Empowering Students Through Student-Centred Learning Approaches

Have you ever attended a professional development session that left you feeling uninspired and unprepared to tackle the students' diverse needs? Have you ever observed students disengaged and disconnected from their learning because they were not involved in decision-making? Traditional teacher-centred approaches to education often fall short of addressing students' unique needs and interests. However, there is an alternative - student-centred learning approach. This approach empowers learners to co-create their learning experiences and take ownership of their academic and personal growth.

The National Academy of Sciences released a report concluding that learner-centred approach in teaching turn students into active participants from passive listeners. There was also a reduction in failure rates and increase in scores by almost one-half a standard deviation. This blog will explore how educators can embrace learner-centred approaches to promote engagement, collaboration, and creativity in their classrooms. This blog will also focus on how teachers can become partners in learning and share power with their students to create meaningful and relevant self-learning experiences.

Understanding student-centred learning approaches

A learner-centred approach views students and trainees as active learners. It changes the role of the teacher from a provider of information to facilitating it. The method believes that each student brings in their knowledge, experiences, and ideas, which affect how they consume future information. Traditional learning approaches, on the other hand, take complete control of the class. Continuous information flow makes students lose focus and miss out on the most important part - learning.

Student-centred learning approaches include active learning, in which students solve problems, formulate questions, discuss, debate, and brainstorm ideas. Cooperative learning, where they work in teams on issues, promotes interdependence and individual accountability. Inductive teaching and learning are where learners are first presented with challenges and learn the course material by solving those problems.

Advantages of student-centred learning practices

More schools are moving to a learner-centred approach in teaching because of the benefits it yields for students. Student-centred learning builds on students' intuitive understanding of what they need out of their education, creating meaning learning environments where, according to research, where, students are engaged and motivated. Some benefits of student-centred learning approach are -

• Personalization improves students' attitudes towards learning
• Service and project-based learning increases student engagement
• Learner-centred approach in teaching teach students how to self-regulate improves academic performance
• It facilitates stronger relationships between students and teachers through shared experience movements in students' communication and collaboration skills
• It ensures advances in students' ability to think and work independently
• It increases student interest in school activities and education in general
• It helps students outperform their peers in terms of achievement gains on all subjects
• It opens new doors for students. Especially those who want to go and study abroad in advanced education systems.

Pedagogical approaches for student-centred learning

The pedagogy used in learner-centred approach environments is designed with students at the core. It activates prior student knowledge, connects to students' experiences, and adapts to their needs. To create this kind of pedagogy, schools need to understand students' experiences and backgrounds. Pedagogy encourages students to come up with different ideas without the fear of being judged whether their idea is right or wrong, they will find brainstorming sessions engaging and interesting.

Pedagogy enables teachers to influence student learning with an intention to capture the attention of students. Pedagogical methods of teaching theoretical concepts help students to enhance their recall capacity by recollecting all the ideas that were taught to them even after a long gap.

For the benefit of the learning fraternity, one of the innovative pedagogical strategies is to make use of creative tools that will excite the artistic senses of students. You as a teacher can positively influence the curious minds of students through the inclusion of several visual exercises and games. These tools strike a chord with their minds encouraging them to stretch their creativity. There are many tools that help educators understand the most vulnerable students and plan for their success and is a fantastic resource for any school looking to develop student-centred learning pedagogy.

Conclusion:

Student-centred learning is a pedagogical buzzword and a transformative approach to education that can benefit students and educators. By shifting the focus from teaching to learning, educators can empower their students to become active and engaged participants in their learning journey. This requires a paradigm shift from the traditional "sage on the stage" model to a more collaborative and consultative approach, where students co-create and co-evaluate their learning experiences. John Dewey once said, "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday, we rob them of tomorrow." Let us embrace a learner-centred approach in teaching and empower our students to become lifelong learners prepared to face the challenges of the 21st century.