Student-Centered Learning

Despite the long history that Student-Centered Learning the Teacher-Centered model has been quite dominant in the Kurdistan Region

1.      The inclusion ideology

·         Inclusive education in Kurdistan is characterized by the absence of separate special education placements and the placement of all students in regular classrooms without adequate technical and psychological support. The lack of necessary tools and resources, such as digital whiteboards, audio and video technology, smart learning apps, and language translation tools, further hinders the implementation of inclusive education. Some schools even lack basic supplies like whiteboard pens.

·         The objective of inclusive education is to provide equal opportunities for all students to be fully integrated into the school and society. However, the limited number of school buildings in the Kurdistan Community presents a challenge. In an effort to accommodate more students, schools are split into three distinct periods, resulting in multiple schools operating in one building at different times. This arrangement restricts opportunities for all students to participate actively in the classroom and promotes a traditional transmissive model of instruction where teachers simply impart knowledge without fostering student engagement and collaboration.

·         Inclusive education is seen as a human rights agenda that emphasizes equal access and equality in education. However, interpretations of inclusion vary among academics, schools, and teachers, and it is often seen as government rhetoric. The lack of awareness among teachers and parents about the unique abilities and needs of students hampers the development of inclusive practices.

·         The presence of diverse learners in classrooms necessitates learner-centered approaches to ensure equal access to quality education. However, the current educational system in Kurdistan still relies heavily on teacher-centered learning, where the teacher is the sole source of knowledge.

·         In conclusion, inclusive education in Kurdistan faces challenges such as inadequate technical resources, limited school infrastructure, and varying interpretations of inclusion. To achieve inclusive education, it is crucial to recognize the distinct abilities and needs of every learner and adopt learner-centered approaches that promote active student participation.

2.      Class size

·         The majority of teachers with large class sizes thought that the best way to teach everyone was to use a whole-class approach where knowledge was transmitted while students were viewed as passive viewers of knowledge. Educating a group of students at once is simple and possible (meaning teaching all learners at once is easy and you can teach at once).

3.      Approaches used by teachers

·         Regarding what approaches teachers use during the teaching and learning process, from the Kurdistan Region, the educational system revealed that classroom discourse was mostly characterized by the following pedagogical approaches: discussions, question and answer, and whole class teaching (where the teacher stands in front of the class and teaches while learners are listening). The classroom’s observations documented that teachers prepare notes where most statements focus on what the teacher will do as opposed to what learners will do.

4.      Understanding of inclusive education

·         Most teachers in the Kurdistan Region do not understand the concept of inclusive education as they indicate and feel uncomfortable in having diverse learners with different skills and abilities in their souls in their classrooms but nothing suggests that their presence influences their way of approaching lessons as suggested, that's why they still planned and delivered the content which was more teacher-centered than learner-centered.

5.      Lack number of experts

·         The number of experts is too limited to be sufficient for student-centered learning since long ago all the teachers only learned the traditional style of teaching and all the students they have learned from those teachers taken only this style and they think that the only style of teaching is teacher-centered that the students only have a passive role and the teachers show their roles as the only provider of knowledge and class controller.

6.      Exam centric culture

·         As an indicator of student success, the Iraqi educational system places a strong focus on standardized tests. Teachers frequently concentrate on material covering and rote memorization as a result of this exam-focused culture, which is more in line with teacher-centered techniques. There is limited opportunity for student-centered activities that promote critical thinking and problem-solving abilities due to the pressure to ensure learners' performance on tests.

7.      The Governmental Support

·         Unfortunately, the government did not provide a good infrastructure for the educational system in the Kurdistan region which is why almost 95% of all public schools faced the issues of a huge number of students and a shortage in the technological tools for education.

·         Even the international support from foreign countries for the Kurdistan region is not at an adequate level to maintain and build an education system that looks like the neighboring countries

8.      The link between national Universities in Kurdistan and international universities worldwide

·         This point might be useful in enhancing the chance of constructing a new idea in the field of higher education since so many universities to date did not have a link with international universities in terms of the scientific and educational system, and this will lead to providing only the traditional way of teaching.

How to Shift from a Teacher-Centered Approach to Student-Centered Learning?

The major approaches that can the experts learn from it are two things that have a great association with each other (Research-based teaching technique and the influence of relationship).

 Regarding the research-based teaching technique, the earlier technique of teaching was teacher-centered and the teacher was the only authority in the class to provide the knowledge the students were even not allowed to talk and give their ideas regarding the topic and the outlines of the lecture.

 The realization of the fact that students have the enable to choose and this choice of the students will play a huge part in the success of the classroom. The choice will lead to generating diverse kinds of learning styles in the classroom since the learners love the concept of choice of what they want to learn and the influence of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity, as the essential skills of 21st century that all the students should learn, for the reason that, these four skills can permit the students to develop and meet a bunch of activities that facilitate their learning process.

 The big opportunity challenging to achieve a goal cannot be easy without the terms of collaboration and teamwork and even the chance of diversity in critical thinking will be much easier in case of teamwork that requires good communication skills, since restating the stories might be attributed to the diversity in challenging problems, therefore the choice of the students can have a remarkable impact on the choice of what they want to learn and how they learn. 

The five skills are required for shifting from the teacher-centered to the student-centered, and even the role of the learners as the major driver in the classroom can have an extraordinary influence on shifting the role of the teacher from escorting or controlling them to inspiring, mentoring and coaching them, therefore the student’s mind is not like an empty vessel to be filled, it's all about the training of the mind to think in different ways.

 Giving a choice to the students will lead to discovering their talents in a particular way, and the chance to construct and generate ideas for healthier learning and critical thinking will be easier since they totally engage in the lecture based on their talents so, they walk through this concept to support themselves to finally skills development. In addition to the fact that different kinds of assessment and teaching styles will develop such a type of learning, all the students walk through their talents to design and create new knowledge based on past knowledge and connect them to art and science.

 In Student-centered learning despite shifting the teacher's location from the center to the sides, from providing information only at once, the questions that students generate will make the teacher's role more significant than before, since the students gain the information successfully and you have applied the most powerful teaching style based on the talents of your students.

 The chance of learning can be extraordinarily affected by two significant loves that the teachers should have (passion and curiosity for the lecture and the students), but the love should be motivational, decisional not emotional to inspire the students to love the lecture in their ways of talents to create new knowledge and connect them with the development of a new thing, moreover, all of these things are require the last skill which is caring, that getting their attention and motivating them to the most important goal of learning which is the five skills (choice, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity) that’s why the greatest skills ever is caring and love.