Claims of Innovativeness: A philosophical exploration of Learning and Knowledge assumption in Activity Based Learning Rabi ra!

ash and "ishwambhar #igantar$ %aipur

Bac!ground 'Activity-Based Learning' (ABL) is now a very familiar term among the people concerned about educational reform in India. hough term and concept of activity based learning has been part of educational discourse in India for a long time! in its current form! it earned popularity in "##$! when amil %adu government adopted this term to name an educational programme aimed at improving '&uality of school education'. he programme was first launched in few schools in 'hennai in "##$! and was later scaled up in all government run schools in the state. It is considered a progressive step of the administration! given the fact that ABL appears to subscribe to the ideology of child centred education. he programme! in its present form! was originally conceptualised by (ishi )alley (ural *chool! in Andhra +radesh! which is part of (ishi )alley *chool based upon the educational philosophy of ,iddu -rishnamurti. .owever! it was /avid .orsburgh of %il Bagh *chool in -arnata0a! led the thin0ing on the idea of activity based learning arguing that 'activities' should be integral part of the classroom practice. he idea of child centred education became part of official (educational) discourse in India in 1234! when %ational +olicy on 5ducation (%+5) made it a policy imperative declaring 6the child-centred learning process should be adopted in schools6. *ubse&uently! there have been a series of official documents1 reiterating the value of child centred education in India. he common emphasis of these documents is to bring about classroom reform towards ma0ing them child centred. 7urther! most of these documents share a common belief that child-centred education would ensure universal enrolment in school and improve &uality of learning. In the words of %+5 1234 6A warm! welcoming and encouraging approach in which all concerned share solitude for the needs of the child is the best motivation for the child to come to schools and learn6. +lan of Action 122"! endorsed the child centred education with this perspective. he urge for a child centred education being practiced in classrooms e8horts the temptation to witness the transformation in the relationship between child! teacher and school 0nowledge. A series of large scale programmes launched in 122#s and onwards have ta0en child centred education as their guiding principle. /istrict +rogramme for +rimary 5ducation (/+5+)! Lo0 ,umbish! ,oyful Learning! %ali -ali! *arva *hi0sha Abhiyan (**A) and Activity Based +rogramme (ABL) among others! are ma9or programmes launched and implemented in 122#s
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National Policy on Education 1986 was followed by the Plan of Action (PoA) in 1992, Burden of learnin re!ort, N"# 2$$$, and recently N"# 2$$%& All of these official docu'ents ha(e endorsed and a!!reciated the idea of child)centred education&

and onwards! focussed to improve &uality of learning along with improving enrolment and retention of the children". *ubscribing and upholding the ideology of child-centred education has been primary ob9ectives of these programmes. .owever! the e8pressions of 6child centred education' in spite of all that has been done in its name! and written about! continues to remain one of the most obscure concepts of education in the discourse of school education in India. /ifferent programmes subscribing to child centred education! if e8amined closely! would be found to have different understanding of 'child centred education' that they individually envisaged! and were based upon. In this paper! we e8amine the assumptions of child centred education and how it plays out with concepts of teaching and learning with reference to Activity based learning programme of amil %adu. he reason why the ideology of 'child centred education' adopted in different programmes and especially in ABL! gained popularity is deep cynicism and a sense of hopelessness over 'prevailing practice of school education'. It considers 'prevailing educational practice' detrimental to children's learning. In this paper! we briefly discuss the nature of 'prevailing practice of education' to understand the position of child centred education better. here are different terms used to characterise that practice which include 'teacher centred'! 'sub9ect centred' 'traditional approach' and non child-centred approach etc. 7or the purpose of our current discussion we will call it ' raditional approach of education'. &'& (raditional Approach of )ducation he picture that stri0es one's mind with the term 'traditional classroom' is one where a completely 'dominant' teacher is instructing completely submissive children in 'a place set apart' (Lily! 124:). he term 'instructing' simply implies that the teacher is in classroom to instruct the children! and he 0nows what to instruct and how to instruct. .is role to 'instruct' obviously implies an authority in him which he has ac&uired by virtue of his own education. *imilarly! Lily's term 'set apart' suggests that the school is considered a segregated place. It is not supposed to resemble environment and proceedings of everyday life the children in their community. .ence! the school is not part of society rather it is an independent institutions much li0e other institutions of specialised functions-hospital! a wor0house! and a factory. As per Lily' formulation! the school becomes a place where the teacher! being a learnt authority! is there to ma0e the children learn! and the children are there to learn from the teacher. *ince! the teacher is considered as a learned authority who is there to ma0e the students learn! which is nothing but transferring of 0nowledge he holds. eacher's 0nowledge becomes identical to sub9ect matter! and transferring of sub9ect matter to children is the ostensible purpose of teaching. ;iven sub9ect matter is treated as if it were all that a child needs to 0now. he teacher's role is to instruct the children what to learn and how to learn them. And in case! if they fail to
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*ee Peda o y of +e(elo!'ent, the !olitics and !ractice of child centered education -ndia for detailed account of child centered education beco'in !art of -ndian education discourse&

learn! he repeats! and re-repeats. *ince! the sub9ect matter is considered absolutely necessary! it is more important for the child to learn than understand them. o learn is e&ual to ac&uire them. his is what bears 'rote learning' in traditional approach of education. 7acts! contents and elements of given sub9ect matter is to be ac&uired by the children. he emphasis on such ac&uisition is inbuilt and inherent here. *o the ideas such as change in the viewpoint! reflection! growth in 0nowledge! capacity building! are 9ust inconceivable. In this situation! the role of a pupil is of someone who is supposed to initiate nothing! and has to act thoroughly as one who is by virtue to receiving end. he often used metaphors are 'blan0 slate'! 'row materials to be moulded' and tabula rasa. he significance of these metaphors lies with the fact that if the teacher is supposed to provide all 0nowledge! all character! and all the discipline then the child must have clear and blan0 beginning for his effort. herefore! children have to have no history! no environment! and no culture. he conception of the children as cognitive entities is beyond the &uestion. here is only one personality of the child which is of wild! unruly! and untramlled impulses and that if not controlled threatens to lead to chaos and disarray in school life. Learning is considered of two categories< first of sub9ect matter! and secondly of character. he source of these two categories remains the teacher. A typical characterisation of teaching in this approach is that a teacher is not teaching unless he is spea0ing! lecturing! instructing! demonstrating! and children are not learning unless they are silent! observant! and attentive and concentrating. here would be discussion in the form of &uestion and answer type to chec0 that what was learnt has been correctly memorise by the pupils. he traditional education system is preparatory in its essence. he children are not to live life! but to get ready do so. he school is not a place for immediate pleasure and life! but for preparation for adult life. All the children invariably of their age and standard of their classes! are re&uired to demonstrate concentration and attention in the learning. hey are considered of same ability of! and those who are not able to perform the role assigned by the teachers are left out of the educative process! are failing in their moral endeavour. he relationship of the pupil was e8clusively with the teacher! there was no relationship among children envisaged in the school situation. It was in response to this prevalent practice of education that child-centred education emerged! which argued that the traditional education society is e8clusionary! non-welcoming and humiliating to the children! hence an obstacle in the way of universalisation of school education. It is difficult to historicise the total shift from traditional to children centred education in any society. 7rench philosopher (ousseau elaborated on the nature of childhood! and also how the children can be educated. .e argued children must be recognised as independent category and not as miniature adults. .owever! there are different traditions associated with the term referred as 'child centred education'. here are historically two prominent schools of child centred

education! one is well represented by 7robel! and =ontessori and another by /ewey. o put crudely! the distinction lies between those who emphasise upon the natural growth of the childthe gradual development of potential that is there waiting to be recognised! fertilised! and to be allowed to grow! and those who stress upon the social conte8t of development. .owever! in most of the child centred programme! the elements of both the schools are found. In this paper! we intend to e8amine the principle of child centred education as adopted in ABL programme. he &uestion! we e8plore is what is the nature of child centredness that ABL represents! and the implications of the programme for the concepts of educational needs of the children and teaching and learning. Before we go to capture the child-centredness of ABL! it would be useful to describe the general characteristics of 'hild-centred education to establish how ABL represents child centred education. &'* Child Centred Approach of )ducation 'hild centred education emerged with the recognition of the fact that e8perience was continuum for the child! and learning and development were ongoing process and not only sub9ect to school teaching (Lary< 124:! >ilson< 12?#! ,anes<12?$ and 5ntwistle< 12?3). he recognition that learning ta0es place in continuum! development of child is ever growing phenomenon led to conception of child centred education. It also helped establish the criticism of the traditional approach of education which viewed learning only possible in a classroom and of sub9ect matter. In child centred education discourse! ac&uiring sub9ect matter is considered not so important. >hat is important is the development of appropriate 0nowledgeable behaviour of the child in the given social conte8t. he needs and interests of the child are absolutely critical in this discourse of education. *ub9ect matters and curricular contents are to be in sync with the child's developmental needs. 7urther! the needs and interests are also to be determined by the child's immediate social environment. *o the representation of sub9ect matter needs to be conte8tualised in the child social and environment conte8t. he environment and social conte8t are absolutely important in child centred education! where 0nowledge arises naturally in social situation when the child gets opportunities to interact! ma0e free en&uiries! and articulating problems that come through engagements with her social life. It is in the process of en&uiries that the child herself constructs 0nowledge. he teacher is not re&uired to offer 0nowledge. >ith the decline in emphasis on the ac&uisition of sub9ect matter went the decline of the view that mastery of the sub9ect matter was a sign of the completed education. he role of the teacher in the child centred education is no longer to inculcate a standard pattern of characters rather he is there to provide appropriate circumstances for the development of the child's multifarious personalities! rather than moulding her character out of her natural development. 7urther! he is not supposed to 'instruct' the child which might tend to e8ert the

pressure on free thin0ing of the child. Any such act is conceived fatal in child centred education practice. /iscipline is not an appreciative term primarily because the teacher is not to mentor the minds and spirit of the children! and not to instruct from a position of an authority! rather is in a role of a guide! and a facilitator. .e is to ma0e subtle observations about the children! their learning aptitude! interests and s0ills. In a way! his role ideally is of a child psychologist (Lary< 124:) who is there to understand the children! their aptitudes! their ability! pace of learning and facilitate them. 'haracterisation of a child in this approach is of one who is by nature not unruly! as she will not wish to interrupt the friendly and amiable environment of the class! rather she will be a responsible party. In case! the child indulges in some 0ind of unruly behaviour! the teacher is supposed to enter into a dialogue with her to find out the reasons for her unruliness! and resolve the problem with mutual dialogue. @ne of the important theoretical assumptions of the child centred education is to consider children as growing according to the laws of their own nature! which is considered to be wor0ing out differently for each individual child. Any thin0ing of considering the child as passive and susceptible to moulding is discouraged. In this view! the child grows! solves her own problem! and develops &uite apart from the teachers' efforts. he underlying assumption is that learning ta0es place best in a spontaneous environment which is best if chosen by the children themselves! who set their own goals! wor0 independently and at their own pace. he ideas of child centred education were at &uite contrast with traditional approach of education which gives prominence to teachers and sub9ect matter 0nowledge more than the child. 'hild centred education places the child at the centre of the educational practices. 'anadian +hilosopher of 5ducation .arold 5ntwistle (12?#) reflecting on the discourse of childcentred education! illustrates how the child-centred ideas were committed to moral positions on the nature of childhood! as well as being attentive to empirically motivated propositions aboutthe child development and the theories of learning. *'* Activity+Based Learning rogramme ABL programme is e8pected to ensure that 'all the children are in school and participating well in &uality education'. **A amil %adu in its analysis of the prevailing situations in the school education! found that for the problems of education such as< lower level of learning among the children! high dropout rate! low rate of retention and the problems of pedagogic practice! a host of factors were responsible. he factors responsible for problems were termed as 'maladies' of e8isting school practice by the **A amil %adu . A list of the 'maladies' prepared by the

administration were as follows$ <(1) eacher dominates the classroom always! (") (are use of teaching learning materials! ($) =ost of the time the lecture method was followed! (A) Importance was given to rote learning! (:) eachers are under the assumption that they 0now everything and children do not 0now anything!(4) eacher assumes uniform learning pace and uniform level of achievement among children! (?) he gap between teacher and children are more! (3) 7ocus is given on teaching rather than learning! (2) %o scope to cover the loss of learning during the period of absence of children! (1#) =ultigrade and multi level is not addressed! (11) raditional way of evaluation! (1") Absence of 9oyous based e8tra activities! (1$) Absence of play way and learning by doing activities! (1A) Less chance for mutual and self learning! 'overage of syllabus by the teacher and not by the children! (1:) 'lassroom with less facilities for learning activities! (14) Instructional materials neither intensive nor attractive! (1?) Lac0 of learning freedom more of time restricted environment. he e8haustive list of the 'maladies' of school education practice evidently shows that prevailing practices in school education greatly resemble 'traditional approach of education'. he decision to do away from these 'maladies' resulted into implementation of the ABL programme. he programme is originally seen blessed with a host of 'merits'A desirable for children learning. In the ne8t section! we discuss the merits of ABL. *'*'& ,erits of ABL he list of the merits is as follows< (1) 'hildren learn on their our pace! -*. rovision of more time for self+directed learning and teacher directed learning is reduced considerably$ ($) ;roup learning! mutual learning and self learning are promoted! (A) eachers' teaching time is 9udiciously distributed among children. (:) @nly needy children are addressed by teachers! (4) 'hildren's participation in every step is ensured in the process of learning! (?) 5valuation is inbuilt in the system it is done without the child 0nowing it (3) (ote learning is discouraged and almost no scope for rote learning! (2) +eriodical absence of child from school is properly addressed$ -&/. Classroom transaction is based on child0s needs and interests$ -&&. 1reedom to child in learning as he chooses his activity! (1") =ultigrade and multilevel in learning is effectively addressed! (1$) %o child can move to the ne8t higher step of learning unless attains the previous one (1A) *ense of achievement boosts child's confidence and morale (1:) Attractive cards and activity create interest among children! (14) *cope for child's development in creative and communicative s0ills! (1?) 'hildren will have a feel of security as they sit in rounds in the groups (13) 'hildren are allowed to move in the classroom as they choose their activity. It is important to note that the programme does not officially recognise that it derives from the philosophy of 'child centred education'. .owever! loo0ing at our discussion on the child centred
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/he list of 'aladies of AB0 !ro ra''e a(ailable at htt!,11www&ssa&tn&nic&in1"urrActi(ities) A&ht'& 2 /he list of the 3'erits3 a(ailable at htt!,11www&ssa&tn&nic&in1"urrActi(ities)A&ht'

education! and the properties of ABL programme! it is obvious that ABL share great resemblance with philosophy of child centred education. Loo0ing at these properties of ABL it appears that the programme is largely based upon two principles< (1) he child's learning needs and interests are central to education (") 7acilitating learning is important and not the act of teaching. It is these two principles that we intend to e8amine in details. .owever! before we go into e8ploring these central principles of ABL programme! we thin0 it is important that we ta0e a view on how the ABL is designed to play out in classrooms. his would further help in our e8amination of the two points which we wish to e8plore. *'*'* rocess of ABL Classroom he list of how it will play out in classroom! which is officially said to be the process of ABL programme! is as follows< (1) 'ompetencies are split into different partsBunits and converted into different activities! (") 5ach partBunit is called a milestone ($) In each sub9ect! the relevant milestones are clustered and lin0ed as chain and this chain of milestones is called LA//5( (A) 5ach milestone has different steps of learning process and each step of learning process is represented by logo (:) =ilestones are arranged in a logical se&uence from simple to comple8 and also activities in each milestone (4) o enable the children to organiCe in groups group cards are used (?) 5valuation is inbuilt in the system. *eparate cards B activities are used for this purpose (3) 5ach child is provided with wor0boo0Bwor0sheet for further reinforcement activities (3) 'hildren's progress are recorded through annual assessment chart (2) 5ach milestone has different type of activities such as introduction! reinforcement! practice! evaluation! remedial and enrichment activities represented by different logos. It is evident from the description of the process of ABL that the classroom activities! ways of learning and children's wor0 is planned and organiCed well. he idea of competence is predefined! their possible divisions are made in advance! the mile stones of learning are set! the how each milestone can be learnt is also pre-determined. Above all! the activities of milestones are also pre-planned. he programme is definitely well planned at its transaction level. (ather! one can go to say that they are so well planned that the children would hardly feel need to e8plore beyond the planning of ABL processD hese procedures are almost li0e a set of automated ones in which the child is e8pected to play out. .owever! the distinction lies with the fact that these are not planned by the teacher! but are planned for the teachers. he 9ob of the teacher is to be part the design and perform the assigned tas0 cut out for him. he teacher is not re&uired to define for himself what it would mean to him to define what the idea of competence is! what the milestones of learning a certain concept could be! what would involve sub-dividing concepts into different levels! what could be the nature of the activities associated with a certain

concept! and further what it ta0es to understand a concept. In this sense! the teacher is totally liberated! and got absolute freedom from thin0ing. o close the discussion on the process of the ABL! we would li0e to dwell on a brief discussion on the two concepts which have centrally characteriCed the process of learning in ABL programme. hese two concepts are 'competence' and 'activities'. .aving discussed these two concepts! we will turn to our discussion on the two central principles of ABL programme. *'*'2 (he idea of Competence A discussion on the idea of 'competence' in education could well begin with first defining the nature of competence. @rdinarily! when one is able to do something which satisfies certain minimum standard! one is said to be competent over that activity. @ne is a competent cyclist if he drives it upto certain distance in normal circumstances. In this case! the criteria for being competent are to perform the act one is involved into! and has ta0en up. hus! the idea of competence is normally associated with performance. o understand the usage of the concept in education! one can trace its origin in the E- and E*A in early 12?#s and 123#s! when the vocational education became central to education policy. *ince! vocational education is normally concerned with producing s0illed man power! the idea of performance becomes central there. /eriving from the vocational education practice! competence based approach focuses largely on what one can does! and perform and not on what one 0nows. It emphasiCes upon the specific ob9ectives and observable behaviours. *o to derive from this formulation of competence! learning educational concepts have to be ob9ectives! &uantifiable! and observable. *o for a concept li0e reading or counting to be &ualified as a competence! they need to be performable! observable! and holding specific ob9ectives too. @nce they are &uantifiable! and observable! they can be divided further into parts li0e reading can be divided into letter identification! words identification! and further into sentence construction. *imilarly! the counting can be divided into numbers! and a group of numbers. his is how the learning becomes performable! they are to be performed and done so into parts. .owever! the formulation of competence will not ta0e into account! the fact that there are characters of learning which are not &uantifiable! and non observable. 7or an e8ample! reading is observable when reading out! and decoding what is scribbled there. But reading also involves comprehension! reflections! and self e8planations which are not necessarily observable and certainly not measurable. It is difficult for a competence approach to ta0e these factors into account. *'*'3 (he idea of an Activity Activity is a very broad term. In a classroom! if a child is to be considered doing activity! if is found doing something with an e8ternal instrument! playing with some educational toys! and engaging with some ma0ing something. .owever! the &uestions that are needed to be as0ed what are the characters of the activity in education. Are they to be conceptualised purely in terms of bodily act which include physical movements of the children in educational space or their

engagement with e8ternal ob9ectsF /o activities involve only those acts of children which are observable! and to be performed in accordance with pre-planned designF British philosopher! (. 7. /eardern (12?#) says that 'an activity is not 9ust a bodily act it necessarily involves mental act6. 5ven the most obvious physical activities are mental in their essence. >hat is important to note is that an activity necessarily involves consciousness of what one is doing! further it also involves consciousness of one's situations. An activity can't be conceived in the absence of some abstract meaning ma0ing. 7or an e8ample! reading is simply not 9ust an activity of word recognition and uttering them out! rather it is also an activity which involves grasping a certain level of meaning from the te8t. (eading becomes more a mental act than 9ust a physical act of spea0ing out the given te8t. 7urther! there are different ways of performing the activity of reading! a child might merely be doing guessing at the letter configuration of the word! doing sound blending to spea0 out! which e&ually &ualify to be considered as reading. In the formulation of activity as a set of observable activities necessarily involve the physical activities. And by virtue of such a formulation! the ideas that thin0ing and conceptualising are themselves activities get discounted. 'ertainly! the activities li0e reading out in class! playing with abacus! and bundles are observable activities which are physical! so are the thin0ing of e&uations! and testing hypothesis and many others which will not have e8hibitive properties. he acts of thin0ing! reflections! and conceptualisation are natural educational acts. Any form of teaching that is concerned about these educational ob9ectives would get into activities. hen! the &uestion to be as0ed is what ma0es ABL distinct from other forms of teaching. Is the nature of activity of the degree of emphasis on themF >e would e8plore these &uestions separately. 2'& (he child0s learning needs and interests are central in education: he concept of needs and interests occupy the central position in child-centred education. *o it has in ABL. It is so because of its belief that it the child who is to occupy the central position in education. he role of education is nothing but to cater the child's needs and interests. hey are source of children's motivation to learn. here can be no dispute that education should cater the children's needs and serve their interests best. %onetheless! the &uestion of how to determine what the needs of the children are! or what are of interests to them. he claim of ABL that 'classroom transaction is based on the child's needs and interests' is worth e8amining carefully at a conceptual level. In the ABL programme! the design of the classroom practice is well organised! delineating what children would learn! and what are the steps involved in learning concepts and what the nature of activities would be to learn them. In such case! it seems difficult to imagine space available for the children to e8periment with their needs and interests. .owever! we are to assume that the contents of what is there to learn is already set! as an official curriculum would decide what the children are e8pected to learn! but the needs and interests are catered in how will they learn. It is rightly mentioned that 6classroom transaction is based on the child's needs and interests'. his suggests that in reference to ABL! we are only to e8amine the &uestions of needs and interests in classroom transaction.

It would be useful to as0 what it would ta0e for a person who is to facilitate the classroom transaction to cater the needs and interests of the child. .ow would he 0now what the needs and interests of the child areF Are the &uestions of needs and interests purely empiricalF It appears that needs are not purely empirically determined. he needs are best conceived by the 'state of affairs' which is considered absent (/eardern! 12?#)< for an e8ample if somebody is without food! he needs food! if a child is without love and affection she needs love! and affection. %evertheless! there are needs which are not dependent on the absence of the state of affairs! that people need food without having established if anybody was without it. he absence of a state of affairs is not probably right criterion for establishing need. here is something more than this. /eardern (12?#) offers an e8ample! 'a child might lac0 musical or artistic talents! without being placed in need of those talents6. *imilarly a child might not 0now horse riding! swimming! playing *E/@-E! farming without necessarily being in need of them6. he &uestion of needs will only emerge to him if he comes to 0now that without 0nowing these things he is unable to meet certain standards! he is unable to comply certain rules which he otherwise should have! he will feel the need of these s0ills and 0nowledge. >hat is clear from these e8amples is that needs are normative concepts. he child having limited e8perience can't be in position to determine his needs. *imilarly! the child will not 0now what his interests are into. 7or any classroom transaction to address the learning needs! it can't be purely based upon the child's needs and interests as the children will not able to figure out their needs and interests for the way of their learning. o tal0 purely in terms of classroom transaction! if the child is learning to do operations of mathematics! there are multiple ways of doing the same operations. .ow will the child decide that the more ways of doing the same operations that he needs to learn. *imilarly! while reading a poem! the child might derive certain meaning and interpretations of the poem which is close to his prior 0nowledge. But is there any way that the child would come to 0now that he also needs to 0now that there competing interpretations and meaning of the same poemF Is there any way for the child to determine what is the level of the interest that she can get into in the poemF It is clear that the &uestions of the interests and needs can't be left to the child as it will not address her learning needs. he &uestions of the needs and interests are ones which could be addressed against certain norms and standards! which could well be addressed by the teachers being informed of standard against the needs. Any claim that the classroom transaction is purely based upon the needs and interests of the child are ill informed idea and would fatal to cater the learning re&uirements of the children. 2'* 1acilitating learning is important and not the act of teaching' It is well established that teaching is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for learning. It is not a necessary condition! since there can be learning without teaching (a person may learn by reading! observing through other means)< and it is not sufficient because there can be teaching without learning (@ne can teach but the children donGt learn what one teaches). eaching and learning are logically independent. It is incorrect to thin0 that if learning happens! there must be some teaching! or that if there was no teaching! there could not have been learning. *o the idea of

facilitating learning and not instructing is consistent with the logical independence of these two concepts. And it this logical independence of these two concepts that ma0es the advocates of children centred education claim that facilitation of learning is important and not teaching. In this section! we argue that to establish that the idea of 'facilitating learning' by a teacher is better than teaching is premature! if it is done on the ground that teaching does not necessarily bring about learning. It is important to note that though teaching does not entail learning! it does entail intention to bring about learning (*cheffler 124#! .irst and +eters! 12?#! .ellgren 123:! +earson 1232). o teach something to children- for e8ample! to teach a mathematical fact! a moral value! or a metaphor amounts to intending that the children will learn these things. Learning is the central HgoodI at which teaching necessarily aims. 5ven when learning is not the result! teaching could still have occurred provided at least the purpose or aim to have the children learn is present. Although learning as an outcome is not necessary for teaching! if the aim to achieve learning is removed there can be no teaching. here is! then! an important conceptual lin0 between teaching and learning. >ithout a reference to Hlearning!I as embodied in the intention criterion! we could not have a concept of teachingJor certainly not a very coherent and recogniCable one (*teward 122$). ;iven the conceptual lin0 between teaching and learning! and the fact that learning may ta0e place following teaching! it is correct to conclude that teaching and learning are related. *till! it is argued that teaching is not a learner centred activity! rather it is either teacher centric or sub9ect centric. ;iven the conceptual lin0 between teaching and learning! it is not clear that if central aim of teaching is to bring about learning !where is the act of teaching centredF If a teacher A teaches B (the learner) K (content) with intent of bringing about learning. he teaching can not be to K as it is not the one which to learn. (ather! it is the child who is to learn. And learning will ta0e place with the child. *o if an act of teaching ta0es place it will only be centred to child as it he who is to learn. Any argument that teaching is not centred to learner does not ma0e sense. to clarify the confusion! that teaching might still be centred to content which is there. It will be useful to draw a distinction between teaching and other similar activity of content delivery. 7or an e8ample! an act of news broadcasting can be ta0en. he primary distinction between the two can be made from the ob9ective behind these two acts in the 0inds of learning they want to bring about. >e teach children so they will learn basic cognitive s0ills (how to read! write! calculate! estimate) and basic moral-social dispositions (to be 0ind! considerate! fair-minded! honest)! and with the intent that they develop an understanding of the reasons why of things (why seasons change! why famines or revolutions occur! why nations go to war). he purpose of a news telecast! on the other hand! is to inform people of ma9or events and happenings in the world! not to develop viewersG cognitive s0ills! moral dispositions! or wider forms of understanding (e8cept! perhaps! incidentally). owards this end! the scholars (;reen! 12?1< .ellgren! 123:< -omisar! 1242) have developed a useful distinction between 'intellectual (logical) acts' of teaching and 'strategic acts' of teaching. Intellectual acts of teaching involves the acts of e8plaining! defining! 9ustifying! demonstrating!

comparing! &uestioning probing! inferring! concluding! interpreting! illustrating! and proving! and the strategic acts of teaching involves motivating! planning! encouraging! guiding! counselling! and disciplining among others. At the core of teaching are the intellectual acts. eaching a motor s0ill! for e8ample! involves e8plaining and illustrating the critical aspects of the s0ill! and demonstrating it by performance. eaching a metaphor involves acts of defining! illustrating! and interpreting. Luestioning may be present in both cases< and so on. he 'intellectual acts' of teaching consists of variety of acts depending on the nature and comple8ity of what is to be taught. he strategic acts are secondary to the teaching. .ellgren (123:) argues that what is most distinctive about these acts is their concern to e8pedite or to improve the e8ternal practical conditions that ma0e the occurrence of learning more li0ely! and he concludes (correctly) that strategic acts are therefore HsubsidiaryI to teaching proper. *trategic acts are important but not sufficient for teaching. *teward (122$) offers an e8ample that the use of humour or anecdote at critical points in oneGs teaching certainly heightens student interest in a topic! but is sufficient in bringing about learning. ;reen (12?1) differentiates the intellectual acts and strategic acts of teaching by ma0ing reference to the general 0inds of 0nowledge that they individually entail. .e says that psychological 0nowledge of human behaviours! motivation! and learning styles are re&uired for strategic acts! while logical 0nowledge of laws of thought! and ways of 0nowing would constitute intellectual acts. 2'*'&' 1acilitating learning is strategic acts of teaching here is clear emphasis on facilitating learning in ABL. But what does it mean to facilitateF he dictionary meaning of the term 6facilitate' is to ma0e something less difficult! or easier to achieve. An air conditioner machine in A$ degree temperature in ,aipur facilitates =r. )'s sound sleep in his house at =ansarovar. *o will do an air conditioned pleasant classroom for a learning of a child. .owever! it is not probably empirically necessary conditions for learning. An empirically necessary condition is one whose absence would ma0e the learning impossible or more difficult. he absence of an air conditioned room is not going to ma0e =r. )'s sleep impossible! so is air-conditioned classroom not going to ma0e it impossible the learning of child. .owever! in the absence of classroom! lac0 of blac0board! primary and supplementary learning materials would certainly ma0e the learning more difficult. *imilarly! their presence can increase the possibility of possibility. *o 'facilitate learning' would mean providing or arranging a set of materials! conditions! which can ma0e learning easier! but their absence would certainly not ma0e the learning impossible. Let us loo0 at a set of strategies classroom practices which might be of typical classroom which are certainly illustrative of facilitating learning< (1) displaying materials on the wall in the classrooms! teachers being accessible to students! friendly environment among teachers and students! paying variety of games! teachers advising students of choose activities! dividing

students among groups! group activities! having students free access to resources and materials of learning! offering accords to children. 7or a prima facie analysis! it certainly appears that these acts are strategic acts of teaching. It is very similar to the motivating! guiding! and counselling! rather than intellectual acts of 9ustifying! describing! inferring! and defining. If strategic acts are secondary! so these acts of facilitation have to be secondary to teaching acts. It goes without saying that facilitating learning is favoured ideology of child centred education which believes that the child should choose their own learning. his is based upon their formulation that children should learn in accordance with their nature! and their choices embody their nature. he intent is very clear that the children should be free from adults' instructions and interventions as those are harmful for the children. It is considered more humane approach than teaching! as it sounds more non-interventionists! non imposing than the teaching. *econdly! it is considered that facilitating strategies engages children minds more creatively than acts of teaching. here might be some merits in these claims but there is no reason to believe that there is no possibility of a more rational or moral teaching which can engage children with same degree of non-interventionist approach! and being non-imposing. *econdly! intellectual acts of teaching &uestioning! probing! illustrating! comparing! and e8plaining are intrinsically mind engaging. he fact that there are basic fundamental problem of with facilitating learning school of thought needs to be pointed out. he formulation of teaching itself is based on the erroneous premise. eaching is characterised as purely as acts of telling! or imparting facts to children! invariably described as passive recipients of 0nowledge or as acts of dispensing transmitting! or disseminating 0nowledge as if 0nowledge were a piece to handed over to children. +robably! these are dominant characteristics of traditional approach of education! which child centred education assumes prime culprit to do away with. >ith its over emphasis on the facilitation! it ignores the possibility of a value of good teaching. It characterises that teaching is only restricted to focus on sub9ect matter. .owever! the fact that teaching more than teaching sub9ect matter needs to be stressed. Bringing about learning of beliefs! s0ills! rules! and attitudes! as well as concepts! theories! and 0nowledge are of different ob9ectives of teaching. eaching is Hpolymorphous act (.irst! 12?$< *enchu0! 123A).It is not limited to the activity of 'telling'. elling is of course an important logical act of teaching. o tell children basic facts in mathematics! science! language! history! geography! or morals is virtually inescapable! and it is an efficient means of helping them learn at lower levels what is necessary for learning at more advanced levels of schooling. Met HtellingI is but one of many activities of teaching and cannot begin to capture the richness of the concept. (eduction of teaching to a single! linear act is evidence of conceptual muddle. *o facilitation can not be considered a substitute of teaching considering teaching is primarily telling and transferring sub9ect matter.

It is important to e8amine that ideology of facilitating learning rather than teaching puts at ris0 the education of children. Behind this insistence of facilitation! activities and competence! lies a view of what schools are for and how their goals are to be achieved. If we did not ob9ect to students learning very little of value in school which possible under conceptual design of addressing children needs and interests! or if we thought the main reason for school was to entertain children or to 0eep them off the streets! then having adults as facilitators might be a splendid idea. But the &uestion one should as0 for is if this is what the schools are forF he primary and certainly most promising goal of schooling is education, which is the development of human mind and social consciousness! through the achievement of various 0inds of 0nowledge and understanding (+eters! 12??). he more 0nowledge and understanding one gets! the more developed human mind! and mature social consciousness one has to discern what is presented to it! and conse&uently the more complete human beings one is. hus education! and schooling! to the e8tent that education is its primary goal are fundamentally about empowering learners to better discern and comprehend what is in the world and to respond intelligently and sensitively to it. And for this! intellectual acts of teaching seem to be e8tremely important. *chooling must therefore be centrally concerned with the growth of children's intellectual capacities and not being restricted to developing competence among the children. (emove the development of cognition and there can be little advance in critical areas of social or emotional growth either (+eters! 12?A). *chools have important purposes! notably the achievement of moral dispositions and of an ability and willingness to relate well to others< basic preparation for citiCenship in a democracy< and achievement of physical health and fitness and responsible attitudes towards care of the human body. he achievement of greater awareness through 0nowledge and understanding remains the critical mission overall. 'ognitive development underpins the moral! social! and health purposes of schooling and is at the core of the goal to education. @ne needs to be careful that the educational programme which claims to offer an alternative to the prevailing educational situations in education actually does it. ABL certainly in its current design downplays the idea of teaching basing its understanding of teaching narrowly. %either facilitation of learning nor the needs and interests being central to education would serve the cause of education.

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(eferencesN /earden! (.7. (1243). The philosophy of primary education: An introduction. LondonN (outledge and -egan +aul. 5ntwistle! . (12?3) 'hild 'entred 5ducation! =etheun and 'ompany! oranto ;reen! . (12?1). The activities of teaching. %ew Mor0N =c;raw-.ill. .ellgren! +. (123:). Teaching: A social concept ((esearch (eport %o. $4). .elsin0iN Eniversity of .elsin0i! /epartment of eacher 5ducation. .irst! +. (12?$). >hat is teachingF In (.*. +eters (5d.)! The philosophy of education (pp. 14$P1??). @8fordN @8ford Eniversity +ress. .irst! +... (12?A). Knowledge and the curriculum: A collection of philosophical papers. LondonN (outledge and -egan +aul. .irst +...! Q +eters! (.*. (12?#). The logic of education. LondonN (outledge and -egan +aul. Lerry! +.( (124:) >hat is an educational situation! in +eters and .irst 5dited 0nowledge and curriculum (outelege and -agan London *cheffler! I. (124#). The language of education. *pringfield! ILN 'harles '. homas. *teward! /.(122$) eaching and facilitation a false dichotomy! 'anadian ,ournal of 5ducation! )ol.1?.