The month of June was a season of arrivals and departures in the department! Three of my colleagues left and one joined us! It was also a season when the four final year students awaiting their results before they join for internship offered to spend six weeks on a life centred learning programme!
Eery movement of arrival and departure is a season of change and learning!
As professionals leave, I hope they carry with them something of the ethos of the department. When I listened to them, I sensed that one dimension of the ethos they carry back with them was, 'children are resources from whom we learn'!
I have grown in this conviction that children and their families are the instructors on child development if only professionals can be patient to receive from them!
We receive a lot from all other sources of knowledge-books, journals, articles, lectures, experiences of others.. one source that receives least attention is children!
When we engage children, if we can resist the temptation to 'assess' them to find their needs or limitations, but observe their pursuit of style of learning, skills, behaviour, communication pattern, we would soon be able to conclude that there is another way a child is trying to learn and express differently from the usual way!
It is when we try to conform every child to the usual way, that we find the child as' different'! Instead what the child conveys is a unique way of learning that is akin to his or her neuro-developmental substrate!
Let us go and learn from children to be surprised by the different ways children are 'wired' to learn!
M.C. Mathew (text and photo)
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