THE CHILD IS THE CENTER OF THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS

The teaching-learning process is in a great transition. Before, the teacher was the authority in the classroom. His learners were just passive receipt of whatever he commanded and taught. No one could break his rule or else you would be punished. But now, everything has changed. The child now gets involved in every decision that will be made. There is now transformation form passive to active learners. But is the transition of the teaching-learning process a boon or bane?

With the studies done by experts as to what would be the best approach to learning, they have come up with a single result, that the child should be the center of the teaching-learning process.

The child is perceived as a unique individual with hidden skills, talents and potentials that a teacher needs to unlock. He should be the main interest in the educational setting, not the teacher nor the school itself. I remember what John Dewey once said, “The actual interest of the child must be discovered if the significance and worth if his life is to be taken into account of full development achieved. Each subject must fulfill present needs of growing children… The business of education is not, for presumable usefulness if his future, to rob the child of the intrinsic joy of childhood involve in living each single day.”

If I were to ask you why there are schools and teachers all over the world, simply, your answer would be “because my child needs to be educated”.

So in short, it is very clear that children should be the center of the educative process while teachers act as facilitators. And in order for the child to learn, he must be involved in the activities done inside and outside the classroom so that learning will take place.

Therefore, the child or the learner is the heart of the teaching-learning process. --oOo-The author is Teacher II at Del Carmen Elementary School, Floridablanca West District