Capítulo VII: Reglamentos Especiales
Artículo 34. Reglamento de la Tienda
As a natural function of the way they were interviewed teachers mainly talk about school life from a professional, classroom-centered perspective. Eye contact with teacher paves the way for meaningful, efficient teaching and productive participation in classroom and group activities
Teachers are also aware of social conditions playing a role in mo- tivation of the students. If students have problems at home, are tried or hungry it will influence the motivation of the students:
Sometimes I go near the student and ask them whether he/she is sick or whether he/she had breakfast/lunch or any personal problem he/she has.
Some teachers support parents’ perspective by talking to the student about the expectations from their families. Thus the just quoted, socially sensitive teacher continues like this:
If the child says no, I tell them to pay attention as it is very important and at the same time it is very competitive and I tell them the expectation their parents have for them. (ibid)
In the following quote, students obligations towards their parents are emphasized even more forcefully:
I talk about their family and motivate them by telling that their parents must be having lots of expectation from them and put your heart and soul as your parents are really suffering and so you are supposed to think twice and study. I even quote them the example whether they wanted to carry basket and walk by the side of the road or you want to drive. I ask them which one they would prefer. The ultimate goal is to study hard. (102)
Whenever students talk in general terms about their experiences as school-goers, they express personal enjoyment – as, for example in the following interview exchange:
Are you happy in the school?
Yes (chorus)
Why are you happy in the school?
Student 1: Lots of friends.
Student 2: We are happy in the school because in the school we have different kind of people. Some are with funny characters. When we meet with them, they crack jokes. We forget all our problems. So, I think school is the best place. (507)
5. Theoretical discussion
It is interesting to note that many of the students’ evaluative remarks concerning teaching style or methodology correspond closely to ideas on which PBL-inspired pedagogy (Problem-Based Learning) are based. This coincidence becomes even more interesting, given that Samtse Educational College, as part of Royal University of Bhu- tan, has in fact expressed a wish that their collaboration with Aalborg University may involve PBL-related issues.
Our data material clearly demonstrates a pronounced diversity among students. Some have educated parents while others are chil- dren of non-educated parents; many, but not all live in rural areas where passage to and from school presents difficulties. These and other differences necessarily impact how the individual student experiences school and how his/her parents are able to support them. Looking at cultural factors some obvious challenges also appear: The Bhutanese school system is in a transition phase moving from a range of traditional approaches to teaching towards a more open approach as a consequence of the official policy about Educating for GNH. This seems to be challenging students as well as their parents, some of the teachers and principals.
According to Illeris (2009), learning takes place in the interplay between primarily three important factors; 1) students’ efforts in acquiring knowledge, skills and attitudes as mental processes and based on background factors of social and cultural character ; 2) process drivers such as motivation , volition, maybe fear; 3) interac- tion factors, primarily involving (in the classroom setting) teachers: student-teacher relations, and fellow students (peers): student-student relations.
Illeris’ theoretical framework operates at an abstract-descriptive level and uses a broad range of theories as its means for locating factors of central significance for learning processes. The all-important message emanating from this theoretical framework is that learning should never be looked at only from one, supposedly all-encompass- ing perspective, but always from multiple perspectives. Acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes happen by a combination of stu-
dents’ cognitive processes, driven by wishes to learn and in collab- oration with others and in safe environments (Illeris 2009, Ramsden 2003). This process can be initiated and supported through a vast amount of different teacher styles and teacher- student relationships. Our data material shows that teaching in Bhutanese classrooms typically takes place in a sequence of events where presentation from teacher is followed by student activities, as roughly sketched below:
• Teacher provides explanation on the topic
• Students solve the problems given by the teacher, which the students are supposed to solve based on the information given by the teacher.
• Students are handpicked by the teacher to demonstrate how the problem was solved by them to the whole class. The teach- er supplements the student’s inputs (feedback) wherever re- quired. (201)
This approach will vary, but in principle it is the way in which much teaching takes place – you may hear the term ‘spoon feed’ mentioned quite often. As didactic format, it definitely leads to learning, but the approach is first and foremost managed as an expression of teacher’s professional assessment of what needs to be done, and how. Stu- dent-based curiosity, values and interests have no great share in shaping the process as it moves along. Even if students are active, their activity patterns are, so to speak, choreographed by the teacher.
One problem embedded in the described didactic format is that the best students be those picked by the teacher, while other, less gifted students may be left with fewer possibilities for learning the relevant stuff. Their self-understanding related to the student role may tell them they are ‘no good’.
Our data material shows that some teachers do apply the term student-centeredness to activities that engage students in other ways than simply listening to and hopefully interiorizing the teacher’s messages:
Student learnt much and they feel alert and they learn by do- ing... student they learn a lot by themselves… a day might be a fruitful one. (302)
Such an understanding of student-centeredness, focusing on students being active, and interactive rather than passive, seems to correspond with Boud’s (2001) notions about peer learning.
Another way of facilitating learning, which takes place, is through collaborative activities where the students work together and solve tasks in pairs or in groups. In our data material we find some teach- ers expressing somewhat skeptical attitudes towards this didactic method. There can be many reasons for doing this. Based on didac- tic understanding you cannot always just use one specific teaching form in all situations, for instance if students are not prepared for this collaborative approach teachers have to take into consideration how to teach them to act in these kinds of teaching and learning forms. Another factor is that teachers by using these kinds of teach- ing forms have to believe in and thrust, and also to signal in body language to students that the believe that the students can do it (the Pygmalion effect).
Rogers (1983), Hattie (2013) and Ramsden (2003) focus on the importance of student-teacher relationships and emphasize the im- portance of teachers being able to open up and be kind to students, but at the same time be very transparent with regard to expectations (formal learning goals and resources). The teacher’s approach to students’ motivation affects the quality of education, where feelings like fear are believed to affect learning negatively. The following statement covers many teachers’ view on student motivation:
As a teacher you should have respect from the student but not fear. Looking at the way we address the students and the words we use to the student, sometimes we have the tendency to criticize them and that needs to be improved. I guess such improvement will also be helpful to their learning. (307)
The data material shows a combination of teaching driven by sylla- bus and teaching characterized by the Zone for Proximal Development (ZOPED, Vygotsky 1978). In general, and provided they know in which direction they have to go, students definitely prefer studying without the interference of teachers.
Regarding students view on the pedagogically optimal teacher-learn-
er relationship, students’ responses generally express a definite unity, even though personal preferences vary somewhat. Generally speak- ing, the teacher most favored by the students is the frank or friendly grown-up who invites students into a person-to-person encounter. The optimal teacher-learner relationship occurs , referring to the students, when this frank and friendly person also manages the teaching task in a professionally efficient manner.
Also some reservation is noticed,
I want them to be a little strict, because I saw many students taking advantage of them although I cannot raise my voice in class and say that (he) or she is doing this or that. (111)
Viewed from a perspective based on our data material combined with the theoretical frameworks about learning and about the im- portance of the didactics, the quality of teaching seems to be devel- oping in a new and more professional didactic direction, not least initiated by the policy of Educating for GNH and more teacher edu- cation . Teachers as well as principals and students definitely do a lot of qualified reflection about how to achieve optimal quality of teaching learning. At the same time – but not to be wondered at – doubts and some confusion among respondents are also voiced. From the perspective of teachers, newly enacted syllabus reforms together with large numbers of students in their classes make it difficult for them to handle students in as personally differentiated manner as they would wish.