Notes: Child Centred and Progressive Education | Child Development and Pedagogy for CTET Preparation - CTET & State TET PDF Download

Progressive education is a pedagogical movement that has endured in different forms to this day. It prioritizes experiential learning, such as hands-on projects, and emphasizes an integrated curriculum. There is a strong emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking. As a result, modern pedagogy has undergone a revolution influenced by progressive education.

Progressive education can be traced to the work of John Locke (1632-1704), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852), all of whom are known as forerunners of ideas that would be developed by theorists such as John Dewey (1859-1952). Child-centred education is an important aspect of progressive education.

Child-Centred Learning and its Characteristics

Child-centred learning is one aspect of progressive education because it considers learning as a natural process for a child in which it learns from carrying out day-to-day activities. Here, the teacher focuses on a child’s learning, not on what the teacher teaches. The teacher must act as a guide who encourages, instructs and stimulates a child as per its needs, because every child has different capabilities and needs.

The characteristics of child-centred education are as follows

• It considers the growth of a child as a priority.
• It makes the child’s learning interesting and meaningful.
• It recognises the child’s potential and utilises it effectively.

• It leads to overall development of the child in physical, moral and spiritual areas.

• It enables the child to learn through experiences.

• It provides for the child’s full freedom for natural growth.

Principles of Child-Centred Learning 

The basic principles of child-centred learning can be best understood through its various aspects given below 

1. Understanding of Child Psychology: The teacher/ educator must understand that the children’s behaviour is governed by their requirements, social conditions, abilities etc thus, shifting the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. Thus, for instance, the teacher will need to adopt different strategies for educating the high intelligence, average intelligence and poor intelligence children. 
2. Evaluation and Testing: Evaluation of learning is important to understand that it has been effective. Traditional testing techniques are replaced in child-centred learning by Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (followed by CBSE since, 2010). This ensures that the development of the child proceeds as planned and allows corrections to be made where a child is not learning as required. This evaluation is carried out through multiple means like projects, discussions, activities, class tests etc. 
3. Syllabus: This needs to be upgraded periodically, but must be based on a psychological analysis of the children’s needs, values and variety required. It should be flexible to take care of all types of learners. 
4. Managing Discipline: Child psychology is used to manage discipline in a child-centred classroom. The teacher will need to have a flexible response to various kinds of indiscipline indulged in by the learners. He must understand the real reasons behind this behaviour and act accordingly to maintain discipline. 
5. Practical Orientation: Learners should be oriented towards practical aspects of the topic being taught to them. They must learn the value of experimentation to solve problems. As research in child psychology gives new knowledge of the psychology of children, the teacher should try to implement this knowledge in the classroom. 
6. Diagnosis and Dismantling of Problems Various kinds of problems occur in the classroom. The teacher must understand how to categorise each problem and find a solution to it by using his knowledge of child psychology.

Progressive Education: Meaning and History

Progressive education is a reaction against the traditional style of teaching. It is a pedagogical movement which values experience over learning facts at the expense of understanding what is being taught. It is based on the idea that we should teach children how to think and that a test cannot measure whether or not a child is an educated person.  The process of ‘learning by doing’ is at the heart of this style of learning. It uses ‘hands-on’ projects as a means of learning. The concept of experiential learning (i.e. learning by experiencing) enhances the student’s experience the most. By actively engaging in an activity that puts a student’s knowledge to use, he develops a stronger understanding of the task at hand.

Theorists who developed the concept of progressive education were as follows 

• Locke: He believed that “truth and knowledge… arise out of observation and experience rather than manipulation of accepted or given ideas.” He further mentioned that children need to have concrete experiences in order to learn. 
• Rousseau: He continued in Locke’s line of thinking by saying that sub-ordination of students to teachers and only memorisation of facts would not lead to an education. 
• Fröbel: He laid the foundation for modern education based on his understanding that children have unique needs and capabilities. He believed in ‘self-activity’ and play as essential in child education. According to him, the teacher’s role was to encourage self-expression through play, both individually and in group activities. He created the concept of the ‘kindergarten’. 
• Dewey: He was a principal figure in the ‘Progressive Education Movement’ from the 1880s to 1904, and developed the philosophy of education as well as concrete school reforms. His reactions to the prevailing theories and practices in education, corrections made to these philosophies, and recommendations to teachers and administrators to embrace the new style of education, were a major part of the history of the development of educational thinking in the late 19th and early 20th century. Beginning in 1897, Dewey published a summary of his theory on progressive education. This is outlined below

Dewey’s Theory of Progressive Education

According to Dewey, progressive education consists of the following five aspects

1. Education: It is ‘participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race’. The educational process has two sides, the psychological and the sociological, with the psychological forming the basis. A child’s own instincts will help develop the material that is presented to it. This forms the basis of Dewey’s assumption that one cannot learn without motivation. 
2. School: It must represent the current life; thus, parts of the student’s home life (such as moral and ethical education) should take part in the schooling process. The teacher is a part of this, not as an authoritative figure, but as a member of the community who is there to assist the student. 
3. Curriculum: The curriculum in schools should reflect the development of humans in society. The study of the core subjects like languages, science, history etc. should be coupled with the study of practical skills like cooking, sewing and manual training. Dewey also felt that progress is not in a succession of studies but in the development of new attitudes towards, and new interests in, actual experiences. 
4. Method of Education: This must be focused on the child’s powers and interests. Information presented to the student will be transformed into new forms, images and symbols by it so that the information fits with its development and interests. The development of this is natural. 
5. Social Progress as Related to the School: Education is the most fundamental method of social reconstruction for progress and reform. Thus, Dewey understood that schools were a means to reconstruct society and so, educationists must be given the proper equipment to help perform this task and guide their students.

Importance of Progressive Education

Learners have different capabilities and interests, so they develop in different ways. Thus, progressive education is important, because it takes care of this variation by 

• giving children full opportunity to develop by providing an environment for development. 
• not allowing any discrimination between learners. 
• educating learners by cooperative learning.
• developing democratic values in the students. 
• making education more practical with emphasis on self-learning. 
• asking teachers to permit learners to design their own learning experiences according to their interests and capabilities. 
• making children work on projects, so that they develop self-confidence, maturity and independence. 
• making children learn how to work together with others, which instils discipline in their personalities. 
• developing their moral character.

Characteristics and Types of Progressive Education

From the above discussion, we can deduce the characteristics of progressive education given below 

• Curriculum is designed according to the interests of children. 
• The approach to education is developmental, meaning that each child has unique needs for its own development. 
• Collaborative learning is used for developing social values and skills. 
• The teacher works as a facilitator. 
• Rote learning is discouraged and there is less emphasis on text books. 

Progressive education can be humanistic (focusing on arts and social sciences), constructivist (focusing on the child’s creativity) or Montessori (teachers act as facilitators of learning in this type developed by the Italian doctor and educationist Maria Montessori). These are discussed below

1. Humanistic: This is also called person-centred education. It is an approach to education based on the work of humanistic psychologists like Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
   Here empathy, caring about students and genuineness on the part of the learning facilitator (i.e. teacher) were found to be the key traits of the most effective teachers. Important objectives include developing children’s self-esteem, their ability to set and achieve appropriate goals, and their development toward full autonomy. 
2. Constructivist: This is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Its guiding principles are as follows
   • Learning starts with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct its meaning. Thus, it eliminates a standardised curriculum. 
   • The learning process focuses on primary concepts, not only isolated facts. Thus, the educators focus on making connections between facts and fostering new understanding in students. 
   • The educators understand the mental models that students use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those models. The teachers tailor their teaching strategies to student responses and encourage students to analyse, interpret and predict information. They do this through open-ended questions and promoting extensive dialogue among students. 
   • The only effective way to measure learning is to make the assessment a part of the learning process, so that it provides students with information on the quality of their learning.
3. Montessori: The Montessori philosophy is a child-directed approach for primary level school children that is based on scientific observation of individuals from birth to adulthood. It is focused on allowing children to make their own choices in learning, with a teacher guiding the process rather than leading it.
   Much of the education method relies on hands-on learning, self-directed activity and collaborative play. One of the differences between Dr Montessori’s approach to early childhood education and the approach found in many primary schools is the adoption of elements of the multiple intelligences theory.

Differences between Traditional Education and Progressive Education

Traditional education is vastly different from progressive education, as given below

RTE ACT

The Right of Children Free and Compulsory Education Act was proposed on 4th August, 2009. It came into effect on 1st April, 2010 except in the State of Jammu and Kashmir
The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that pats the responsibility of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the government and provide free and compulsory elementary education upto class 8th to each and every child.

• The RTE Act and emphasises on the development of both scholastic and co-scholastic areas.
• RTE Act lays down norms and standards relation to pupil-teacher ratios, classrooms, separate toilets for girls and boys, drinking water facility, number of school working days, working hours of teachers etc. Each and every elementary school (Primary School + Middle School) in India has to comply with these minimum standards set by the RTE Act.
• As per RTE Act physical punishment and mental harrassment is prohibited. Moreover teacher should not make any discrimination based on gender, caste, class and religion, or screening procedures for admission of children. Any capitation fee is disallowed, private tuition by teachers is also not allowed. Schools should be recognized in order to avail benefits. 
• RTE Act also mandates that no child can be held back or expelled from school until class 8th. The Act has mandated the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) method to ensure grade appropriate learning outcomes. 
• RTE Act is backed by Grievance Redressal Mechanism that gives opportunity to people to take action against non-compliance of various provisions of the Act.

Mid Day Meal Scheme

• The mid day meal scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India designed to improve the nutritional shades of school age children nationwide. 
• The programme is the largest programme in the world and supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government and government aided schools. 
• This Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act 2013. 
• The scheme came into force with the Supreme Court Order dated 28th November 2001 which requires all government and government assisted primary schools to provide cooked mid day meals.
• The meals are cooked on-site by local cooks and helpers or self-help groups. It allows monitoring by teachers.
• The quality and nutritive value of the meals needs to be monitored on regular basis so that maximum underprivileged children are benefitted.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan 

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan or Universalisation of Education is one of the most fundamental and promising schemes of government of India. 

• Each one Teach One, this programme we introduced in 2000-2001 as the flagship programme by government of India. 
• This scheme aims to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the age group of six to fourteen by 2010. 
• The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan aims to bridge Social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools. 
• This SSA programme is an endeavour to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities of all children, through the provision of community owned quality education in a mission mode.

Main Features of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan are 

• Programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary education. 
• A response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. 
• An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education. 
• An expression of political will for universal elementary education across the country. 
• A partnership between the central, state and the local government.