The philosophy of Seliba Sa Boithuto
Seliba Sa Boithuto believes that learning is best achieved if people are responsible for their own learning,
so that the learners decide themselves on what, when and how to study.
SSB also deems cooperation to be better than competition. Therefore, it encourages learners to study
together (peer learning).
As long as SSB provides learning materials and tutors, who can support the learners when they need help,
self-motivated learning will lead to empowering education. Thus the learners will be better prepared to
face the unscheduled challenges, which will occur in life.
If SSB learners are responsible for their own studies, they should also be responsible for the Society,
which helps them in this effort. Accordingly it must be a democratic organisation, where all members have
a say in the running of the Society and have access to all financial records.
The philosophy of Seliba Sa Boithuto has been inspired by many sources, which all had a critical look at
the existing schooling system. Two of these sources are quoted below: John Holt and Paulo Freire. Paulo
Freire's ideas have also been elaborated by Anne Hope and Sally Timmel in the Community Workers Handbook.
Why does schooling not lead to learning?
John Holt, 1964 says in his foreword to "Why Children Fail" on page 9: |
What are schools?
It seems the expectations of the society about the schooling are confused and so create a barrier to
effective learning.
The schooling system as we know it now has the following characteristics:
- Young people are gathered together in age groups.
- They are expected to learn the same material to approximately the same level of competence during the same time.
- The materials (syllabus) have been developed not even by their own teachers, but by external bodies (often far removed from the actual learning situations).
- The final competence reached is checked not even by their own teachers, but by external bodies.
How did such a system come into existence?
This system was developed in the Western World in the 19th century at the same time that due to the
industrial revolution the employers needed obedient, but skilled workers. Before the industrial revolution
the more affluent members of the society could afford private education, while the workers learned their
skills in the workplace through experience guided by their 'masters' (supported by the professional guilds).
Work during the industrial revolution became more complex and required skills such as numeracy and literacy.
The workplaces grew larger and more impersonal, and the employers expected the state to do the training
for them, before the children were ready to enter the job market. Many employers, therefore, contributed
generously to the establishment of schools.
Compulsory schooling may have reduced the occurrence of child labour, but it also guaranteed a sufficiently
large pool of skilled people to fill the factories.
Yet the employers not only wanted skilled workers, they also needed people who would fit into the workplace,
which was (and often still is) very autocratic. Therefore, the schools also had to instill discipline,
pupils should not query the authorities and obedience was a virtue. For example, at school insubordination
is often considered a worse crime than not learning.
From Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paolo FreireEducation (Schooling) mirrors oppressive society as a whole:
|
Adapted from: Community Workers' Handbook 1, by Anne Hope and Sally Timmel (page 8/9):
KEY PRINCIPLES OF PAOLO FREIRE:
a. no education is ever neutral |
Summary
Banking Approach | Problem-Posing Approach |
---|---|
Teacher is seen as possessing all essential knowledge | Animators provide framework for thinking |
Pupils are seen as "empty vessels" needing to be filled with knowledge | Creative active participants consider a common problem and find solutions |
Teachers talks | Animator raises questions: why, how, who? |
Pupils absorb passively | Participants are active, describing, analyzing, suggesting, deciding and planning |
Seliba Sa Boithuto attempts to further liberating and problem posing education as opposed to schooling. Therefore, the motto is:
Learners decide what, when
and how to learn, and determine themselves when they have learned enough. |
This is reflected in the constitution of Seliba Sa Boithuto, in the SSB Pamphlet and in the guidelines for the tutors.
You can read a description of a teaching experience in Ghana by the initiator of SSB, which shows that it is possible
to have pupils decide what to learn.