SAIIER 2020:The Learning Community (TLC)

SAIIER 2019-20

Educational research is at the core of our work in TLC, as we strive to find ways to implement Integral Education. Each year, different areas have been given more focus, and in this way the methodology and curriculum have evolved over the years. Everything we do is research oriented, and innovative. A philosophy of education with so much depth, as described by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, will require a long and conscious journey.

The “L” of TLC:

Learning is an intensely personal affair; it is an inner dialogue that one has with life. Through the varied dynamics of this dialogue, one grows as a human being through life long explorations, discoveries and understandings. The process of learning is of equal importance as the product. We aim at integrality and cannot involve only one part or function of our being.

At TLC we aim to keep alive the deeper potential of the individual, and prepare him/her as integrally as possible for the future. This way each can grow into a balanced and harmonious being, who can contribute to the making of a reflective and integral society. We wish for each individual to come to an understanding of the true purpose and significance of human life, both children and adults. This purpose serves as a lasting source of inspiration that carries us at every stage of our lives.

The “C” of TLC:

TLC is not a school but a Learning Community because everybody is a lifelong learner, children and adults alike. No one is imparting knowledge to another, but learning happens everywhere and is a continuous process that emerges through interaction, and results in mutual transformation. This goes beyond the boundaries of the classroom and includes the home and larger community. Everyday life and every moment is the best school of all: varied, complex, full of unexpected experiences, problems to be solved, clear and striking examples and obvious consequences. Besides being an ideal platform for learning, the collective at TLC has intrinsic value in and of itself. We recognize the interdependence of all human beings and hold dear the principles of unity in diversity, of harmony, solidarity and care. This is reflected in the way we behave with each other, in how we make decisions, face their consequences and set priorities.

Activities and outcomes of the year:

In TLC we have chosen to implement the three principles of education as envisioned by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, through a process where the self becomes the leader of one’s life and growth. This process aims for the child to develop the skills and qualities needed to later in the teens be able to move fully into a free progress methodology, develop a love and motivation to learn, setting the foundations for an unending education that will follow the individual throughout life.

We aim to offer a mixed-age learning environment that is warm, welcoming and rich, where children are not compared with one another and children of all ages work together to form a part of the same learning environment. Several of our main facilitators have taken on the role of mentors for a group of children, entering into a journey together with the children, by getting to know every child in their group on a deeper level, and aiming to work with the same children over several years – to be able to observe tendencies, patterns, interests, rhythms and developmental changes. Through the mentoring we wish to develop a holistic and integral understanding of the child, and to trust in their own development and learning processes.

Supporting the children to become independent learners:

In TLC we aim to be aware of the fact that each child is different, with his/her own strengths and challenges, and each needs to develop the ability to make choices on a deeper level, becoming aware of inner capacities. Without a set plan we are more open to really meet the child in the moment. This way we move from teaching subject matter towards focusing on the development of faculties, skills and qualities.

What we observe more and more each year, especially with the older children who have been working like this for many years, is that once a child passes a certain threshold, learning is no longer dependent on outer motivation. We see that both the child and the facilitator attain the capacity to assess individual needs and access creativity to find strategies to meet these needs.

We observe the challenges of truly implementing the principle that nothing can be taught, but it is through this principle that we see that the child can be empowered and encouraged to open up to the qualities needed for this shift in education. To learn to persevere, to be courageous, to collaborate with others, to listen to inner needs, to observe individual patterns and to reflect on these. It also takes skills of planning, organization, self-direction, self-control and cooperation. This is independence. We see that these qualities and skills take time to develop, and only regularity, continuity over time, and the possibility for each child to be able to find his/her daily work cycle can make this possible. This is also a principle that parents find difficult to truly allow to unfold, through the process needed to reach there.

Giving the children uninterrupted time:

The uninterrupted 3-hour work periods in the mornings have become fundamental to our approach in TLC, as it recognizes and respects individual variations in the learning process and allows each child to follow her/his individual work cycle, and develop an inner and outer discipline. By uninterrupted time we mean a time where the child decides where breaks are needed, instead of this being decided by the facilitator or schedule. This way each child can take the time s/he needs for different activities, and lessons are given to fit into each child’s flow. Concentration or meaningful engagement in an activity is never interrupted. As facilitators, we observe the children and develop a sensitivity for when to step in with lessons and only at the time needed.

Creating a community of adults and children of different ages working together:

Our fully mixed-age environment allows the children in TLC to help and learn from each other. Younger and older children experience working together, inspiring each other. This concretely shows the children both what they will be able to work with when they have developed further skills, as well as helping them to stay connected with the things they have learned in the past, by seeing and helping younger children. This creates a natural and alive curriculum. The mixed-age environment also nurtures care, collaboration, tolerance, patience and a sense of learning together, and situations that arise create opportunities for reflection, both individual and collective, to see what to learn and how to move forward.

We have had a weekly community gathering facilitated by the children, empowering the children to a sense of equality and ownership of the processes that are alive for them. We want the space where each one is doing something different to bring acceptance of individual needs, minimizing competition, and we see the results of this very clearly.

Giving children the freedom to choose what to learn:

We see it as important to follow what is alive and of interest to each child: to follow individual interests wherever that passion leads, however quickly it leads them, and to use this as the entrance point into multidisciplinary learning. Our mentoring system as well as individual planning meetings at the beginning of each term helped each child to set up goals towards which they would work.

We also worked to provide a rich environment where the child could explore different areas at a time when an interest was alive. The materials presented become the doorway to their further explorations. For the children who had not yet acquired foundational academic skills in areas like reading, writing, and arithmetic, we organized materials for this in a systematic and levelled manner for the children to work with, and to start to understand that they need certain tools to enable them to be free to choose to learn about all the things that this world has to offer. This system worked well for most of the children.

Supporting the children through mentoring, planning and reflection:

The children were expected to plan their work daily/weekly depending on their individual maturity, and, with the support of the facilitators, we worked to develop their organization and time management skills. The facilitators supported the children in setting up goals, working towards them and reflecting on the process. Each child together with their mentor facilitated these processes. Each child made a term plan together with facilitators and parents. This plan was then worked towards week by week, guided by regular meetings between child and mentor. Reflection was also done in this loop, by looking back at set goals, and the work towards them. By mentors being present in the everyday, we felt that response to needs could be offered immediately as they arose. This planning and reflection is something that we are very actively refining and designing together with the children, and an important part of our educational research. We see reflection as an important aspect for the children to develop their sense of awareness, their consciousness.

Creating a curriculum that follows each child’s process and needs:

We formed the curricula around each child, instead of coming from expectations of parents or the needs of the facilitator to offer a certain class. Each child’s program has the aim of being tailored specifically to the child’s present needs. We see that no two children are the same, therefore the plan for each child is was much as possible made starting from the child’s own experiences, interests, challenges and needs.

By aiming to respect and understand each child’s differences, we wanted to find a natural way to progress, and as facilitators try to open up the doors to endless ways of learning. Mini lessons emerged naturally in the everyday work instead of pre-planned and pre-scheduled classes on set content, as we had for the older children the previous year.

As facilitators we tried to become participants in the learning process of each child, we wanted to invite the child to different experiences, and not to impose learning situations. We have found different ways of doing this, an example is through signups for areas of interest. We hope that over time and through deeper connection with the self, the choices the children make will be from a place of self-knowledge and real needs, rather than from caprice or shallow movements of ‘likes and dislikes’ that we observe pull the children a lot.

Highlights of the year:

Music therapy:

This year we were grateful to have the addition to our team of a professional music facilitator and therapist. We have built a ‘musical tree house’ in the forest behind the TLC campus, where sessions are facilitated in SPECCHIO RIFLESSO: music and movement activities for self-discovering and self-expression.

For individual sessions (one-on-one) the focus is on sound dialogs: one hour where the child can freely explore sounds, instruments and elements. The facilitator mainly observes and then initiates an imitation/mirroring process to start a dialog, based on sounds, with the child. In the middle of the mirroring process, she also proposes some sound/rhythmic variations and observes the reaction of the child.

For group activities (no more than 4), the children are allowed to explore the instruments and their sounds freely, and drawing from their inputs the facilitator proposes games, stories and movements.

These sessions are particularly beneficial for children with so-called ‘special needs’ or any child requiring individual attention. The activities are mainly based on the awakening and stimulation of the mirror neurons: a brain cell that reacts both when a particular action is performed and when it is only observed. They underlie imitative action and awareness and understanding of another person's act, intention or emotion.

Some researchers in cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology believe that this system provides the physiological mechanism for the perception/action coupling. Mirror neurons may be important for understanding the actions of other people, and for learning new skills by imitation. Mirror neurons are the neural basis of the human capacity for emotions such as empathy.

The main aim of this project was to give more self-confidence and awareness to children, allowing them to explore themselves through sounds and movements, so that they find a clearer way of expressing themselves. They discover, understand and change their patterns and keep their imagination and dream-world awake. The activities also lead to a better development of intuition and empathy.

The primal components of sound-perception are universal, archetypal and independent of cultural conditionings, and their comprehension can contribute towards the development of a unified global understanding and common vocabulary of human expression.

Pitchandikulam Forest explorations:

Pitchandikulam Forest is a beautiful space to just be. Nature in its abundance here, reveals so much. Once a week, on Tuesday afternoons, the group of children under 10 yrs were driven over in a van to spend 2 hrs in this magical space. There is an open structured community space where the children congregate, then branch off on their individual pursuits. The facilitators offer games and activities when required, but by and large it is preferred that the children explore on their own.

The children build actively with the natural materials they find. They follow insects, tadpoles, worms, butterflies. Draw and color. Watch the farm animals being tended to, some calves and chickens. Organise treasure hunts for their friends with amazing gifts such as shiny stones they find or wreaths woven with creepers and flowers. Plunge into the mud pool when it has rained and there is water. Make clay objects to sell with seeds as money.

One group spent many months collecting stones to smash open against rocks and discover what was within. Classifying the results in heaps of color crystal, shade and texture.

They argue, they agree, they work together, work on their own or just sit and look.

Pitchandikulam exploratory afternoons offer many opportunities to learn about self from Nature.

“Grow Your Own Food” – TLC kitchen garden:

(See separate report.)

Mandala Practice and Aurogames:

Our team was further enriched this year by a facilitator working individually with children through the medium of Mandala creation and Aurogames. With a background of 25 years in psychiatry, the first 15 years as an attendant to autistic, psychotic & schizophrenic people, and then for the following 10 years working as educator and in occupational therapy, her work has been extended and deepened through working with Auroville children through the creation of Mandalas. (See report on Mandala Practice.)

The facilitator shares:

“I have observed in Auroville that youth sometimes struggle with finding out what is the borderline between their own space and the space of others. Mandala Practices offer a safe space in which we can all explore these difficulties, with an equal footing. The being within knows how to align itself, only we need to create the right space in which It can act.
Mandalas are an ancient tool. I approach them from the view of Jung as a therapeutic path to help to integrate the different parts of ourselves, and to touch upon and manifest our inner being. Every one of us has a different comfort field, some find expression and alignment through writing, others through physical activity, others... through mandalas. The mandala can become a diary of experience, development and transformation.”

“Aurogames” are a set of games developed in Auroville. Different combinations of geometrical shapes are used to form memory games and offer the challenge to rebuild the patterns, ranging from simple to the most complex. Through these games the children can develop and increase their capacity for concentration, observation and patience. (See also report “Using Aurogames to Improve Attention”.)

“During the school year I observed the TLC children using the Aurogames with curiosity and enthusiasm. I observed an improvement in attitude, in their own capacity to focus and in their capacity to share and work in a team. The system of Aurogames is very complex and offers many learning opportunities. The fact that the games can be used in many ways, enable the kids a chance to explore and discover infinite ways to have fun, stimulating creativity and building up more synapses, increasing the development of the neuronal system.
The response of kids was very positive, there was ongoing interest, and a lot of enthusiasm to explore and discover the many possibilities offered by each game. The Aurogames system is an invaluable tool in the child’s development, offering a magic space where each can be creative, increasing imagination, curiosity, concentration and collaboration with others.”

The “Art of facilitating” project:

This project was initiated by a parent trained by Miki Kasthan in “Non-violent Global Liberation” (NGL). Much of the work in this project was inspired by this teaching.

Every week, TLC holds two 30-minute Community Gatherings where different issues are discussed and decisions made collectively. Since 2016 these gatherings have been facilitated by a team of children on a rotating and voluntary basis. During the second term of the year 2019-20 a coaching on facilitation was implemented as part of a larger project aiming to implement Nonviolent Communication (NVC) values within TLC. We called this the “Art of facilitating”.

This project holds on the premise that there is not one unique way of facilitating a group meeting but that there are as many as there are facilitators. Therefore its aim is not to teach a specific technique but rather to help each child to step out and discover his/her unique way of facilitating in order to serve the meeting’s purpose, which is both togetherness and efficiency.

From January 2020 until the closing of the school due to lockdown, the coaching on facilitation took place once a week and was divided into two parts:

A time of reflection on the last Community Gathering and of preparation of the next one together with the kids-facilitators;
Followed by a direct live coaching during the Community Gathering (CG).

The first part consisted of a reflection and feedback on the previous CG (“What are we happy about in the way we handled the facilitation on which we can build? What challenges did we face, how did we choose to answer them, how differently could we have chosen to answer them? Of which values do we want to be particularly conscious of during next CG facilitation?”) and a preparation for the next CG. Preparation includes deciding on the roles of the different children: the chair-person, the time-keeper and the note-taker; collecting all the agenda items; allocating each item a maximum time by readjusting the requested time with the day’s CG situation (number of items present, importance of topic); reorganizing the agenda items by merging some together; organizing the overall agenda items according to priorities and topics, with a ‘gratitude and mournings’ start-item and a ‘feedback’ end-item; inscribing the items on a whiteboard to make sure everybody can follow the agenda during the meeting; organizing the CG room by beautifying it (mandala, cushions, etc.); calling people 5 min before actual starting time so as to make sure to start on time.

The live coaching relies on an open contract between the adult-coach, the kids-facilitators and all the participants to the CG. The adult-coach can pause the flow of the Community Gathering at any time, either to give instant feedback on a specific action or to reflect on what is happening and help either the group or the kids-facilitator team to see the possible choices. Keeping in mind that the chairperson is the only one who can decide how to respond to what is happening, the adult-coach’s role is both to help the kids-facilitators have a better awareness of what’s happening in the room and to help him/her speak the why of their decision – that is, to be transparent in the choice of facilitation he/she makes, because sharing the reasons behind process decisions increases trust within the group.

On top of these actions, the parent-facilitator opens right before the closure of the CG, a time for instant feedback where the participants in the CG can give feedback to the kids-facilitators. This helps the kids deepen their skills and build up trust in themselves by directly witnessing how their presence impacts the world around them.

Reflections on “Art of facilitating”:

We found that the systematic implementation of an open time of ‘gratitude and mournings’ at the beginning of the CG helped to bring back more togetherness within the CG and in TLC in general.
The children were able to implement a decision that is right but not necessarily fair.
The children have a better understanding (not yet completely implemented) that the kids-facilitator's role is to hold the whole and support the group, not what they personally want. In that matter, their purpose is different to that of the rest of the participants.
One challenge was for the parent-coach to build up and maintain the trust with the kids-facilitators while at the same time being able to give not always nice feedback.
Facilitators need to track at the same time what is happening inside them, the needs of participants and the dynamics of the group as a whole. To strengthen this capacity, next year we will work with the kids-facilitators to explore alternative ways to bring togetherness in the beginning of the CG (other than the strict minute of silence).
We are working on how to bring more sweetness and kindness in time-keeping, and ameliorate the system on ‘who gets to speak’. Whereas until now questions are taken by order of hand raised, it could be useful to enable follow-up questions or questions in accordance to their priority.
We are developing strategies to deal with power differences within the group which otherwise make some people’s needs more important than others.
We aim to strengthen the kids-facilitators’ ability to separate observations from evaluations and make purely descriptive observations free of evaluations.
In general we aim that the kids can identify their feelings, free of judgments and thoughts; identify needs separate from any specific strategies; and make clear requests about what they want back from the group.

Reflections:

Documentation in TLC has become an acknowledged need. Children, facilitators and parents seek assurance that this method of education is working, and working well. Such assurance will help to build trust to enable a deepening. Therefore the day-by-day implementation of the Integral Education principles need to be better understood and evaluated.

We have recognized the need to identify milestones, flags, or shifts that bring change inside an individual. The intangible moments that parents and facilitators have witnessed in the individual learning processes we have called ‘magic moments’. Parents' doubts are mostly due to a lack of understanding of how Integral Education can be implemented and assessed. These ‘magic moments’ cannot be recorded through any formal or known means of assessment, and are therefore hard to share.

We will be focusing more on how we can assess learning and growth based on the three principles of education as envisioned by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. We would like to create a culture of ongoing active research as a part of our work with the children, trying to implement Integral Education in TLC.

TLC during lockdown:

Since the official lockdown was declared in India from mid-March, TLC has not been meeting in Base Camp or in our other community learning spaces around Auroville. However, our unending learning and community spirit endure and adults and children alike have continued to engage in a variety of activities from their home-bases. We created a Whatsapp group where we offer and propose daily activities for the kids to engage in, including creative writing assignments, mathematical problems to solve, research projects, music projects, suggestions for artistic expression etc. We encouraged the children to share their work in the group, so that they can inspire each other and share their inspiration.

This was a great success, and worked really well, both for the children who have been responsive and enthusiastic, as well as for the parents – some of whom needed some extra support in taking on this new role of facilitating their children. It has been a test of the Independent Learning approach, and we can see clearly how the children have been able to focus, self-motivate, self-manage and find joy in their learning.

Future direction:

We aim to encourage a ‘less-is-more’ approach – with fewer areas of focus, in order to go deeper into the interdisciplinary projects and foster more depth, continuity and understanding of each project.

We aim to place more focus on campus development and the field of aesthetic beauty of our surroundings, developing food gardens, creating more flow between the different work spaces, and possibly working on a new construction project in Base Camp.

We also hope to explore more the area of interconnectedness, opening up to activities linking TLC to the wider community, as a continuation of our Friday afternoon “Open Spaces”.

Co-education of TLC adults has always been and will continue to be a focal point of our work. This includes deepening our familiarity with the NVC consciousness and working on communication skills; the toddler group and its work with parents; regular meetings, sharings, events to keep ourselves learning, sharing, thinking, re-considering and always changing and growing in our inner and outer states of being.