New paradigms in education:  Building new knowledge

by Anil Pagoda Arachchi

Every year knowledge in the world doubles and the world move fast by leaps and bounds. Therefore, the education system of any country must be geared to a new paradigm which brings forth a new vision of education. In this context, what should be the main goal of formal education? It is ludicrous to imagine whether students are in a position to take stock of all the knowledge available in relation to the subject areas they study in school. Another important question is whether they must be made to take for granted the existing knowledge of the world.

Nature of knowledge

Is knowledge a self-standing unit that can exists on its own? The traditional view of knowledge is that it is a free-standing unit with an existence of its own residing in books and other sources. And also, knowledge is divorced from the people who create it.

This view is rather obsolete and it does not hold any truth in the present-day context. Instead it can be viewed as a living process and people are incessantly involved in generating their own knowledge from their own experiences and learning.

Constructivist approach

It is not anything static, it is in a constant process of development with people who generate knowledge with a new understanding of the world around them.

With these changes emerging, how should the formal education system of the country be changed? Will providing opportunities for the students to build knowledge of the concepts to be taught pave a way for them to be creative or competent?

What is most important, as I see it, is to provide meaningful situations for them to challenge the existing knowledge and build their own understanding of the physical and social phenomena. The development of the individual and the society depends on this new knowledge.

The constructivist approach which is in vogue all the world over is no doubt the best to be used for this purpose.

However, a pertinent question is whether we should incorporate it into our teaching learning process only to facilitate the students to build their knowledge by themselves for the purpose of comprehending conventionally established concepts and facts.

On the contrary, what we should attempt it is to pave every possible way for the students to challenge the existing stock of knowledge base and perceive the world and its physical and social phenomena with different perspectives.

This becomes necessary due to a number of factors.

Social process

One distinctive characteristic of knowledge is that its nature tends to changes from one socio-cultural context to another.

As discussed elsewhere in this article, the culture and social process of any society shapes and colours its knowledge.

For example, Piaget's findings of concept formation can vary in a different cultural context, and therefore his knowledge cannot be applied in the same way for a set of individual from a different cultural background.

What I want to emphasise here is the notion that teaching process should help students recover and unshackle themselves from the constraints of so-called socially and culturally established rather conventional knowledge base and to explore new knowledge and to form new concepts of their own.

Students must be made more critical so that they could release themselves from the constraints embedded in the social milieu which acts as a repertoire of its knowledge.

What should be done

The present education system can achieve these goals with some changes. Syllabi and the textbooks rewritten by taking into account this paradigm according to which theoretical and practical background could be created within the school system and outside for students to challenge the existing knowledge and generate new knowledge in whatever they learn.

This paradigm can be very effectively executed only if the teachers are properly trained for the task.

The main function of the teacher should be to facilitate the students to be critical, analytical and innovative to create a new world in the world they live.

One salient drawback of introducing innovations to the education system is that the examination system does not change parallel to the reforms brought in the effectiveness of any change increasingly depends on the evaluation system.

Therefore, there should be an organic relationship among the Ministry of Education, the Department of Examination and the NIE to plan and implement such a change to the school system.

One important factor we see in the developed world and countries such as South Korea and India is that their education systems are constantly supported by the findings of the research studies.

No reform would work well if it does not get social acceptance. Thus, first there must be a comprehensive plan based on the findings of the research projects that can be done on this change.