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THE FOUNDATIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF WOMEN EDUCATION Introduction If the women educational curriculum rests on the principles of curriculum construction, it has at the same time adopted bases and principles that constitute an input to the selection of its contents and activities. The bases and principles are a set of elements that serve as guidelines in curriculum design. They also direct choices, and set and select goals, because they constitute a description of the characteristics of the environment, the culture and the learners, and of other things. Women education rests on the needs discussed in Chapter One and which are related to the following aspects:
- The woman’s educational level and its relationship with citizenship
and civil rights. If we consider carefully the correlations between the many variables and the woman’s educational level, we can conclude that they are part of four models of bases and principles. These are:
• Cultural and social bases 1. Cultural and social bases The cultural and social bases represent the components of society, its expectations, the prevailing cultural systems, its values obtained from the past, and its future aspirations. They are dynamic elements and variables that are very active in the selection of the curriculum, in addition to their being an essential source for carving out its goals and purposes and for planning its elements. The concept of culture
- The values and beliefs of a particular community.
Therefore, the concept of the socio-cultural component rests on the following perspective: The women educational curriculum rests on a comprehensive perspective that is not confined to religious knowledge only; rather, it exceeds it to include an integral socialization of the women targeted by the training, one that seeks to achieve the following:
• Instilling in the women religious and moral principles and values. How can this concept be incorporated in the curriculum? If the cultural and social component is an essential source in putting together the curriculum, it is necessary to know the ways of integrating it in this curriculum, along with the strategy adopted to achieve this. At the level of goals and purposes Among the goals it seeks to attain and which we will mention later, the curriculum strives to provide women, who are targeted by the training, with socialization and cultural upbringing that embrace the following components: - Socially: giving the women targeted by the training a social training that will infuse in them the principles of positive behavior towards the self and the other, and the ethics of a healthy behavior vis-à-vis their family and the social milieu in general. - Culturally: instituting a search for cultural values that will enable women to take part in social life through drawing upon various sources, such as the Holy Koran, the Sunna, the conduct of the righteous, and the acceptable behavior of Jamaca (Muslim community). At the level of contents In the domain of women education, the cultural and social component is embodied in integrating the cultural and social values with a view to making women social education a pillar of their socialization and cultural upbringing. The most important axes of socialization and cultural upbringing are: - Drawing upon the Holy Koran and the Sunna to derive the values of an Islamic society and to impart Islamic teachings to both the individual and the group, using Koranic _y_t (verses) as a means for explaining to the women targeted by the training the lofty means of the Holy Book, the commands and prohibitions pertaining to their conduct in raising children, their duties towards them, and their rights vis-à-vis their husbands, especially that Islam has urged that the husband be a good, educated and virtuous member of the community. - Cultivating in the women targeted by the training a sense of commitment to the components of constructive behavior towards children and the community through sensitizing them to the principles of health, nutrition, sound education, the constituents of a balanced family, and good methods of raising children. - Making use of stories and accounts that depict positive values towards the environmental and human milieu and towards all the elements it contains (such as the family, work, and the natural milieu), so that women can grasp their meanings and benefit from their lessons with regards to the precepts of good conduct and behavior. - Making the Prophetic Sìra a motivation for the female learners to emulate the virtues and qualities of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and to adopt them as a pattern of their thinking, feeling and behaving. At the level of activities and means If the contents contribute socially and culturally to educating the women targeted by the training, the activities and the means have, in turn, been utilized to realize this very purpose. This is so because they are used in the curriculum as elements of this education through utilizing them educatively to achieve the desired purpose. This utilization is manifest in the following: - Using dialog and discussion as a way of linking training with the women’s perceptions, ideas, and conceptions of reality. - Using the environment and social milieu of the women targeted by the training as a background for grasping the cultural and social values taught in the lessons and linking them to this background. - Using audiovisual means as an opportunity for linking abstract values to perceptible visuals. Among these means are videotapes and slides. - Using the example and proof as a means for convincing the women targeted by the training of the benefit of adopting the constituents of positive behavior and safe conduct vis-à-vis the environment, the milieu and society.
2. The mental or psychological bases If the cultural and social bases of the curriculum are considered as points of departure for grasping the hypothetical relationships between the learner and his environment, and the distinctive features of this milieu socially, culturally and civilizationally, the mental and psychological bases are closely related to the persona of the learner targeted by the women educational curriculum, its characteristics and peculiarities. These bases constitute a source for deriving the goals of the curriculum, selecting its contents, methods and activities. These bases and characteristics are shown in this diagram:
By affectivity it is meant everything connected with affection, reactions, tendencies and aptitudes and all other things related to feelings. It is commonly known that adult education is one of the most important domains that take great interest in the field of feelings, given the fact that it seeks to modify behavior and change perceptions and conceptions. This is why it depends on the affective constituents and their characteristics. What are, thus, these affective orientations? Affective mechanisms are made up of a number of motives and stimuli that stir vitality in the learning women and determines their choices and convictions. For women education to reach its goals and objectives, the trainer must be aware of these dynamisms, and he must be able to utilize them educatively. These affective characteristics are manifest in the following aspects: Aptitudes They include anything that can prompt the individual to act and to espouse (or opt for) a particular behavior. This is based on the principle of satisfying a need, such as the need for knowledge and discovery, the need for integration, acquaintance, as well as other needs.(1) Women education, being part of adult education, must be founded on these principles: - Prompting the women’s needs to find answers to the problems and issues facing them in the field of social life and its interactions. - Exploiting the needs of the women targeted by the training for communication and dialog in raising questions and inducing them to discussing the various kinds of behaviors and conducts. - Making the environment a means for discovery and knowledge, and for reaching the targeted truths and values. Interests Interests are a number of the learning women’s favorite activities that stimulate their aptitudes for learning, discovery, and inclination towards particular subjects(2). Because women’s interests at this stage are constituted through their disposition to lean towards practical utilitarian aspects, interest in social activity, and the desire to take part in it, these motives are one way of motivating their activities through the following means: - Exploiting the need for cooperation and self-assertion. - Using topics that stimulate their thinking, such as the story, the event and the incident. - Using fixed and animated images to attract their attention. Attitudes “Attitude” is defined as a state of psychological readiness that spurs the individual to act in a particular way; it is a systematic way of thinking and feeling towards people and the community.(1) Women education seeks to develop their positive stands with regard to their attitudes vis-à-vis the environment, family, health and economy. Accordingly, women education attempts to generate these stands through methodical means and procedural methods whose basic goals are:
- Developing positive attitudes towards reading and teaching. Values and harmony All the affective factors mentioned above converge with values and conformities, the purpose being that everything that the women targeted by the training learn in the courses of women education should eventually lead to the following results: - Acquiring a good knowledge of a system of abstract values that constitute a general view of life; it is the human being’s view that shows in his or her behavior, deeds, words, behavior towards the individual’s own self and towards others. Every time this view is formed, it is proof that a positive change has occurred in the individual’s personality. This is why women education adheres to a gradual change from understanding appearances and deeds to generalizing them within the framework of abstract values. - Creating a kind of harmony among women so as to make them feel that the acquired behaviors are in harmony with the milieu and that, consequently, they are acceptable and applicable in social life. We notice that the affective mechanisms in whose light women education can be planned must lean towards some kind of gradation as reflected by the following diagram that demonstrates the procedural application of every affective level:(1)
2.2 Mental characteristics If the women educational curriculum is based on affective characteristics that represent the mechanisms of affective training of the learning women and its tracks, it is also based on mental and intellectual paths that employ all of their intellectual energies and potentialities, hence the need to utilize the best means that would stimulate the women’s thinking energies through the following: Dialog and discussion Women education should make ample use of dialog and discussion through asking questions that stimulate the mind and arouse the interest of the learning women in research and exploration. Reference to the milieu Reference to the milieu is a means of thinking, as women targeted by the training seek to establish a link between the acquired values and principles and their knowledge of the milieu. Close examination and thinking The women targeted by the training should find in every lesson activities that stimulate close examination and thinking through generalizing these activities to include other matters in their lives. Observation and scrutiny Scrutiny is one way of understanding abstract matters which are too difficult for the learning women to grasp. It consists of observing social and environmental phenomena and others issues. Intellectual operations Intellectual operations are a set of paths that are adopted in the education of women targeted by religious training and which provide them with the necessary knowledge and information represented as follows: Knowledge Knowledge is a fundamental pillar of the curriculum; it is through knowledge that the women targeted by the training accumulate information necessary for learning about the environment and population, employment, rights and other matters, be they concepts, terms, events or other things. Comprehension Comprehension is an essential skill in women education, because women are sometimes unable to grasp the meanings of some concepts; this is why comprehension activities are incorporated in all lessons, the most important characteristics of which are interpreting the implied meanings and linking them to their real concerns. Practice The purpose of practice is to give the women targeted by the training the necessary skills to carry out various activities that require practical skills, such as arithmetic, home economics, cooking, child rearing, healthy nutrition, agriculture, weaving and sewing, and so on. Analysis In addition to comprehension, analysis constitutes an essential intellectual operation in the curriculum. It is used in the programs and lessons so as to enable the women targeted by the training to extract the various discourses used in written and spoken materials. Analysis can also be used to examine materials, such as liquids, equipment, etc. Higher intellectual operations The use of sophisticated skills requires from the women targeted by the training higher intellectual operations in solving problems facing them. These skills are manifest in assembling things, problem solving, and evaluating specific data, such as behaviors, ideas, stands, etc. 2.3 Sensory- kinetic characteristic If the curriculum is founded on the affective and intellectual characteristics of the learning women, it is also based on sensory-kinetic characteristics manifest in the development of the sensory-kinetic skills which this education seeks to achieve through the following: - Pronunciation, enunciation during reading and writing. - A good and correct reading of the Holy Koran. - A good performance of the acts of worship and adoration, i.e. ablutions, washing with clean sand or earth and prayer. - Performance of various practical skills and professional knowledge, such as cooking, weaving, sewing, embroidery, agriculture, and child rearing. 3. The bases of religious learning In designing a curriculum for Muslim learning women, no curriculum designer can fail to take into consideration the bases of religious learning – also known as “epistemological bases” in reference to epistemological science relevant to the history of knowledge, its concepts and methodologies. The basis of religious learning is the Holy Koran and the Sunna al-sharifa. Regarding the branches of religious learning, these embrace all Islamic thought that was accumulated over the years in view of its being a source of learning about religious matters. Therefore, the religious foundations constitute a fundamental basis of the curriculum, especially at the level of religious values, beliefs and behavior, given the fact that Islam’s influence extends to all aspects of social, economic, political and legal issues. 3.1 Sources of religious learning The Holy Koran and the Sunna are two fundamental sources of women education, for they are its pillar and frame of reference, as well as a source of all data. The Holy Koran and Sunna must, therefore, be given a special place in women education due to the fact that they should constitute the basis and prop of every course. The Holy Koran and Sunna can be used in more than one context, such as: The Holy Koran The Holy Koran is the Book of Allah, which He revealed to His Messenger – al-Mustapha al-Amin, Mohammed (peace be upon him) – It is the primary and fundamental source of any religious learning, from which we draw our values in life and the precepts of our Shari'a. Hence the need to make Koranic verses the basis and back-up of every educative activity in women education. Therefore, time slots are to be allotted to reading and reciting the Koran and to commentary, wherein the women targeted by the training are to read a number of Surah from the Koran, reflect upon their meaning, and commit some of them to memory. The purpose being to make the Holy Koran the most fundamental source of the precepts, values, interpretations of faith and Shari‘a and to inure them to recitations and readings of the Koran, and to take good care of it. The Sunna Being a source and a reference for the women educational curriculum, the Hadith al-sharif can be incorporated via propagating Prophetic sayings throughout the curriculum to be used as a background for educing precepts or adding force to them. The purpose of this measure is to make the women, who are targeted by the training, aware of the fact that the Sunna -be it words, deeds, or affirmations- is a source of tashriç (lawmaking). Religious frames of reference If the Holy Koran and the Sunna are two primary sources of the women educational curriculum, there are other sources that pertain to the intellectual production of the Muslim mind. This production is encapsulated in the following: - All of the sayings and deeds of the worthy ancestors, which adhere to the provisions of the canonical law of Islam, constitute an authoritative reference that is to guide the researcher and the learner in their endeavors to understand religious issues. - All that has been produced by Muslim culama in terms of thought and reflection that explain and clarify religious matters at various levels. 3.2 Characteristics of religious learning Every curriculum designer, who uses modern methods, should have as a frame of reference for the epistemological background of learning which constitutes the subject matter of this curriculum. This background is composed of the field of notions and methods common to that learning. Therefore, setting up a women educational curriculum requires taking into consideration the specificities of religious learning produced by Muslim culama, and which manifest themselves in the following: - The common concepts, such as behavior towards others, articles of faith and acts of worship and adoration. - The methods used to acquire this learning, such as learning the Koran, religious duties and the manner of performing the acts of worship and adoration. - The values that are predominant in this learning and which guide the Muslim’s behavior and conduct vis-à-vis God and towards the human environment. The diagram below explains the usefulness of religious learning:
In using religious learning in general, two complementary methods are to be adopted, as shown in this diagram:
4. Educational bases Educational bases are one of the sources of the curriculum, because they constitute a reference for selecting the activities, the means, and the teaching and learning methods. If the epistemic sources are a reference for selecting and treating the subject matter, the educational bases constitute a referential framework for organizing relationships between trainers and their students, and among the women targeted by the training themselves. The more clearly defined these base are, the easier will be the selection of these methods and means. Amongst the educational aspects upon which women education can be based, we can mention the following : r Designing content according to axis theories of curricula. r Adopting animation ways and methods. r Utilization of audio-visuals and modern technologies. r Adopting the principle of comprehensive evaluation and integrating back-up strategies. 4.1 Axis theories of curricula In the field of building up training knowledge and curriculum design, there exist two general theories: • Partitive theory It deals with the teaching material as being made up of divided parts and sections, each one of which has its own specific characteristics; that is, the teaching material is divided up into small sections organized in the form of lessons that are independent from one another. This method is called “scholastic”, and it is not suitable for adult education. • Axis theory It considers the teaching material as being composed of many parts that are related to one another in such a way as to be complementary and overlapping; hence the reason for organizing the teaching material according to inclusive and comprehensive axes. This method of teaching is suitable for adult education. 4.2 Adoption of animation methods We stressed earlier the necessity of imparting a learning that is compatible with the needs of adults and in line with the desired goals. This matter is practically embodied in the adoption of animation ways and methods according to a systematic, methodical plan. Adult education stresses the importance of incorporating the learners’ personal experiences in their learning and of fostering in them the willingness to take the initiative as responsible individuals. Scientific experiences have shown that a great deal of satisfaction takes place when facts are discovered as a result of thought, reflection and personal effort. In this connection, women education ought to adopt ways which are more open and which rely on the following: • Dialog and discussion in the classroom. • Drawing on the learners’ experiences and personal knowledge. • Cultivating in the learner the spirit of teamwork and cooperation. • Assigning individual and group tasks. • Using argumentation and substantiation methods. • Encouraging thinking and reflection. 4.3 Integrating the means As part of adult education characterized by a cognitive, skill and value oriented-learning, women education is one of the fields that need audiovisuals and modern technologies the most. This is so because the variety of its axes and the broadness of its fields of knowledge makes women education more encompassing than any other field of these means, provided that they are used properly so as to fit the characteristics of every subject matter. This integration finds its justifications in several methods, the most important of which are: • The existence of abstract concepts and values that need to be linked to sensory, visual and audio phenomena, so that the women who are targeted by the training can grasp them; among these concepts are environment and legal concepts. • Incorporating in women education performance activities that rely on actual performances and achievements, such as teaching them practical skills and vocational activities, and methods of home economics. • Strong link between women education and social environment and human issues, such as behavior and ways of life, which makes the ocular vision an indispensable matter for learning. 4.4 Adoption of the notion of comprehensive evaluation Comprehensive evaluation is manifest in going beyond the narrow view which turns evaluation into a means of passing judgment on women targeted by the training to another view that makes it an appropriate tool for adult education. It seeks to achieve the following: - unveiling the learning problems and lacunae. - studying the means and possibilities used in teaching. - collecting information about the results of teaching. - taking orientation and backup decisions. This is the reason for using a practical plan that integrates comprehensive evaluation in the following manner: - Diagnosis: diagnosing the previous skills of the women targeted by the training, and adopting them in teaching new things. This is called “placement test,” as it determines their placement in relation to the program and its goals. - Follow-up: closely following the work of the women targeted by the training in a sustained manner, and showing them how they can organize and direct their efforts. - Examination: examining the overall result of each unit through periodical final evaluation. - Guidance: guiding the efforts of the women targeted by the training through back up activities.
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