written by Sadia Wali
Children are naturally inventive so they do not have to
be taught to be creative. Perhaps they need guidance; motivation and
inspiration to boost up their creativity .Hence Research, design, and evaluation
provide the opportunity to young children to enhance their intellectual
learning. The concept of research development
as fundamental to educational change is not yet accepted by our educational
institutions as many schools still believe in traditional teaching
methodologies. Let us first understand what educational research is? Education research is a field of inquiry, the systematic generation of new knowledge,
development of new ideas and experiment with new techniques. Clear
open-minded questions calls for real research and thinking and gives way of
evaluating answers. It aims at advancing knowledge of education and learning processes
and development to others.
Teachers’ learning and professional
development is not valued very highly in Pakistan. They are merely trained as
classroom teachers. The research- based teacher training culture is hardly seen
in Pakistani schools. Research culture
has made its way into higher educational institutes, but not in schools. School
heads and Principals just expect teachers to teach their students not to lead
them. Teachers are required to teach the syllabus prescribed by school. They
are not encouraged to experiment with new innovative approaches of teaching.
If anyone who shares a new idea from a book or
design creative activities for students he is criticized. In such schools, positive
views of professional learning are countercultural. Due to negative and
unsupportive attitude of the school management, teachers do not bother to take
interest in research and are compelled to use traditional teaching methods. Thus, negative teaching culture has seriously
impaired learning skills of teachers.
To respond to these challenges, many
educationists have confusion and constraints in their minds how can they make
school research oriented? What goals and
strategies to be adopted to create research learning environment in the schools?
Today,
mostly schools are using research culture in their schools however they are not
aware that their teaching methodologies are based on research. The teaching
strategy used in classrooms is action research strategy. Action research
involves three forms of research, Exploratory research, Evaluative and
Experimental research. The teacher uses research element in developing the curriculum, content and activities. To
make the classroom climate interactive, teacher uses teaching
methods include group discussion, individual presentation, searching information
from library and internet and creative writing tasks. The research projects introduced in
classroom helps to explore student learning strategy and also strengthen
student-teacher relationship.
To promote teacher as a researcher and a proactive learner, work place
learning i.e. school is considered as essential element in enhancing the
professional development of teachers. The work place must create continuous
learning opportunities for teachers and encourage them to reflect and
experiment with the new ideas or new skills in classroom practice. Many
teachers believe that they learn most effectively from the judgment and
perception of their students in the classroom. The important source of learning
for teachers is co-operative learning in which teachers collaborate their new
ideas and modern teaching methods with their colleagues.
Some schools are following Observation
and assessment approach which is also beneficial for enhancing teacher
professional development. This includes peer coaching and teacher evaluation
which encourage teachers to improve their professional competencies. The teacher as
a person and learner has to develop skills, qualities and attitudes such as commitment,
confidence and flexibility, passion for learning, analytic and
conceptual thinking to enhance his professional skills.
The unifying purpose of stimulating education research in
children is to give them an inspiring vision. The curriculum, modes of instruction,
assessments and learning opportunities should be clearly linked with natural
environment, and developed to cater the needs and interests of the students.
The first hand
experience in a child’s education comes from nature. Dienes
(1969) suggests that children need to build or construct their own concepts
from within rather than having those concepts imposed upon them. This means
that children at very young age are inquisitive about their surroundings and
have a desire to explore them. It is the responsibility of teachers to let
children explore, think and question. The questions formed in mind enhance
learning and intellectual capabilities of young children.
The
present scenario implies that change of culture in schools empowers teachers, students and communities
to collectively work for a change. Research
and development has great significance in shaping learning communities. The
first step to raise awareness among teachers and parents regarding bringing a
meaningful change in our education system is the collective acceptance of
rethinking schooling. Workshops, seminar and other training sessions provide a
platform to teachers and educationists to collectively think about redefining
their goals and objectives. Having same vision in mind, an educational
institution organized a seminar which focused on enhancing research
culture in schools. The guest speakers in the seminar talked about the
significance of research in teaching and
learning and ponder over various reasons which are causing hindrance in increasing
research skills among teachers and students.
The focal point of the seminar was to emphasize a radical change in education
system. The change has been centered on the need for schools to create an environment which is conducive to promoting
research skills in teachers and students. We need to provide the learners with a
fundamental precept of Islamic education integrated
with Islamic tarbiyah. An
eminent Muslim political thinker Al-Mauwardi in his book entitled “ The
leadership and Politics” writes that the essential characteristic for a Muslim educator is to have knowledge, Perception, Intellect, Intuition and Revelation which
enhances research skills in teachers and students. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah 
said: "To gain knowledge
and research in children an educator should encourage children to be creative
and inquisitive and ask questions. Children should remain quiet and listen
attentively and understand well. And lastly act upon the knowledge being gained.
The seminar
outlined the fact there is a general consensus that schools need to adopt
research teaching approaches but this process of change is still a big
challenge for various schools who still believe in unreflective and
conventional teaching methods. Radical change in education is impossible unless
education leaders critically analyses and understand the goals and objectives
of research in educational development. Research element reveals that transmission-of-knowledge, values and beliefs into classroom
practices offers multiple opportunities for
students and teachers to improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
The writer is a research fellow at
ERDC.
