Section A: Experiential Learning

B.ED.
PART I (SEMESTER- I) PAPER VII
Experiential Learning
Section A
LESSON No : Section A
Department of Distance Education
1.1 : Experiential Learning: Concept, Nature and

Punjabi University, Patiala
Importance
1.2 : Experiential Learning: Objectives, Principles and
Issues and Concerns
(All Copyrights are Reserved)
1.3 : Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim

1.4 : Role of Teachers, Head masters for community
engagement in school matters
B.Ed. Part-I (Semester-I) 1 Paper- VII
B.Ed. Part- I Paper- VII

Semester- I Experiential Learning
Lesson No. 1.1 Writer: Dr. Jagpreet Kaur
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: CONCEPT, NATURE,

IMPORTANCE AND SCOPE
Structure
1.1.1 Introduction
1.1.2 Objectives
1.1.3 Experiential Learning: Meaning and Definitions
1.1.3.1 Meaning of Experiential Learning
1.1.3.2 Definitions of Experiential Learning
1.1.4 Nature of Experiential Learning
1.1.5 Characteristics of Experiential Learning
1.1.6 Types of Experiential Learning
1.1.7 Importance of Experiential Learning
1.1.8 Scope of Experiential Learning
1.1.9 Experiential Learning as the future of learning
1.1.10 Suggested Books/Readings
1.1.1 Introduction
At the heart of all learning, is the way we process our experiences, especially out
critical reflection on our experiences. Experiential learning is a well known model
in education, training, facilitation and organizational development. Experiential
learning engage students in critical thinking, problem solving and decision
making opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and skills through
feedback, reflection and the application of the ideas and skills to new situations.
It is effectively used in schools, higher education, thereby, corporate training and
other areas for educational learning, personal development and skill-building.
1.1.2 Objectives
After going through this lesson, you will be able to:
i. Understand the meaning of experiential learning.
ii. Define experiential learning.

iii. Write down the characteristics of experiential learning.
iv. Explain the nature of experiential learning.
v. Name different types of experiential learning.
vi. Understand the importance of experiential learning.
vii. Describe the scope of experiential learning.
viii. Predict experiential learning as the future of learning.
1.1.3 Experiential Learning: Meaning and Definitions
The general concept of learning through experience is ancient. Around 350 BCE,
Aristotle said, “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by
doing them”. But as an articulated educational approach, experiential learning is
of much more recent vintage. Beginning in the 1970s, D.A. Kolb helped to develop
the modern theory of experiential learning drawing heavily on the works of John
Dewey, Kurt Lewin and Jean Piaget.
Experiential leaning means learning through experience and reflection. We learn
from experience. Whatever, a person trying to master, his success will be down to
experiential learning. It is so effective because it helps to establish lasting
behaviour change. Through experiential learning, rather than simply
understanding a new subject or gaining a skill, we develop new habits and
behaviours.
Researches show that 70% of what we know comes from experience and trying
new things. Yet the real leaning happens when we reflect on those experiences.
Quality reflection time helps us to learn. D.A. Kolb is the person most associated
with experiential learning theory and said, “Knowledge results from the
combination of grasping experience and transforming it”.
Kolb’s research showed mastering expertise is a continuous process of
experience, reflection, conceptualization and experimentation. These elements
make up the experiential learning cycle which shown the relationship between
each phase.
Hence the concept of experiential learning is “learning through reflection on
doing”. This concept is based on the theories of learning put forwarded by John
Dewey, Kurt Hahn, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget among other. It was made popular by
D.A. Kolb afterwards.
The concept of experiential learning can be further classified by explaining the
meaning and definitions of experiential learning process.
1.1.3.1 Meaning of Experiential Learning

Research has shown that all ages of learners tend to learn much more effectively
if they are actually involved in the learning process. In recent years, there has
been a progressive move away from traditional, teacher-centred expository
instruction towards student-centred experimental learning of one form or
another.
Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience and is more
specifically defined as, “learning through reflection on doing”.
Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning but does not necessarily
involve students reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is accompanied
by reflection and application.
In the words of Lewis and Williams (1994, p.5), “In its simplest form,
experiential learning means learning from experience or learning by doing.
Experiential education first immerses learners in an experience and then
encourages reflection about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes or
new ways of thinking.” As explained by Chapman, McPhee, and Proudman
(1995, p. 243), “Simple participation in a prescribed set of learning experiences
does not make something experiential. The experiential methodology is not
linear, cyclical, or even patterned. It is a series of working principles, all of which
are equally important or must be present to varying degrees at some time during
experiential learning. These principles are required no matter what activity the
student is engaged in or where the learning takes place” .
Experiential learning is distinct from rote or didactic learning, in which the
learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not synonymous
with other forms of active learning, such as action learning, co-operative learning,
service learning, adventure learning and situational learning. It also differs from
experiential education as experiential education is a broader philosophy of
education, experiential learning considers the individual learning process. Also,
as compared to experiential education, experiential learning is concerned with
more concrete issue related to the learner and the context.
1.1.3.2 Definitions of Experiential Learning

Various terms have been used to label the process of learning from experience.
First of all, John Dewey (1915) discussed, “learning by doing”, while Wolfe and
Byrne (1975) used the term “experience based learning”.
The term “trial and error” learning is used to explain inductive learning
processes, while some others called it “applied experiential learning”. Which
combines learning with real world.
1. Carl Rogers (1969) defined the essence of experiential learning as, “It has a
quality of personal involvement the whole person in both his feelings and
cognitive aspects being in the learning event”.
2. In 1975, Hoover and White Head, gave the following definition of
experiential learning – “Experiential learning exists when a personally
responsible participant cognitively, affectively and behaviourally processes
knowledge and/ or attitudes in a learning intuition characterized by a high
level of active involvement”.
Here, in addition to the affective domain mentioned by Rogers,
Hoover also stressed the learning of behaviours.
3. Kolb (1984) – “Experiential leaning is described as the process whereby
knowledge is created through transformation of experience”.
4. Association of Experiential Education defined experiential learning as
follows:
“Experiential learning is a philosophy and methodology in which
educators purposefully engage with students in direct experience and
focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify
values”.
5. U.C. Davis (2011) “The stages of reflection and application are what make
experiential learning different and more powerful than the model
commonly referred to as ‘learn-by-doing’ or ‘hand-on-learning’. The focus
of EL is placed on the process of learning and not on the product of
learning”.
Hence, experiential learning is learning through action, learning by doing,
learning through experience and learning through discovery and exploration. It
first immerses the learners in an experience and then encourages reflection
about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes or new ways of thinking.
Intext Questions
1. What do you mean by the term ‘experiential learning’?
2. How will you define experiential learning?
3. Experiential leaning means learning through experience and reflection.
Explain.
1.1.4 NATURE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Experiential learning is a process through which student develop knowledge,
skills and values from direct experiences. It includes varieties of activities like
internships, service learning, research and other creative and professional work
experiences. Following are its main characteristics that explore its nature:
1. Reflection on Doing: Experiential based learning is the process of
learning through experience, and is more specifically defined as, “learning
through reflection on doing”.
2. Pedagogical Process: Experiential learning is also described as a
pedagogical process by which educators engage students through a cycle
of direct experience, reflection, analysis and experimentation.
3. Different from Rote or Didactic Learning: It is distinct from rote or
didactic learning, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role.
Experiential learning invites the students to be actively engaged in their
learning, and therefore, can be personalized where appropriate.
4. A Way of Doing: Experiential learning is a way of doing – it is not
something that one does. That is to say, the act of ‘doing’ does not, in and
of itself, create learning.
5. Review/ Reflection: This process also known as debrief, review or
reflection, is an opportunity for students to think about what has been
learnt.
6. Reflection an Essential Element: Without some form of process of
reflection there is no experiential learning. Societally, the concept of
experiential learning is often confuse or conflated with
“hands-on-learning” or “learning by doing”. While both are legitimate
forms of teaching, they are not the same as experiential learning.
The key difference is the lack of reflection. Indeed, it can be argued
that there is no such thing as learning by doing – it is only learnt through
a process of reflecting on what has been done. It is a way of doing rather
than the act of doing.
7. Development of Skills: The ‘experiential methodology is ideally suited to
the development of key 21st century skills such as the “4C” of
collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity, because
these skills can be practised through a series of carefully sequenced
experiences.
8. Different from Experiential Education: Experiential education is a
broader philosophy of education while experiential learning considers the
individual learning process. As such, compared to experiential education,
experiential learning is concerned with more concrete issue related to the
learner and the learning context.
9. Learner Centered: Experiential learning is a learning centered. Internal
processes are the driving forces of meaning making and change. Meaning
making is a relational process between the individual, his consciousness

and change.
10. An Approach to Learning: Experiential learning engages students in
critical thinking, problem solving and decision making in contexts that are
personally relevant to them. This approach to learning also involves
making opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and skills
through feedback, reflection and the application of the ideas and skills to
new situations.
The experiential learning may be conceptualized as s methodology of
education which has a learning impact on the whole person, inkling feeling
(affect), and behaviour in addition to cognitive simulation. Its underlying
assumptions are: Learning is a dynamic, action process, learner learns best by
participation, and the fully functioning or self-actualizing learner engages in
experiences at a qualitatively higher level: Individuals reconstruct themselves
through their experiences.
1.1.5 Characteristics of Experiential Learning

1. Experience combines direct or concrete experiences with focused
reflection.
2. It builds on past knowledge and experiences.
3. It encourages collaboration and exchange of ideas and perspectives.
4. It requires active involvement of learners in meaning construction.
5. It can be course, focused in class, community focused or work focused.
6. Reflection is the key to learning from experience, because it consciously
focuses our attention on what we have learnt and thus consolidates it.
7. Integrating experiential learning into content course builds skills,
confidence and expectations for students to participate in successful
internships and work experience.
8. It gives students the opportunity to develop attitudes, such as resilience,
tenacity, curiosity and self-direction.
9. Experiential learning opportunities offer students assignments and
activities based on real-life situations or primary research that engage
them in reflective problem-solving with multiple potential avenues of
inquiry.
10. Experiential learning is happening across education institutions, from
humanities to the science, professional fields to the arts, from the
classrooms to labs, studies to museums.
1.1.6 TYPES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Broadly, experiential learning can be divided into two major categories - Field
based experiences and Classroom based learning.
According to Lewis and Williams (1994), field based learning is the oldest and
most established form of experiential learning; having been integrated into higher
education in the 1930’s. Field based learning include internship, practicums,
cooperative education, and service learning.
Classroom based experiential learning can take a multiple of forms, including
Role-playing, games, case studies, simulations, presentations and various types
of group work.
Intext Questions
4. Explain the nature of experiential learning.
5. What are the different characteristics of experiential learning.
6. What are the different types of experiential learning.
1.1.7 IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Experiential learning is important due to the following reasons:
1. Experiential learning fosters development of self and organization.
2. It brings about change in behaviour and better understanding of attitude
of people.
3. It brings about perfection in the performance of job.
4. It gains in knowledge and skill, breadth and depth of understanding which
ultimately results in increased self-confidence and esteem.
5. Makes Learning relatable to Students: Students build on what they
already know and are provided with opportunities to make connection
between new concepts and existing ones.
6. Links Theory to Practice: With its help students get the chance to engage
in the experience and practice what they have learned. They apply the
theoretical concepts in practice and make generalizations.
7. Assists in Memory Retention: It makes strong relationships between
feelings and thinking processes. Students have the capacity to learn
successfully when the information is associated with values and feelings.
8. Leads to Development of Skills for Lifelong Learning: By assisting the

acquisition of essential skills and encouraging students to reflect,
conceptualize and plan for new steps.
9. Increases the Effectiveness of Learning: Students engage in critical
thinking, acquire problem solving skills and engage in decision making.
10. Introduces Children to Conducive Environment: Experiential learning is
important to introduce children to environments that boost their creativity
and offer them the opportunity to explore and understand at their own
pace, supplementing the more ‘traditional’ learning from the educational
system.
Most experiential learning activities can be done within the classroom with
students working in groups. Through these team projects, students learn to work
more effectively together, developing a plan of action and utilizing the unique
qualities of each team member. In turn, the students learn real life leadership
skills, as well as how to apply critical thinking and adapt to changing
circumstances. This shows the real importance of experiential learning.
1.1.8 SCOPE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Learning that is considered ‘experiential’ contains all the following elements:
(i) Reflection, critical analysis and synthesis.
(ii) Opportunities for students to take initiative, make decisions and be
accountable for the results.
(iii) It provides opportunities for students to engage intellectually,
creatively, emotionally, socially or physically.
This sets the scope of experiential learning in the field of education.
1. A Broad Umbrella Term: There are a number of different
approaches or terms within the broad heading – “Learning by doing”, such
as cooperative learning, adventure learning, experiential learning and
apprenticeship. The term ‘experiential learning’ as a broad umbrella term,
covers this wide variety of approaches to learning by doing.
2. A Wide Range of Design Models: There are many ways in which
experiential learning can be designed and delivered, with particular
respect to the use of technology and in ways that help to develop the
knowledge and skills needed in a digital age.
The design models which aim to embed learning within real world
contexts are following:
(i) Laboratory, workshop or studio work.
(ii) Apprenticeship.
(iii) Problem based learning.

(iv) Case based learning.
(v) Inquiry based learning.
(vi) Project based learning.
(vii) Cooperative (Work or community based) learning.
3. Different Kinds of Programmes: Experiential education, most
generally occurs in different kinds of programmes that have as their goals
– the construction of knowledge, skills and dispositions from direct
experiences. Service learning, adventure education, outdoor and
environmental education, and workplace internships are just a few
examples. .
4. Business Field: The applied nature of business education is more
appropriate discipline for the use of experiential learning pedagogies than
one with a stronger theoretical orientation.
Experiential learning approaches are used by corporate trainers.
The business schools actively encourage students to promote activities
which involve student participation so that their speaking, discussion,
interpersonal and goal-setting abilities are developed.
5. Experiential Learning – The Future of Learning: Experiential
learning is the future of learning. It is different from traditional learning. In
it, students come to learn from experiences in educational, workplace and
practice settings and integrate the contributions of those experiences in
developing and understanding, procedures and dispositions required for
effective professional practice, including criticality.
Learning from experience is about learning from life. It puts practice at the
heart of learning which is an important paradigm shift. It is to replace the chalk
and talk pedagogy of the past with inquiry, problem-based and project-based
learning, sometimes using the tools of what we call a maker space – an open,
studio-like creative workshop.
It means that future learning will be experiment based learning i.e.
experiential learning.
1.1.9 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AS THE FUTURE OF LEARNING
Following reasons show the experiential learning is the future of learning:
1. Different from Traditional Formal Education: The theories of
experiential learning arose in the mid-nineteenth century as attempts to
move away from traditional formal education, where teachers simply
presented students with abstract concepts and toward in immersive
method of instruction. Students would learn by doing, applying knowledge

to experience in order to develop skills or new ways of thinking.
2. Fast Learning: Our traditional learning system has been more of a
theoretical than practical. This has given birth to rote learning. But
experiential learning promotes the concept of learning by doing, which
accelerates the process of learning. Its methodology uses critical thinking,
problem-solving and decision making to deliver a training module.
3. Increased Focus: In today’s highly connected internet age, our focus is
constantly challenged. This makes experiential learning more of a
necessary, than ever before. It ensures that we keep focused on learning
and avoid the plethora of easy (digital) distractions increasingly available
to us.
4. Practice Experience: Experiential learning bridges the gap between
theory and practice. By moving beyond theory to the realm of “learning by
doing”, the trainee gets a first hand experience of practicing what has been
taught. This plays a crucial role in retaining concepts and ideas.
5. Skills for Future: Experiential learning gives learners the skills and
experience they need for real world success. It is seen that employees
generally have lack of problem-solving skills and unable to apply what
they have learnt in training to the workplace. Experiential learning may
lead to higher domain, specific creativity and practical use of knowledge.
6. Mindset Change: Experiential produces demonstrable mindset changes.
There are very few learning methods that can have a dramatic impact on
participant’s mindset. Experiential learning is one of them. Henry
Mintzberg pointed out long ago that, “Leadership, like swimming, cannot
be learned by reading about it”.
7. Exceptional Returns: Experiential learning delivers exceptional return on
investment (ROI). It is personal and effective in nature, influencing both
feelings and emotions, as well as, enhancing knowledge and skills. It goes
beyond classroom learning and ensures that there is high level of
retention, thereby delivering exceptional ROI over a traditional learning
programme.
8. Personalized Learning: Experiential learning enables the approach of
personalized learning as it supports the concept of flipped learning, where
learning goes to the students, not the other way round. The participants
set their own learning pace and hence understand better.
9. Accurate Assessment Results: Experiential learning provides accurate
assessment results. Traditional assessments are data driven and
traditional tools are used to measure effectiveness. When combined with
simulation and gamification, experiential training products become a
powerhouse of data which can be used to deliver assessment results

accurately across cognitive learning, skill affect and object results.
10. Takes Learning Anywhere: One of the most exciting aspects of
experiential learning is that it can take learner anywhere. Many learners
use this as an opportunity to get out and connect with local communities.
Others use this as chance to study and work abroad. In the 21st century
job market, skills which are critical to international success can be
acquired through experiential learning.
In this way, scope of experiential learning is very broad and bright for the
21st century. Everything from increased creativity to authentic problem solving
opportunities occurs throughout this learning process. It prepares students for
life-long learning and success in their careers.
Intext Questions
7. What is the importance of experiential learning.
8. Describe the scope of experiential learning.
9. Experiential leaning is the future of learning. Explain.
1.1.10 Summary
In this lesson, we have discussed the meaning, definitions and characteristics of
experiential learning. Experiential leaning means learning through experience
and reflection. The nature of experiential learning has been studied and it was
mentioned that experiential learning may be conceptualized as s methodology of
education which has a learning impact on the whole person, inkling feeling and
behaviour in addition to cognitive simulation. Also, the characteristics and two
types of experiential learning have also been discussed. The teacher can conduct
different experiential learning activities in the classroom with students working
in groups. As a result of these activities in the classroom, the students learn to
work more effectively together, developing real life leadership skills, as well as
how to apply critical thinking and adapt to changing circumstances. From the
study of this lesson, it can be concluded that scope of experiential learning is very
broad and bright for the 21st century. Everything from increased creativity to
authentic problem solving opportunities occurs throughout this learning
process. It prepares students for life-long learning and success in their careers.
1.1.11 Suggested Books/Readings:
Roberts, J. W. (2016) Experiential Education In The College Content. New
York: Routledge.
Swaminathan, D. (2018) Experiential Events. Chennai, Notion Press Inc.
Beard, C. & Wilson, J. P. (2018) Experiential Learning. United States: Kogan

Page.
Mehrotra, D. (2017) Experiential Learning For Education. Chennai: Notion
Press.
Wurdinger, S. D. (2005) Using Experiential Learning In The Classroom. United
States of America : Rowman & Littlefield.
Wurdinger, S. D. & Carlson, J. A. (2009) Teaching For Experiential Learning.
United States of America: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lesson No. 1.2 Writer: Dr. Jagpreet Kaur
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPLES,

ISSUES AND CONCERNS
Structure
1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.2 Objectives
1.2.3 Experiential Learning Cycle
1.2.4 Objectives of Experiential Learning
1.2.5 Principles of Experiential Learning
1.2.5.1 Pedagogical principles of experiential learning
1.2.5.2 Carl Roger’s principles of experiential learning
1.2.5.3 General principles of experiential learning
1.2.6 Advantages of experiential learning
1.2.7 Issues and Concerns of Experiential Learning
1.2.8 Implementation of Experiential Learning in Schools
1.2.9 Summary
1.2.10 Suggested Books/Readings
1.2.1 Introduction:
Experiential learning is a process through which students develop knowledge,
skills and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting. It
includes a variety of activities including internships, service learning, research,
study abroad and other creative and professional work experiences.
Experiential learning focuses on the individual’s experience and is a way to
connect academics to the ‘real world’ by actively participating in the world and
just reading about it. Experience learning is built upon a foundation of
interdisciplinary and constructivist learning. Experiential methodology does not
treat each subject as being walled off in its own room, unconnected to any other
subjects.
1.2.2 Objectives
After going through this lesson, you will be able to:
1. Understand the experiential learning cycle.
2. Comprehend the objectives of experiential learning.
3. Explain the pedagogical principles of experiential learning.
4. list down the Carl Roger’s principles of experiential learning.
5. Enumerate the general principles of experiential learning.
6. Give the various advantages of experiential learning.
7. Describe the various issues and concerns of experiential learning.
8. Suggest various ways to implement experiential learning in schools.
1.2.3 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CYCLE

The experiential learning cycle was given by Kolb (1984). Kolb’s model of
Experiential Learning proposed that we are naturally capable to learn and that
experience plays a critical role in knowledge construction and acquisition. In
other words, learning occurs when someone creates knowledge though
experiential transformations (Kolb, 1984). The image below demonstrates the
Experiential Learning Cycle by Kolb:
Image: The Experiential Learning Cycle (McLeod, 2013)

According to Kolb (1984), effective learning occurs in four stages:
1. Concrete Experience: The learner encounters a new experience or engages in a

reinterpretation process of an existing experience.
2. Reflective Observation: The learner reviews and reflects on the new experience
and identifies any inconsistencies between experience and understanding.
3. Abstract Conceptualization: Through the reflective process, the learner creates
a new idea/concept or modifies an existing abstract concept – analyzing the
concepts and forming conclusions and generalizations.
4. Active Experimentation: The learner plans and tries out what was learned and
is able to apply the new knowledge to other situations – conclusions and
generalizations are used to tests hypothesis and thus the learner engages in new
experiences.
It is possible for the learner to enter at any of these four stages and follow
them through their sequence to acquire new knowledge. What is highlighted is
that for effective learning to occur the learner should complete all four stages of
the model and no one stage can stand alone as a learning procedure.
1.2.4 OBJECTIVES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

The main objective of experiential learning is not simply to learn a skill through
practice, but also to think critically about the practice and improve upon it.
The various objectives of experiential learning can be put as under:
1. General Objectives:
(i) To apply knowledge and theory to real world experiences.
(ii) To design a learning experience that include the possibility to learn
from natural consequences, mistakes and successes.
(iii) To make opportunities for debriefing and consolidation of ideas and
skills through feedback, reflection and application of ideas, skills, to
new situations.
(iv) To provide safe and productive environment for learning.
(v) To build upon a foundation of interdisciplinary and constructivist
learning.
(vi) To provide learning outside one’s perceived comfort zones. Learning is
enhanced when students are given the opportunity to operate outside
of their own perceived comfort zones. This is true for both- physical as
well as social environment.
(vii) To relate experiential learning to education for sustainable future.
2. Objectives Related to Students:

(i) To provide students to take initiative, make decisions and be
accountable for the results.
(ii) To inculcate among students the qualities to reflect, critical analysis
and synthesis.
(iii) To take ownership of your own lifelong learning.
(iv) To increase personal development through a sense of personal
efficiency, personal identity and moral development.
(v) To increase academic learning by promoting critical thinking and
problem solving skills through real world experiences.
(vi) To increase leadership skills, communication skills and interpersonal
skills to work well with others.
(vii) To increase civil responsibilities by reducing stereotypes and
facilitating cultural understanding and a sense of social responsibility,
while promoting commitment to continued community development.
(viii) To increase career development through exploration of career interests,
improves employability through application of skills in the real world
and offer networking for increasing job opportunities.
3. Objectives Related to Faculty Members (Teachers):
(i) To promote student engagement with the subject matter by
engagement a variety of learning styles, strengthening faculty-students
relationships and improving the process and product of assignments
and exams.
(ii) To provide education for citizenship to students by providing social
responsibilities through collaboration with others in diverse setting
and through civic knowledge and participation.
(iii) To enhance their professional development through networking
opportunities within other institutions, providing new avenues for
research, increasing awareness of current societal issues etc.
(iv) To emphasize on holistic teaching.
4. Objectives Related to Institutions and Community:
(i) To improve student retention by engaging students talents and
energies, creating a campus-wide spirit of engagement and providing a
substantial human resource.
(ii) To improve community outcomes by meeting the needs of the agency,

through increasing human resources, access to institution resources,
more informed and involved citizens and new ideas and energy.
In this way, experiential learning helps to achieve many objectives and purpose of
students, teachers and community etc. conserving their studies and social
set-up.
1.2.5 PRINCIPLES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

The different principles of experiential learning are discussed below in detail:
1.2.5.1 Association for Experiential Education (2011)
Association for Experiential Education (2011) has given the following list of
principles of experiential learning:
1. Carefully chosen Experiences: Experiential learning occurs when
carefully chosen experiences are supported by reflection, critical analysis
and synthesis.
2. Structured Experiences: Experiences are structured to require the
students to take initiative, make decisions and be accountable for results.
3. Active Engagement: Throughout the experiential learning process, the
student is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating,
experiencing, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibilities,
being creative and constructing meaning.
4. Total Involvement: Students are engaged intellectually, emotionally,
socially, soulfully and physically. This involvement produces a perception
that the task is authentic.
5. Results as Basis for Future Learning: The results of the learning are
personal and form the basis for future experience and learning.
6. Development of Relationships: Relationships are developed and
nurtured, student to self, student to others and student to the world at
large.
7. Outcomes are not Predicted: The teacher and student may experience
success, failure, adventure, risk-taking and uncertainty, because the
outcomes of the experience cannot totally be predicted.
8. Opportunities are Nurtured: Opportunities are nurtured for students
and instructors to explore and examine their own values.
9. Encouragement to Spontaneous Learning: The instructor recognizes
and encourages spontaneous opportunities for learning.
10. Design of Learning Experience: The design of the learning experience

includes the possibility to learn from natural consequences, mistakes and
successes.
11. Instructor / Teacher’s Role: The instructor’s primary role includes
setting suitable experiences, posing problems, setting boundaries,
supporting students, ensuring physical and emotional safety and
facilitating the learning processes.
12. Teachers Awareness: Teachers strive to be aware of their biases,
judgments and pre-conceptions and how these influence the student.
1.2.5.2 Pedagogical Principles of Experiential Learning
1. Active Learning: Students are fully engaged i.e. mentally, physically and
emotionally in the active process of learning, instead of passively receiving
content, students are co-constructing knowledge with their teacher and
peers. They are actively testing, thinking, challenging, hypothesizing,
interpreting and reflecting on their course material.
2. Relevancy: Students understand the content as relevant to their own
lives. Assessment is formative. It is used to support the learning process
and guide changes to teaching strategies.
3. Experience for Future Use: Every experience a student has/had up to
this point influences how they learn in this point influences how they learn
in this current moment. Students develop reflective skills that enable them
to transfer their learning into future opportunity.
4. Authenticity: Students understand their motivations for taking a course
and learning the content. They can articulate connections among their
learning experiences. The course provides a meaningful experience within
the context of the student’s goal or outlook.
1.2.5.3 Carl Rogers Principles of Experiential Learning
Rogers believes that experiential learning is equivalent to personal change and
growth. He believes that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn. His
principles of experiential learning are:
1. Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is relevant to the
personal interests of the student.
2. Learning which is threatening to the self (e.g., new attitudes or
perspectives) is more easily assimilated when external threats are at a
minimum.
3. Learning proceed faster, when the threat to the self is low.
4. Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and pervasive.
1.2.5.4 General Principles of Experiential Learning

1. Effective experiential learning effects the learner’s cognitive, structural,
attitudes, values, perceptions and behavioural patterns.
2. People believe more in knowledge discovered themselves than in
knowledge presented by others.
3. It takes more than just information to change actions thoughts attitudes
and behaviour patterns.
4. It takes more than first hand experience to generate valid knowledge. A
theoretical system is required.
5. Behaviour changes will be temporary unless the action theories and
attitudes underlying them are changed.
6. Both the person and social environment must change for other changes to
be permanent.
7. It is easier to change in a group than whether alone.
8. We accept new system of action, thought, attitude and behaviour patterns
when we accept membership in a new group.
9. The more supportive, accepting and caring the social environment, the
freer we are to experiment with new behaviour, attitudes, actions and
thoughts.
10. Changes in perception of oneself and one’s social environment are
necessary before changes in actions, thoughts, attitudes and behaviour
take place.
1.2.6 ADVANTAGES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Experiential learning encourages application of knowledge and concepts to
real-world situations with learning support from the trainer. Some key
advantages of this method of learning are given below:
1. Accelerates Learning: ‘Learning by doing’ is far more effective and long
lasting than theoretical learning. Further, experiential learning also
promotes development of multiple skills such as critical thinking, problem
solving and effective decision making at the same time.
2. Merger of Theory and Practice: What has been learnt from books can
now be applied in field to understand its effect and behaviour. It also helps
in remembering concepts and ideas.
3. Opportunity for Creativity: In the ‘real-world’, problems often have more
than one solution. Experiential learning enables the student to engage the
creative portions of their brains and seek their own unique and most
fulfilling solution to a hands-on-task. This creativity and the variety of

results produced, enriches the classroom-and society-as a whole.
4. Opportunity for Reflection: Reflection is an integral part of experiential
learning process. By incorporating concrete experiences with abstract
concepts and then reflecting on the outcome, students engage more
regions of their brain and make true personal connections with the
material. The analysis helps them to other, varied circumstances.
5. Increase Team Work: Experiential learning engages participants in
various team-based activities, thus training them on team building and
leadership. This benefits the participants because they learn from each
other and also because they will have to work in a team in a professional
environment.
6. Improved Attitudes Toward Learning: The personal nature of
experiential learning engages the students emotion as well as enhancing
their knowledge and skills. When students see the concrete fruits of their
labour, they experience greater gratification and pride, thus enhancing
their enthusiasm for continued learning.
7. Makes Learning Relatable to Students: Students build on what they
already know and are provided with opportunities to make connections
between new concepts and existing ones.
It also assists in memory retention by building strong relationships
between feelings and thinking processes. Students have the capacity to
learn successfully when the information associated with values and
feelings.
8. A Learning Environment: Since experiential learning involves working on
real-world situation simulations it offers the students freedom to think
and operate differently without crushing their confidence if anything goes
wrong.
9. Believes in Exceptional Return on Investment (ROI): Experiential
learning is personal and effective in nature influencing both feelings and
emotions, as well as enhancing knowledge and skills. It goes beyond
classroom learning and ensures that there is a high level of retention,
thereby delivering exceptional ROI over a traditional learning programme.
10. Prepares Students for Real Life: Most experiential learning activities are
communal in nature, with students in groups. Through these team
projects, students learn to work more effectively together, developing a
plan of action and utilizing the unique qualities of each team member.
Thus the students learn real-life leadership skills, as well as how to apply
critical thinking and adapt to changing circumstances.
1.2.7 ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Apart from the above mentioned advantages/ beliefs of experiential learning,
there exist some issues and concerns concerning the process of experiential
learning. Experiential learning does many things – putting practice at the heart of
learning. It is an important paradigm shift- but not everything and it is important
to be aware what it does not do. The issues and concerns of experiential learning
are discussed below:
1. Misconception: Very few educators realize that experiential learning is an
educational philosophy with defining qualities and guiding principles.
Instead, they think that it is a type of ‘informal’ education that takes place
outdoors. This explains why so many schools are shifting their classes to
“summer camp setting”. Their general attitude is that by taking students
outdoors, the students will have a phenomenal educational experience.
But this does not happen without the skilled intervention of trained
educators. There is dearth of such like teachers. They are not given
training for it.
2. Issue of Time and Energy: Using experiential teaching techniques takes
more time and energy, than using conventional teaching techniques. For
example, consider the difference between teaching students about the
‘Kutab Di Lath’ of Delhi by showing them pictures and reading from a text
book article Vs having them construct a three-dimensional model of the
monument. So, it is not realistic to expect teachers to achieve the same
number of goals and to cover the same amount of syllabus when using
experiential teaching techniques as compared to traditional teaching.
Many teachers do not like being put in this position and in fact it is not the
best practice to have teachers make unilateral decisions about school
goals and objectives.
3. Too much Trial and Error: Too much trial and error results in loss of
focus on learning. Also trial and error is the slowest way to find new
patterns, which is what learning is all about. It is foolish to learn
something through trial and error that can be learnt from someone else’s
experience in a book instead. It is good to stand on the shoulders of the
giants who came before you instead of wasting your time trying to reinvent
the wheel.
4. Group Problem Solving Exercise: This issue is very important. In a group
problem solving exercise, the introverts often feel pushed aside during the
process of experiential teaching. They feel that they were not given a clear
opportunity to step forward and take on a more active role. Extroverts
benefit more than introverts in this type of learning. A good facilitator can
correct this, if it is noticed.
5. Limited Class-time: In our classroom, the time is fixed for every subject.
They have limited class-time. There is only limited class-time left for
experiential activities. Trial and errors also consumes a lot of time. A class
teacher can’t dare to take an activity and its different stages of teaching a
small part of a subject. As a result, he avoids by teaching in this method.
6. Limited Access to Resources: For an experiment in the class, different
types of teaching/ learning resources are required. In modern world,
access to certain resources like Photostat machine, access to computer
and internet, e-book and digital libraries are essential for experiential
learning. Most institutions can’t afford the expenditure of these resources.
7. Lack of Experiential Curriculum: Curriculum is far more than a list of
subject-matter. In fact, it is the process through which what is being
thought, why it is being taught and how it is being taught, are brought into
harmony. Traditional curriculum leans heavily on what is taught, with
only a nod toward the why and very little guidance about the how. In
contrast, experiential curricula address how best to change the learning
environment to bring about the desired experience. Most experiential
curricula are instructions on how to carry specific learning activities.
In schools, the teachers are generally given a version of the school’s
traditional curriculum and told to make it experiential. This approach fails
miserably. It faces tremendous stress on teachers and generally results in
their making only a minimal commitment to use creative and experiential
teaching techniques.
8. Restriction on Students’ Engagement: Students are required to learn
themselves with the help of an experiment. There should be no restriction
on students’ exercise of free will power in terms of how they will engage in
the experiential activities. But in our schools, no such freedom is given to
the students. Every class teacher has special guidelines for it.
9. Inadequate Group Work Skills: Most schools have not encouraged their
students to work in groups and develop group work skills. But engaging
successfully in experiential activities requires that students have
developed good group work skills and are able to contribute and function
effectively within the group.
10. Assessment of Experiential Activities: The assessment of experiential
activities presents a unique problem to instructors. Because, in
experiential activities, the means are as important as the end. Therefore, it
is important to look at assessment as more than outcome measurement.
While outcomes are important to measure, they reflect the end product of
assessment, not a complete assessment cycle. It is therefore, necessary to
devise unique to assessment methods to measure success in both the
process and the product-each area required separate learning outcomes

and criteria.
11. Variability of Experiential Activities: Another difficulty when
developing assessments has to do with the variability of experiential
activities. Because students are working on different projects or
participating in different external activities, they can’t all be expected to
learn the exact same things and each student may take away something
different from the experience.
Beyond the variability, there is also the variability amongst the
different students. So, assessment technique must take care of these
issues of assessment of the experiential activities.
12. Ethics/ Privacy and Anonymity Issues: These issues are very
important for experiential learning method. Depending upon the nature of
the students experiential learning activity, teachers/ instructors should be
mindful of the ethics of student’s engagement and possible requirement of
participation of third party.
For example, in the case where students need to conduct interviews,
appropriate consent forms etc., should be provided and signed by the
participants and interviewees. Participant’s anonymity and confidentiality should
be ensured and relevant ethical concerns should be addressed appropriately. In
case of any conflict, the teacher should face liability and try to resolve conflict.
1.2.8 IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AT

SCHOOLS
Following methodology will help to implement experiential learning at
schools:
1. Create an intellectually, emotionally and socially safe and comfortable
environment, where a teacher can be confident to take bold risks in the
pursuit of self-directed discovery.
2. Let students take responsibility for their own learning.
3. Encourage students to make discoveries for themselves.
4. Keep the chosen learning activities relevant to the interests, lives, values,
perspectives and experiences of the individuals.
5. Let students understand why the lesson is beneficial to their personal
lives.
6. Take feedback from students if the approach is working for them.
7. Let learners be emotionally interested in whatever they are doing.
8. Create a sense of contentedness between the classroom and the local

context where students live.
9. Include opportunities for quiet, contemplative reflection, where students
can make self-criticism of one’s own learning.
10. Help participants to get beyond their personal comfort zones, whether they
are physical, social or cultural.
11. Involve intellectual and emotional risk-taking. Encourage failure as an
important part of the learning process.
12. Organize Mock-trials or debates and internships with companies.
13. Undertake outdoor expeditions to develop specific physical and emotional
skills through participation in outdoor and adventure activities.
1.2.8.1 Recommendations for School administration (Remedial

Action)
1. School administrators and teachers need to understand the underlying
principles of experiential education so that they can implement it
effectively both in the classroom and beyond the classroom setting.
2. Schools need to devote more resources of developing experiential curricula
that guide teachers through the entire teaching process – from the
introduction of the subject matter to the final evaluation.
3. School administration need to review the goals for experiential learning,
that the teachers are asked to achieve in a prescribed period.
4. A new type of curriculum needs to be designed and produced for
experiential educators. One which provides all of the resources they need
to use including a visual demonstration of how to use the resources most
effectively, as well as a selection of experiential assessment tools to gauge
what in the curriculum works best, what can be improved and what needs
to be changed to suit a specific school.
5. Enough time should be provided to the students in all stages of
experiential learning such as reflection, conceptualization and
experimentation.
6. Schools should provide enough time for students to engage in the activity
and its different stages meant for Experiential Learning cycle, such as
Reflection, conceptualization and experimentation.
7. Adequate access to resources for experiential learning should be made by
the authorities.
8. Students should be given freedom to carry on experiment at their own way.

They should feel comfortable to use their judgement and apply their
knowledge from past experiences to address the issues through the
experiential activity.
9. There is need to develop good group work skills among students. Teachers
should provide appropriate guidelines on the roles and expectations of
group members and encourage them to monitor and reflect on the
progress of their project or engagement.
10. Assessment of Experiential learning is the least explored area in learning
and the most challenging. Reflective journals, reports, sometimes
supplemented by oral presentations, seem to be the most common
adopted means of assessment. There is need to devise unique assessment
techniques to measure success in both, the process and criteria of
experiential learning.
In the experiential learning, the two types of variable – the variability of
experiential activities and variability of different students, are often
uncontrollable and thus, have to be accounted for when developing assessment
methods. In this regard, Qualters (2010) recommended the use of Alexander
Astin’s I-E-O (Input-Environment-Output) model of assessment.
Some educationists have considered experiential learning as the future
method of learning and teaching. Though experiential learning is a scientific and
reliable method of learning and very beneficial way to learn, yet it has many
drawbacks also. It is not helpful to inexperienced people. The learning outcomes
are not always predictable. Negative experiences can sometimes learning should
be used with great care and at appropriate situation. Experiences are, of course,
valuable, but they should not be done at the expense of credits that could be
devoted to learning difficult intellectual skills within a traditional academic
setting. The different issues and concerns of experiential learning, mentioned
above, must be taken into account before using and applying this method to
teaching-learning process.
1.2.9 Summary
In this lesson, we have discussed the experiential learning cycle and
objectives of experiential learning. Different type of principles of experiential
leaning such as pedagogical, Carl Roegr’s and general principles have also been
discussed. Effective learning results from experience when a person progress
through a cycle of four stages viz. having a concrete experience, observation of
and reflection on that experience is followed by first step, formation of abstract
concepts (analysis) and generalization (conclusions) which are used to test
hypothesis in future situations, resulting in new experiences. From the study of
this lesson, it can be concluded that experiential learning encourages application
of knowledge and concepts to real-world situations with learning support from
the trainer. It has many advantages over the traditional model of class room
teaching, though there certain issues and concerns in front of the teacher while
implementing experiential learning in the classroom. Teachers need support from
the school administration for implementing the experiential learning in their
class rooms.
1.2.10 Suggested Questions:-

Q.1 . Write a note on experiential learning cycle.
Q.2. Discuss Aims and Principles of Experiential learning.
Q.3. What are the benefits of Experiencial Learning.
Q.4 Give Suggestions regarding implementation of Experiential Learning in
schools
1.2.11 Suggested Books/ Readings

Roberts, J. W. (2016) Experiential Education In The College Content. New
York: Routledge.
Swaminathan, D. (2018) Experiential Events. Chennai, Notion Press Inc.
Beard, C. & Wilson, J. P. (2018) Experiential Learning. United States: Kogan
Page.
Mehrotra, D. (2017) Experiential Learning For Education. Chennai: Notion
Press.
Wurdinger, S. D. (2005) Using Experiential Learning In The Classroom.
United States of America : Rowman & Littlefield.
Wurdinger, S. D. & Carlson, J. A. (2009) Teaching For Experiential Learning.
United States of America: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lesson No. 1.3 Writer: Shubhpreet Kaur
Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim, Work Education,

Experimental Learning and Community Engagement
Structure
1.3.1 Objectives
1.3.2 Introduction
1.3.2.1 Main Principles of Nai Talim
1.3.2.2 Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim
1.3.3 Work Education
1.3.3.1 Contemporary Relevance of Work Education
1.3.3.2 Course Content of Work Education
1.3.4 Experimental learning
1.3.4.1 Contemporary Relevance of Experimental Learning
1.3.5 Community Engagement
1.3.5.1 Community Engagement and Quality Education in Modern World
1.3.5.2 Activities that Involve Community Engagement
1.3.5.3 Community Participation in Teaching Learning Process
1.3.5.4 Role of Community in Pedagogical Supervision and Support
1.3.6 Summary
1.3.7 Suggested Questions
1.3.8 Suggested Books
1.3.1 Objectives: After reading this lesson students will be able to:
1) Understand the concept and contemporary relevance of Nai Talim.
2) Know about work education and its importance in modern education

system.
3) Understand the concept of experimental learning.
4) To know about the community engagement in contemporary education
system.
1.3.2 Introduction
Nai Talim is a principle which encompasses that knowledge and work are
inseparable. Mahatma Gandhi promoted an educational curriculum with the
same title based on this pedagogical principle. It can be translated with the
phrase 'Basic Education for All'. However, the concept has several layers of
meaning. It developed out of Gandhi's experience with the English educational
system and with colonialism in general. In that system, he saw that Indian
children would be alienated and 'career-based thinking' would become dominant.
In addition, it embodied a series of negative outcomes such as the disdain
for manual work, the development of a new elite class, and the increasing
problems regarding industrialization and urbanization. The three pillars of
Gandhi's pedagogy include lifelong character of education, its social
character and its form as a holistic approach. For Gandhi, education is the moral
development of the person and is a lifelong process.
Gandhi's model of education was directed toward his alternative vision of the
social order. Nai Talim was, therefore, an embodiment of his perception of an
ideal society consisting of small, self-reliant communities with his ideal citizen
being self-respecting and generous individual living in a small cooperative
community. Nai Talim also envisaged a different role for the teacher, not simply
as a professional constrained by curricula and abstract standards, but rather as
a person relating directly to the student in the form of a dialogue. Nai Talim was
conceived as a response to one of the main dialectics of modernity as Gandhi saw
it as the dialectic between human being and technology. Gandhi placed such
central emphasis in his pedagogy on the role of handcrafts such as weaving,
metal work, pottery , spinning; they symbolized the values of self-sufficiency
or Swaraj and independence or Swadeshi.
1.3.2.1 Main Principles of Nai Talim
Nai Talim has encircled the Sociological, Pedagogical and Spiritual Functions.
Some main principles are stated below:
1. Providing universal minimum education to all the children which Gandhi ji

called as basic education
2. This system of education is indigenous and not imported from other
countries and therefore it is called Basic National Education
3. The course of this education is to run for seven years beginning from the
age of seven. It does not cover pre school state and post basic state.
4. Basic education must be imparted through the mother tongue.
5. In its method i.e., teaching learning practices, it must be woven around
some sort of art or handicraft.
6. The craft chosen must be systematically learnt with a view to efficiency
and practical results.
7. The product of the craft must be economically paying
8. Effort should be made to see that the money value of the work done
covers the pay of the teacher
9. The state should cover the rest of the expenses of school buildings,
furniture, books, maps and the whole of apparatus including tools for the
crafts or work education.
Proposing such system of education would strengthen the inherent positive traits
within the village community; bring dignity, self reliance, self sufficiency
and Swaraj among people. He left it to the experts and reputed educators of the
time to work out the details of a roadmap for such a system. Nai Talim
specifically emphasised education to be in the mother tongue, integrating the
pedagogy of academic subjects to locally relevant productive activity industry,
economic self reliance, to be achieved through sale of produce and products from
the school; free and compulsory elementary education; an education for the
confluence of heart, hand and head. According to Gandhian thought, the training
of heart implies character building for harmony with self, others, and with
nature. Educating the hand is to restore the dignity of labour and educating the
head is for creating and utilising knowledge for better survival at a higher plane
of conscience.
1.3.2.2 Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim
Mostly belonging to the peasant, dalit, artisan, craft, pastoral, nomadic and
adivasi communities and due to the dominant religious beliefs at the time, life
was lived with a reverential attitude to nature at that time. Given this
background and the reality of a colonial rule, Gandhi was seeking ways for the
nation’s people to be independent, self governing, self sufficient. In his mind the
key to swaraj and a life of dignity was self reliance. Nai Talim is such a versatile
system that can undergo regular review and adaptation to meet the criteria of
relevance from time to time.
1. Conpemporay pedagogy and Nai Talim
From a pedagogical point of view the Nai Talim system may have much to
offer as it is centred on productive work by learners. Learning by doing is the
most emphasised psychological principle by educationists. If
this doing results in a product or process that is found useful they thrive on
its positive feedback. It is these doing experiences that concretise
learning. Nai talim offer such experiential learning for students.
2. Environmental ethics and Nai Talim
Nai Talim system presently is ecological and ethical. More and more people
today are under the influence of globalisation and development which in
many ways is colonisation from within. Current times require a culturally
transformative education that sees beyond curriculum, prescriptive texts,
evaluations, class size etc. Educating in natural setting and educating about
the environment must be integral part of contemporary education system.
3. Teacher learner relationship and Nai Talim
Contemporary times demands building relationships between the learner and
the teacher, the community and the living space. There is a need to find
associations and connections within these spaces to everyday activities and
everyday things. Society is in need of new values, new ways of doing things, a
new story which moves from I to We. In education it begins with building
relations to undertake a journey of co-learning between the teacher and the
taught within the local context.
4. Modern curriculum and Nai Talim
Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar released the curriculum on
Experiential Learning – Gandhijis Nai Talim in New Delhi in 2018. This
curriculum was brought out simultaneously in 13 languages i.e., Assamese,
Tamil, Bengali, Odiya, Kannada, Malyalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu,
Gujarati, Urdu, Hindi and English in consultation with the state councils of
educational research and training along with the universities in the country.
5. All round Development of Students
Nai Talim repeatedly emphasized that education should include every aspect
and full development of learner’s personality. Gandhi ji said that true
education is that which draws out and stimulates the spiritual, intellectual
and physical faculties of children.” Unless the development of the mind and
body goes hand in hand with a corresponding awakening of the soul aim of all
round development cannot be achieved.
6. Self Dependence
The Basic Education envisaged by Gandhi aimed at producing self reliant and
good citizens. In order to regain India’s lost glory and prestige, Gandhi’s
educational ideas based on value-orientation have to be reemphasized. The
education curricula should be value laden as well as information oriented.
Eradication of illiteracy and spread of education is the prime need of the hour
so that the citizens of Twenty First Century can be alert and enlightened.
7. Free Basic Education for All
Gandhiji advocated for free and compulsory education for all-boys and girls
with age between 7 and 14 years. Education should be imparted in the
student's mother tongue. A free primary universal education is imparted to all
the children will make the backbone of a country strong.
8. Vocationalisation of Education:
Nai Talim emphasise vocational and functional education.’ Earning while
learning’ is the motto of this education. This will increase the creativity in a
student. As Gandhi wanted to make Indian village self-sufficient unit, he
emphasized that vocational education should increase the efficiency within
the students who will make the village a self-sufficient unit. Being self reliant
is the demand from citizens of India in twenty first century.
9. Good Citizenship Skills
Nai Talim did not ignore the ideal of preparing children as good citizens. It
was visualized that children of free India would need to know the right values
of social, political and economic life of the country. They must also inculcate
the proper attitudes and skills as good citizens of India.
10. Social service and we feeling
Gandhiji believed that social service should be an essential part of education.
He used to advise students to inculcate the spirit of service and self-sacrifice.
Thus, Gandhiji synthesized the ideals of social service and individual
development in the system of education. In his view, ’If learning becomes
merely a means of living, it will lead to degradation. Nai Talim aims at
developing feeling of social service and we feeling among students.
1.3.3 Work Education
In Nai Talim, Work Experience has been termed as Work Education and thus
makes it an integral component of education. As such it would provide both
knowledge and skills through well-structured and graded programmes, which

would help them on their entry into the world of work. Work Education is a
distinct curricular area for providing children with opportunities for participation
in social and economic activities inside and outside the classroom, which would
enable them to understand scientific principles and procedures involved in
different types of work. The productive manual work situations were to be drawn
from the area of health and hygiene, food, shelter, clothing, recreation and
community service.
The competencies to be developed in this field should include knowledge,
understanding, practical skills and values through need based life activities.
Vocational courses get a prominent place at this stage. Work Education aims at
restoring dignity and respect to all types of manual work along with promoting
self-reliance in meeting one’s daily needs and those of one’s family and
community. Apart from this, increasing productivity through the development of
proper work skills and values, and promoting commitment to the welfare of the
society through suitable programme of social work or community service are
included in work education. Work education can be categorised into various
categories on which we need to work upon are given below:
1) Work which we do at home.
2) Work which we do in our classroom.
3) Work which we do in our society.
4) Work related to the need of an individual, such as health, clothing, cleanliness
etc.
1.3.3.1 Contemporary Relevance of Work Education: The contemporary
relevance of Work Education is as given below:
1. To help the students to develop essential knowledge and understanding in
terms of : - identifying needs of the self, family and community with
respect of food, health and hygiene, clothing, shelter, recreation and social
service; acquainting themselves with productive activities in the
community; understanding facts and scientific principles involved in
various forms of work, knowing the sources of raw materials and
understand the use of tools and equipment in the production of goods and
services; understanding the utility of productive work and services to the
community; understanding the needs of a technologically advancing
society in terms of productive processes and skills; understanding the
processes of planning and organization of productive work;

conceptualizing their role in productive situations; developing abilities for
self-evaluation of performance and for entrepreneurship with respect to
changing world.
2. To help the students to develop skills: - for the selection, procurement,
arrangement and use of tools and materials for different forms of
productive work; to observe, and participate in work practice; for the
application of problem-solving methods in productive work and social
service situations; for greater productive efficiency; to enhance their
working competence sufficiently so as to enable them to earn while they
learn; to use their creative faculties for devising innovative methods and
materials in contemporary world.
3. To help the students to develop proper attitude and values in terms of
respect for manual work and regard for manual workers; - socially
desirable values such as self-reliance, helpfulness, cooperativeness,
teamwork, perseverance, tolerance, etc. proper work ethics such as
regularity, punctuality, honesty, dedication, discipline, etc self-esteem
through achievement in productive work and services; a deeper concern
for the environment and a sense of belonging, responsibility and
commitment for the society; strive for excellence.
1.3.3.2 Course Content of Work Education

The content of Work Education comprises of three categories as following:
1. Self-help Activities: A programme for the satisfaction of day to day needs of
the students and their families.
2. Community Out-reach Activities: A programme for sensitization of the
students towards their responsibility to satisfy the community needs.
3. Pre-vocational Skill Development Activities: This is the most important
programme as it is designed to prepare the students for the world of work.
However, the actual selection of activities/projects/pre- vocational courses by
school would depend upon the availability of natural, physical and human
resources in the locality, the socioeconomic background of the community and
the needs and interests of the students.
1.3.4 Experimental learning

Experimental learning is a philosophy and methodologies in which educators
purposefully engage with students in direct experience and focused reflection in
order to increase knowledge, developing skills, and clarify social and moral
values. This learning is also referred to as learning through action, learning by
doing, learning through experience, and learning through discovery and
exploration, all which are clearly defined by well known teaching maxims.
Experimental learning is the process of learning through experience, and is more
specifically defined as learning through reflection on doing. Hands-on learning is
a form of experimental learning but does not necessarily involve students
reflecting on their product. Experiential learning is distinct from rote learning, in
which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. It is related to, but not
synonymous with, other forms of active learning such as action
learning, adventure learning, free-choice learning, cooperative learning, service-
learning, situated learning etc.
Experimental learning is often used synonymously with the term experiential
learning, but while experiential learning is a broader philosophy of education,
considering the individual learning process. As such, experiential learning is
concerned with more concrete issues related to the learner and the learning
context.
1.3.4.1 Contemporary relevance of Experimental Learning:
Experimental learning is based on learning by doing principle of teaching
learning process. Majority of the educationist emphasise importance of
experimental learning now a days. We believe there are many reasons why
experimental learning is the contemporary learning are as following:
1. Speeding Up Learning process
Repetitive Learning or learning by rote has long been replaced by Learning by
Doing. Experiential Learning methodology uses critical thinking, problem
solving and decision making to deliver a training module. This has become an
established method to accelerate learning in modern world of education.
2. Conducive Learning Environment
Simulations use real life scenarios that depict several challenges, which a
participant will eventually face after the course completion. It is only natural
that mistakes happen during the course of learning, and using simulations
is like taking kids to a playground, and getting them to have fun, try new
things and learn, in a safe controlled environment. Experimental learning

environment fosters free expression of ideas and thoughts away from pressure
of authoritarian teaching.
3. Tide Over the Gap between Theory and Practice
Experimental learning helps the students by moving beyond theory to the
realm of practice that is learning by doing. The trainee gets a firsthand
experience of practicing of what has been taught. This plays a crucial role in
retaining concepts and ideas for long term.
4. Fostering Mindset Changes
There are very few learning methods that can have a dramatic impact on the
participant's mindset. Experimental Learning is one of them. Some skills like
leadership, swimming, craft and arts cannot be merely learned by reading
about it. Experimental learning fosters the development of productive mind
sets and required manifestations in mindsets according to ever changing
world.
5. Active Engagement
The high focus of experimental learning is each to benefit the participant as it
increases engagement. On the other hand, since the participant is
immediately involved in the problem solving activity or event, the level of
ownership of the outcome is high. Experimentation makes the participant
active and engaged.
6. Improved results
Experimental learning is personal and effective in nature, influencing both
feelings and emotions as well as enhancing knowledge and skills. It goes
beyond classroom learning and ensures that there is high level long term
retention, thereby delivering exceptional benefits over a traditional learning
program.
7. Better and Accurate Assessment
Assessing the effectiveness of the teaching learning program in terms of the
benefits to the trainees and the teacher is a crucial element of any learning
program. Most assessments are data driven and traditional tools use tests to
measure effectiveness. When it comes to experimental learning programs, it is
extremely difficult to gather data, which can be used for assessments. The
deep analysis of the simulation records and detailed report on the
participants’ interaction throughout the simulation act as powerful tool for

assessment. Assessment that is comprehensive and continuous is effectively
used now days.
8. Individualized Instructions
In order to enable personalized learning, every program needs to enable a
journey through the three phases namely teaching and learning strategy,
curriculum choice and assessment. Experimental learning methodology is
highly effective in meeting these requirements to enable personalized learning.
It is a radical departure from traditional learning methods and takes the
learning beyond the classroom. The participants set their own learning pace.
By combining technology and simulations with experimental learning,
educational institutes are making this concept available anytime and
anywhere, across multiple devices. This has introduced the concepts of
flipped classroom, where the learning goes to the students and not the other
way. Distance mode of learning, e-learning, m-learning, online lesson and
demonstrations etc are modes in modern education system.
1.3.5 Community Engagement
Political, social and cultural life is becoming an issue of critical importance
because there are various aspects which are directly and indirectly related to
education. Day to day the world is becoming complex. The transformation of the
macro-political landscape, the promise of expanded democratization, the threat of
narrow nationalism and fundamentalism, the increasing risk of environmental
degradation and endemic disease all of these challenges call for the more effective
development of human resources and thus for a greater demand for, and supply
of, education of better quality for the sake of social welfare..
Though most states in India, the involvement of the panchayat in the functioning
of the school system seems to be limited. In most cases, panchayats have been
responsible for constructing, repairing, and the maintenance of school building
only, and the lowest tier of panchayats hardly has any say in educational matters
of children and in the functioning of the local school. Such initiative in Andhra
Pradesh to involve community members on a large scale through programmes
such as ‘Chaduvula Panduga’ (festival of education) is famous example. Another
example is ‘Alokar Jatra,’ from Assam, a programme whereby local communities
are involved in conducting a household survey, resulting in a local-level database
on the educational status of children with positive impact on access and
enrolment. These initiatives of local people are best examples of community

engagement in betterment of education.
1.3.5.1 Community Engagement and Quality Education in Modern World
Since the declared policy of the government in the field of education has been to
provide equal access to quality education and to improve the management and
planning of education. Nevertheless, improving the quality of education has
remained undoubtedly a challenging task. As an example Nepal does not have
long history of development of education, after the political change in 1950;
people had a new spirit and zeal for all round development of the country. Thus,
people started opening new schools in their own initiations. A growing trend in
expanding of education facilities was observed. The government had not given
funds from the government treasury to the school. The community people did not
wait for the government to take initiative to establish new schools and hire
teachers in their areas. Most schools at the initial stage were community initiated
schools which received different kinds of contributions from the community e.g.
land, funds, volunteer teachers, labours, construction materials etc.
Modern era is the era of expansion of education; it is a very good time to achieve
reasonable level of progress with the direct involvement of the community. As the
community people initiate the schools, they are solely responsible for its
management as well. The community managed schools are running successfully
now days. The modality of the community managed school is quite simple in the
sense that community do many things such as establishing the school in a
location demanded by people, building classrooms as per their financial
situation, hiring and firing teacher and getting their salaries and other benefits.
Most of the educationist all over the world seems to be argued that the
community participation plays vital role in promoting education in terms of
quality and quantity; and it is assumed that community engagement and
empowerment has the potential to make major contribution in educating people
and enriching their quality of life.
The term engagement can be interpreted in various ways depending on the

context that clarifies different degrees or level of participation, and provides
possible definition of the term, including community engagement. Some points of
community engagement in education are as following:
 Involvement through the mere use of a service (such as enrolling children
in school or using a primary health care facility
 Involvement through contribution (or extraction) of money, materials and

labours
 Involvement through ‘attendance’ (e. g. At parent meeting at schools),
implying passive acceptance of decisions made by others
 Participation in the delivery of a service, often as a partner with other
actors
 Participation as implementers of delegated powers
 Participation in real decision making at every stage is including
identification of problems, study of feasibility, planning, implementation,
and evaluation.
1.3.5.2 Activities that Involve Community Engagement

Community engagement further encircles some specific activities that involve a
high degree of participation in a wider development context, which can also be
applied in the education sector, inducing:
 Collecting and analyzing information,
 Defining priorities and setting goals,
 Assessing available resources,
 Deciding on and planning programs
 Designing strategies to implement these programmes and dividing
responsibilities among participants,
 Managing programs,
 Monitoring progress of the programs
 Evaluating results and impacts.
Moving further, Education takes place not only in schools but also within
families, communities and society. Despite the various degrees of responsibilities
taken by each group, none can be the sole agent to take hundred percent
responsibilities for educating children. Parents and families cannot be the only
group of people for children’s education as long as their children interact with
and learn from the world outside their families, communities and society must
support parents and families in the upbringing, socializing, and education of
their children. Schools are institutions that can prepare children to contribute to
the betterment of the society in which they operate by equipping them with skills
important in society. Schools cannot and should not operate as separate entities
society. Many research studies have identified various ways of community
engagement in education, providing specific channels through which
communities can be involved in children’s education.
 Research and data collection

 Dialogue with policy makers
 School management
 Curriculum design
 Development of learning materials
 School construction.
1.3.5.3 Community Participation in Teaching Learning Process
Setting of teaching standards, recruitment, teacher training, teacher’s salary,
condition of service, promotion and discipline are important factors that always
comes under debate. Involvement of community in selection of teacher can play
vital role in the selection of excellent teacher as per their need. The teacher
selected by the community shows the responsibility towards the children of the
community. Teacher salary is one of the factors that affect the performance of
teachers and teacher’s performance directly related to the quality of the
education. Thus, the salary and condition of services could be shared by the
community.
1.3.5.4 Role of Community in Pedagogical Supervision and Support
Quality education system is one that succeeds in meeting its own goals, one that
is relevant to the needs of children, communities and society; and that fosters the
ability of children to acquire knowledge and critical learning skills. Global
campaign for education stated that high dropout rate in school is not only result
of poor quality, but if effective learning is not taking place in school, parents are
more likely to withdraw children school early or not sent them at all. Improving
quality of education is therefore essential to achieving goal of Universal access to
education. Without active involvement of the community in school management
quality improvement is not possible.
Project work in community could be one of the good pedagogical approaches in
teaching learning process in school. Community is the foundation of this
approach. Providing the facts, feeling and experiences of the community people to
the students could be the best help in the teaching learning process for to
increase the deeper understanding of students while at project work. Community
people can play as an actor of promoting quality education in this sense.
Successful schools build connections to parents and communities as a way to
strengthen relationship in support of the students, and as a way to better
understand students so that teaching can be tailored to them as individuals
communities offer a wide range of resources that are valuable to school and the
families they serve.
1.3.6 Summary
Thus, it is quite justified to say that the fundamental principles of Nai Talim are
still valid and fruitful in the context of our present educational reform. They are
relevant to be used as guiding principles of modern education. In fact, it needs to
be reformed on modern lines then it may serve as one of the most interesting and
fruitful techniques of modern educational system. Gandhi ji incorporated the
principle of 3H. it includes the training of heart implies character building for
harmony with self, others, and with nature. Educating the hand is to restore the
dignity of labour and educating the head is for creating and utilising knowledge
for better survival at a higher plane of conscience.
Work education is a distinct curricular area for students for participation in

social, economic and welfare activities. Student gets a sense of community service
and develops self-reliance. Work education is seem to be very important,
meaningful and the purposeful manual work organised as important part of
teaching learning process which results into product and goods which is useful to
the society in addition to the pleasure of doing work. It is very necessary for all
the section of the education i.e. primary, secondary, higher secondary and for the
higher education. Work education can be provided through well developed,
channelled and structured programme. It should include the knowledge, various
life skills, observation, and moral values through basic life activities.
Researchers and educators have long agreed that when parents get involved in
education, children try harder and achieve more at school. Parents who help and
encourage their children to learn at home, and who help develop positive
attitudes toward school, contribute to the personal growth and academic success
of their children. Various approaches have been developed to help schools gain
greater parent involvement. These approaches have several features in common:
programs that focus on parenting skills and the development of home conditions
that support learning; school-to-home and home-to-school communication about
school programs and children's progress; the use of volunteers at school or in
other locations to support the school and students; and participation by families
in decision-making and governance.

1) What do you mean by Nai Talim? Explain its contemporary relevance.
2) Discuss concept and need of work education in modern world.
3) What is experimental education? How it is important in modern world?
4) Explain various ways to engaging community in education process.
1.3.8 Suggested Books
1) Perspectives on Nai Talim: S. V. Prabhath
2) Work Education: G.S. Sehgal

Lesson No. 1.4 Dr. Kuljit Kaur
Role of Headmaster and Teacher for community

Engagement in School Matters
Structure of Lesson
1.4.1 Introduction
1.4.2 Definitions
1.4.3 Importance of Head Master
1.4.4 Qualities of Headmaster
1.4.5 Human Relation / Relation with Others
1.4.5.1 Headmaster and Staff
1.4.5.2 Headmaster and Students
1.4.5.3 Headmaster and Parents
1.4.5.4 Headmaster and Community
1.4.6 Functions of the Headmaster
1.4.7 Role of Teacher
1.4.8 Qualities of Teacher
1.4.9 Relationship of Teacher with others
1.4.10 Functions of the teachers
1.4.11 Summary
1.4.1. Introduction
Every headmaster is first of all a teacher and then an administrator. Heasmaster
holds the key position in the school. The role of the headmaster covers many
different areas including leadership, teacher evaluation, student discipline and
many more. When we enter some school, we can at once form an opinion about
the administration of that school. The characters of the school reflects and
proclaims the character of the headmaster.
1.4.2 Definitions :
In the words of "W.N. RYBURN" - "The Headmaster holds the key position in a
school just as the captain of a ship holds the key position on a ship. The
Heasmaster is the co-ordinating agency which keeps the balance, and ensures
the harmonious development of the whole institution. He sets the tone of the
school, and is the chief force in moulding the traditions which develop as time
goes on."
Dr. Jaswant Singh - "The Headmaster or Principal of a school is the hub of the
educational process. On his ability and skill as a sound and effective educational
leader depends the success of a school system".
1.4.3 Importance of Headmaster :
Success of an educational institution is based on the functioning of school
headmaster. The Headmaster is the central point of school administration. All
school activities revolve around the school headmaster. The headmaster is the co-
ordinating agency which maintains the balance and ensures the harmonious
development of whole institution. It is the duty of the headmaster to implement
the rules and regulations as prescribed by the department of education. School
headmaster provides necessary guidance to students for chalking out the
programs recommended by higher authorities. The chief motive of the
headmaster is to achieve educational goals. Schools headmaster acts as a link
between school and the society. The Headmaster builds trusting relationship with
parents of the students and tries to create a bridge between school and
community.
1.4.4 Qualities of a Headmaster :
The Heasmaster is the Central pivot around which the whole system of school
revolves. The teaching staff, the non-teaching staff, the learners and the parents
are affected by his personality. So, the headmaster should possess certain
qualities of head and heart which might have positive influence on the developing
personalities of others.
 Physical outlook or personal appearance of the headmaster should be
impressive in nature so that it may pose reasonable impact on students
an teachers.
 The Heasmaster should pay keen attention towards physical and mental
health.
 Scientific attitude emancipate the headmaster from the orthodox
thinking and treasures which in turn enlightens to create good ideas in
the minds of teachers.
 The Headmasters should has strong determination towards the
excellence of school activities. The Headmaster should not use school
resources for his own self rather he should utilize these resources for the
welfare of school as a whole.
 The Headmaster should not bear biased attitude towards any teacher
which may pose negative impact on the school community.
 The Headmaster should have faith in democratic ideas of education. The
headmaster should treat teachers and parents in a sympathetic manner
which should be free from any imposition.
 The Headmaster should keep in touch with modern movements
particularly in education with experiments which are being tried out in
different parts in India and in other countries, with new ideas in para
psychology and in education psychology.
 The Headmaster should be initiative in nature and should be capable of

working according to the conditions and circumstances.
 The Headmaster is responsible for developing, implementing and
evaluating the programs in school.
 The Headmaster should be social in nature. It is the responsibility of a
school headmaster to maintain healthy relationship between in school
and out of the school society.
 School Headmaster should have a sense of humour. The school
headmaster should be open to take constructive criticism.
1.4.5 Human Relations / Relation with Others :
School Headmaster is not only attached with administrative activities rather he
has to deal with the society members as well. It can be discussed under four
categories :-
1.4.5.1. Headmaster and Staff :
The Headmaster and staff both tend to be functional for the success of the
school. It is essential to maintain the environment of co-operation and
integrity among them.
 The School Headmaster should have friendly relationship with his staff
members. Headmaster should deal with the staff members in a loving and
sympathetic manner.
 The school headmaster should pay due respect for teachers. The
Headmaster should bear the ideas of impartiality towards his staff
members.
 Generally, conflict among teachers and headmaster is due to the
unwanted criticism in educational institutions.
 The Headmaster should seek suggestions from his staff members by
discussing the matter, before executing any administrative task.
1.4.5.2. Headmaster and Students :
Relationship between headmaster and students should be based on love,
affection, friendliness and respect. In the modern scenario, there has been
sea change in the advancement of education as a resuld of which number
of students has been increasing continuously. Relationship between
headmaster and students is elaborated as follow:-
 School headmaster should have full interest in the working of students.
Headmaster should provide good education, health, games and interests in
educational institution.
 Headmaster should have a friendly, sympathetic and understanding
attitude towards students.
 Headmaster should personally provide recognition to the students.
Headmaster should advice the students in morning assembly and should
provide necessary guidelines for students in free periods.
 There can be so many problems for students during the course of study in
educational institutions. The headmaster should try to solve such
problems by searching alternate means.
 The headmaster should provide relaxed environment for the students to
study without any imposition and burden on their minds.
1.4.5.3. Heasmaster and Parents
A Co-operative relationship between headmaster and parents can solve
various problems related to their activities. It also creates congenial
environment among headmaster and parents.
 Periodic progress report of the students should be sent to their parents
from time to time. Headmaster tends to make the parents aware about
their students.
 Headmaster helps in establishing the relation between parents and
teachers and directing this relation in the right directions.
 Headmaster invites parents of the students at the various occasions that
take place in the school.
1.4.5.4. Headmaster and Community :
There is a close relationship between the headmaster and community because
educational institution is established keeping in mind the needs of community.
Following actions can be carried out in this directions :-
 Headmaster can encourage teachers and students to collectively help the
community in cases of natural calamities, in the matters of census and
economic surveys.
 School headmaster can participate in the community functions conductd
from time to time by the community persons.
 Community, sometimes demand school playground for playing games at
village level. School headmaster in this situation should help the
community in this direction.
 School headmaster being the active member of community can help the
social working of society.
 Various functions are organized at the school level eg. Independence day,
International day, annual prize distribution function etc. School
Headmaster should send invitation letter to community members on such
occasions so that they may get knowledge about the school's
achievements.
 The Headmaster can arrange N.S.S. camps and can also arrange various
seminars related to community maters.
1.4.6 FUNCTIONS OF THE HEADMASTER

Functions of the Headmaster can be discussed under following heads-
 Planning
 Organising and Administering
 Supervision
 Teaching
 Providing Guidance
 Maintaining relations with pupils, parents, teachers, public controlling
authority etc.
1. PLANNING :-
The first are foremost duty of the Head of a school is that of planning. The
Headmaster is supposed to plan everything about the school before the planning
of the session. As for as possible, the planning should be decentralised. Planning
at different levels is elaborated as follow.
i. Planning before the session :-
 School Headmaster repairs the school buildings before starting the
session.
 Headmaster prepares the school calender by listing the actions, functions,
co-curricular activities, examination dates, educational tours etc.
 Headmaster plans to fulfill the needs of teachers available books in the
library, laboratory, equipment etc.
 Headmaster announces the dates of examination of various classes before
starting the session.
 Headmaster tends to recruit the required staff.
 Headmaster makes decision about new courses.
 Headmaster frames the appropriate time-table with the help of senior and
experienced teachers.
 Headmaster distributes the work among teachers and non-teaching staff
according to their capacities and capabilities.
ii. Planning in the beginning of the session :-

 Students are divided into different sections if order to avoid saturation.
 Headmaster gives necessary guidelines to the teachers with respect to
selection of courses.
 Headmaster gives detailed information about the classification of
curriculum for various classes to the teachers.
 Headmaster tries to maintain full attendance in the school.
 Headmaster address the students during the morning assembly.
iii. Planning during the session :-

 Headmaster prepares the profile of income and expenditure for the whole
session and prepares the school budget.
 Headmaster gives necessary guidelines to the teachers for instructional
materials.
 Headmaster also tries to prepare a list of co-curricular activities from the
teachers.
 Headmaster guides student in learning problems, professional guidance
and problems related to personality.
 Headmaster prepares special plans for evaluating the students

 Headmaster plans for supervision.
iv. Planning at the end of the session :-
 Preparation of question papers, arrangement of answer sheets, preparation
of date sheets, marking the answer sheets, preparation of results etc. are
well planned by the headmaster.
 Headmaster gives directions to the teachers for preparing the cumulative
record of students.
 Annual Report of the school is prepared by the headmaster at the end of
the session.
 Headmaster issues the school leaving certificate for students who are
leaving the school.
 Headmaster tries to get the school record completed with the help of school
teachers are clerks.
 Headmaster writes the confidential annual report of the teachers.
 Headmaster plans for the next session, in the light of the past years
experiences.
2. ORGANISING AND ADMINISTERING :-
Organisation of the school and making it function property is the duty of
Headmaster of the school. Instructional work, organisation of different activities,
seeing to the efficient running of school etc, all comes under the charge of the
Head. Details of his function in this regard are as follow :-
 Headmaster takes care of the arrangement of classrooms, beautification of
campus, proper cleanliness and sanitation and security issues.
 Headmaster executes the functioning of useful resources related to the
staff members.
 Headmaster has to pay keen attention in organization of various activities
to be held in the school.
 Headmaster along with administration also tends to organize the office
work.
3. SUPERVISION :-
Headmaster is the overall supervisor of the school. Here by supervision we do not
mean that headmaster is the fault finder and is meant to criticise the work being
done by others. In fact, headmaster's duty as supervisor is to see that the school
and its activities go on smoothly and according to the plans already prepared.
Headmaster as supervisor should act as a guide, friend, philosopher an
experienced and mature person for others. The supervision done by the Head
should make every one self-disciplined, duty conscious, self conscious, time-
conscious and above all, conscious of what the society or the notion demands out
of every school individual.
4. TEACHING :-
The Headmaster's duty is not to sit in the office all the time and regulate the
functioning of the school. Teaching is one of the major things that go on in the
school. So, the headmaster should be much interested in class room teaching.
5. PROVIDING GUIDANCE :-
The Headmaster being the head of the school, is supposed to be expert of any
type of guidance required by staff and students. Headmaster performs following
functions in regard to guidance.
 Headmaster guides the students by means of different methods in
educational institutions. Headmaster also fosters among students the
interest towards professional and vocational courses by highlighting their
importance.
 It is highly essential to discuss issues related to indiscipline, drop out
students, academically weak students and organization of co-curricular
activities with the school headmaster.
 Headmaster guides the parents in a right direction for the proper
development of students.
 Headmaster writes the shortcomings of education system to the concerned
higher authorities and guides properly in the right direction.
6. TEACHING WORK :-
School Headmaster is more a teacher than an administrator. The Headmaster is
supposed to be most sensitive and accountable teacher in the school. The
Headmaster should have full mastery over subject which he has to teach.
From the quoted paragraphs, it is clear that headmaster is the most important
person in the school who functions according to the needs of institution. In
nutshell, it can be calculated that school headmaster is a role model for students
and teachers in educational institutions.
1.4.7. ROLE OF TEACHER
The Headmaster and the teacher hold the key positions. They are just like the
main wheels on whose shoulders stand the success of the institution. The
Teachers are the backbone of our society. The teacher is the pivot of the
educational system.
DEFINITIONS :
PROF. HUMAYUN KABIR :
"Without good teachers, even the best of system is bound to fail. With good
teachers, even the worst of system can be largely overcome."
TYNDALL
"If there is any profession of paramount importance. I believe it is of a school
teacher or master".
KOTHARI EDUCATION COMMISSION

On all different factors which influence the quality of education and its
contribution to material development, the quality, competence and character of
teachers are undoubtedly the most significant."
1.4.8 QUALITIES OF TEACHER
 The teacher should be interested not only in the subject that he is to teach
but also in the learner. A teacher should be able to render help to
students. The teacher should try to win the learner with his affection and
sympathy.
 The teacher should have adequate knowledge of psychology. The
knowledge of psychology helps the teacher to understand the fundamental
process of education.
 The teacher should not be rigid follower of one and the same method in all
types of situations. The teacher should be interested in making
improvements in every aspects of teaching.
 In the age of democracy, there is need of teachers with democratic attitude.
Only a teacher having democratic outlook of life can succeed these days.
 The teachers should have mastery over the subject matter that he is to
teach to the students. In case of any type of deficiency, he should make
efforts for improvement.
 The teacher should be well conversant with the various teaching
techniques.
 The teacher who is work successfully in the school should be a living
example for others.
 The good teacher is ever ready to improve through self analysis.
 The teacher should be a true model for them so that they may learn right
things from him. The profession of the teacher requires the habit of
punctuality.
 The teacher should respect the individuality of the child and be in turn will
have all their regard.
 Every teacher should have co-operative attitude.
 The Teacher's profession is such that he is expected to remain over and
above any type of prejudice. The teacher should be able to give students
the picture and mate them think so as to arrive at their own decision.
 A teacher can do justice to the profession or job if he/she comes well
prepared for the class room teaching.
 The teacher is truly a nation builder. The teacher should be ready to
sacrifice his personal interests for the sake of national interest. If the
teacher himself possesses the quality of patriotism, only then he will be
able to include it in the students.
1.4.9 RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS :
The teacher is the leader of the social group in the class room situation as well as
in the school life. A Teacher's job is not finished with the imparting of instruction
in the class. Teacher is expected to have good relations with students and to have
acquaintance with the parents of the children outside the class room.
1. RELATIONSHIP WITH PUPILS :
The teacher should have healthy relationship with the pupils. The teacher should
be able to pay individual attention to each and every student.l Once the teacher
has won the confidence of his learners, they will ever remain under control.
2. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COLLEAGUES :
The teacher should consider other members of the staff to be like members of the
same family. The Teacher should show due regard to every one of them. The
Teacher should maintain a good reputation among his/her colleagues. Groupism
amongst the staff members, their internal conflicts with the Head or with one
another - all should not impact the school and students.
3. RELATIONSHP WITH THE HEAD OF THE INSTITUTION :
The Head of the institution is like the head of a family. It is expected out of every
member of the group to respect the head. The teachers of a school are the hands
of the head. So, teacher should pay due respect to the Headmaster. The head
master should also respect the teachers. All in all, the relationship between the
teacher and the head of the institution should be healthy.
4. RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN :
The Teacher should develop co-operative relationship with the parents of the
children. If teacher establishes good relationship with the parents of children,
then student's problems of all types can be overcome to a considerable extent.
5. RELATIONSHP WITH THE COMMUNITY :

Every teacher should understood the field, his social area and the representatives
of the community who come to school to receive education from the teacher. The
teacher should understood the community through the children and make efforts
for its improvement.
Thus, we find that a teacher requires much more than merely the mastery in the
technique of teaching.
# STATUS OF THE TEACHER :
The teacher of Today is not respected much, his emoluments are less as
compared to the ones being given to those in other professions. There has come a
huge difference between the status of the teacher that he possessed in the past
and the one that he has got now. The factors responsible for the low status of the
teacher can be listed as :-
1. The Teacher himself
2. The student community
3. The Society
4. The Politics of the country
5. A matter of Sheer bad luck
1. THE TEACHER HIMSELF :
One alternative of teacher's status is that it is the teacher himself who has
degraded his position by doing something which is unwholesome and dislikable
by others. A large number of teachers are seen doing nothing in the class room.
Some of them behave so because they are interested in group teaching after
school hours for which they are tuition minded. Teacher's inefficiency and hence
their general criticism about job satisfaction and their sarcastic remarks about
profession lower them all the more in the eyes of others.
2. THE STUDENT COMMUNITY :
Another thinking is that it is the student community that is time and again
raising a hue and cry against the teachers. Many a time of the students are on
strike. There is some element in the teacher community that make them indulge
in strikes. Thus we find that the students themselves are rarely responsible for it.
3. THE SOCIETY :
This age is materialistic and everybody gives more value to money and such
materialistic things. Naturally in such circumstances money values out weigh
anything else. From this angle, the teacher does not stand anywhere before the
business community.
The release of U.G.C. grades to some categories to teachers has undoubtedly
helped in raising the status of the teacher in the eyes of the materialistic people
of today. It is high time, the teachers also prove themselves worthy of it by
working hard to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
4. THE POLITICS OF THE COUNTRY :
This factors is also playing a dominant role in shaping of things as they are in the
country. Many a time a teacher has to play a dummy role in the hands of the
politicians.
5. A MATTER OF SHEER BAD LUCK :
Sometimes the odds are not in favour of the teachers. Thus seen from the various
angles, we can safely conclude that the status of the teacher has gone down not
in one or two ways.
1.4.10 FUNCTIONS OF THE TEACHER :
Every teacher has to perform a number of functions. The important duties of a
teacher are -
1. As a Teacher :
The teacher's main duty is of teaching the children. A Teacher infact, is a
model to the learners. He will be able to do his duty more efficiently only if
he has mastery over his subject.
2. As an Organiser :
Teacher's duty does not end up with his class room teaching. Headmaster
assigns duties such as organising co-curricular activities, celebrating a
function etc. to the Teachers.
3. As a Supervisor :
A teacher is required to supervise the task given to the students,
supervising games or co-curricular activity of which he is made the
incharge.
4. As an Examines and Evaluator :
Testing, examining or evaluating the learner is another important duty of

the teacher.
5. Selection of proper teaching method :
It is mandatory on the part of the teacher to select appropriate teaching
methods for achieving the goals of education.
6. Preparing good citizens :
Teacher needs to be committed for ascertaining the overall development of
his students. He can prepare good citizens by providing knowledge about
social equality, justice, cooperation, nationhood, rights and duties to the
students.
7. As a Recorder :
Maintaining record of student's work is also the duty of the teacher. Daily
attendance of the students, marks obtained by the students in different
subjects etc.- everything is recorded by teacher.
8. As a Guide :
All educational, vocational and personal guidance is given by a teacher to
students.
9. Fulfilling the needs of students :
It should be the duty of a teacher to fulfill needs of his students along with
dissemination of knowledge.
10. Directing social research :
The teacher should direct students for editing various changes happening
in the society from time to time.
11. Development of international understanding :
Teacher in this connection can play an important role by giving knowledge
about civilisation, political structure, culture and heritage of different
countries.
12. Establishment Relations :
Establishment of relations with the community through the student
community is badly needed. Formation of parent teacher association is a
step forward towards strengthening the relationship between the parents
and the teachers.
1.4.11 Summary
Thus, we find that teacher's duty is not only to teach in his class room. After
fulfilling these duties, the teacher will be able to do justice to the fair name of his
profession. Head master also act as a social leader.Both Head master and
teacher plays a ital role in maintaining good association of community with
school.
1.4.12 Questions for Revision :-

1. What is the importance of a teacher in a school organization ? Discuss the
various functions to be performed by teachers.
2. Bring out the characteristics of a teacher in a modern socio-economic set
up. Discuss his functions.
3. Analyse the role of a teacher with reference to :

(a) Teaching and guiding students
(b) Contact with local community
(c) Relationship with the Principal and Colleagues
4. Describe the characteristics of a good teacher. How can these be
developed in teacher.
5. "The pivot upon which an education system work its the personality of
the teacher". Consider briefly the above statement bringing out clearly
the essential characteristics of a good teacher.
6. Explain in details the various functions of the Head of a educational
institution.
7. "The Head of a school is the Kingpin around whom the whole school
revolves". Discuss the statement critically.
8. Analyse the role of the principle with reference to :
(a) His duties
(b) Supervision of co-curricular programmes
(c) Relationship with his colleagues
9. Discuss the role of the headmaster in establishing good human
relations in the school.
10. What are the functions of the Head of a School ? Select anyone
function and describe how it can be performed effectively.

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B.ED.

PART I (SEMESTER- I) PAPER VII

1.1 : Experiential Learning: Concept, Nature and

1.3 : Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim

B.Ed. Part- I Paper- VII

Lesson No. 1.1 Writer: Dr. Jagpreet Kaur

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: CONCEPT, NATURE,

ii. Define experiential learning.

1.1.3.1 Meaning of Experiential Learning

1.1.3.2 Definitions of Experiential Learning

1.1.4 NATURE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

making is a relational process between the individual, his consciousness

1.1.5 Characteristics of Experiential Learning

1.1.6 TYPES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

1.1.7 IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

8. Leads to Development of Skills for Lifelong Learning: By assisting the

(iii) Problem based learning.

method of instruction. Students would learn by doing, applying knowledge

powerhouse of data which can be used to deliver assessment results

Beard, C. & Wilson, J. P. (2018) Experiential Learning. United States: Kogan

B.Ed. Part- I Paper- VII

Lesson No. 1.2 Writer: Dr. Jagpreet Kaur

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: OBJECTIVES, PRINCIPLES,

1.2.3 EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CYCLE

Image: The Experiential Learning Cycle (McLeod, 2013)

1. Concrete Experience: The learner encounters a new experience or engages in a

1.2.4 OBJECTIVES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

2. Objectives Related to Students:

(ii) To improve community outcomes by meeting the needs of the agency,

1.2.5 PRINCIPLES OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

10. Design of Learning Experience: The design of the learning experience

1.2.5.4 General Principles of Experiential Learning

fulfilling solution to a hands-on-task. This creativity and the variety of

1.2.7 ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

process and the product-each area required separate learning outcomes

1.2.8 IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AT

8. Create a sense of contentedness between the classroom and the local

1.2.8.1 Recommendations for School administration (Remedial

8. Students should be given freedom to carry on experiment at their own way.

1.2.10 Suggested Questions:-

1.2.11 Suggested Books/ Readings

B.Ed. Part- I Paper- VII

Contemporary Relevance of Nai Talim, Work Education,

2) Know about work education and its importance in modern education

1. Providing universal minimum education to all the children which Gandhi ji

knowledge and skills through well-structured and graded programmes, which

processes of planning and organization of productive work;

1.3.3.2 Course Content of Work Education

1.3.4 Experimental learning

things and learn, in a safe controlled environment. Experimental learning

participants’ interaction throughout the simulation act as powerful tool for

enrolment. These initiatives of local people are best examples of community

The term engagement can be interpreted in various ways depending on the

 Involvement through contribution (or extraction) of money, materials and

1.3.5.2 Activities that Involve Community Engagement

 Research and data collection

Work education is a distinct curricular area for students for participation in

1.3.7 Suggested Questions

B.Ed. Part- I Paper- VII