Phase I Calendar[edit | edit source]
| A.M. | SESSION 1:
Sharing Perceptions of Appropriate Technology: an Ice Breaker(Skill Area I) |
SESSION 2:
Defining Expectations of the Community Technology Training Program (I) |
SESSION 5:
Development of Skill Criteria(II) | |
| Tour of Training Site | SESSION 3:
Group Resource Assessment (I) |
SESSION 6: Cross-Cultural Awareness and Communication (I) | ||
| P.M. | Peace Corps Administrative Orientation | SESSION 4:
Appropriate Education and Learning Processes Parts 1 and 2 (II) |
SESSION 7:
The Hollow Square(II) | |
| SESSION 8:
Health in a Cross cultural Context | ||||
| DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | ||
| A.M. | SESSION 9:
Community Resource Investigation, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (I) |
SESSION 11:
Communication and Listening Skills (II) |
SESSION 14:
Global Energy Issues (I) | |
| SESSION 12:
Construction of Earthen Block Molds: A Focus an Group Dynamics (II) |
SESSION 15:
Introduction to the Evaluation Process (V) | |||
| P.M. | SESSION 10:
An Exercise in Problem-Solving: Formulating a Plan for Well-Being (I) |
SESSION 13: Construction of Earthen Blocks (IV) | SESSION 16:
Evaluation and Integration of Training Themes (V) |
Session 1. Sharing Perceptions of Appropriate Technology: An Ice Breaker[edit | edit source]
| Total time: 2 hours | |
| Objectives: | * To get to know one another and encourage communication |
| * To find out what "appropriate technology" means to others in the group | |
| * To set the climate for active participation in training | |
| Materials: | * Four large symbols of the wind, sun, water and earth – drawn on a single sheet of news print paper and posted
|
| Trainer Notes
This session will require careful preparation. See the Trainer Notes under Step 4 for instructions. |
Procedures:
Step 1. (5 minutes)
Give a brief overview of the objectives that have been written and posted.
Step 2. (35 minutes)
Explain that an exercise in learning and remembering names will follow. State the guidelines for the "name game" ant start the exercise.
| Trainer Notes
Any one of various games for remembering names can be employed at this point. One game that has been successfully used is as follows:
|
Step 3. (5 minutes)
When the exercise is completed, introduce the next step: exploring perceptions about appropriate technology and getting to know one another better.
Step 4. (10 minutes)
Ask four people to uncover the symbols that have been posted around the room.
| Trainer Notes Draw symbols for the sun, wind, water and earth. They should be as abstract as possible. Avoid extraneous and possibly interfering or confusing details. The examples should be as simple as possible. The symbols can be covered with a blank piece of newsprint or just folded over from bottom to top and held with tape. Post the symbols at an equal distance from each other. practical, have chairs near each one. |
As participants are looking at the symbols, uncover the newsprint page where the following question is written:
Which symbol characterizes how YOU feel right now?
Ask participants to move around the room, examine the symbols and choose one, then move to that area and introduce themselves to others gathered there, sharing each of their reasons for choosing that particular symbol.
Step 5. (15 minutes)
After people have had a chance to talk for 10-15 minutes, ask a volunteer from each group to share some of the themes that came out in their discussions.
Step 6. (25 minutes)
Repeat the process using the following question:
Which symbol best represents what Appropriate Technology means to you?
| Trainer Notes
If there is a great deal of interest in the small groups, you may choose to let this part go on longer. As the groups report back,
|
Step 7. (10 minutes)
When the groups have finished reporting, ask everyone to get their notebooks and reassemble.
Uncover the third and final question:
What symbol (or set of symbols best represents your expectations for the training program?
Ask participants to draw the symbol(s) in their notebooks and individually list their expectations for the coming eight weeks.
Step 8. (15 minutes)
Conclude the session by reviewing the objectives and explaining that participants should keep their responses to the final question for later use as reference during an exercise on expectations.
Session 2. Defining Expectations of The Appropriate Community Technology Training Program[edit | edit source]
| Total time: | 2 hours |
| Objectives: | * To review the content and major themes of the program |
| * To define and clarify expectations that the participants have of the training program | |
| * To compare and contrast individual expectations with those of the program | |
| Resources: | * "Introduction to the Appropriate Community Technology Training Manual" |
| * Training Schedule | |
| Materials: | Newsprint and felt-tip pens |
| Trainer Notes
It is important that the training staff participate in this session in order to develop a list of their expectations of the program. |
Procedures:
Step 1. (15 minutes)
Briefly outline and explain the session objectives and activities.
Step 2. (5 minutes)
Have participants refer to the symbols and expectation lists that they have in their notebooks (see Session 7, Phase 1) and spend a few minutes reviewing them.
Step 3. (30 minutes)
Have participants form small groups in which they discuss their expectations of the program. On newsprint, each group should develop a list of their five most important expectations. Then post the list.
Step 4. (45 minutes)
Reconvene the large group and review each expectation for clarity and understanding. Identify which expectations the training will meet directly, those that will be touched upon, those which could be addressed with some schedule changes and those, given the practical limitations of the program, which may not be met.
Step 5. (10 minutes)
Distribute copies of the training schedule and the manual introduction. Explain that the manual introduction presents an overview of the program and an orientation to its overall purpose, while the training schedule will give the participants a day-by-day description of the training. Encourage any questions or discussion.
| Trainer Notes
In order to make the connection between expectations and how they will be addressed during the program, it is helpful to refer to specific sessions that deal with the expectations listed by the group. |
Step 6. (15 minutes)
Conclude the session by facilitating a discussion centered around the following questions.
- Were any of your expectations changed by this activity?
- Was there something that you learned in this session that you were not expecting during training?
- Is there anything that you have heard about the program that has not been discussed?
| Trainer Notes
In addition to clarifying and defining the participant's understanding of the program, this final step helps participants decide whether or not the program meets their needs. |
Session 3. Group Resource Assessment[edit | edit source]
| Total time: | 2 hours |
| Objectives: | * To share the skills, experiences, knowledge and interests of participants and trainers
|
| Materials: | * Newsprint and felt-tip pens
|
| Trainer Notes
In order to promote a sharing of experience among all program participants, it is recommended that the entire training staff engage in this activity. |
Procedures:
Step 1. (5 minutes)
Review the session objectives and procedures.
Step 2. (5 minutes)
Present a short talk on the value of a group resource assessment
| Trainer Notes
The talk should include the following points:
|
Step 3. (10 minutes)
Have the group brainstorm a list of interview questions which could help assess the group's skills, knowledge, experience and interests.
| Trainer Notes
The resulting interview questions should be consolidated or in some other way pared down so that the list does not exceed 4 or 5 open-ended questions that will stimulate conversation. One way of providing focus during the brainstorm is to post the key points to be included in the interview: skills, knowledge, experience ant interests. |
Step 4. (5 minutes)
Post and review the interview format.
| Trainer Notes
The Interview Format: Step 1. (5 minutes) Find someone in the group whom you don't know and move to a comfortable, private location. Step 2. (30 minutes/15 minutes per person) Interview one another using the list of questions as guidelines. Step 3. (10 minutes) Complete written reports on the interviews. Step 4. (5 minutes) On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following statements, using the interview reports as a reference:
Step 5. (10 minutes) Share the interview sheets with your partner and make any modi fications or additions. Step 6. (10 minutes) Post the interview reports and walk around the room scanning the other interview reports and noting any information of special interest. |
Step 5. (1 hour, 10 minutes)
Have the participants interview one another.
Step 6. (10 minutes)
Facilitate a discussion of the group's overall impressions of the resources that exist within the training community.
Step 7. (15 minutes)
Conclude the session by asking the following:
- What do you feel that you learned about interviewing from this activity?
- What advantages and disadvantages do you anticipate in using interviews as a way of gathering information in your host country?
| Trainer Notes
It is helpful to keep the interview reports posted for several days so that everyone can examine them more closely. The reports should then be kept in a place where they are accessible and can be used as continuing resources throughout the program. |
Session 4. Appropriate Educational and Learning Processes Part 1: Non-formal Education (nfe) and International Community Development Work[edit | edit source]
| Total time: | 2 hours |
| Objectives: | * To examine the principles of non-formal education |
| * To discuss ways in which non-formal education may be applied in community work | |
| * To review examples of ways in which nonformal education is used in this training program | |
| Resources: | * "Skills for Development Facilitators" (Appendix A) and the Manual Introduction
|
| Materials: | Newsprint and felt-tip pens |
Procedures:
Step 1. (15 minutes)
Distribute Attachments I-4/1-A and I-4/1-B, "A Definition of Non-Formal Education," and "A Comparison of Formal and NonFormal Education." Read and discuss the definition of NFE found on the attachments.
Step 2. (15 minutes)
Give a brief talk on the background and foundations of NFE and its relationship to adult learning theory. Encourage questions and discussions.
| Trainer Notes
For a concise overview of NFE and adult learning theory, refer to: Srinivasan, Lyra, Perspectives on Non-Formal Adult Learning: Functional Education for Individual. Community and National Development, pp. 1-23. |
Step 3. (20 minutes)
Have participants identify/discuss some general ways in which NFE concepts might help them in their future role as Peace Corps Volunteers.
Step 4. (15 minutes)
Distribute Attachment 1-4/1-B, "A Comparison of Formal and Non-Formal Education," and refer participants to their copies of the Manual Introduction: Skills for Development Facilitators (Appendix A) Briefly explain some of the ways in which NFE is used in this program.
Explain how NFE is integrated into the training program through the "Skills for Development Facilitators" and that participants will have opportunities throughout their training to develop and practice NFE techniques and methods. Mention as examples the "Independent Study" and the "Energy Fair" and point out that these opportunities will be introduced in more detail in future sessions. Also, mention that there will be opportunities to facilitate and cofacilitate sessions.
Step 5. (30 minutes)
Have participants form small groups and discuss any additional ways in which NFE concepts may be integrated into the training program.
Step 6. (15 minutes)
Reconvene the large group and have participants share their ideas. Encourage questions and discussion.
| Trainer Notes
It is probable that in the course of this discussion certain ideas may be presented which would be of value to the program. You should note these and discuss their feasibility with the training staff. |
Step 7. (10 minutes)
Conclude the session by distributing the Attachment I-4/1-C, "The Participative and Directive Trainer." Ask participants to study the list and explain that it will be a resource for the next day's session on the development of facilitation skills criteria.
A DEFINITION Of NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
One definition of non-formal education is that education:
Which takes place primarily outside the school's formal hierarchy which extends from kindergarden to graduate school and
Which is aimed primarily at helping people in such areas as literacy, learning a skill, better farming, better health, better nutrition, etc.
TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
- What should be the basis for selecting students to be educated?
- Formal schools frequently select students because they are already smart and will succeed.
- Non-formal education is more likely to select students because they have problems and need help.
- How should curriculum be made? Who should make it?
- In formal education, curriculum is made by the "experts" in colleges and ministries.
- In non-formal education, the curriculum arises from the need of the student to know, for example, to increase rice production, limit the size of families or how to run a machine, or prepare a family meal.>
- How should educators be judged on what they do and be accountable for what they do?
- In formal education we say that the results of our work cannot be known for many years, until the child grows up.
- In non-formal education the accountability is usually swift and immediate. The illiterate does or does not become literate. The farmer does or does not use a better variety of rice. The housemaker does or does not improve nutrition for her family.
- How should we evaluate learners?
- Formal educators like to grade people on the basis of tests and eliminate those who don't make it. We fail them.
- Non-formal educators are more apt to evaluate people in terms of improvements and not to grade them or sort out on the basis of poor grades.
- What should be the place of individual competition in education?
- In formal education competition is on an individual basis, and in comparison to others.
- In non-formal education, group learning and reinforcement is more apt to be stressed.
- What is the proper use of time units in education?
* In formal education we count it in years and think it an accomplishment when we can extend a program from two, say, to four years. As a result a person may now spend more than one-third of his life in school.
- Good non-formal programs tent to end as soon as the student learns what he needs to know. In fact, some nonformal research indicates that students learn better in short programs than in long ones.
- Who can teach?
- In formal education those can teach who are duly certified.
- In non-formal education anyone can teach who knows what is to be taught and how to teach it.
- Who can learn?
- In formal education those who can learn can be admitted.
- In non-formal education those who have the need to know can be admitted.
- What should be the role of compulsion in education?
- In formal education we have many devices for making education compulsory, through laws and curriculum and professional requirements.
- Most non-formal education is voluntary and people just as easily walk out of the program if they don't think it meets their needs. The student is the judge, not the teacher.
10. At what age do people learn best?
- In formal education we tend to think that youth is for study and age is for work.
- Non-formal education frequently mixes youth and age and assumes they can learn if they feel the need to know.
Adopted from Cole S. Brenbeck, "What Can Non-Formal Education Teach Formal Education about Innovation," INNOTECH/NEWSLETTER, Sept/Oct 1977, p. 10.
A COMPARISON OF FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
| Formal Education | Non-Formal Education |
| A. PURPOSES | |
| 1. Long-tenm and general
Formal education is expected to provide the basis for an individual's whole future life. Therefore (even in technical fields) it is general in character. |
1. Short-term and specific
Nonformal education meets shortterm learning needs of individuals and communities. It therefore emphasizes the learning of specific knowledge and skills and the inculcation of specific attitudes which result in immediately functional behavioural changes. |
| 2. Credential-based
The end-product of formal education is the acquisition of qualifications and certificates which enable individuals to obtain specific socioeconomic positions in the wider society. Rewards are therefore deferred. |
2. Non-credential based
Non-formal education produces learning which is immediately valued in the context of the individual's or community's life situation. Rewards are tangible and may include improvements in material wellbeing, productivity, selfawareness, ability to control the environment, etc. |
| B. TIMING | |
| 1. Long Cycle
Formal education programs are rarely less than one year in length and usually last for much longer periods often ten years or more. One level of study leads immediately on to the next. |
1. Short Cycle
Non-formal education programs are quite short, rarely longer than two years and often much shorter than this. Length will depend on the period required to achieve the learning objectives in question. |
| 2. Preparatory
Formal education is child-centered and futureoriented and provides the basis for future participation in society and economy. |
2. Recurrent
Non-formal education may relate to children or adults, depending on the immediate learning needs arising from the individual's roles and stage in life. |
| 3. Full-Time
Formal education takes place full-time and does not permit other parallel activities, especially productive work. |
3. Part-Time
Non-formal education is part-time and activities may be timed in a variety of ways to meet the needs and convenience of learners. |
| C. CONTENT | |
| 1. Input-Centered and Standardized
The basis of the curriculum for formal education is a welldefined package of cognitive knowledge with limited emphasis on psycho-motor or affective consideration. The content is standardized across large groups of learners. |
1. Output-Centered and Individualized
Non-formal education is task- or skillcentered and designed to produce quite specific changes in the learners. Units are discrete and variable and may be related to the precise functional learning needs of individual participants or small homogeneous groups. |
| 2. Academic
The curriculum is founded in theory and isolated from the environmental and social action. |
2. Practical
The curriculum is dictated by the particular uses to which the learning will be put and consequently is closely related to environment of the learners. |
| 3. Clientele determined by Entry Requirements
Clientele are defined in terms of their ability to cope with the level of education being offered. Literacy is essential (except at the lowest level) and successful completion of lower levels is required for admission to higher levels. |
3. Entry Requirements determined by Clientele
Non-formal education is geared to the needs and interests of the potential clientele. Specific characteristics such as literacy or formal educational qualifications are not essential for admission. |
| D. DELIVERY SYSTEM | |
| 1. Institution-based Formal education takes place in highly visible and expensive institutions called "schools," whose sole purpose is educational. | 1. Environment-based
Non-formal education takes place in a variety of settings but emphasis is given to locales such as the work place or home which are not education-specific. Such specific facilities as are used are minimal and low cost. |
| 2. Isolated Formal education programs are isolated from the socio-economic environment and from social action. Learners are removed from their own environments for substantial periods. | 2. Community-related
Non-formal education is conducted close to where learners live and work and the environment is functionally related to the learning which takes place. |
| 3. Rigidly structured
Formal education is rigidly structured around the parameters of time and the participants' age and/or performance. It involves uniform entry points, is graded into uniform units, is sequential and continuous. Clear inter-relationships exist between different programs. |
3. Flexibly structured
Non-formal education programs have varying degrees and types of structure, but a variety of relationships and sequences is possible within them. Programs are discrete and few relationships exist between them. |
| 4. Teacher-centered
Formal education involves a laborintensive technology and emphasize teaching rather than learning. Authority and control is vested in formally qualified and certified members of a teaching profession. |
4. Learner-centered
Non-formal education uses a variety of resources and technologies. Emphasis is on learning rather than teaching and a variety of personnel (often not professional educators) are utilized as facilitators rather than teachers. |
| 5. Resource-intensive
Formal education utilizes expensive plant and staff, involves a high opportunity-cost of student time and largely draws its resources from outside the immediate surrounding community. |
5. Resource-saving
Non-formal education economizes on resources by utilizing community facilities and personnel (especially at slack times) where possible, by keeping specific facilities low-cost and by part-time study. |
| E. CONTROL | |
| 1. Externally controlled
Curricula and standards are externally determined and publicly controlled or supervised by national bureaucracies. |
1. Self-governing
Control is uncoordinated, fragmented and diffuse, involving a variety of agencies, often nongovernmental. There is substantial autonomy at program and local levels, with an emphasis on local initiative, self-help and innovation. |
| 2. Hierarchical
Internal control is highly structured and based on role-defined relations among teachers and between teachers and learners. |
2. Democratic
Substantial control is vested in participants and the local community. |
Adapted from Tim Simkins, NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Monchecter Monographs, 1976, pp. 12-13.
PARTICIPATIVE & DIRECTIVE TRAINING STYLES
| The Participative Trainer | The Directive Trainer |
| 1. Involves the trainee in creation or revision of program objectives, and/or the identification of individual learning needs and objectives; strives to keep objectives related to where trainee is and wants to go. | 1. Defines objectives for trainee achievement at the beginning of the program; holds to these throughout to maintain consistency and coherence. |
| 2. Assists trainees in identifying possible learning activities and in effectively structuring such activities. | 2. Decides what learning activities are most appropriate and expects trainees to follow this structure. |
| 3. Expects the trainee to learn by exploration and discovery, asking questions, making use of available resources and solving problems. | 3. Expects the trainee to learn primarily by absorbing material through lectures, readings, etc., by memorization or practice and by responding to trainer questions. |
| 4. Involves the trainees in decision-making; invites ideas, suggestions and criticism from the trainees. | 4. Makes the decisions or carries out decisions made by the staff; does not invite suggestions or criticism from the trainees. |
| 5. Structures the training so that unplanned and unexpected problems will be treated as learning opportunities. | 5. Follows the schedule closely; avoids problems or dispenses with them quickly so they will not interfere with the planned sequence or schedule. |
| 6. Promotes cooperative work among trainees and climate of openness, trust and concern for others. | 6. Promotes individual learning effort, accountability and competition among trainees. |
| 7. Promotes self-assessment by trainees and provides feedback of information needed by trainees to evaluate their own progress. | 7. Personally assesses trainee performance and progress, usually through formal tests. |
| 8. Involves the trainees in midcourse or final evaluation of training program, process, materials and its progress toward objectives and elicits suggestions. | 8. Does own mid-course or final evaluation of training program and its effectiveness; draws own conclusions about needed revisions. |
Session 4. Appropriate Educational and Learning Processes Part 2: Adult Learning Theory and How It is Used in This Training Program[edit | edit source]
| Total time: | 2 hours |
| Objectives: | * To examine different ways that people learn
|
| Resources: | * Attachment I-412-A, "Learning Style Inventory"
|
| Materials: | Newsprint and felt-tip pens |
Procedures:
Step 1. (5 minutes)
Begin the session by reviewing the objectives and providing a brief overview of the procedures.
Step 2. (10 minutes)
Distribute Attachment I4/2-A, "Learning Style Inventory," and have participants complete it.
| Trainer Notes
Explain that the purpose of the inventory activity is to help participants understand and examine ways in which people learn best. Ask participants not to read the section on scoring until the inventory has been completed. |
Step 3. (10 minutes)
Explain the scoring procedure and have participants calculate their scores.
| Trainer Notes
Your explanation of the scoring procedures should include a definition of the terms used in the inventory (abstract conceptualization, active experimentation, etc.), and should provide some examples of the meaning of each of the four abbreviations (CE, RO, AC, AK) presented. |
Step 4. (10 minutes)
Briefly discuss the group's scores.
| Trainer Notes
In order to stimulate discussion, ask if anyone was surprised by his/her scores. Ask for reactions to the inventory. |
Step 5. (10 minutes)
Distribute the handout, "Introduction to Adult Learning Theory," and give the participants time to read it.
Step 6. (10 minutes)
Facilitate a discussion of the basic concepts mentioned in the handout by asking how those concepts relate to the four learning styles in the inventory.
| Trainer Notes
This discussion should focus on some common characteristics of:
A brief talk on these concepts may be included here. Recommended resources include: Ingalls, A Trainer's Guide to Andragogy, pp. 1-12, and Srinivasan, Lyra, Perspectives on Adult Non-Formal Learning, pp. 1-23. |
Step 7. (20 minutes)
Distribute the De Vries article and have participants read it.
| Trainer Notes
As they read the article, ask participants to keep in mind how the experiential learning approach may be useful in their community work as Peace Corps volunteers. |
Step 8. (20 minutes)
After the article has been read, ask participants to:
- Choose one of the objections at the end of the article
- Join a group which has selected the same objection
- Develop a group response to the objection
- Write three key elements on newsprint and post so that all may see it.
| Trainer Notes
Point out four corners of the room -- two for trainees choosing objection #1 and two for trainees choosing objection #2. |
Step 9. (15 minutes)
Encourage a discussion by asking that a volunteer from each group review and explain the responses developed.
| Trainer Notes
Ask for comments concerning any generalizations in order to see how the training methods used here may be applied in the field. |
Step 10. (10 minutes)
Conclude the session by reviewing the experiential learning model and explaining that it is the basic model to be used throughout this program.
| Trainer Notes
As an example, you should post on newsprint a graphic representation of the parallels among the major components of the experiential learning model and the activities carried out in this session. The following diagram illustrates: |
LEARNING STYLE INVENTORY
This inventory is designed to assess your method of learning. As you take the inventory, give a high rank to those words which best characterize the way you learn and a low rank to the words which are least characteristic of your learning style.
You may find it hard to choose the words that best describe your learning style because there are no right or wrong answers. Different characteristics described in the inventory are equally good. The aim of the inventory is to describe how you learn, not to evaluate your learning ability.
Instructions
There are nine sets of four words listed below. Rank order each set of four words assigning a 4 to the word which best characterizes your learning style, a 3 to the word which next best characterizes your learning style, a 2 to the next most characteristic word and a to the word which is least characteristic of you as a learner. Be sure to assign a different rank number to each of the four words in each set. Do not make ties.
| 1.___ discriminating | ____tentative | ____involved | ____practical |
| 2.___receptive | ____relevant | ____analytical | ____impartial |
| 3.___feeling | ____watching | ____thinking | ____doing |
| 4.___accepting | ____risk-taker | ____evaluative | ____aware |
| 5.___intuitive | ____productive | ____logical | ____questioning |
| 6.___ abstract | ____observing | ____concrete | ____active |
| 7.___present-oriented | ____reflecting | ____future-oriented | ____pragmatic |
| 8.___experience | ____observation | ____conceptual-ization | ____experimentation |
| 9.___intense | ____reserved | ____rational | ____responsible |
FOR SCORING ONLY
| CE______ | RO______ | AC______ | AE______ |
| 234578 | 136789 | 234589 | 136789 |
Scoring the Learning Style Inventory
To obtain your score on the four dimensions measured by the inventory, Concrete Experience (CE), Reflective Observation (RO). Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE), sum each column including only those words whose item number appears under the place for the total score. For example, for CE, total the ranks you have given for words 2,3,4,5,7 and 8 in the first column. Ignore the nonscored words in each column.
INTRODUCTION TO ADULT LEARNING THEORY
For most of us, the first associations we have to the word "learning" are teacher, classroom and textbook. These associations belie some implicit assumptions that we tend to make about the nature of the learning process. Our years in school have trained us to think that the primary responsibility for learning lies with the teacher. His training and experience make him the expert: we are more passive participants in the learning process. As students, our job is to observe, read and memorize what the teacher assigns and then to repeat "what we have learned" in examinations. The teacher has the responsibility of evaluating our performance and telling us what we should learn next. He sets requirements and objectives for learning since it is often assumed that the student does not yet have the experience to know what is best for himself.
The textbook symbolizes the assumption that learning is primarily concerned with abstract ideas and concepts. Learning is the process of acquiring and remembering ideas and concepts. The more concepts remembered, the more you have learned. The relevance and application of these concepts to your own job will come later. Concepts come before experience.
The classroom symbolizes the assumption that learning is a special activity cut off from the real world and unrelated to one's life. Learning and doing are separate and antithetical activities. Many students at graduation feel, "Now I am finished with learning; I can begin living." The belief that learning occurs only in a classroom is so strong that academic credentials are assigned great importance in hiring and promotion decisions -- in spite of the fact that psychological research has had little success in establishing correlations between performance in the classroom (grades) and success in later life.
As a result of these assumptions, the concept of learning seldom seems relevant to us in our daily lives and work. And yet a moment of deeper reflection says that this cannot be so. In a world where the rate of change is increasing rapidly every year, in a time when few men will end their careers in the same jobs or even the same occupations that they started in, the ability to learn seems an important, if not the most important, skill.
The concept of problem solving, on the other hand, evokes some associations that are opposite to those of the concept of learning. We tend to think of problem solving as an active, rather than a passive, process. Although we have a word for someone who directs the learning process (teacher), we have no similar word for the problem-solving process. The responsibility for problem solving rests with the problem solver. He must experiment, take risks and come to grips with his problem. Usually no external sources of evaluation are needed. He knows when his problem is solved.
Although general principles can emerge from the solution to a specific problem, problems are usually specific rather than general, concrete rather than abstract. Problem solving is not separate from the life of the problem solver. The focus of the problem solving is on a specific problem felt to be relevant to the problem solver; it is, in fact, his involvement in the problem that makes it a problem.
EXTENSION, TRAINING AND DIALOGUE: A NEW APPROACH FOR TANZANIA
Dr. James De Vries*
Journal of Adult Education
University of Dar es Salaam
- Edited by the Training for Rural Development Staff Tanzania
Extension, Education and Development
Training and extension work with farmers is both an educational effort and a means of development and a part of that development. Before we can begin to criticize traditional training and extension techniques and advocating new ones, it is important to be clear what we mean by development and how training and extension work relate to this goal. Until recently, development was usually defined in economic terms such as changes in the Gross National Product, per capita and economic living standards. Training, and especially agricultural extension, were viewed as an economic development tool; as an investment in human capital on which a return was expected. This implied a directly functional approach to teaching and learning which was focused on "practical" skills and immediate pay-offs.
This view has changed over the past ten years due to concerns about income distribution, dependency on government and other social and political concerns. Now almost every statement about training and development mentions the importance of participation, mobilization, equality and self-determination. Since independence, the party and the Tanzanian government have defined development as liberation. Development is:
A permanent revolution for the total liberation of the people of Tanzania and Africa from all forms and mani festations of domination, exploitation, oppression, humiliation, weakness, racism, poverty, ignorance, di sease and misery (Daily News, 1975)
For development has a purpose: that purpose is the liberation of man. It is true that in the Third World we talk a great deal about economic development -- but the goods are needed to serve man; services are required to make the lives of men more easeful as well as more fruitful. Political, social and economic organization is needed to enlarge the freedom and dignity of men; always we come back to man -- to liberated man -- as the purpose of the development activity. (Nyerere, 1976)
Development is thus more than a change in material welfare, farming practices or yield per hectare or return per man-day of labor. Development involves changing people, changing their consciousness or awareness and helping them to become "beings for themselves" -- making their own political, cultural and economic decisions. "The expansion of (man's) own consciousness, and therefore power over himself, his environment and his society, must therefore ultimately be what we mean by development." (Nyerere, 1976)
Education is thus both an end and a means of development. Development which depends on the actions of men requires a change in their consciousness, so that they are the determinant of their own actions. Farmers follow a given practice not because of traditionalism, but because they see it as the best method in the face of their own particular situation. To change these practices either demands force or a change in awareness which convinces them that a different form of action better meets their needs.
Raising the farmers' awareness is the role of both training and extension work. "Adult education has to be directed at helping men and women to develop themselves -- to think clearly -- to examine possible alternative courses of action; to make a choice between those alternatives in keeping with their own purposes; and to equip them with the ability to translate their decisions into reality." (Nyerere, 1976) The "developed" farmer is not the one who is "progressive" or follows the recommended practices (although he or she may do this); rather the developed farmer is the one who is critically aware of his or her situation and acts on it in accordance with this awareness.
The Traditional Approach
Education and extension in Tanzania and other developing countries have received a great deal of criticism. While in part this is unfair because of unrealistic expectations and a failure to see training and extension in the context of other factors influencing development work, much of the criticism is deserved. Part of the blame can be put on the traditional training and extension approaches used in the villages and elsewhere. This approach has variously been called the banking, empty cup, directive or top-down approach. Its essence is that the trainer or extension worker is the expert who knows (full cup) and tries to give (deposit as in the bank) this knowledge to the farmer or villager (empty cup) whose role is to passively receive and acknowledge what was received from the expert.
The assumption underlying this relationship is that the trainer or agent knows what is good for the farmer or village. Thus, the relationship is vertical and assumes a one-way flow of information from the top down. The farmer or villager is seen as ignorant, lacking knowledge, traditional and resistant to change. This means he or she is helpless and must be helped to develop, almost in spite of themselves. The farmer or villager is the passive learner, while the trainer or extension agent is the active educator.
In practice what this boils down to is that the trainer or agent, whether at a meeting, demonstration program or training session, is always in the position of telling villagers what to do. He tries to provide them with solutions to their problems much in the same manner a doctor provides prescriptions to medical problems. In a village one may find a list of the "ten commandments" of good farming posted. In a meeting one will hear the Katibu Kata exhort farmers to weed properly and the Bwan Shamba telling them that eight sprayings of insecticide are necessary to produce good cotton. Farmers rarely raise objections, because they know that such objections are not welcome and often accept the role of the ignorant, passive listener because they are continually told they are. They therefore exist in an oppressive environment over which they exercise little control. If they do object, they are quickly silenced by references to "watealamu" research and "modern methods" (meaning they are ignorant and traditionalistic) or they need to work (meaning they are lazy). Rather than objecting openly and thus offering to educate the trainers or extension workers and be educated in return, most farmers remain silent. They go home and fail to put into practice what was suggested, even when they may have agreed to do so in the meeting.
The failure of farmers to follow the expert's advice is discouraging to the expert and reinforces the feeling that farmers irrationally resist change. As a result, educators and extension workers tend to work with those few who seem more open to their suggestions -- the "progressive" farmers -- and to advocate the use of pressure to force farmers to use recommended practices for their own good. As one RADO told me, "A farmer who refuses to follow recommended practices is like a sick man: you have to force him to eat and he will thank you for it when he becomes better."
Failure of the Top Down Approach
Unfortunately the farmer often does not become "better" in the sense that he or she obtains a significant benefit from the forced practice. This reveals one of the fallacies underlying the traditional approach: the assumption that all recommended practices are good and that the experts are always right. Experience and research in Tanzania have shown that many practices either recommended to the farmers or forced on them did not benefit the farmers and their rejection of them was quite rational.
Some recent examples are:
- The use of fertilizer on maize in the lower altitude areas of Morogoro, Tanga and Iringa Region.
- Growing maize and many other crops in monoculture.
- Early planting and close spacing of cotton.
- Production of cotton in many areas of the "Eastern Zone."
Thus, while many recommendations are good, experience has shown that when evaluated from the farmer's perspective, many do not solve the farmer's most pressing needs and are, therefore, unacceptable.
This brings up the second fallacy of the top-down approach: the assumption that farmers and villagers are ignorant. It is true that many of them have little formal education and are illiterate. It is not true that they have learned nothing and know nothing. (It is unfortunate that in Swahili, the same word, ujinga, can be used for both illiterate and ignorant, because the two cannot be equated.) Farmers, through experience and the informal sharing of ideas, have developed a wealth of knowledge about agricultural production and survival in an often harsh environment. They also have a better understanding of their problems, needs, priorities, resources, values, attitudes, local culture, etc. Educators and extension agents tend to be outsiders and members of a different socio-economic class.
Thus, both the extension agent OF trainer and the farmer or villager have some knowledge necessary to bring about changes in practices. The scientific knowledge of the researcher needs to be complimented by the more natural knowledge of the farmer to bring about a critical understanding of the problem and the basis for action.
The third major fallacy of the top-down approach is the assumption that knowledge can be given or extended by the trainer and extension agent. Knowledge cannot be poured into the adult learner like tea into a cup. Informed action develops in learners as a result of interaction with information, the situation and fellow human beings. Learning is not an activity of the trainer, but of the learner, and involves a change from one way of understanding or doing something to another. Adults in particular have developed attitudes and ways of doing things. Learning often involves the rejection of existing ideas and acceptance of new ones.
This leads to the importance of understanding the farmer's present knowledge and understanding and these must form the foundation of any new learning. Only an active interaction with ideas and other people can result in the learner really understanding new ideas and making them his or her own, instead of them merely being someone else's ideas.
Finally, another major criticism of the top-down approach, particularly important in the Tanzanian context, is that it builds a dependency relationship between experts (often seen as representing government) and farmers and villagers. It means presenting the farmers with solutions to their problems, defined in the first place by the experts, instead of analyzing their problems with them, in order to fully understand them, and coming to a solution cooperatively. The traditional approach makes the farmer feel dependent on the continued advice of the trainer or extension agent, as it fails to teach him how to analyze and solve problems on his own. While the government and the party have accepted liberation as the major goal of development, the top-down approach to adult education and extension work encourages dependency and passivity.
Instead of seeing men and women as the end of development, it treats them as a means, tools to be manipulated as efficiently as possible in order to achieve the goals of those in power. In the face of the above, it seems fair to conclude that the present, prevailing approaches to adult education and extension work are not only ineffective but actually are detrimental to the development of Tanzanian farmers and villagers.
The Dialogue Approach
The dialogue approach, illustrated in Table 1, is the opposite of the traditional, top-down approach. Its essence is the horizontal sharing of ideas between trainers/learners, learners/ trainers in a process of reflecting and acting on the world in order to understand it and control it better. It is based on faith in people, in his or her ability in cooperation with others, to be able to understand self and situation, and to act on it and change it.
The dialogue approach assumes that both the trainer or extension agent and the student or farmer know something about the subject of interest, especially if the goal is for the learner to apply what is to be learned. Although one may have more general or abstract knowledge and the other may have more informal and specific knowledge, this difference does not make one or the other superior in the situation. It is the shared knowledge both have in the situation which is superior. Within the constraints of each party's environment, each can learn and change as a result of interacting with each other.
While all farmers have some knowledge, they are not always aware of this knowledge. In fact, because they are constantly told that they are backward, lazy, ignorant and thereby made to accept that they are "hopeless," they often feel that they know nothing. When farmers can be drawn out in dialogue as a group, they are often surprised at how much they already know, collectively, about a wide range of production or development problems. It is important, in the beginning, to draw out what the farmers or villagers already know to be able to build on it. As Mwalimu Nyerere points out, by drawing out what the farmers know (which can only be done through dialogue) and showing the relevance of what is known to what is being learned, the trainer achieves three things:
He has built up the self-confidence of the man who wants to learn, by showing him that he is capable of contributing. He has demonstrated the relevance of experience and observation as a method of learning to be combined with thought and analysis. He has shown what I call the maturity" of learning -that is, by sharing our knowledge, we extend the totality of our understanding and our control over our own lives.
The trainer's role in dialogue is not to present knowledge to the learner but to lead the learner to an examination of problems --to ask the learner to critically reflect and act on problems (problem-posing). Knowledge or learning grow out of this reflection-action cycle. The farmer will never learn the benefit of a practice and the problems associated with it until he has actually tried it and then thought about his experience critically.
| Traditional Approach | Dialogue Approach |
| 1. Educators teach and farmers are taught. | 1. Educators and farmers are both involved in learning. |
| 2. Experts know everything and the farmers know nothing. | 2. Both have knowledge to contribute to joint learning. |
| 3. Educators possess the authority of knowledge and have a monopoly on it --which they perpetuate. | 3. Knowledge is the property of everyone. No one can or should monopolize it. |
| 4. Educators/experts think and farmers are thought about. | 4. Farmers are encouraged to think on their own. |
| 5. Educators/experts are active and farmers are passive during learning. | 5. Both educators and farmers are active during learning. |
Table 1
Neither will the trainer or extension agent know the value of his ideas until he has shared them with the learner and tested them out against the farmer's perceptions and experience. Dialogue thus requires both action and reflection, experience and thought. Without action, teaching is merely verbalism and amounts to exhorting the farmers to do this or that without showing them how to do it and thus has limited impact on their farming practices. Without reflection, extension work can become mindless activism in which farmers are forced to follow certain practices without understanding them and without the farmers themselves being developed.
Is Dialogue Feasible ?
Let us examine two objections to the use of the dialogue approach often made by extension agents, educators and government officials.
- The first is that it is impossible to dialogue with farmers or villagers because they know little or nothing about modern agriculture or how to make a village cooperative work.
- The second objection is that it is too slow and expensive, that our problems need urgent solutions and therefore cannot wait for a long process of dialogue to take place.
