(a) Nature of Learners. – The nature of the learners is fitrah, i.e. purity, inherent goodness with an innate inclination to learn and the potential to develop themselves. Consistent with new researches on neuroplasticity phenomenon in brain development, the fastest synaptic growth (thus malleability) occurs between the prenatal period and age 3 with growth then gradually slowing and completed by late adolescence or early adulthood. Further, learners come from diverse backgrounds with different ethnic and religious perspectives and language orientations, calling for teaching-learning flexibility in dealing with them; and these days, they have digital dexterity derived from their constant use of and exposure to print-rich internet and social media; and that their learning is not limited to the classroom or within the formal system.
Towards achieving the full potential and development of learners in the Bangsamoro, parents, civil society and government shall work together to support the learners during their periods of greatest plasticity, or “sensitive periods”1, by providing critical care and developmental support as had been articulated by UNICEF and BDA working on the tahderiyyah program.
(b) Pillars of Learning2. - Education throughout life is based on four (4) pillars – (1) learning to know, (2) learning to do, (3) learning to live together and (4) learning to be – within the regional context, cultural environment and either pedagogy3 or child-centered teaching-learning continuum or andragogy for adult learners. The regional education system shall now conceive education in a more encompassing fashion; and its future education formation, reformation and transformation shall be guided by a holistic, balanced and integrated framework and relevant assessment practice that puts to heart the care and welfare of the individual learners4.
(c) Addressing the Learning Crisis. – The Bangsamoro government recognizes the following facts: Schooling is not the same as learning; schooling without learning is not just a wasted opportunity, but a great injustice; and there is nothing inevitable about low learning in low- and middle-income countries or fragile environments. Through this Act the education ministry shall prioritize addressing three dimensions of the learning crisis that had been plaguing the regional system – (1) poor learning outcomes; (2) the immediate causes of the learning crises such as children arriving at school unprepared to learn, teachers often lack the skills or motivation to teach effectively, inputs often fail to reach classrooms or to affect learning and poor management and governance; and finally (3) deeper systemic causes5 of the learning crises.
Footnotes
1 Spotlight 1: The Biology of Learning, World Development Report 2018 - https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/28340/9781464810961_Spot01.pdf
2 UNESCO Four (4) Pillars of Learning - http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jh1767e/3.1.html
3 In the paper “What makes great pedagogy? Nine claims from research (2012)”, effective pedagogies include (1) giving serious consideration to pupil voice; (2) depends on behavior (what teachers do), knowledge and understanding (what teachers know) and beliefs (why teachers act as they do); (3) involving clear thinking about longer term learning outcomes as well as short-term goals; (4) building on pupils’ prior learning and experience; (5) scaffolding pupil learning; (6) involving a range of techniques, including whole-class and structured group work, guided learning and individual activity; (7) focusing on developing higher order thinking and meta-cognition, and make good use of dialogue and questioning in order to do so; (8) embedding assessment for learning; (9) including and taking the diverse needs of a range of learners, as well as matters of student equity, into account. - https://infolit.org.uk/teaching/developing-your-teaching/pedagogic-theory/
4 Differentiated Assessment - https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/assessment/differentiated-assessment - and Assessment for, as and of learning - https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/assessment/approaches
5 World Development Report 2018: LEARNING to Realize Education’s Promise - https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2018
