Speech International Conference Brno, may 2001

Speech International Conference Brno, may 2001.

"Dalton principles in a new context"

As all here present know the principles freedom, selfreliance and coöperation are the three main principles of Daltoneducation.

These principles have become self evident, than who would not want raising a child to handle freedom, to work independently on a subject matter and to coöperate with others.
It is therefore relevant how and in what way daily practice at school realises these principles. In advance I want to formulate the following thesis:

"The principles freedom, selfreliance and coöperation need a profound restyling."

The realisation in practice of the principles in today's Daltonschools, is a faint reflection of what Helen Parkhurst had in mind and what she practiced in here first school in Dalton and later on in the Daltonschool in New-York.

The following part of my speech I will use next index:

I will discribe the school of Helen Parkhurst.
I will give my vision about the school of the future.
To be realistic: what can we do on this moment in our practical situation?
I will give you my conclusion, but it is better to make your own conclusions.

In education on the Daltonplan that was published in 1922 Helen Parkhurst describes the pedagogical principles of education.
Those are three educational psychological starting points.
1. Pupils must as much as possible make choices themselves in substance and organisational way too.
  School give the framework, than the pupil fills in based on its own interest and preference. Motivation is the spill. Whitin this frame work it is remarkable that actual learningpsychology also makes a strong point of this.
  A man like Dr. P.R.J. Simons stress on that when pupils get responsibility for their own learning, that the results become better. In other words: to give the right responsibility to children (not too much not too little) a child is motivated the best, and that again gives the best results.
  Differentiation in learningattitude could be far more effective than differentiation in learning material. You understand that in context of the main principles of Dalton, I change the term freedom into the term responsibility. That means two things:
  1. it is necessary to give children responsibility,
  2. it is also necessary to make them responsible.
2. Learning is always a social activity. Learning exists always in coöperation between pupils, and between pupils and teachers.
  This coöperative learning is really a stepchild in the total of West European education. There has been done hardly any scientific research. ( In the U.S.A. there is a lot of scientific research done) Helen Parkhurst used systematicly b.e. tutor teaching at her first school in Dalton.
3. The third educational psychological principle: pupils must work out independently as much as possible the subject matter. The own planning is essential for the learning and the progress in the learning proces.
  
  The question of teachers is always: "How to do this in practice? Theory is nice, but we deal with the practice."
  Teachers always want to hear today what they could use yesterday.
  
  Here is a short description of Helen Parkhurst practical education of the school in Dalton and later on the Daltonschool in New York.
  1. The pupils were divided in social groups where eldery pupils and younger pupils work together. These social groups were accompanied by a special teacher.
  2. Besides there were technical professional teachers with their own classrooms.
  3. The demanded subjectmatter was drawn up a year.
    All learning targets with trainingmaterial were fixed. After that the subject matter was divided into a certain amount a month. So the planning of the month was 1 / 10 of the planning of the year. The total was registrated clearly. Based upon the subject matter of f.i. group 1 to 5 consists of fifty school months. Sometimes there was a week planning, which was selected by dividing the monthly planning into four weeks.
  4. In the morning pupils chose the subject and the correct classroom. The material they needed, the pupils could fetch themselves. It was also allowed to change the classroom. Pupils decided that themselves.
    Fellow pupils were very important in the learning proces. Tests were done (when the pupil was ready for it) after consultation of the teacher. The pupils registrated their own progress by graphics.
  5. The result was that some pupils were going slower or faster than another pupils. To an "easy" subject the pupil could take less time and he or she had more time available for a "difficult" subject. A pupil could finish for instance the subject matter of two years in one schoolyear. It took another pupil one and a half schoolyear to do the work of one schoolyear. To repeat a year or skipping a class was absolutly not necessarly anymore.
  6. Non gifted children got extra attention or remedial subject matter. A more gifted pupil could chose other activities or subject matters (also outside the regular school currucilum).
  7. There was always at the end of every morning an evaluation with the special teacher of the group.
  8. The afternoons were mainly to work upon subjects in which the social process was central (music, gymnastics, handcraft).
  Helen Parkhurst had delt very concretly the problems of system demotivation of the year groupsystem. The basic of system demotivation has two sides. It counts for the less gifted pupil but also for the more gifted pupil. The less gifted pupil becomes regulary bad marks. That gives him less motivation, the effort is not rewarded. The results are declining more.
  The more gifted pupils are often forced to work under their level because the teacher centered learning processes are often focused on "taking along" the average student. The explanation of the subject matter is mostly focused on pupils who don't understand the subject matter.
  How about f.i. the question I hear regulary in classrooms: "Who has anything to ask yet?"
  Or this one: "Who doesn't understand it yet?"
  And the teacher starts all over again to explain from the beginning. The more gifted pupils are boring themselves. Their motivation and results are decreasing.
  These negative effects were no problem on the school of Helen Parkhurst.
My school of the future.
My school of the future is not a school of the future but it is a school which really exists.
This school is in Alameda Californië. I try to describe this school.
1. History.
  It is a project of the education board of the district Alameda in coöperation whith the organisation advising consultancy office of Arthur Anderson, one of America's biggest organisation and consultancy offices.
  The education programm is made by advisers of this office. They interfeared years ago in a discussion about the debasing of education in the U.S.A. The same issues as we have here in Europe. Pupils must learn more on a independant way without the constant help of teachers. There must be less classteaching lessons. Pupils must learn to work in a coöperative way. Society needs this kind of people.
  For five years the office of Arthur Anderson has worked upon this programm, in close contact with all participants.
  In 1996 the school was founded. To me it seems a "super Daltonschool".
2. Organisation.
  Pupils are divided in social groups from 12-18 years.
  The teachers, not called teachers but "facilitators", only will offer their help when they are asked to do so. A few times a week every subject has seminars in separated classrooms. The desks of the facilitators are spread in the hall and the facilitators walk around frequently, so they can be reached easily. They play the right role, they have knowledge of a subject matter, they are not policeofficers anymore.
  The main time of the day pupils spent in a big hall where they work It is also possible to use silence rooms.
  Tutor teaching is used to the extreme.
  The eldery pupil helps the younger pupil. The idea behind this is, you can explain something very well when you just experienced the learning process yourself.
  Do notice! Pupils are trained to work on this way.
3. The equipment.
  The school is very well equiped. Arthur Anderson has sponsored the school by 11/2 million dollars, to equip the building. For instance a fantastic collection of computers, soft-ware and of course internet connection. There is a real television studio too. There are flexible rooms, but no dusty class rooms, no incovenient wooden tables or chairs. The total is furnished like a big "office garden."
4. The rules.
  The pupils made their own lawbook. If a pupil does not keep the rules, he or she is sanctioned by the pupils themselves.
5. The demands of examination.
  The school is absolutly not without engagement. The school must come up to the requirements as the state legally demands on the subject matter. This is no problem.
  Pupils and teachers coöperate as equal but the final judgement is to the teacher.
  Finally: these are pupils who can handle responsibility, who can handle technics, who can communicate with each other, who can work together. But maybe the most important thing is, they all like going to school.
  Education can be nice!
This is the future. This is a fully broken year groupsystem.
The question is what can be realised within todays system? How can I give pupils the right responsibility. How can I learn pupils to coöperate with each other?

To be concrete: I would like to make deals in the school.
1. We work with assignments including the total subject matter.
  On the assignmentpaper is written down exactly what must be done within a certain period. To one pupil this can be a weekassignment, to another a dayassignment. In this way we try to differentiate in learningattitude. In the assignment is also written down when the classical instructions on this specific matter take place. Pupils can decide themselves to attend or not to do so. Also there is a skedule of the tests.
2. We make studygroups. ( 2, 3, or 4 pupils) They have to work together.
3. To combine all this with the principle of delayed attention. During delayed attention, you can mark it with a symbol, it is not allowed to ask the teacher questions. "You have to think by your self: you have to solve your own problem." If you need help you can ask someone of your studygroup. In the meantime the teacher can help pupils who really need help. So delayed attention is also a classmanagement instrument.
4. I must say that pupils must be trained to realy understand coöperative learning.
  
  Communication is very important. You have to train this. You can start with the children in "kindergarten" b.e. When you say to two children make one castle together, they will make two castles near each other. But when you say you have to build a castle with one tower it is necessary for them to communicate.
  
  One other example is the "box to experience with your hands."
  A child describes the objects, it feels into the box: another child is guessing what it is.
  You understand: again it is necessary to communicate.
  It is also possible to promote "communication" by the organisation of the assignments.
  At a school in Holland we worked out following:
  In "kindergarten" they work with "pairs" of pupils. This is easy organised:
  On a piece of wood a dubbel row nails is hit in. On each nail there is a name of a child. The upper row is changing every week, so two different kids are "partners" for a week. The agreement is they work and play every morning together. On a magnetic assignmentboard the children record this themselves. These two kids must agree upon what they will do this morning. They must communicate. If they have made a choice they place a magnetic label in the right daycolour vertical under the activity and when they finish their work or play they place the magnetic label horizontal.
  The assignmentboard is planningboard as well as registrationboard.
5. Make solid deals about silence rooms and rooms to work together at school, so children do not dsiturb each other.
6. Create a so called "Dalton zone" at school. All pupils of the whole school work independently at the same time. In this way it is easy to organise by example tutorteaching. It is not necessary to break into the normal skedule.
  
  At last, but not at least.
7. Make sure that in every weekassigment you plan at least one so called coöperative assignment. I mean by this a group of children make a collective product. This can be organised in a parallel way. Every group makes an issue about Scandinavië or in a complementary way (this group about Denmark, that group about Norway etc.).
  The pupils are self responsible for the product but also for the process. They must devide themselves the various roles etc.
I would like to give you an example. Two young teachers (ex-students of me) work at a Daltonschool in Holland. After a year they were a little frustrated about the method of biology.
They work both in group 8 (the highest group of our elementary school). They had too little time to realise all subjects of the method, the pupils did not like the way they handled it.
And also the teachers themselves did not like it. They found following solution:

They divided all subjects (30) from the method into 5 blocks (6 x 5 blocks). The class was devided into 5 groups. Every group got the task to choose a different subject, they had to deal this among the other groups.
The group had the choice to make a wallpaper, or to make a report, or to give a presentation. There was another deal, when the first time a report had been made than the second cyclus of 5 subjects the choice was limited to a wallpaper or a presentation. So far I think this was a good coöperative assignment. The pupils get a lot of responsibility in case of contence and the way to do it. Therefore the motivation was good. But there was one more dimension.
When group A f.i. has chosen the subject birds of passage, than this group must realise that all other pupils must know the basics of this subject. Finally there will be a test made by the teachers of all 5 subjects. The pupils from the groups must be above the material of their subject because they have to think what is essential to all other pupils and how other pupils must master this. This is a higher dimension of learning.
When these two young teachers can do this (two years after study at the pedagogical faculty) so you can do this all as well., You just need the power to do it.

So far, a number of agreements you could make within today's educational system and a number of practical examples I gave you.
Now I will finish my speech with the conclusions.
My first conclusion is: The title of my speech "Dalton in a new context" is wrong. Better is to call it: "Dalton principles in the original context."
"Back to the roots."
My second conclusion is: You have to make your own conclusions. You can do a lot of things pupils like and you like it too. Just do it!

Hans Wenke
Brno, may 2001