Education is for opening learners’ minds and receiving knowledge that can gnaw or dig deeper into their minds for intellectual and social development. However, that can only happen when teachers and learners apply a philosophical approach to teaching and learning in our schools. Holistic Think Model is the basis of a holistic approach to teaching and learning in this blog post. So, let’s dig in and see what this implies in the present-day teaching and learning in life and business.
What is Holistic Approach to Teaching & Learning?
Holistic Teaching and Learning is teaching and learning to enjoy, appreciate and apply knowledge and information for creative, practical, and functional solutions innovatively and humanely in life and business. The only way most schools can produce a well-rounded, creative, and self-reliant learner is through a holistic approach to teaching and learning. That focuses on developing a whole being who can lead a wholesome life through a holistic mindset development. That gives them the power to explore their talents and skills and see how they can exploit them in the digital world for survival and success in the creative digital economy.
Most of the curricula in our schools are too guided. That leaves no room for self-discovery and self – actualization on the part of the teacher and the learner. The system drafted in Learning programs, Work Schedules, and Assessment guidelines leaves no room for creativity and critical thinking on how best the subject matter should be covered and delivered to learners. The prescriptive approach in teaching and learning does not promote the development of creative mindsets.
Why Teachers Get Tired in Class
Most teachers in the classroom are not motivated, stressed, and disillusioned because their minds are not being challenged and developed. I know because I am from that teaching and learning curricula and approach background. I was always frustrated with the expectations in grading and the continuous assessments that most learners copy from each other. Why end up copying from each other? That is because they do not know anything about being self-reliant in learning and acquiring knowledge. They are just following what needs to be covered.
Dialogue in Class
Dialogue helps attention and focus in the classroom. However, with every classroom activity now closely guided and paced. Dialogue in the class is now a thing of the past. That is if it ever existed in most schools. One teacher was shocked the other time. Fresh from her country of origin and teaching at one of those elite schools in that foreign country, she had found herself an immigrant due to family responsibilities. She tried asking questions to open discussion with the learners and help them think. She got a shocking response bellowing behind the class with the words, “Mam, why are you asking us? Tell us.”
What a shocking reality for a learner in grade 11! That is the reality that learners in our schools do not understand and are not aware that learning is not spoon-feeding with surface facts but guided in how to dig deeper into facts. And make their minds develop and become academically prepared to participate in the classroom through meaningful dialogue with teachers. Most learners in our schools do not have these most important skills like listening, reasoning, thinking, and interpretation of facts when you teach the curricula in the mother tongue when English is the language of instruction and curriculum programs. The holistic approach is inclusive, so the teaching and learning approach should develop a global mindset of a common international language that will challenge and widen perception outside the classroom.
What is Teaching & Learning?
It would be more holistic if teachers understood teaching and learning as the process of teaching learners to be inclusive and think global . And play around with knowledge for mental development and functional approach in applying it in life and business when they leave school. It also helps if the continuous assessment approach is reviewed and revised. Teachers need more time to prepare learners for more social and functional development rather than these homework assignments that most learners copy from each other. And some parents do the homework themselves for their children instead of guiding them.
When grading for promotion to the next level, some learners who hardly know anything or can hardly express some sense and reasoning have higher marks. That will be out of the continuous assessments they were copying, or they allowed their parents or brother to do it for them. How degrading that scenario of things is to the whole system of education! The present-day curricula in the school system need to consider the Holistic Think Model approach.
Teaching and learning should be holistic to produce creative beings in our society. The holistic approach to teaching and learning does not involve copying from each other in the classroom for high marks. It is a practical and functional approach. That looks at the holistic needs of the learners and what skills they need to be guided and directed for their adult life when they leave school and go out in the world where they need to be creative thinkers and solutions to their daily problems and challenges. Here are the Basic Skills that lay a strong foundation for any child to know who they are and what they can do with themselves in life and business.
- Listening Skill
- Reading Skill
- Speaking Skill
- Writing Skill
- Appropriate Language Skill
- Digital Literacy Skills
These basic skills help anyone at any level of learning and career development to have confidence in exploring their skills for exposure to opportunities and possibilities in life and business in the present-day Digital World. Thank you for reading. You can access the Holistic Literacy & Learning Program here.
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