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Greetings
and Welcome
to the January issue of news.desk
As
2013 dawned, we loudly
proclaimed, "New Year, new
beginnings"! And many of us
diligently made a list of New
Year resolutions. But as the
year wears on, we realise that
they still remain a wish list.
Year after year, in reality we
get so busy with our daily lives
that all the days of the New
Year go past without us being
able to focus on and complete
things that clearly had
relevance and importance for us.
Life gets in the way.
If
I were to make a New Year
resolution today, it would be to
have a deeper commitment. How we
will end this year will be
determined by how we started
it.
 We
live only once, so let's not
only strive to make life
special, let us make ourselves
feel special. Let us enjoy
yourselves, our choices and our
surroundings. Only a flower that
blossoms spreads fragrance. So
don't wither; bloom! Your life
can be filled with hope and
peace. If you feel life is
stagnating, then now is the time
to rekindle interest in your
work and re-energise life.
In
the beginning of January I
usually feel very energetic
about the promise and hope a new
year can bring, and I felt it
this year too. But I also felt
the continuing energies and
feelings of situations already
in process. So yes - this New
Year has already brought some
new changes, some new
beginnings.
Life
is made up of changes and
beginnings all the time, not
only when there's a new
calendar. I know this - we all
know this. And if we sometimes
forget, life is usually quick to
remind us.
One
thing we can always count on is
change… and with change,
beginnings (in some form or
another) often come as well.
Hope you will enjoy the new
beginnings and rise up to the
challenges that change brings in
the new year.
Develop
Schools Wishes you all a very
happy new year.
In
this edition:
-
We
welcome our Guest editor,
Arpita Mittal
CEO - Helen O Grady
International India who writes on
"Education and Drama"
-
Our
Business Editor, Melwin
Braggs with his views on
"Stake holders in
a school and their roles"
-
I
share my views on "Education
or Information Giving"
-
Web
links on the happenings in the
education industry
-
You
could know more about
services offered by
Develop Schools, the
itinerary of our
associates for you to
benefit from during their
visit to your locations
Send
us your articles. If your
entry is selected we will
cover your article in our
forthcoming newsletters.
I
now invite you to read on and
send us your feedback / suggestions. After all we
improve when you assist us.
Feel free to FORWARD
this newsletter to your
Trustees / Managing committees
/ References.
Sincerely,
Rita
Wilson
Chief
Editor
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Education
and Drama
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Our Guest
Editor,
Arpita Mittal
CEO
- Helen O Grady International
India
 Which
are the words most frequently
uttered by a teacher to the
students in a classroom in our
conventional schools? Are these,
"Do not talk!"
"Sit down!" "Do
not move?" Why is it that
teachers do not encourage
students in classrooms to
express themselves and to
communicate freely; or utilize
the space around them gracefully
and effectively to help them
develop body, time and weight
awareness through focused real
time activities?
The
answers are simple and
disturbing. Very often, the
curriculum content of the
subjects being taught is so
extensive and the time devoted
to it is so short that all we
end up doing is impart
superficial knowledge and force
our students to memorize it only
to qualify examinations. This
happens because the contemporary
education system in India
stresses on achievement of less
than significant objectives.
Education cannot be considered a
qualification only for
employment. But, that
unfortunately, is exactly what
it has become. There is a big
gap in what we need from our
education system and what we are
offering our students.
When
Peter Slade shook the British
education system by claiming in
his first book, Child Drama,
(1954) that children should
'play' in schools, for 'play' is
learning, there was a major
upheaval in the world because
the new thought challenged the
existing notions of what was
right and what was acceptable.
In
today's India too, it is time to
do a rethink. It is time for
change. It is time to discard
the obsolete. It is time we make
learning fun and meaningful.
Self-confidence,
high self-esteem, effective
communication skills, social
skills and creativity amongst
our students are to be the new
significant goals of the new
order of education. And for
achieving this goal, one of the
most effective tools of overall
development is drama. Can we
make drama an integral part of
learning in our country? The
answer is a simple and
heartening-YES!
Helen
O' Grady International, a unique
educational drama system, has
worked tirelessly towards
achieving these significant
goals all across the world. It
has successfully developed a
curriculum over the last thirty
years of its operations, which
uses the medium of drama to meet
the needs of children and bring
joy into the learning space.
Helen O'Grady Drama System was
developed in Perth Australia in
1977. Since then, it has grown
exponentially in twenty-five
countries across the world and
caters to the requirements of
thousands of children of all age
groups.
In
India too, the organization is
offering its Speech and Drama
Programme in schools and through
private studios to four age
groups, 3-5 years, 5-8 years,
9-12 years, and 13 to 18 years
through a well-crafted
curriculum, which is standard
and uniform. The trainers are
especially trained in the
exclusive drama system through
regular intensive training. They
ensure that classes are full of
positive motivation, energy and
creativity. The results are
tangible and the best part is
that the students love the
classes!
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Stake
holders in a school and their roles
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Melwin
Braggs, Business Editor
School
stakeholders are not only the school
board, parents, staff, and students,
but also local business owners,
community groups and leaders,
professional organizations,
potential enrollments, youth
organizations, the faith community,
media, etc., i.e. anyone who affects
or is affected by the school's
actions.
Let
us try and understand the roles of the
Stakeholders
Role of Parents 
Parents
play the primary role in the education
of their children. To
communicate a clear and consistent
message to our children, parents should
be involved in the delivery of
education. Be it the parent teacher
meetings, the open-house days or any
other agreed mechanism to provide
feedback to schools on their programmes,
interested parents could be encouraged
to understand, participate and
constantly improve the delivery of
education.
Parents
can support their children in education
by:
-
initiating
discussions on important learning
issues,
-
emphasising
the importance of responsible
behaviour,
-
being
open to discuss their own beliefs
and values,
-
being
available to give advice and
guidance to their children,
Role
of School
School
Leadership: The Principal plays a
pivotal role in Education in school,
providing structured direction and time
defines for the programme and ensuring
that it is delivered in keeping with
education system, framework and
guidelines.
Teachers:
the other side of the coin in the
teaching learning process. His/her
primary role is to deliver education,
the planning and writing the curriculum,
prepare activities for the students to
do. Each school has a team of teachers,
specially chosen by the principal, and
trained by curriculum experts, to
deliver education. School counselors are
also available to advise and counsel
pupils on specified subject
matter.
School
Supervisors: supervises curriculum
implementation, select and
recruit new teachers, admit students,
procure equipment and materials needed
for effective learning, plan for the
improvement of school facilities, have a
great stake or concern about what kind
of curriculum their schools offer and
how this is implemented.
Role
of Learners
Students
are the very reason a school is built.
They are directly impacted by the
actions and involvement of the other
stake holders. The universal as well as
the individual characteristics of the
students should be considered. Age,
gender, physical, mental, emotional
development, cultural background,
interests, aspirations and personal
goals are some of the factors that
should be considered in the
implementation of any curriculum.
Role
of the Community
Success
in the implementation of the curriculum
requires resources, the community
members and materials in the existing
local community can very well substitute
for what is needed to implement the
curriculum, respected community members
may be included in school boards, some
can become resource speakers, they can
provide local and indigenous knowledge
in school
curriculum. Education boards grant
approval to a panel of external
providers who can provide professional
advice and additional resources to
schools.
Other
Stakeholders
Professional
organizations have shown great influence
on a school, as they have a better view
of the industry where the graduates of
the curriculum go.
The
government is represented by the
department of education which has
mandatory and regulatory powers over the
implementation of education. This power
is exercised in the form of
affiliations, NOC, course recognition,
certification authority.
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Education
or Information Giving
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Rita Wilson, Chief
Editor
(Ex-chief
executive and Secretary, ICSE)
An
important question for the educator
today is what in his contact with
the students brings about learning -
is it the material; the methods of
presentation used; the motivation of
the learners; or the conditions
under which the contact takes place?
Centuries
ago the educational practioner - the
medicine man or the tribal priest -
handed down the truth from on high
and this was accepted on faith. Now
a new concept of the practioner is
emerging. According to the great
American psychologist, Bugental,
"We can no longer merely
diagnose a patient's problems,
scrawl an illegible prescription and
send the patient to the pharmacist
for a medicine which he takes with
complete ignorance." Today, he
points out we are recognising
"the patient's own resposible
involvement in the change
process" is essential to the
educational process.
This
implies the dynamic quality of the
teacher-student relationship,
specially the involvement of the
student.
Education
can be defined as a learning process
resulting in a change of behaviour
on the part of the student; process
is the dynamic interaction between
the teacher and the student. Dynamic
interaction means an empathetic,
accepting, communicating
relationship.
What
is the relative importance of
content and process. The simple
differentiation is that content is
the "what" and process is
the "how" of education.
Sometimes the "how"
(process) becomes the
"what" (content). Thus,
the process may become the message
and process is what is meaningful
and leads to behaviour change. Of
course, technical data is important,
but greater attention must be paid
to the process of the human aspects
of learning rather than on
information giving.
The
teacher must look at his own role
and what kind of effective education
he can provide. As a teacher of the
future he must be knowledgeable in
social and behavioural sciences. As
the needs of the students shift from
skills and performance to concerns
of decision-making, social
organisation and inter personal
relations, there must be shift in
the teacher's functions. The
political, economic and religious
institutions now offer conflicting
ideologies which force upon
individuals decisions which they
cannot verify with old familiar
patterns.
Educators
have deal with these shifts in a
variety of innovative ways.
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