COVID-19 magnified the dysfunctionalities and inefficiencies of our education systems. It’s high time that the educational leaders and innovators reflect on the current teaching and learning methods to understand the areas of improvement. At such uncertain times, innovating education can lead us to the pathways of engaging in humanizing pedagogies.

Why Reimagine Education?

As we discuss reimagining education, let’s start from the very basics.

Addressing the importance of integrating love and care in education and how it can influence the mindset and response-ability of an individual could be the onset of the educational reformation.

If the methodology of learning and educating is centered on providing both emotional and academic assistance, we are already halfway toward reaching a culturally relevant, anti-racist, and emotionally literate education system. This revolution in education begins with educating leaders on the impact of educational disparities, social and racial injustices, and the importance of emotional support in a student’s life.

Schools and educational institutes are the places where a major part of an individual’s childhood is spent, but the school sites are often also the center of oppression for children of different races, demographics, or gender.

At Edvantic, a world education company, our prime emphasis is to advocate for a better education system and educate leaders on how their mindfulness of the teaching techniques can become a transformative force in building a safe and healthy learning environment for students. Let’s understand how the process of innovating education can be achieved by supporting the emotional and social development of all the students.

Moving toward a progressive education system

Construct a socially literate and emotionally responsive learning environment

The educators must use collaboration as the key to creating an expressive learning atmosphere where students can be open to giving or receiving emotional support. But before students, educating leaders on critical responsiveness development is the first thing that should be done.

Followed by this, the next step is to cultivate a classroom environment that educates students about societal injustices and discrimination. This will help the students to comprehend and act against such inequities. Endorsing humanizing teaching methods will enable educators to create an emotionally supportive atmosphere where each student will be set free to speak out their opinions and interests. Social learning will help students develop their abilities to understand their role in the overall societal landscape.

Innovating education is about instilling emotional intelligence and learning in our education systems. Because understanding emotions is as important as learning any other subject. Since each aspect of human life is impacted by emotions, schools must prepare or reinvent the curriculum into one that gives space to social and emotional learning.

Change the school culture

School culture contributes a major part in shaping a child’s personality and mindset. That said, positive school culture can result in academic achievement and personality development as it creates a safe, supportive, improved, productive, and encouraging environment. Innovating education mainly revolves around creating a positive school culture where each student feels worthy.

Developing a sense of belongingness in the students’ minds will help students feel safe, loved, important, and equally irrespective of their race, gender, or community. And this will set the onset of an emotionally safe school culture.

To ensure the mental and academic well-being of all the students, the students must be involved in authentic and deep learning systems. Educating leaders on implementing a student-centered approach in their teaching methods, where the students are given the place of contributors, will help in the development of a supportive education system.

An emotionally responsive classroom is an open-ended and process-oriented approach to learning which will maximize the academic, social, and emotional growth of students, helping them identify their importance and role in society. A responsive classroom community is where all the students feel welcomed and equal; something our students need today.