Pupil Knowledge And Experience At School - Colegio Luso Internacional Do Porto - A Study By Artur Victoria By Artur Victoria At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The central position given to communicative skills does not in any way imply that they are to be practiced in isolation and apart from motivating contacts during lessons. Needless to say, writing practice should not deal with things in which the pupils are not interested.

Expressive capacity is dependent on knowledge. The pupils learn to use words at the same time as they learn concepts and ask questions. Language develops in a process of interaction with other people. The linguistic development of children is furthered by pictorial work, by work with literature and drama and by work with artistic means of expression generally. Thus emphasis on skills must not lead to a one-sided methodology of isolated, formal exercises.

Every knowledge and experience must play an important part in school. This category includes knowledge to do with the home, family life, interpersonal relations and technology and also, for example, typing proficiency. As consumers the pupils must be able to appraise critically the commodities and messages with which they are confronted. Subject matter of a more traditional nature may have to be sacrificed in order for schools to relate sufficiently to the reality surrounding the pupils in their everyday lives.

Within the framework of their various subjects, the pupils should be given abundant opportunities of considering ethical issues and conflicts. Examples of positive action and opportunities should be given in this connection.

International relations are becoming more and more important Subject matter needs to be selected in school which will enable pupils to realize the international dependence of our society and, accordingly, the importance of international contacts and co-operation. Social subjects, pictorial studies and music have an important part to play, as does the reading of literature. Immigrant pupils and their parents can be a great asset in the transmission of knowledge concerning the cultures of other countries. It is the task of schools to inculcate in their pupils a sense of solidarity with other countries, peoples and civilizations. It is also the task of schools to teach their pupils to understand and feel at one with minority groups in our own country. Schools must make active efforts to enable pupils to understand the problems of the developing countries and our dependence on those countries.

Neutrality and the selection and treatment of subject matter in all subjects must be characterized by empiricism and neutrality.

Empirical and neutral instruction is the best means by which schools can meet the requirement of objectivity. In this way pupils will be taught to develop an independent and critical approach and a disposition to empirical assessment. They will be encouraged to become personally involved and to take a deeper interest in things.

The demand for empiricism and neutrality must be considered together with other demands which can and should be made of teachers, teaching and teaching materials. One educational demand, for example, is that printed teaching materials must be engagingly and vividly written and must invite a critical debate. Another demand always applying to research, teaching and news reporting is that the subject matter must be important and relevant.

It is important for schools to distinguish between the concepts of neutrality and empiricism and between the fields to which, they are applicable.

Neutrality implies the following, among other things.

The teacher must avoid tendentious presentations. The meanings of ambiguous and vague concepts must be made clear. The teacher must abstain from tendentious descriptions and must refrain from jumping to conclusions. A description contravenes this norm if certain things are omitted and others highlighted and if the resultant account gives the pupils a biased or quite inaccurate picture of the matter under consideration. A biased description serves the interests of the 'transmitter' (as, for example, in the case of propaganda, indoctrination or a certain type of advertising).

Empiricism implies the following, among other things.

The subject matter selected must be of such a kind as to focus on central problems connected with the subject, the sphere of interest or the project Teaching must reflect the dynamism of different processes. It is not sufficient, on other words, for teaching to deal with outward conditions and with formal things and techniques.

It must also aim at reaching the 'inside' of every process One means to this end is for schools to allow representatives of religious denominations, political parties and organizations, writers and artists etc. to present their opinions and beliefs personally.

Differing opinions must be openly presented and studied, as must problems and difficulties. Value judgments must be allowed. Social issues, for example, can never be divorced from values. But it must always be made clear who advocates the values concerned. Thus a teacher, for example, is entitled to declare his own value judgments if it is made quite clear that they are his personal opinion. The pupils must not be misled by such expressions as 'one', 'is probably', 'is often thought to be' and so on.

Our common fundamental values must also be discussed. Conflicts between goals and reality must be elucidated by means of material of different kinds, and questions in this connection must be dealt with.

One of the teacher's important tasks is to make it clear to the pupils what is controversial and what is uncontroversial concerning questions of fact and also concerning values and norms, and to present the possible arguments in favor of a particular standpoint.

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