The design phase: the model matters

What we understand by “education” is reflected in how we carry out our work. To help illustrate this point, we’re going to look at two models, the banking model versus the spiral model. 

The “banking” model of education is a part of the conservative-technocratic stream of education.

This model suggests that learning begins with the experts, our role models. Teachers have the information consumers need to succeed. Success is defined as conforming to the role model, which means becoming the expert and supporting the status quo.

The spiral model suggests that learning begins with the experience or knowledge of participants. After participants have shared their experiences, they look for patterns or analyze that experience by looking at the commonalities and the differences. This allows the individual to avoid being limited by the knowledge and understanding of the people in the room. We also use it to add or create new information or theory collectively. Participants try on what they’ve learned to practice new skills, strategize, and create action plans. This helps participants apply in action what they’ve learned in the workshop.

The circle model is helpful because it values the expert’s knowledge and experience and the participants’ knowledge and expertise. In the wave model, everyone teaches and learns collectively, creating new knowledge, rather than only the teacher teaching and the students learning using the expert model. In the spiral model, education leads to action for social change rather than to the maintenance and reproduction of the status quo.

The spiral model helps us work with creative tensions and the tension between practice and theory and action and reflection. There is a tension between participant knowledge and new input.

The spiral model takes into account how people learn.

We use the learning heads in our workshops to demonstrate that people retain more of what they learn when they use their senses and can apply what they are learning, which helps the viewer understand more about how people learn. The spiral model allows us to use this new information to structure our education sessions, and the wave model uses what we know about adult education.

Principles of effective adult education practice participants see what they are learning as valuable as the goals established are clear. Participants can make mistakes because the experience of all participants is valued and drawn upon. New facts and insights are connected to what participants already know. 

Participants get direct and frequent feedback when people share/debate/discuss what they are learning with others. Participants feel respected when participants have input into how teaching and learning happen because differences in identity and experience are acknowledged through the use of building blocks.

These nightmares question the educational session: these questions and answers become our building blocks.

In our experience, there are four essential elements to consider before beginning to work on the design. These elements include; the participants, things to guard against, the desired outcomes, resources and skills we have or need to get.

Gender, race, ethnic background, class, age, sectors, or areas of work, first language/fluency in the language to be used in the session, how well they know each other, and what experience they have with the topic.