CATALYSTS "THE CHANGE LEADERS"

PRIORITIES SHIFT
ALI AL SHAHRANI
In this article, I am going to discuss the
differentiated instructions and the challenges
teachers may confront in the classroom when
they try to apply it.
At first, let me explain the difference between
Curriculum-Centred and Learner-Centred
classrooms. In Curriculum-centred classroom
teachers teach the curriculum in the same
way to all students despite their learning
styles, interests and prior knowledge.
Learner-Centred classroom at the other hand
is quite the opposite, teachers concentrate on
the students’ background knowledge and
build on it by engaging the students in
activities that are interesting to them based
on their learning styles. Also, it means that
different types of strategies should be used to
give the students many chances to learn. That
requires the teacher to know more about his
students’ identities (e.g. cultures, minds,
interests) in order to support their learning
and achieve the curriculum goals.
I attended a math class in one of my schools’
visits two weeks ago, and I noticed how the
math teacher follows their students minds
and their interests.
He was teaching them by using what they like
(e.g. YouTube, posters, online assignments)
and they were excited about it. I saw what
does it mean to put the students in the centre.
In fact, back home, we have some challenges
when we want to place the students in the
centre such as the number of students in the
class and the big differences between the
students’ levels. But when we allow them to
learn by the way they like of course they will
help us to help them. Another challenge is
that some of the administrations put pressure
on the teachers to finish the curriculum
according to a fixed plan and to “stick to the
schedule” whether the students learned or
not.
My hope is for the Saudi education system to
give the teachers more freedom to use many
resources and design their own curriculum
plan that is suitable for their students. It may
take some time, but hopefully gradually we
reach that level where the students learning is
the ultimate goal.