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Activity periods: don’t clip the angel’s wings

4 février 2016, 14:30

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Activity periods: don’t clip the angel’s wings

WITH the resumption of studies in our schools, administrators and educators are no doubt joining hands to plan the academic year ahead of them. In the process, the ones at the helm of the school community are hoping that this year again the experience of the students will still be appealing enough so that their interest in schooling is sustained.

Amidst the various concerns, there lies the question of whether the « activity periods » in the school time table are at all doing any good to our students. The « activity periods » in schools are meant to be a time slot totalling some 1h20 minutes weekly where both students and teachers are encouraged to move out of the formal curriculum and walk away from the prescribed texts.

During this time, the school is expected to thrive in extracurricular activities with the aim to engage the students’ interests in the « New » and help then discover and create meanings of the world. The ‘activity periods’ in short were designed to be cherished moments where our children would interact with each other earnestly in discussion for a under the guidance of a facilitator.

There and then, those important life skills would have been imparted to the young learners to enable them to make better sense of their living and society. At times, the school would be called upon to invite guest speakers who would be no less than professionals in their field to act as role model and to provide information about the external world to our students.

For some years now, educators have entertained a dwindling interest for the « activity periods » which have now been unfortunately reduced in many schools to being free periods where students are at best left on their own under adult supervision. Certainly this situation is very far from what those at policy level had then imagined of its outcome. This rather sad situation can be attributed to a number of factors but what comes out to be deterministic is certainly the school head’s readiness to own the initiative and develop a real sense of understanding of the essence of « activity periods » in schools.

From words of mouth or had there been a better way, many school administrators found it more convenient to implement the « activity periods » through clubs to represent the interest of the students in out-of-class activities. Today, this experience is obviously dreadful as during these time slots, the school premises are rather turned into yet another recess. Students rarely follow suit to benchmark any progress achieved as they do not feel interested at all in what is being proposed to them and they reject the « activity periods ».

« Re-engeering activity periods so that they carry their purported meaning.»

It is argued that the sense of purpose to schooling may in part be provided with the proper re engineering of the « activity periods » so that they may carry along their purported meaning. At the heart of the issue there lies the planning and the organisation of these activities in schools. The « activity periods » in school would certainly have more impact if they are organised in terms of themes which will capture the urgency of the government programme to build capacity of the youth such as in entrepreneurship but not being restrictive to it alone.

Educators, parents and the society at large wish that our children grow from an overall perspective and develop an understanding of what entails to be a responsible citizen. Hence, schools could probably be encouraged to offer extracurricular activities under the following themes (a) Citizenship education (b) Science literary (c) Fundamental notions of the Mauritian economy (d) Performing arts and literary circle (e) Career guidance (f) Social entrepreneurship & « Project d’Action Culturelle » (g) Human Rights education.

These 7 themes have here been identified so that classes which are already grouped into 7 cohorts from Form I to Upper VI can benefit from the exposure of one theme at a time for a whole month before the themes come back in rotation to the starting theme. It is however of vital importance to post teachers in the workshops whose basic training reflects the theme’s title.

It is more convenient that science teachers entertain « science literacy » while commercial subject teachers delve into « fundamentals of Mauritian economy ». In one academic year, all classes would have been exposed to non-academic, hands-on notions ranging from understanding of the Mauritian society as a state of law to world philosophies while developing lofty notions about good living enough to bring our children to the « shores of humanity ». While emulating the UN Secretary’s Education First initiative; there may also be opportunities for the school to move out of its barriers and carry out worthwhile exchanges with primary school on the premises of developing a notion of service to others.

« There cannot be a better time to allow teachers to work out a meaningful agenda for the different themes during the activity periods.»

There cannot be a better time to allow teachers to take the lead in working out a meaningful agenda for the different themes during the « activity periods ». Rightly, teachers need to be trusted and valued for their capacity to engage in networks to outsource resources in their efforts to impart skills to their students. All educationists will be proponents of the argument that a system of education must cater for the students so that they are engaged with their friends of the same age group to think and work together for a cause which appeal to them and in which they see themselves as being a part of the whole.

Teachers and the school head will do better to allow scopes which will nurture the collective aspirations of the young while at the same time provide them with a sense of direction in life. It is all the more important to accompany the young minds with a value based system which will spur a deep sense of humanity in their hearts when they will take their decision.

The nine year continuous basic education reform which is being advocated these days bears a lot of promises. Amongst other things, it proclaims that it will be one important vehicle to bring along 21st Century Education skills in schools. It is for this reason that school leaders must work upfront of the agenda and consolidate on what already exists. The « activity periods » will have to be given due importance as teachers at the front line are expected to lead the shift in education.

Indeed, teacher engagement and effectiveness is the most important factor when it comes to students’ learning outcome outside the home environment of the child. It is therefore important that the school internal mechanisms address the question of teacher capacity to lead successful transformation.

For now, we revel ourselves with the fact that our school gives us enough scope and hope to DISCOVER – ENGAGE – TRANSFORM – ACHIEVE positive transformations for the Children of the Republic should we start from the right end.