Week 2: Learner-centred teaching

1. Introduction

Last week you looked at why being included or excluded matters for everyone. You looked at some personal stories of exclusion and some local, national and international ideas on how to make education more inclusive.

This week you will focus on learner-centred education (LCE) as a policy response to calls for more inclusive teaching.

This week you will:

• consider the importance of policy in establishing inclusive practices
• examine what is meant by learner-centred education and how it works in practice
• engage with the ‘minimum criteria’ for learner-centredness
• consider the challenges of LCE in your context.

The focus is on what it means to be ‘learner-centred’ and why it is important. You will be introduced to tools to support you in analysing learning and teaching from a learner-centred perspective.

1.1. Activities for the week

2. Why is policy important?

Setting out policies is how governments make things happen. The policies they develop will be based on an ideology, but also on international agreements such as the Sustainable Development goals, or the Paris Climate agreement.

In 1994 the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994) set out a vision for inclusive education. The purpose of the statement was ‘to further the objective of Education for All by considering the fundamental policy shifts required to promote the approach of inclusive education, namely enabling schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs’. piii

By setting out a vision in this way, policymakers are challenged to find a way of realising the vision in their country. Policies are important because they demonstrate a commitment from politicians to create circumstances in which the policies can be implemented. Inclusive teaching is enacted in classrooms, but teachers need support, resources and training, all requiring policies to be in place.

The policy response to the Salamanca Statement in many countries was a call for learner-centred education (LCE) and teaching which is more inclusive and supports the development of skills and values alongside knowledge.

2.1. Optional further reading

UNESCO and other organisations have produced a great deal of material to support the implementation of inclusive education policies.

For example, you may like to download and read this resource:

Section 1 is about reviewing national policies; section 2 is about developing an inclusive school and is more relevant to the second course in this series, and section 3 is about developing inclusive classrooms, reinforcing many of the ideas being introduced in this course.

https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000243279

3. Putting policy into practice

The case study which follows is from the Global Monitoring Report, (UNESCO, 2020), (https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718) which focused on inclusion. The overall conclusion was that there is still a considerable way to go to ensure inclusive education for all. However, the report has numerous examples of inspiring practice from around the world. In Activity 2.2 you will watch a short video about a programme supporting inclusive education and reflect not only on the importance of policy, but also how attitudes towards supporting change have themselves changed and evolved.

4. Implementing LCE

This case study is an example of a practical programme to support inclusive education. In this case, policymakers can drive change by introducing laws that penalise parents who keep girls at home, and providing resources in the form of food, childcare and teacher training.

In the past, the policy in many countries was to create special schools for learners with particular needs. However, in recent years, whilst many excellent special schools still exist, there has been a move towards supporting students with special needs in mainstream schools, and to make these schools more inclusive.

Recognising the need to equip all young people for the future, this policy has been accompanied by a call for more learner-centred education and new school curricula which emphasise skills and values, alongside knowledge. The argument is that if educators focus on the needs of their learners, fewer will feel excluded and the quality of education will improve.

The implementation of policies based on learner-centred education (LCE) has proved to be challenging (Schweisfurth, 2011), and for the last 20 years researchers have been working to understand why this is. This week you will focus on LCE in more detail and be introduced to a set of flexible principles which can be adapted for different contexts. The principles help educators at all levels of the system enact the values and attitudes that underpin policy.

5. Learner-centred education: What does it mean to be learner-centred?

Learner-centred education is a policy response to calls for a more inclusive system. However, ‘the stories of unequivocal success in implementation are few and far between’ (Schweisfurth, 2011, p. 430). One possible reason for this is that learner-centred education is poorly understood. It is often interpreted as being a set of particular classroom approaches, such as group work, whereas in fact it is a set of attitudes and values. If teachers don’t embrace the attitudes and values which underpin the concept, then teaching approaches (such as group work), are unlikely to be successful.

5.1. Background to leaner-centred education

The concept of learner-centred education (LCE) is based on well-established theories of learning, starting with Socrates, who, in 400BC, proposed a vision for teaching based on questioning and inquiry rather than the transmission of information, and including Dewey (who championed experiential learning), Vygotsky and many others who highlight the importance of dialogue and collaboration to support learning.

Learner-centered education is underpinned by a set of values and beliefs which are consistent with the aspirations of inclusive education. These include:

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The reality of educational practice is that it is complex and nuanced. Aspects of practice are not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but are best conceptualised as a continuum (Schweisfurth, 2013), with educational practice being presented as ‘less learner-centred’ to ‘more learner-centred’:

less learner-centredmore learner-centred

It is likely that a complex picture will have emerged – maybe you had authoritarian teachers, but were intrinsically motivated by an interest in and an obvious aptitude for a subject? Maybe you had teachers who treated you with respect and provided support with a curriculum which was largely irrelevant to your everyday life? Maybe it was decided that you had little aptitude for something in which you have since achieved highly? This complexity means that changing educational practice in the way set out in the policy statements above is a slow and individual process, which requires collaboration and support.

5.2. LCE as a continuum

Learner-centredness is about techniques (teaching approaches), attitudes and relationships. Evidence from around the world (Schweisfurth, 2011) shows that the techniques are unlikely to be effective if they are not accompanied by appropriate attitudes, values and relationships. It is possible to identify a variety of continua which could be helpful in thinking about LCE. In the next activity, you consider six continua, and reflect on where you sit on the imaginary line between two extremes and how you might move further to the right.

Extrinsic learner motivationintrinsic learner motivation

Teacher is the expert – main authorityteacher as facilitator of learning

Syllabus presented as decontextualisedSyllabus reflects lives of learners

Learning as an individual cognitive activitylearning as a social activity

Relationships based on authorityrelationships based on mutual respect

Intelligence is fixed at birtheveryone can learn given the right support

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6. Where were you on the line?

Many of you will recognise the vision on the left, as this probably represents your own experience of being at school, college or university. However, it is unlikely to be a simple as that.

It’s likely that in some cases you were over to the left, and in some over to the right. In order to realise the vision set out by UNESCO and others, in which all children have access to education and are fully included, then the attitudes and values on the right need to be reflected at all levels of the system.

Implementing policy involves everyone – educational leaders, teacher educators, school leaders and teachers – moving to the right. Implementation often fails because teachers are being asked to be facilitators of active learning, which involves all students and build relationships based on mutual respect but are treated in a manner more consistent with the attitudes on the left. Later this week and next you will consider how to make small steps along these continua and understand how this can lead to change.

7. Attitudes to learners

In all our conversations with educators, the importance of teachers’ attitudes to learners, especially those with special educational needs was highlighted. In the next activity you will hear Daniel talking about the challenge that prevailing attitudes can produce and you will focus more closely on the notions of ‘fixed intelligence’ vs ‘everyone can learn with the right support’.

8. The justification for learner-centred education

The attitudes and values that underpin LCE are consistent with those that underpin inclusive education. This is why it is a popular policy choice. Now you have been introduced to the attitudes and values which underpin LCE, you will consider the justification for this policy choice as a way to support inclusive education and contribute to the vision set out in the Salamanca Statement. You are invited to access another one of the UNICEF Think Pieces (you encountered one last week on inclusive education).

The text is available here. The next two activities will consider different parts of this article.

Whichever ‘narrative’ you think justifies a policy of LCE, it is perhaps more helpful to reflect on real examples. In the example below, Kevin’s needs as a gifted learner were not met, with very unfortunate consequences.

Kevin was clearly a highly intelligent student and was bored at school. His teachers could have found out what he is interested in and used this information to challenge him intellectually. They could have posed interesting open questions for him to think about and research; provided newspaper or magazine articles on topical issues; and organised the classroom so that he could provide support for his peers. He could have become an asset in the school and taken on leadership roles. Challenging high achieving students is difficult and requires teachers to work together to help each other. It requires good subject knowledge and an ability to help students make connections between different topics and curriculum areas. Learner-centred education in practice

Having considered what LCE is, and why it is justified, in this section you will think about how learner-centred education manifests itself in learning and teaching.

In the article above, Schweisfurth lists seven principles to make current teacher-practice more learner-centred. She refers to these as ‘minimum criteria’. These principles can be applied to any level of the system and can be used as a tool to analyse teaching and learning.

These are:

1. Lessons or training sessions which actively engage learners
2. Mutual respect between teacher and learner (adult and child, or adult and adult)
3. Lessons or training sessions which build on prior knowledge and understanding
4. Opportunities for dialogue and considering open questions
5. Learning that is relevant to children’s  (or professionals’) lives
6. A curriculum which supports the development of a range of skills
7. Assessment which gives credit for a range of skills

One way to use these principles is to convert each principle into a question which could be used to reflect on teaching. In the next activity you will think about how to use these principles. After that you will apply them to your own teaching.

For example, principle one could be: what evidence is there that the students were actively engaged, actively involved and motivated to learn’? For a teacher educator or in-service co-ordinator, working with adults, the question would be ‘what evidence is there that teachers were engaged, actively involved and willing to ask questions?’

9. The challenges of learner-centred education

Despite the justificatory narratives you discussed in Activity 2.5 there is some critique of learner-centred education in the literature, suggesting that it is a Western world view which is being imposed on other cultures (Tabulawa, 2013).

The argument of this section has been that it is a set of attitudes and values that align with those of UNESCO and ‘The Rights of the Child’, rather than a specific prescription for how to teach. Teachers can embrace these beliefs in many different ways. Nevertheless, in some cultures these attitudes and values represent a significant shift from cultural norms. In some cultures children are taught not to express a view, or not to challenge someone older; young teachers are expected to follow the lead of those with more experience and people who are different in some way may be considered inferior or even cursed.

10. The challenges of LCE

Some people think that the metaphor of a ‘barrier’ to LCE is unhelpful. It implies something unmoveable, which is outside the control of individuals. It is perhaps more helpful to realise that there are underlying reasons that make the implementation of LCE challenging. If these can be tackled, the barriers will disappear. For example, building teacher capacity through training, accessing free resources and teacher preparation which models LCE are all doable (and will be considered in Week 4). It is tempting with large classes, for example, to use the excuse that I as an individual teacher cannot do anything about the size of my class. But with training and support, it is possible to improve your teaching practice to cope more effectively with large classes.

We are not, by any means, suggesting that exams, inspection regimes, large classes and a lack of resources don’t make life difficult – they do – but political will is needed to change these. In the meantime, there are things that individual teachers can do to make progress along the continua, even if they don’t quite reach the right-hand side.

10.1. Optional Activity

If you would like to consolidate your understanding of learner-centred education, you can listen to Michelle Schweisfurth presenting her ideas here:

11. Quiz

12. Looking forward

This week’s focus has been on learner-centred education as a possible means to inclusive education and as a popular policy response across the world. This perhaps because LCE is underpinned by the same attitudes and values as inclusive education: the belief that all children can learn given the right support; that learners come to learning with knowledge and experience that should be valued; and that a meaningful education values a range of skills, knowledge, values and competencies so learners are equipped to lead full lives.

You have been encouraged to think about LCE in terms of a set of continua and identified some ‘minimum criteria’ for learner-centred teaching which can be applied at all levels of the system. In Week 3 you will apply these minimum criteria to some of the inclusivity challenges identified in Week 1 in order to understand what LCE looks like in practice.

Go to Week 3

References

Schweisfurth, M. (2011). Learner-centred education in developing country contexts: from solution to problem? International Journal of Educational Development, 31(5), 419–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2011.03.005

Schweisfurth, M. (2013). Learner-centred Education in International Perspective: whose pedagogy for whose development? Abingdon: Routledge.

Schweisfurth, M. (2019) Is learner-centred education ‘best practice’? YouTube video, Available at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2JyTJkADmI&feature=youtu.be (Accessed 9 January 2021).

Schweisfurth, M.(2019) Is learner-centred education best practice? Chapter 9 in Chakera, S. Tao, S. (eds) The UNICEF Thinkspiece series: Innovative Thinking for Complex Educational Challenges in the SDG4 Era downloaded from https://www.unicef.org/esa/documents/education-think-piece-9-learner-centred-education Accessed on 12/01/2021

Tabulawa, R. (2013) ‘Teaching and learning in context: why pedagogical reforms fail in sub-Saharan Africa’, African Books Collective [Online]. Available at https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xdD5GpVcoCYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR2&dq=Teaching+and+learning+in+context:+why+pedagogical+reforms+fail+in+sub-Saharan+Africa&ots=aZBprQRXko&sig=LkE8W9-KCv7mZBnOES1Kn3zw7zw#v=onepage&q=Teaching%20and%20learning%20in%20context%3A%20why%20pedagogical%20reforms%20fail%20in%20sub-Saharan%20Africa&f=false (Accessed 9 January 2021).

UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education [Online]. Available at https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/Salamanca_Statement_1994.pdf (Accessed 9 January 2021).

UNESCO International Bureau of Education (2016) Training tools for curriculum development: reaching out to all learners: a resource pack for supporting inclusive education downloaded from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000243279. Accessed on 12/01/2021

UNESCO (2020) Global Monitoring Report [Online]. Available at https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373718 (Accessed 9 January 2021).

UNESCO GEM Report (2020) YouTube video, Inclusion and Education: Voices from Malawi [Online]. Available at https://youtu.be/w1rbGQXUbkU (Accessed 9 January)