School climate is a critical motivation for learning
Sometimes in 2016, the former principal of Alliance High School, David Kariuki, lamented the current student would rather be at home than at school.
That was the recurring answer he got from students whenever he asked them about where—between school and home—they should be.
He raised the issue when then Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i had met principals of national schools regarding proper administration of national exams.
Most principals agreed with him. The explanation for students’ attitude was that most children hail from middle class backgrounds.
The argument was that, unlike their counterparts about three decades ago, the current generation have better diets and accommodation back home compared to what the school affords them. Hence their wish to be at home at all times.
Students’ preference for their homes to school is not unusual. A home, for adults and children alike, need no justification. We all feel the transcendent value of a home when we are at home and away. It is a place of warmth, comfort and affection.
It doesn’t matter whether there is enough or balanced food or ample sleeping space to like at home. Warmth, comfort and affection is what all human beings, children most of all, hunger for, before they begin to appreciate tertiary needs. There is no other institution, however well-endowed in human wants and needs, which can replace home.
Policy-makers in education acknowledge this fact. Education policy, curricular, standards and the administration of exams for instance, provide for the safety, comfort and welfare of learners. It is the reason the Ministry stipulates certain things that school administrators should do or comply with to ensure teaching and learning takes place in a climate that meets certain specifications.
A school climate refers to the quality and character of school life. It is its heart and soul. In essence this is what determines whether a child and a teacher, will love the school and to look forward to being there each school day.
It is important to have competent teachers, curriculum materials, classrooms and hostels. However, it is more important that learners feel comfortable, safe and appreciated—all their idiosyncrasies. They are basic to any meaningful learning experience.
Making the school a happy place is as worthwhile a pursuit as implementing a curriculum.
The Basic Education Regulations 2015 makes certain stipulations that provides for a school climate that has the capacity to make learning warm, comfortable and stress free. Issued and signed by former CS Jacob Kaimenyi in 2015, they stipulate that learners attend official teaching between 8am and 3:30pm with an extra hour and 15 minutes afterward for games and club activities.
The regulations have demonstrated faith in learners to conduct self-directed learning by providing for preps between 7.30pm to 9.30pm, Monday to Friday for learners in boarding schools. Implied in this regulation is that learners should be in their dorms by 10pm—for bedtime which should last from 9.30pm to 6am. And 6am to 8am is for supervised routine activities. Weekend is for general cleaning with preps slated for 10am to noon for boarders.
Adherence to this means students will have ample time, outside the official class hours Monday to Friday, to have their personal private time and space to prepare, to go through what teachers have taught, in effect consolidating personal understanding of the basic ideas and concepts in the curriculum.
There is a need to trust children from a very early age with independent study, perhaps arranged in school, but which takes place away from the institutional setting. Learner-centred education or instruction is that which enables teachers to thoroughly prepare lessons and offer quality instruction experience.
Students learn in such a school climate. They are attentive and focused. They take advantage of every class period to learn with meaning.
We need to recognise a school climate where learners have a chance to develop private uniqueness and self-reliance. That’s what Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) stands for. That’s what every education system worth its salt is all about.
CBC is actually rooting for quality educational experience—and that experience is directed by the learner under the intelligent supervision of the teacher. Such experience will provide learners with private time or private space to learn. To explore. It will provide the necessary balance between teaching, learning and testing. It will, when holidays come, ensure schools release learners to go home without prevarication. They will not burden students with either holiday tuition or unnecessary school work where the students are asked to make copious notes for syllabus content they have not been taught.
— The writer is Communications Officer, Ministry of Education — [email protected]
