Islamic Child-Focused Learning
Islamic Child-Focused Learning (ICFL) Schools
Since 2009 Rebuild has been researching and testing pedagogies appropriate for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – Rebuild has been researching Islamic methods of teaching that can be applied to give quality education for Afghan children’s future.
Our staff and Islamic experts have researched and confirmed that all our training materials augment Islamic values and are consistent with the value-based focus required of good Afghan citizens of the future.
How does the ICFL approach work?
- Interest is a key motivation for learning and work throughout life
- We give children freedom to explore their own natural interests and to discover how they learn best
- We have designed supplements to the Afghan national curriculum enables children to use all our core subjects (Language, Maths, Science and Technology) engaging these subjects in their own personal interests
- The children learn in social interactions, in interpersonal relations and in communication with others
- Teachers are there to guide and facilitate each child’s learning at each child’s pace and ability – This helps each child to achieve their agreed upon learning goals.
- We systematically monitor each child’s progress, ensuring they are working toward their greatest potential mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually
- We establish cooperation between the school and the child’s home - This is essential to create the best learning-environment for the child
- Technologies, appropriate to the child’s level of cognitive ability, are used to increase the child’s learning options
- We set appropriately high and challenging goals with each child, based on their interests - We asses each child’s learning progress
What do the children learn?
- The children learn to be active, goal-directed, self-regulating and to take personal responsibility for their own learning
- As the children learn new things, they learn how to add these to their existing knowledge that is useful to them
- The children learn strategic thinking skills and how to use Systems Thinking tools to solve problems and how to find different methods to reach their goals
- The children learn to recognise their own emotional states, to recognise their environment - They learn to be further motivated to learn.
- The children learn to appreciate their own and the other children's individual learning differences
- The children learn to value diversity. Children learn to respect individual differences in abilities, in backgrounds, in ethnicities, in cultures and in experiences - This creates a rich and liberating learning environment
We have learned that training individual teachers is not an effective approach for providing quality education in Afghanistan. The whole culture of the school, from the Head Teacher, the teaching staff and the ancillary staff must embrace a child-focused learning approach.
To achieve our vision of a transformed Afghanistan, we are committed to actively engage with whole school, with their management, with their teachers, with parents, with children and with young people.
Parents and teachers are the key to the emerging generation of children and young people, who in turn, will become the deciding factor in determining Afghanistan’s future.
Our Educational Philosophy
Our educational philosophy focuses on enabling each child to reach their potential in the Afghanistan that THEY will grow up in.
Our Educational Philosophy includes:
- A child-focused approach – prioritising every child’s learning needs which empowers each child to discover who they are so that they can become their best selves
- Play-based learning – this includes digital play, active play, creative play, social play, and free play. All of these develop children’s knowledge, develop their skills, develop their values and develop their attitudes – These become the motivation for the children to grow into being life-long learners
- A team-approach to early childhood education – teachers working in team with parents and with the community
- Special focus on emotional and social skills – EQ and SQ are greater indicators of children’s’ success in life than IQ alone
- Mixed age teaching – children learn alongside others of different ages, both helping and learning from others
- Quality play and teaching time outside/outdoors – we aim for 50% of learning to take place outside
- Respect for adults and children alike – respect is a high value in Afghan culture and our teachers learn how to treat children with the same respect that is expected of adults
Our Educational Philosophy includes:
- Head Teacher Training – what will it mean to be an ICFL school? The costs and benefits.
- Admin and Management Training for Schools – how is the admin and management different in an ICFL school? What will be expected?
- Teacher Training – 2 Modules of training:
- Social and Emotional Education
- Active Participatory Learning
- Hamiyar Classroom Support – this is provided after teachers who have completed each Teacher Training Module. A member of the Hamiyar Support Team will actively engages with the teachers in their classrooms for the practical implementation of what the teachers have learned in the Teacher Training Modules.
The Skills Required of a I-CFL Teacher
- Assessing each student’s strengths and abilities
- Creative in designing activities that support the national curriculum
- Good communication with different aged children and adults
- Managing multiple abilities in the same class
- Creating activities for different abilities
- Understanding the emotional needs of different students
- Ability to train children in social intelligence
- Knowing about the culture and environment in which the children are living
- Matching the activities to the children’s needs
- Time management