Tagore was born at Calcutta in 1861. He was born at the time when nationalism was fused with religion. He started a small Bengali school at Bolpur, which his father named as Shantiniketan which means abode of peace. He gave theoretical and practical shape to his educational ideas in this school.
Tagore’s ideas relevant to early childhood education
Tagore believed that in early years the child should arrive at truth through natural process spontaneously by coming in contact with things and persons. This would pave the way for the widest possible development of child’s interests. Learning for the child is essentially explorative, active and full of joy. His other ideas for the education of young children are described below.
Aims of education: According to Tagore, education was a gradual and progressive growth of a child. He believed that a child grows as an organism grows. He emphasized that education should begin with training of instincts, emotions, self reliance and communal cooperation. Then art, music and play should be introduced.
Curriculum: His aspiration was not subject centered, but activity centered. He stressed that the education should be given through activity and play. It should be creative and it should include artistic aspects of learning and craft work.
Methods of teaching: Tagore emphasized the following three methods –
Peripatetic method: He was concerned with the association between body and mind in order to establish a total rhythm and harmony in life. The children should be taught drama and arts as compulsory subjects from the beginning. This is because the children need the opportunity to give expression to their feelings through their bodily movements.
Activity method: He gave emphasis for activity method. He wanted children to understand the concepts through performing activities. For example to understand a verb “tear”, he used to make the children to tear some papers to master the concept of tearing.
Environmental approach: He emphasized teaching through environment. He included more number of nature walks to teach the concepts for younger children. He believed in providing first hand experiences to children in their learning process through nature. The modern approach of learning by organizing “nature trails, in the subject of environmental studies are similar to the ideas of Tagore.
Discipline in schools. Tagore was against rigid discipline in childhood. He would give a break of 5 minutes between class periods. He would change the place of class. He would move his class from the shade of one tree to another.
He had lot of freedom during his childhood. He believed that too many restrictions would make the education joyless. The child can give expression to his joy through play. He can invent things with the help of material at hand.
Student-teacher relationships: Tagore emphasized on student-teacher interaction. He considered it as the most important medium of human development. The teacher should provide an atmosphere of creative activity within the ashram school and she should act as a play mate to the children. His concept of an ideal teacher can be found in his popular play “Phalguni”.
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