Today I facilitated a training focusing on reading disabilities and flexible grouping at Gum Primary School. The teachers here in Madang report they face difficulties teaching students English. The National Department of Education is promoting a new (2004) curriculum that focuses on child-centered learning and outcome based education (OBE). Although this curriculum was introduced nearly 5 years ago, many schools and teachers continue to struggle with implementing these teaching strategies. I tried to explain that I am not a trained teacher. Although I am a psychologist who works with children with disabilities in the school setting, to them I am an expert in OBE.
To illustrate the difference between teacher-centered teaching methods and child-centered methods, I filled the blackboard with all my "lecture notes" and asked them to copy them into their "exercise books." This is the typical teaching strategy used here in PNG. After 5 minutes of watching them copy my notes directly from the board, I asked them to stop. It was amazing to see their responses. They simply refused to stop copying. I literally had to place my hand over theirs to get them to stop writing. Next, I grouped them into 3 small groups to illustrate child--centered teaching and flexible grouping.
They appeared to enjoy the phonic activities in thier groups. I was invited to come back in two weeks to address writing disabilities. Guess they thought these learning games were more interesting than copying from the board!
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