| 2: Key Principles and Emphases
A view of learning as active and social
Learning has to be done by the learner - teachers cannot learn for their pupils, any more than parents can breathe for their children. Teaching, then, by definition, has to be learner-centred and has to empower and enable learners actively to build their knowledge and understanding. The pupils, along with the teacher, are themselves part of the resources for learning, and they learn with and from each other. Learning does not just occur within individuals, but between them as they collaborate in socially-situated contexts. (See J. Conteh’s chapter on the Multiverse site.)
Here, in a little more detail, is how Gordon Wells, drawing on Vygotskyan theory, suggests a social constructivist approach to thinking about learning and teaching:
- The Classroom is Seen as a Collaborative Community: Joint activity, by definition, requires us to think of the participants, not simply as a collection of individuals, but also as a community that works towards shared goals, the achievement of which depends upon collaboration.
- Purposeful Activities Involve Whole Persons: Transformation of the participants occurs as a function of participation in activities that have real meaning and purpose; learning is not simply the acquisition of isolated skills or items of information, but involves the whole person and contributes to the formation of individual identity.
- Activities are Situated and Unique: Any activity is situated in place and time; although there may be common features across activities and settings, each activity is unique, since it involves the coming together of particular individuals in a particular setting with particular artifacts, all of which have their own histories which, in turn, affect the way in which the activity is actually played out.
- Curriculum is a Means not an End: If the aim is to engage with particular students in productive activities that are personally as well as socially significant, 'covering' the curriculum should not be thought of as the ultimate goal of education. Instead, the specified knowledge and skills that make up the prescribed curriculum should be seen as items in the cultural tool-kit which are to be used as means in carrying out activities of personal and social significance.
- Outcomes are Both Aimed For and Emergent: Outcomes of activity cannot be completely known or prescribed in advance; while there may be prior agreement about the goal to be aimed for, the route that is taken depends upon emergent properties of the situation - the problems encountered and the human and material resources available for the making of solutions.
- Activities Must Allow Diversity and Originality: Development involves "rising above oneself", both for individuals and communities. Solving new problems requires diversity and originality of possible solutions. Without novelty, there would be no development; both individuals and societies would be trapped in an endless recycling of current activities, with all their limitations.
Vygotskyan theory, or social constructivism as we might call its application to education, thus calls for an approach to learning and teaching that is both exploratory and collaborative. It also calls for a reconceptualization of curriculum in terms of the negotiated selection of activities that challenge students to go beyond themselves towards goals that have personal significance for them (Vygotsky, 1978, chap.8). These activities should also be organized in ways that enable participants to draw on multiple sources of assistance in achieving their goals and in mastering the means needed in the process. As I have suggested elsewhere (Wells et al., 1994), this means reconstituting classrooms and schools as communities of inquiry.
Wells G Dialogic Inquiry in Education in Lee C and Smagorinsky P (2000)
Vygotskian Perspectives on Literacy Research
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Positive attitudes to variety in language and dialect:
- the diversity which the pupils bring to the classroom needs to be seen positively, as forming part of the resources for the teaching and learning of all
- we need a view of language that looks at language in terms of appropriateness rather than narrow correctness; in terms of a repertoire, rather than a hierarchy, of varieties of languages and dialects;
- classroom materials and works of literature need to reflect and give value to linguistic diversity;
- we need to allow children’s voices to be heard in their own forms of linguistic expression
The power of literature:
- the literatures of the world need to be valued and validated as literature in their own right
- the literature helps to define the culture
- literature can provide windows into different cultures
- literature changes the landscape inside our heads and helps us to see things differently
- it informs us by admitting us to new knowledge and new worlds
- literature can broaden the concept of citizenship, changing and educating our attitudes to other people, fostering inclusive rather than exclusive attitudes
- through carefully chosen literature (and through their own writing) allpupils, whatevertheir origin, can explore, and deepen their understanding of, their own cultural backgrounds and family allegiances, can be helped to find their place on the map
Citizenship - social cohesion and the pastoral dimension:
- understanding each other’s point of view and creating tolerance
- creating a space in the classroom for children’s own cultures, traditions and values supports their emotional and social development by providing links with their home and community
- teaching against racism, prejudice and narrow-mindedness both through the attitudes fostered in school and through literature, drama and other imaginative forms
Teachers’ own learning
- It is important for teachers to be open to acquiring and developing knowledge of literatures and languages from cultures with which they may be unfamiliar and developing knowledge of the communities that pupils live in outside school
Multicultural teaching in ‘all-white’ schools
- Multicultural teaching is not just of importance for schools with ethnically and culturally diverse populations. It is also a matter of educating all pupils for a multicultural society, where all can live and work harmoniously.
 
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