2002) The cognitive animal. Cambridge, MA. 

·     Dewey, J (1944) Democracy and Education. New York: The MacMillian Company

·      Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures– Report on the Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales. Available at: http://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/media/uwtsd-website/content-assets/documents/wcee/successful-futures.pdfAccessed on: 9/12/18

·      Government, W. (2016) Digital competence framework. Available at: http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/digital-competence-framework/?skip=1&lang=en (Accessed: 9 December 2018).

·     Lipman, M.(2003)Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

·     Mizell, K. (2015). Philosophy for Children, Community of Inquiry, and Human Rights

·     Robinson, K. (2011) Out of Our minds. Learning to be Creative.Capstone Publishing Ltd. Chichester. 

·     Santer, J. Griffiths and Goodall (2007)Free-play in Early Childhood a literature review Available at: PlayEngland.org.uk [accessed on 9/12/2018]