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Authors: Dr. Maya Shalom , Dr. Ela Luria
Keywords: Significant Learning, Multi-Age School, developmental ranges, personalising learning
Abstract: Introduction: Schools, as we know them today, can be traced back to changes brought about by the French Revolution, which claimed education to be a democratic right for all, and the Industrial Revolution, which gave rise to factory model education systems. Most schools continue to be organized according to this single -age structure, grouping students according to their chronological age. In the real world, however, people of all ages come to together in groups for a variety of purposes. My aim is to present the value and contributions of the multi-age school structure in relation to significant learning. The prevailing assumption is that a multi-age class allows the student to interact with a wide variety of students representing a wide range of emotional, social and cognitive levels, according to the personal progress of each student. According to this approach, creating a multi-age school framework might better prepare its graduates for life in the real world. Research questions: 1. What are the perceptions and points of views of students, educational staff and administrative staff regarding multi-age learning structure? 2. What are the teaching-learning processes that characterize multi-age classrooms? 3. What is the relation between the teaching-learning experience and significant learning among students in terms of cognitive, social and emotional aspects? Research methods: The research was conducted under the qualitative research paradigm, in-depth study of one school using triangulation among the participants: students, educational staff and administrative staff. The research tools consisted of interviews, observations, research log and documents. Findings: The findings of the research show that the multi-age structure allows for student mobility in cognitive, social and emotional aspects according to their developmental age, not their chronological age. In addition, the teaching-learning processes derived from this structure such as adaptive and mediated teaching and peer learning are found as significant learning motivators. Teaching-learning processes derived from this structure rely on adaptive teaching in alignment with the social, emotional and cognitive maturity of the students. There is a strong correlation between peer learning and mediated teaching with significant learning, where the interaction between students and the dialogue with the educator is used as leverage in the sense of significant learning experience. Another finding was that the atmosphere in the multi-age classroom has a positive social climate, with few discipline problems, violence and stress issues. The positive climate is affected by encouraging involvement and caring of students in aspects of fund-raising and volunteering, which contribute to significant learning, initiative and perseverance shown by the students. The positive views of the educators regarding the rationale of multi-age structure, made them feel satisfied regarding the teaching-learning processes, and made them believe that they deliver the feeling of a significant educational experience. Discussion: Multi-age learning acts as an authentic frame which mirrors real life, and because of this aspect, it offers significant learning experiences. These teaching-learning processes allow for the variety of students to speak in their own language, in a dynamic environment in a role that is changing over time (from young to more mature), and for upper-age or ‘strong’ students, it allows them to lead in their own field. This learning style adds to the sense of empowerment and aids those who need it, as well as creating a fertile ground for social relationships by propensity, capabilities, skills, and interest. In addition, the multi-age learning structure leads to a feeling of satisfaction on the part of the teachers regarding the teaching-learning processes as they believe they deliver the feeling of a significant educational experience. Conclusions: Multi-age learning acts as an authentic frame which mirrors real life, and because of this aspect, it offers significant learning experiences. Teaching-learning processes derived from this structure rely on adaptive teaching in alignment with the social, emotional and cognitive maturity of the students. In addition, there is a strong correlation between peer learning and mediated teaching with significant learning, where the interaction between students and the dialogue with the educator is used as leverage in the sense of significant learning experience. These teaching-learning processes allow for the variety of students to speak in their own language, in a dynamic environment of a role that is changing over time (from young to more mature), and for upper-age or ‘strong’ students, it allows them to lead in their own field. This learning style adds to the sense of empowerment and aids those who need it, as well as creating a fertile ground for social relationships by propensity, capabilities, skills, and interest. The atmosphere in the multi-age classroom has a positive social climate, with a small amount of discipline problems, violence and stress issues. Some claim that this is due to balance, and relaxation created in a multi-age class, due to the wide range of ages calling for leadership, support and assistance of older to younger students, and there are those who tie it to the small number of tests and alternative evaluation methods. The positive climate is affected by encouraging involvement and caring of students in aspects of fund-raising and volunteering, which contribute to significant learning, initiative and perseverance shown by the students. The positive views of the educators regarding the rationale of multi-age structure, made them feel satisfied regarding the teaching-learning processes, and made them believe that they deliver the feeling of a significant educational experience. This was an in-depth study of one Israeli school that is organized in multi-age classes. In order to expand our knowledge of the benefits and possible weaknesses of this kind of organization, and its relationship to significant learning, we hope that studies of other such schools.