UNFPA COUNTRY SUPPORT TEAM
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Beyond the Curriculum:
The views and opinions contained in this Report
have not been officially cleared and thus do not
necessarily represent the position of the
United Nations Population Fund
The primary purpose of the UNFPA Country Support Team for the South Pacific based in Suva, Fiji, is to provide countries with high-quality technical support services to meet their needs, leading towards national self-reliance in the population field.
Among the functions of the Country Support Team towards this end, the injunction "to provide active and close backstopping to the local pool of national experts" implies more frequent interaction between CST Advisers and national counterparts than is afforded by the occasional in-country technical advisory visit.
This Discussion Papers series has been initiated by the CST, Suva, in an attempt to establish a dialogue among national population programme personnel on the multidimensional aspects of population programmes. The major objective of the series is to help in the conceptualization and development of a more holistic programme approach.In the area of population education, many countries in the Pacific region have embarked on UNFPA-funded population education projects, and, through them, have integrated population education into their school curriculum, developed instructional materials, conducted teacher training and have begun teaching population education in the schools. However, there have been few reports regarding what is happening in the classrooms and in how well the objectives of population education, especially in developing attitudes and values, are being met. It can only be surmised that the common practice for teaching for knowledge and passing examinations still predominates.
The present paper was prepared to stress the importance (often overlooked by curriculum developers and teacher trainers) of classroom observation, especially of classroom interactions in the teaching of population education in achieving the objectives of developing attitudes, values and communication and decision-making skills. It suggests the development of detailed lesson plans with innovative methodologies, prioritizing objectives, and including instruction in developing higher-level questioning skills, longer wait-time, and more judicious use of evaluative responses in teacher training. In short, it advocates a greater focus on the teaching act, the vital link between the curriculum and learning, and ultimately, behaviour.We hope that the paper will provoke critical comments from readers and practitioners.
Stephen Chee
| Introduction |
list the possible consequences of teen pregnancy |
Judging from the preponderance of cognitive (especially knowledge) level objectives found in many teacher's guides, curriculum guides, etc. and the suggestions to "teach by objectives", I would guess that lessons such as the one observed are very common in population education. These lessons can be distinguished by objectives with verbs such as: state, identify, list, explain, describe, draw, locate, name, etc. These objectives are relatively easy to measure. There is nothing wrong with these objectives. In fact, teachers should be encouraged to use them. However, there are many topics in population/family life education, such as teen pregnancy, which would be extremely interesting and personally relevant to students, and, while understanding the consequences of teen pregnancy, for example, is important, it is more important for the students to see a social and personal relevance to the situation, to weigh moral, ethical, and cultural values and questions, and to develop attitudes and make choices. And from the lesson observed, I do not think these objectives were directly or consciously addressed. Most people, including educators, assume that if a student gains knowledge, that knowledge will automatically lead to the development of responsible attitudes, and ultimately responsible behaviour. That is wishful thinking. Witness the number of smokers who know the dangers of smoking, or the number of people who know how to avoid pregnancy but never attempt to practice family planning even if they do not desire more children. The development of attitudes and values cannot easily be taught by traditional methods intended to develop knowledge.
In the historical development of population education, the paper by O. J. Sikes, "Reconceptualizing Population Education"1 is a landmark. In it, Sikes advocates the prioritizing of contents and also suggests emerging concerns for inclusion in population education programmes - environment/population linkages, family life and human sexuality, gender issues, appropriate family planning content, and early development of responsibility. Furthermore, he advocates the following approaches to teaching:
| NEED TO FOCUS ON THE CLASSROOM |
How many classrooms have you been in lately? What have you observed, especially in relation to the approaches advocated by Sikes, e.g., on topics dealing with sexuality, sex roles and responsibility, relationships, family planning, and other life issues? The question of how teachers are actually teaching population education in the classroom, how materials are being used, how students are being involved, how these lessons are affecting them, have seemingly been ignored. This oversight is evidenced in the "Study of Population Education Programmes in 14 Francophone Countries of Africa"2, which examined problems in ".. the elaboration of programme content into host disciplines, the quality of instructor training and the quality of educational material prepared for students and teachers."
While the study cited above has implications for all population education programmes, other than general references to Madagascar's student-centred methodology and Morocco's teaching for creativity, there was little in the way of classroom observations, the effects of classroom interaction, etc., although teacher training was addressed. (This is in no way a criticism of the study itself, the purpose of which was not to study classroom interaction). The section on Recommendations likewise focusses on content, materials, institutionalization, and training of instructors and teachers. The assumption which all of us hold, I am sure, is that teacher training, if done well, will automatically translate into desirable teaching behaviour and classroom interaction. However, many teacher training courses, because of the limited time available, use the "do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do" approach, with lectures by experts, one after the other, on topics such as demography, population situation in the country, the environment, statistics on family planning, teen pregnancy, AIDS/STD, family planning methods, and yes, even participatory teaching methods. And when teacher participants judge the workshops positively and perceive them to be "useful", we assume the teachers will go back to the classroom and teach with a new vigour, commitment, and innovative methodologies. Unfortunately, evaluation of in-service courses depends too heavily on subjective impressions and perceptions and are often influenced by factors having little relation to teaching behaviour or student achievement. While acknowledging that the success of the programme depends, inter alia, on training teachers, we often don't go beyond, to actually monitor how the training has influenced teaching behaviour. We need to go into classrooms to observe teaching behaviour, classroom interaction, student activities, reactions, and achievements. We need to explore ways to develop more innovative teaching behaviours which might develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and motivation which cannot easily be developed using traditional teaching methods - e.g., creative ways to challenge stereotypes of the place of women in society, or to develop responsible sexual behaviour in the face of media which seem to promote any sexual activity as socially approved conduct, etc. If we want our students to become critical and reflective thinkers, and feeling individuals, if we want them to go beyond the passing of examinations and the academic, we must expose them to content and materials which provoke thought, discussion, debate, and introspection through more innovative teaching methodologies.
| IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT AND TEACHER TRAINING |
1. Instructional Materials Development
a. Teaching GuidesThe study of the African projects showed a wide variation in the content, structure, and presentation in teaching materials, but it makes some excellent suggestions for the development of teaching materials and these will not be repeated here. However, I would like to reinforce the need for detailed and explicit teaching guides as suggested by the study. Such a guide might have turned the lesson described at the beginning of this paper into a more innovative one to develop attitudes and values regarding teen pregnancy. The "curriculum guide" used by the teacher was too general and left too much to the whims, perceptions and creativity (or lack of it) of the teacher. A lesson plan should be a blueprint for action and should provide ideas. For advocating such detailed lesson plans, I have in the past, been criticized for "spoon-feeding" teachers. But my response has been, "I would rather be spoon-fed than be undernourished." From my experience, most teachers welcome detailed suggestions, and the more creative teacher can simply ignore them and do it his/her own way. Poorly trained, ill-equipped teachers, some with educational levels barely above the students they teach, on the other hand, would welcome detailed lesson plans.
An example of this detailed lesson plan, which has worked extremely well in several teacher training courses in the Pacific, is the role play (Family Crisis) described in Annex I3. The role play is on the topic of teen pregnancy where members of a family discuss their reactions to a rumour that the oldest daughter, a school girl, is pregnant, and then come to a decision about what to do. But the difference in the lesson is that unlike most role plays which leave the acting out and reactions to the situation to the talent, flair, and perceptions of the students, this one is carefully scripted, and the players read the script (hopefully with feeling). One reason for this approach is that more often than not, depending on the class of students and the teacher, role plays are not taken seriously because students often act silly, or are nervous or self-conscious. This role play, on the other hand, is done by six persons simply reading the parts, thus preserving the integrity of the message. And each time it has been done in teacher training courses (unfortunately I have not had a chance to observe it with students), teachers have been moved by it; one was even moved to tears because it evoked a personal memory. While many participants have said that in "real-life" the daughter would more likely be beaten, and/or forced to marry, forced to leave the community, etc., they nevertheless believed that presenting another option was important and that the role play was a springboard for discussion and might serve to change attitudes about the value of family dialogue in a crisis.Hence, it is believed that this lesson, with very specific directions, would be very much appreciated by teachers and would increase the chances of students identifying with the characters in the role play and discussing the issue as a real life crisis, understanding the profound consequences of pregnancy on one's life plans, and making personal choices.
Another example of specific teaching procedures which might be suggested in a teacher's guide is the use of stories which pose problems to be solved. The story, "The Surgeon's Dilemma"4, for example, is a way of getting students to question their own stereotypes of male and female roles and then addressing the issue of the status of women in their culture/society. Hopefully, this exploration will influence the formation of attitudes that promote gender equity.
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This is a fast way of getting the students to look at their own assumptions about male and female roles. The procedure is very simple. Without explining your purpose, distribute copies of the story below. Tell the students they have five minutes to read the story and solve the problem. They should not share their solutions with anyone else. Here's the storyA father and his son are driving to a baseball game. On the freeway, they have a car accident. The father is killed and the boy is brought to the hospital in an ambulance. They immediately wheel him into the operating room. The surgeon looks at the boy and becomes quite upset. "I can't operate on this child! He's my son!". How is that possible? The solution: the surgeon is the boy's mother. An alternative version would be a mother and child in the accident, with the mother being killed. The nurse in the emergency room would be the child's father. |
In the instructional materials development process, while the principle of "teaching by objectives" should be advocated, developers should not lose sight of the most important objectives of developing attitudes, values, skills, motivation, etc., especially those related to reproduction and family planning, status of women, and sexual behaviour, including AIDS/STD. Unfortunately, the insistence by curriculum developers and teacher trainers on measurable objectives often results in the teaching and learning of non-essentials, even trivia, at the expense of the more important affective or skill development areas which require more time and which are more difficult to measure. And where time is limited, the easy way out is to teach facts. But teachers need to be made aware that they have a tremendous responsibility in teaching essentials and development of attitudes and skills that may affect students' lives. For example, in describing AIDS education that works, Popham states, "For the most part, the skills needed to avoid, escape, or protect oneself in HIV-risk situations are interpersonal skills". And, "The teaching of such skills requires a substantial instructional effort. Students must understand the nature of a skill, see it properly modelled, practice under close guidance, and then apply it until it is truly mastered"5. An example of a lesson on skill (communication) development is shown in Annex II (How to Say No!)6, which requires intense participation by the students.
Hence, I would suggest that in addition to prioritizing and selecting concepts as Sikes suggests, objectives should be prioritized for each theme, and those deemed most important be given most attention (including time) in the process of development of instructional materials, and by the use of innovative methodologies. The high-level objectives (those dealing with attitudes, values, communication,, decision-making) may require the learning of basic facts, but the knowledge would only be a means to an end, and not, an end in itself.2. Teacher Training
Although the structure of the population education programme, curriculum, and quality of instructional materials are very important, I have learned that the single most important factor in the success of any educational programme, including population education, is the individual teacher. The teacher makes the difference. What he/she does (or doesn't do) in the classroom and how these actions affect the students is the raison d'ˆtre of any teacher training. Again, have you observed participants you have had in teacher training courses actually teaching in their classrooms? Observe them again after six months; after a year. How is the teaching behaviour observed related to the teacher training course? Ask the teachers themselves what needs to be covered in teacher training.Focussing on the teaching for the development of attitudes, values, etc., I have posed a few questions to consider in teacher training in population education, along with examples.
a. Training for Creative TeachingWithin the limitations of time in teacher training courses and workshops, can the training include experiences to develop creativity? Although a teacher's guide should contain lesson plans which suggest specific classroom instructional activities, as advocated previously, these should not be followed so closely as to stifle a creative approach to a topic. Teachers must be encouraged to use their own creative abilities and instincts to better classroom instruction. For example, how can teachers take advantage of current events and local issues to teach for population education objectives which will make the topics more meaningful to students? How can teachers be trained to revise or modify the lessons suggested in the teacher's guide to make them more creative?
The local media frequently report a wide variety of relevant happenings (local, national or global) e.g., population growth, urban migration, family planning, environment, AIDS/STD, teen pregnancy, school enrolments, sex education, rapes, wife bashing, etc. all of which could be used to launch creative teaching approaches advocated by Sikes - e.g. future orientation and problem solving, values clarification, etc. For example, the lesson in Annex III (Lifeboat Ethics)7 might well be modified or adapted and be done after a report of an ocean disaster, common in the Pacific, where many are lost at sea. In this lesson, students are forced to make decisions on who to select to save in a lifeboat when the lifeboat cannot accommodate everyone. The students struggle to clarify their own values in making their choices. They can hopefully see the relevance of the lesson to their own lives - e.g. choosing boys over girls for schooling when family resources are limited, values related to the aged, population (or family) and resources, needs vs. wants, etc. One student, a devout Christian, reported that she could notsleep, thinking about the choices she had made in class that day, which she could not reconcile with her perception of the "Christian" or "moral" choice.Perhaps some time can be devoted in teacher training courses to developing creative lessons based on the most important objectives or revising existing lessons to make them more meaningful and personal. An example might be the suggestion to explore in more detail the possible consequences of teen pregnancy, introduced in the role play. The "consequences" shown below were among those listed in the lesson observed, but each of these can be explored, through activities, group work etc.:
Obviously, a more detailed exploration of options and possible consequences which might include some research might take a much longer period of time than the one period taken for the observed class, which simply listed most of the effects/consequences.
b. Developing Teacher Questioning SkillsTeacher questions largely dictate the kind of thinking students do in the classroom. Questions which ask for factual information will draw on the students' memory. Questions which demand thinking about important issues or problems draw on a higher level of mental operations. Questions which ask for feelings and opinions will demand an exploration of values. For example, instead of simply reading about China's one child policy, students can be asked questions which demand thinking which explores ethical questions:
Does a society/Government have the right to limit the number of children a couple should have? (Freedom vs. Responsibility, pros and cons)or problem solving:
One reason often given for a desire for large families in developing countries is the insurance provided by children for old age. Think of social measures that might help reduce the desire for large families. (Perhaps States can offer social security in old age to those parents who have not had more than 2 children in their lifetime).The statements in ( ) may be the kind of responses which might be elicited after much thought.
Population education can raise a host of social, ethical and cultural issues and these can be explored through the use of higher-level questions. For example:c. Teacher Responses in Classroom Interaction
i. Evaluative ResponsesIn addition to teacher questioning behaviour, another area of classroom interaction which needs to be looked at critically is what happens after a teacher asks a question, and how the teacher's response affects or influences student behaviour and achievement of the objectives of the lesson. I am referring more specifically to evaluative responses or the tendency of teachers to evaluate each student's response to a question. Most teachers, in their teacher training have probably been encouraged to provide "positive reinforcement" (to stimulate further participation) to students' answers to questions, and for some teachers this has become almost automatic: "Very good, John", "Correct:, "Good", "Right", "Good Job, Mary", etc. On the other hand, the teacher may also react negatively: "Sorry", "Wrong", "No", "Try again", "Not what I had in mind" (The student is a mind reader?), a frown, shaking the head in disbelief, etc.
In population education, where often the exploration of issues does not result in a "right" or "wrong" answer, where students are asked for opinions, where sensitive issues are discussed, some (or any) evaluative responses from the teacher may not be an appropriate way to react to students' utterances. Evaluative responses by teachers may cut off further discussion rather than facilitating it. Worse, evaluative responses may cut off thinking. Consider this: If a teacher asks, "Why do you think Fiji's birth rate has gone up since 1975?" and John answers very quickly (as often happens), the teacher might respond, "Very good, John". What happens to the thinking of most of the other students? Probably, it stops, since they think the "right" answer was given by John, even though there may be many "right" answers. On the other hand, if the teacher follows John's response with a neutral response, say, "I see", "U-huh", acknowledging the response by nodding or with interested silence, and looks at others, the students, including John, might still be thinking, and more students, if given the opportunity, can respond to the same question with other responses (answers). Wasserman cites a study in which the teacher eliminated evaluative responses in teaching and then asked students for their perception8. Some responses are shown below:"We felt safe to express our own ideas. We felt freer to volunteer our ideas without having to worry about being wrong".
"Even if I had a wild idea, I could raise it without worrying that it might be inappropriate. I can be more creative in my thinking and I can stretch my mind in a wider way".Everyone's ideas have value, in some way. It makes me appreciate the ideas of others, even though they are different from mine. We learn to listen to each other, too".
Related to the evaluative responses given by teachers is the acceptance of correct answers. Often the teacher will simply accept "correct" answers, using evaluative responses described previously, without any follow-up questions to press students to explain at a deeper level (What do you mean by that? What is your evidence? How do you know? Where did you get that idea? etc.). However, a seemingly "correct" answer can mask students' misconceptions, including the reasoning behind "correct" answers. For example, in a science class, a student was asked to explain the difference in the conception of fraternal twins and identical twins. He promptly gave the correct textbook answer with aplomb. The teacher, instead of simply accepting the student's response, pressed him to speculate on what factors might be conducive to the conception of identical or fraternal twins. After some thought, the student replied that identical twins might be produced when a man has sex two times in the same night with the woman, while fraternal twins might be produced if two different men had sex with the woman the same night! The student seemed to have ignored the correct answer he had given to the earlier question - i.e., he did not even see the inconsistency between the responses he gave to the two questions, thus raising doubts about his understanding, even if he gave a "correct" answer to the first question.If the teacher had simply accepted the initial correct textbook answer which the student had parroted, and not pursued the response further, the student's misconceptions might not have come to light. Hence, questioning correct responses, asking for clarification, and probing beyond the surface, especially those quick, short answers, might reveal many misconceptions and get students to think more critically, more deeply.
ii. Wait-timeAnother very important consideration related to teacher questioning behaviour in the classroom is the time given to students for responding. Rowe found that teachers in her study waited only one second after asking a question. Perhaps if all the questions were low level knowledge questions, a second of "wait-time" might be sufficient, because if only memory is required, a student either knows the answer or he doesn't. However, if high level questions are asked, time for thinking - reasoning, creating, valuing - is required. Unfortunately, teachers seem to be uncomfortable with silence - even for a few seconds, seemingly feeling impelled to speak out to break the silence. They might repeat the question, rephrase it, ask another, give clues, redirect it to another student or make other comments when no response is heard after a second or two. This process is repeated until someone provides an acceptable answer - or the teacher answers it him/herself. But questions which demand problem - solving, introspection, values clarification, i.e., higher level thinking, necessitate a longer "wait-time" for students to think, evaluate, and respond. The act of more complex thinking, personal opinion, interpretation, and expression requires more time than giving factual answers, descriptions, recounting events, etc. Therefore, effective questioning behaviour in population education demands not only the ability on the part of the teacher to formulate and ask higher level questions (based on the lesson objective), but also to tolerate a longer time after the question is asked before responding. Maintaining a deliberate silence will not only be conducive for the student being asked the question (even after he/she answers), to continue thinking, but will also serve to stimulate other students to continue thinking.
Deliberate silence, as a desirable teaching behaviour, like questioning behaviour, can and should be taught in teacher training in population education.Conclusion
Many countries in the world have embarked on the development of school population education programmes/projects as an intervention strategy to address some of their population-related problems. They have identified population education concepts, integrated these concepts and programme content into host disciplines, prepared instructional materials for students and teachers, trained instructors and teachers, and have been teaching population education to students. But the achievement of the goals and objectives of population education requires approaches that call for, inter alia, active student participation, problem solving and values clarification, as well as a strong knowledge base. These approaches must be manifested in lessons that go beyond the traditional methods employed by teachers. More innovative teaching methods must be used in classrooms if population education is to have an impact on the knowledge, attitudes, values, and ultimately, behaviour of students, for a better quality of life.It is hoped that this paper has raised a few questions and practical suggestions to go beyond the curriculum to start or continue the process, especially in the need to focus on classroom interaction, to observe what and how population education is actually being taught, to develop more specific lesson plans suggesting innovative methodologies, to prioritizing objectives, especially giving those dealing with attitudes, values, decision-making, and communication more emphasis, to develop higher-level questioning strategies, longer wait-time, and rethinking evaluative responses on the part of the teacher.
There is still much to do.
3 Taken from Innovative Methodologies in Population Education : Sample Lessons, Unesco, 1992
4 Taken from Sex education: Package Two, Unesco, PROAP, 19885 W.J. Popham, "Wanted: AIDS Education That Works", Phi Delta Kappan, March, 1993
6 Taken from Innovative Methodologies in Population Education: Sample Lessons, Unesco, 19927 Taken from Innovative Methodologies in Population Education: Sample Lessons, Unesco, 1992
8 Wasserman, Asking the Right Question: The Essence of Teaching, Fastback 343, Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, Bloomington, Indiana, 1992