The Basic Concept of Child-Centred Teaching - Essay Example

A literature review of the dissertation “A Comparison of Educational Outcomes between Child-Centred Schoolwork and Teacher-Centred Schoolwork in Primary School Chinese learning”. In China, Chinese is a keysubject in primary schools. It is a fundamental literacy skill essential for promoting extensive learningas well as a compulsory subject assessed insecondary school entrance examinations. Schoolwork plays an important role in learning and retaining knowledge to pass exams. The majority of students lose interest in learning Chinese because of the heavy schoolwork and homework. Enjoyment in learning Chinese does not seem to relate to academic achievement. Tang and Fu (2008) suggest that there is low correlation between schoolwork burden and academic achievement. They further state that schoolwork burden has some negative effects on test performance. Thus, according to the theory of child-centred education, students’ intrinsic motivation for learning could be developed under child-centred circumstances. The theory of “Learning for Mastery” which states that learning is a function of three variables; student cognitive entry about the need to learn, student affective entry characteristics showing the will to learn and quality of instruction where the teacher should show willingness to teach (Tang andFu, 2008, p. 505).Therefore, the quality of schoolwork completed in both child-centred and teacher-centred settings, will be analysed to compare academic performance. In this essay, the researcher will review the literature concerning three aspects of thesubject area: the issues around the definitions of child-centred and teacher-centred classrooms and the efficiency of schoolwork under both settings; the past and present contextsof acquiringChinese literacy in primary school in China; and the value of effective schoolworkfor improving children’s educational outcome in child-centred classrooms. In this regard, effective schoolwork refers to the way students can best use their study time in the hope that examination oriented teaching can be changed toward the development of an educational system that is multi-standard with the aim of alleviating burden of schoolwork (Tang and Fu, 2008). This will go a long way in improving schoolwork among the students at the primary level. The type of classroom that determines the efficiency of schoolwork as a way of improving academic performance The basic concept ofchild-centred teaching is that children’s physical, psychological and cognitive development should be placed at the centre of education (Doddington and Hilton, 2007). It is argued that,due to increasing anxiety about academic performance child-centred education has been replaced by teacher-centred education, which emphasises the authority of the teacher and ignores the learner’s individual learning perspective(Elen et al., 2007; Doddington and Hilton, 2007). In this regard, child centred education is related to efficiency of schoolwork in that when the teaching aim is clear, students have mastered the baseline knowledge and they have the will to study, the desired goals of improving educational performance will be achieved. The classroom setup often determines the students’ ability to improve their schoolwork if it is designed in a manner that is meant to reduce the burden among them.In other words, a balance between teacher instruction and student effort towards the attainment of education can play a pivotal role in improving their performance (Lim, 2008). In primary education settings today, practitioners attempt to shift the examination-oriented feature in teacher-centred classroom to the assessment-culture-characteristicclassroom, which is more child-centred (Birenbaum and Dochy, 1996). A child-centred classroom may challenge the historical pedagogy that teachers have implemented in the teacher-centred classroom (Martlew et al., 2011). It is argued that students should be educated to assess their own learning achievements, which is the central aim of primary education (Towler and Broadfoot, 1992). Assessing schoolwork could be one of the standards used to measure learning outcomes.Focus is on school worknot learning as a result of different reasons. Essentially, schoolwork is the actual amount of load that a student carries and it determines how or she performs academically. On the other hand, learning relates to the process of acquiring knowledge or the steps that can be taken in order to acquire knowledge in a particular area. The most significant aspect about the study is related to educational outcomes between child-centred schoolwork and teacher centred schoolwork. The main link between the two is related to the aspect of academic performance. Tang and Flu (2008) have noted that students can be proficient in the subjects they are learning if there is a ratio between the amount of time needed to complete a particular task and their ability to absorb what the teacher is teaching. This entails that child centered education is specifically designed to predict the outcomes in terms of educational attainment of the student concerned.However, ‘The more tasks the students have received from the teacher, the fewer responsibilities the teacher took for the participation of students’ learning process (Elen et al., 2007). Thus, child centered-education entails that the teacher will play a little role in the student’s learning process. The greater part of the burden is then transferred to the student and this may impact negatively on their schoolwork. Primary school going children should not be overburdened since their minds are not yet fully developed to cope with such load. As noted above, child centred education and schoolwork are somehow related given that the level of performance in the later is determined by the amount of burden each student is exposed to. Thus, the issue of whether schoolwork is completed efficientlycan be attributed to many elements such as external and internal motivation. External motivation refers to creating an appropriate classroom environment for students doing their schoolwork (Tang and Flu, 2008). On one hand,this situation which is directly created by teachers in the classroom could provide lower achieving children with opportunities to narrow the gap between them and higher achieving children throughschoolwork-based learning(Hong et al., 2004). On the other hand, aggressive teacher behaviour could cause studentsto feel resentment, and induce schoolwork-based learning resistance (Romi et al., 2011). Therefore, the creation of a negative relationship could ultimately lower the learners’ performances (Hattie, 2009).Furthermore, students’achievements in terms of schoolwork are directly influenced by the teaching methods and instruction asimplemented in the classroom (Hong et al., 2004). Educators employing supportive coachingmethods promote independent, motivated learningwhile preventing students from havingany input into their schoolwork, may cause learners’ independenceto be suppressed (Assor et al., 2002).Giving students the opportunity to choose their preferred tasks enables them to increase their interest and autonomy. The students are in a better position to improve their performance if they have the autonomy to determine the steps they can take in order to carry out their schoolwork. A survey based study including 6 050 students was conducted in Shanghai and it compared the relationship between schoolwork burden and academic achievement. The findings indicated that there is low correlation between academic achievement and schoolwork burden but it emerged that schoolwork burden can have negative effects on test performance (Tang and Fu, 2007). The study also focused on how heavy burden of schoolwork can be alleviated. By studying the benefits of doing homework, students in the primary level age group have realised the importance of schoolwork tothe learning process and changed their attitudestoward homework to a more positive perspective(Hong et al., 2004). Students also learned to make their schoolwork preferencesdiverse, to enable them toadapt to the school-learning environment(Hong et al., 2004).Therefore, the intrinsic factors affecting the students’satisfactory completion of schoolwork should be analysed and referencedby teachers in order to motivate children’s enthusiasm for finishing assignments(Hong et al., 2004). Teachers should find,and utilise, the connections between schoolwork and students’ interests (Assor et al., 2002). If teachers in school assign work without any consideration of the children’s individual capabilities or interests, this may impair the effectivenessof the student (Hong et al., 2004). The students on their own should play a part in their learning process but the burden should not be extreme. The schoolwork should be maintained at desirable levels that would motivate the students to enjoy their schoolwork. However, there are still a number of challenges hindering the application of child-centred schoolwork methods. Firstly, Hong et al (2004) suggest that if the number of students in a school is large, it becomes difficult to meet each individual’s needs regarding schoolwork. For example, with increasing age, the demand for supporting independent learning among children decreases. Adolescents pay more attention to competence than autonomy(Assor et al., 2002).In addition, it is difficult to assess whether teachers’ guiding methods are supportive for the children or not (Assor et al., 2002).Thirdly, teachers’motivation for compelling students to complete schoolwork is based on academic requirements(Assor et al., 2002). It is also argued that following students’ chosen learning strategies may result in failure to master fundamental skills such as literacy and numeracy, which require a systematic learning framework(Entwistle, 2012).According to research, the majority of students state that doing schoolwork does not inspire their internal learning motivation(Assor et al., 2002). At least the students shouldbe motivated to enjoy their schoolwork since they should also take a leading role in shaping their educational careers. Some studies have indicated that students who are given the autonomy to play a greater role in their schoolwork perform positively in terms of academic attainment. However, this depends on the issue that their schoolwork is not a burden to them. According to Hui et al. (2011), Chinese students outperform students from other ethnic groups in the academic field as a result of various reasons. One long-standing perception is that the amount of schoolwork the students undertake determines their academic performance(Tang and Fu, 2008).Chinese students’ believe that there is no direct relationship between the individual’s intelligence and academic performance, which is based on the traditional, effort-oriented culture in China(Wang and Ng, 2012). Therefore, they deem schoolwork to be a direct way to improvetheir academic performance. The past and present circumstances of learning Chinese literacy in primary school in China The conventional Chinese education system is teacher-centred. The teachers’ role is tobuild and implement their own methods for relaying the curriculum to students(Goodson, 2006). In most cases, studentsare often stressedby academic competition and this has a bearing on how they learn. Chinese language and literature are core and compulsory subjectsin primary school education in China. In 1966,the Ministry of Education introduced the curriculum standard, which requires grade four primary students to master approximately three thousand characters(Price, 1972). The main learning resource in school is textbooks(Price, 1972). The majority of Chinese language course content focuses on character recognition and formal grammar, with schoolwork practice taking the form of essay writing(Price, 1972).Rote-learning,which is a way of mechanically memorising, is consideredan effective learning approach for completing schoolwork and achieving good examination results. In recent years, Chinese literacy learning in primary schools has been divided into two sections: phonetics and literature (Li, 2015). Phonetics is a teacher-centred learning approach, whereas literature based learning enables children to acquire the reading and writing skills at their own pace, and therefore focuses more on the students’ learning process (Li, 2015). Phonetics is a teacher-centered approach because “the students are directly taught one to one letter sound correspondence to facilitate generative use of these patterns. Children are made aware of the relationship between letters and sounds by helping them to understand that spoken words are composed ofindividual sounds,” (Sukyadi, n.d, p. 3). Students still at primary level need to be directly taught different letters of the alphabet as well as the sounds that are created by each letter. The students also need to be taught how different letters can be joined to form different words (Li, 2015). Pronunciation of different words is another aspect related to phonetics and this cannot be naturally acquired. The teacher needs to be directly involved in coaching the student to pronounce well different words. As such, this is a teacher-centered approach. Reading on the other hand is specifically concerned with creating meaning from different words. A student can perform this task on his or her own. The educational reform in China is based on child-centred learning theory and it heavily borrows from western educational ideas and practices that have been incorporated into early years of primary education (Li, 2015).This‘borrowed’ policy may not transfer entirely effectivelyto the new environment. Furthermore, academic results may not be as good as predicted (Winstanley, 2012). It is argued that students’ literacy skill wouldbenefit more from direct teaching settings, rather than inquiry-oriented learning environments(Silva and Martins, 2003). In other words, the teacher’s input is essential in as far as academic achievement is concerned for primary school students. It should be noted that the students at primary level need the teacher’s guidance though it is necessary that they should also take responsibility of their schoolwork from lower levels. The children need support to strengthen their efficacious agency which in turn increases their wellbeing and learning capabilities (Hyvönena et al, 2014). The notion of efficacious agency is mainly concerned with the idea of children’s active participation in their learning process. Indeed, a support mechanism is essential to improve the learning process but the children have a role to play in as far as learning is concerned. Smith, Duncan and Marshall (2005) suggest that children are not passive consumers of the information they get from their teachers since they also play an active role in the interaction and socialization process. This means that they can develop their own understanding of the world around them. The other issue is that the learning environments in which the students are exposed are quite complex and this entails that they need support in order to strengthen their learning potential. This also improves the children’s self efficacy beliefs which according to Bandura (1997) refer to children’s self confidence in their ability to develop learning capabilities so that they can succeed in different learning situations. Bandura (2001 as cited inHyvönena et al, 2014) also states that an individual has active role in creating his or her experience of the world. This concept also applies to the children since they can engage in self regulated learning in classrooms if they are given the chance. However, they need the support of the teacher in order to achieve this feat.Participation helps the children to develop their own opinions as well as understanding of the world around them. The effective way to improve children’s educational outcome in a child-centred classroom Child-centred classroom approaches enhance the creative ability of students and teachers. Teachers construct activities that integrate students’ previous learning experience and their learning curiosity. It is suggested that literacy learning could also be inspired by visual sensation. Doddington and Hilton (2007) sugget that the children’s educational outcome can be enhanced through the effective use of a child centered classroom. The other issue is that the cognitive development of students still in primary level is not that strong compared to mature students in higher grades. As such, the teachers need to be aggressive in mentoring the students so that they can develop a positive attitude toward their education. Indeed, the students ought to play their part in as far as educational attainment is concerned but they need to be strongly motivated especiallly when they are still inat primary level (Tang and Butler, 2012). The sense of acquiring an education may be lost if the students lack the teacher’s guidance. In the same vein, the teacher should reinforce the element of child-centered classrom so that the students develop a sense of responsibility and they may feel that they are in control of their learning. To a larger extent, it can be observed that literacy can be enhanced by visual aids (Sukyadi, n.d). The students are in a position to learn fast if they are constantly in touch with visual images that can help them associate the relationship between the real name and the image portrayed.This can be perfectly achieved through the teacher’s guidance but he or she should create room to enable the students to exercise flexibility so that they can try to solve certain problems on their own.When the students are given the autonomy to be masters of their own academic development, they can quickly learn different things (Dignath, Buettner and Langfeldt, 2008). A child centred classroom is effective if the student is given the autonomy to use his or her mind to figure out the meanings of different mages they may come across.This goes along with literacy development where the students are given the opportunity to try to figure out the meaning of certain terms on their own without consulting the teacher. Pickup (2007) suggests that a “skilful educator must develop a keen awareness of each child’s learning needs and choose appropriate, relevant, and purposeful teaching methods to support learning.” In other words, the teacher must facilitate learning and he or she should allow child centred activity in order to develop the child mentally. Pickup (2010) further states that the early years of a child are very critical in the development of fundamental motor skills that seem to be left to chance in most cases. To a certain extent, it can be observed that early child learning should not primarily depend on teacher intervention as this may impact negatively on the performance of the children(Perry and VandeKamp, 2000). At least, the children should develop a keen interest for learning at a tender age so that they can be able to generate knowledge in different aspects on their own. Interaction among the children can help them to share ideas as well as to learn from others. This is very important since it promotes psychological and emotional development of the children. Thus, a child centred classrom can enhance student participation in different activities that are designed to improve their academic performance. Conclusion The paper reviewed literature that sought to draw a comparison between Educational Outcomes between Child-Centred Schoolwork and Teacher-Centred Schoolwork in Primary School Chinese learning. Tang and Fu (2008) have observed that schoolwork burden has some negative effects on test performance. The other issue is that the basic concept of child-centred teaching is that children’s physical, psychological and cognitive development should be placed at the centre of education (Doddington and Hilton, 2007). In other words, children can play an active role in developing their learning capabilities than overly rely on the teacher. The teacher needs to provide the direction to the children in the classroom but the learners should take a significant role in developing a keen interest in learning among the students. Pickup (2010) has also observed that the early years of a child are very critical in the development of fundamental motor skills that seem to be left to chance in most cases by the teachers. Thus, to a larger extent, it can be observed that early child learning should not overly depend on teacher intervention as this may impact negatively on their performance. 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