It’s pretty widespread knowledge by now just how destructive the Western World’s curricula can be to a student’s learning ability by now, with a wide majority of them based in Industrial-era origins and focusing more on continuing the factory line of workers, many other curricula have come to rise in order to fill the creative void, in order to create individuals who can think their way around problems rather than brute forcing through them. Instead of ‘What to know’, these new creative curricula teach ‘How to know’.
So this brings us to a new concept, rather than trying to drill in information about history, science, math, languages and so on and so forth, we look at how a student can have the knowledge of how to find knowledge instilled within them instead. This creates and establishes the principles needed to bring forth new individuals whom can truly revolutionize the world around us for the better and solve problems thought once unsolvable. But what exactly do these new curriculums teach?
This writer’s curriculum of choice is the Montessori curriculum. This method was developed by Italian physician, educator and philosopher Maria Montessori, whom devised the foundations for the Montessori curriculum, her very own pedagogy. The style encourages use of mixed age classrooms with children typically ranging from as young as 2 to as old as 6, and has developed a method based on a discovery model of learning, where the child learns concepts by working practically with materials under guidance from an educator.
Although the educator is expected to guide the child, they take more of a relaxed role in that the child may choose from a range of activities to partake in, which encourages the child to associate education with fun in order to foster a more creative and curious outlook on the process. In theory, this same model can be applied at later stages in life such as at a primary and secondary school level, but the materials and information needed to develop such curricula has not yet been sufficiently developed. However, it’s well known just how successful the Montessori Method is with pre-schoolers.
What’s even more potent is the capability of education when influenced by technology. Technology has been shown to change the way children think, encouraging a child to engage with the subject matter in a way once thought impossible. Through valuable internet resources, academic practices and affordable hardware, this can be taken a step further and a child can be further encouraged to curiously seek out what they don’t know.
So the solution to the age-old problem of how to educate our children is made simple, a blend of a paradigm shift from ‘What to Know’ to ‘How to Know’ combined with cutting-edge technology implemented in the lives of all students. But is that all there is to it? There’s one more important piece that is of vital importance, something that no classroom can do without: a passionate teacher.
Without teachers whom are passionate about their subject matter, whom care about their students’ well-being and development, a classroom cannot thrive. This has become particularly visible in recent decades where teachers have oft been caricatured as devils and ogres, and it’s high time that this changed. Teachers can’t, be seen in this light or it will damage their class’s productivity and capabilities. Today what is needed are teachers of passion whom explore the possibilities of a subject with their students rather than against them.
If you are passionate about your subject and your students, we’d love to hear from you, SeekTeachers has a range of positions around the world with new ones being added every single day and many utilize the creative curricula mentioned above. Why not check out our jobs page today?