the balanced approach

Melody L. Calicoy Prof. Emy Fler S. Esponilla BEEd 2nd year – Section A

THE BALANCED APPROACH

Objectives:At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:

- Know the basic concepts underlying the balanced approach- Identify the characteristics of the balanced approach- Know an evolved Teaching-Learning Unit- Know the place of skills- Identify the use of subject matter or content- Handle special behavior problems- Evaluate criteria for classes using the balanced approach

Subject Matter:Topics:

- The Balanced Approach Basic Concepts Underlying the Balanced Approach Characteristics of the Balanced Approach Evolving a Teaching-Learning Content Handling Special Behavior problems Evaluative Criteria for Classes Using the Balanced Approach

Reference:- Preschool Education in the Philippines by Josefina V. Estolas

Materials: visual aids and handouts

Lesson Content:

THE BALANCED APPROACHThe balanced approach to community education may not be adequately and beautifully

understood by description or by mere words. It has demonstrated. However, an overview of the WHY, the WHAT, and the HOW of the approach shall give one a partial insight of the process.

WHY approach – To help the individual (the child) in the attainment of skills, capacities, attitudes, habits, and values which will prepare him in functioning for better democratic living in the community.

WHAT approach – The “what” of the process refers to the community needs and problems as seen in the light of the child’s needs, problems, experiences, interests, values, and capacities. These are the things that the child must learn if he has to live

1ECED 1 | Introduction to Preschool Education

through the universal needs as well as his own unique needs. These all become the bases of the teaching-learning experiences and situations – organized, implemented and evaluated in unitary structure.

HOW approach – The “how” of the approach is determined by the level of learning, scope of interests, and nature of experiences of the children are grouped in terms of their needs, interests, and experiences.

The preceding explanations of the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of the approach shows that the process is purposeful and meaningful to the learner and as such learning becomes easier because he knows WHY he learns, WHAT he learns, and HOW he learns.

A brief recall of certain extreme curriculum patterns will help explain further the use of the word balanced in the approach.

The subject curriculum takes the pendulum of curriculum development extremely to one side because the emphasis is almost totally on subject matter. The other extreme is the child centered curriculum or the merging curriculum, wherein the exponent goes to the extent of teaching only what come up that is considered interesting by the child or is appealing to the child.

Basic Concepts Underlying the Balanced ApproachThe basic concepts underlying the balanced approach are embodied in the area on what

aspects of the child and the community, as mentioned, are being balanced.

1. Individual and societal needs are balanced.The uniqueness and universality of the child’s needs are considered in the light of those in society. The individual needs may be expressed in the simple catchword CREAMIPIE – creativity, recreation, economic security, aesthetic sense, moral-spiritual values, intellectual tools of learning, physical fitness, interactional understanding, and emotional stability.

2. Balance the outcomes of the teaching-learning process.From every teaching-learning experience of the child, the corresponding outcomes in the form of knowledge, attitudes, skills, and relationships should be acquired, as necessary in the development of the 4 H’s – head, heart, hands, and human relations.

3. Balance the different aspects of the past, present, and the future.To be able to understand the child’s satisfactorily, his past experiences must be known upon which the present program of action is to be built, while considering the demands which the future shall make on him in order to attain a richer and fuller life, both as individual and as a member of the group.


4. A balanced between the old 3 R’s (reading, ‘riting, rithmetic) and the modern 3 R’s (reason, responsibility, and relationship) is important.The latter are considered not as a mere concomitants but as the old 3 R’s

5. Balance the 3 A’s – age, aptitudes, and attitudesTeaching-learning experiences become suitable enough when their selection considers the needs and problems of the child as determined by his age, aptitudes, and attitudes.

6. Balance the atmosphere of friendliness and fairness with that of firmness in adhering to standards during the implementation of the program of activities jointly pre-planned by the teacher and the pupils.

Characteristics of the Balanced Approach

1. Flexibility in Time Schedule.The number of days in scheduling the activities planned by the teacher and the pupils need not be followed exactly, as it is governed by the pupils’ needs and interests.A unit of work may initially be scheduled to be taken up for two or more weeks. In the course, certain aspects may require longer period of time in order to attain fuller satisfaction among children.

2. Flexibility in the Order of Activities for the Day.The approach allows for any activity to be taken up first as the need arises. Similar needs will determine the succession of the other activities for the day.Various activities are planned for the day to day accomplishment. Other factors not within the limits of the children may equally affect said activities, and they do happen when the weather is bad, visitors are around, certain school equipment are out of order, etc.

3. The Use of the Unitary Approach.A unit of work is studied at a time. (A unit of the work is the area of living, the needs and the problems of which are so selected for their commonality and gravity as a resulting from the initial community survey and the child assessment.) The following steps help in the study of the unit:a. Initiation – which includes the structuring of the room, doing a field trip, inviting

resource persons, watching filmstrips, pre-testing, etc.b. Raising problemsc. Grouping pupils according to needs, problems or interestd. Gathering datae. Answering problems or presentation of activities


f. Evaluationg. Culminating the activity

Different units of work are long-range planned at the beginning of the school year. These said units supposedly encompass the various aspects of children’s growth, needs, capacities, interests and limitations, as well.

4. The Disregard for Subject Boundaries.The various academic subjects, i.e. reading, social studies, science, work, education, etc. lose their boundaries in the process. They become experiences and activities determined according to needs. They are used as means to understand and solve situations and problems encountered in the development of the unit.

5. The Use of the Concept of Teaching-Learning for Individual Child of Various Levels of Learning Rather than for One Common Grade.This concept recognizes the importance of individualized teaching in a group. While children are considered as a group in totality in a class, there are always opportunities and experiences provided in order to meet their distinctness and uniqueness. In a specific period of time, children may be found doing varying activities, purposeful to meet their individual needs.

6. The Call for an Intimate and Thorough Knowledge of the Child.To promote the harmonious all-around, optimum and desirable development of all aspects of the child’s personality, and to make teaching and learning easy, stimulating and satisfying, a thorough knowledge of the child is a necessity and this can be obtained through the use of simple tools and techniques, i.e., observation, interview, paper-pencil tests, study of anecdotal records, rating scale, etc. This knowledge helps her in understanding children’s behavior, giving provisions for children’s shortcomings, developing their potentialities, etc. This also facilitates the use of some simple tools in assessing behavioral tendencies and patterns of every individual child.

7. The Use of Democratic Processes.Teacher and pupils plan cooperatively the activities with which to solve the major problems of community living, which have been discovered as felt needs through the community survey. While planning, executing and evaluating the group activities, children develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessities in a democratic society. They learn to suggest, voice opinions, accept criticisms graciously, disagree, and inquire – in short, to live the democratic way of life by practice rather than by theory.

8. The Need for Thorough Pre-Planning on the part of the Teacher.


A significant portion of the success of the balances approach certainly lies on the competence of the teacher in making an absolute foresight of the whole unit of work. This skill is necessary in being able to provide sufficient guidance in the various activities of the children, as well as in being able to include in every unit of work the different essentials needed by the class as determined by the initial survey itself.

Evolving a Teaching-Learning UnitA teaching-learning unit or a unit of work is the area of living, the needs and problems of

which are so selected for their commonality and gravity, as a result of both a community survey and individual child assessment. In selecting, planning, organizing, and developing the units of work, the following procedures may serve as guidelines:

1. Careful Child Assessment.Careful assessment of the child means getting an insight of his needs and problems as individuals and as members of a group through the behavior profile. The behavior profile is an instrument which plots the child’s status in the different aspects of growth and development.

2. Community Survey.A comprehensive community survey includes the various areas of living: health and sanitation, economic security, home and community beautification, civic life moral life, food production and recreation, international brotherhood, etc. This survey shall include the nature extent and availability of resources on the various areas, as they will be needed by the class in their whole year units of work. Furthermore, this shall also reveal the needs and problems of the community.

3. Formulation of Objectives.From the discovered needs and problems of both the child and the community, the objectives and aims of the teaching-learning process are formulated in terms of:a.) Fundamental knowledge and ideas on the needs being met or on problems being

solved.b.) Appreciations, ideals, aspirations, and ambitions that serve as strong impetus in

implementing the knowledge and ideas learned.c.) Skills and habits acquired in the process of implementation involving the use of tools

of learning and desirable behavior patterns.d.) Wholesome human relationships developed in the process of group work, such as

acceptance and execution of responsibilities, cooperation, sportsmanship, courtesy, self-discipline, friendliness, and other desirable social behavior pertinent to the child as an individual and as a group member.


4. Identifying the Resources.Material and human resources available in the school and in the community are identified and determined to help facilitate the teaching-learning community.

5. Continuous Evaluation.A continuous evaluation is done to consider the changes in the pupil’s behavior patterns and their acquisition of knowledge and skills. Notations to this effect are entered in the daily log.

The Place of SkillsThe meaningful and purposeful situations pre-planned in connection with the teaching-

learning experiences fully take care of the basic skills.Skill development may not appear in a definite time scheduled for the day, but skills are

certainly developed every day. This time and length depend upon the immediate needs of the pupils. In any case, the learning of the skills becomes meaningful, for the children are given the share of planning them and knowing why they have to learn the same.

The teacher is limited by the length of the period assigned for skills, in the balanced approach the teacher is free to take as much as is needed as long as it is in keeping with the pupils’ capacity to sustain interest and attention, as well as with their readiness for the new skill.

As soon as the need for a skill arises, the teacher makes a rapid diagnosis and separates the groups that need teaching and practice. Others may continue with their ongoing activities, thus leaving no chance for activities to drag on during the day. The daily activities become more varied, more pupil interest is generated, individualized teaching is made possible, and skills acquired become more meaningful.

The Use of Subject Matter or ContentThe concept in the use of subject matter changes with the concept of educational goals. In

the traditional school, subject matter is considered as an end in itself, instead of a means to an end. In the newer concept, the subject content is taught as required to cope with true-to-life problem situations.

The most important consideration, therefore, is to effect change in the behavior of the children as made possible by the knowledge of the subject matter.

Handling Special Behavior ProblemsThe findings in the careful assessment of the individual children may need appropriate

care and attention, relevant to the unit under study, thus:1.) A child who is extremely retiring may be given varied experiences in relating to people,

i.e., assigning him into groups to invite resource speakers, delivering letter of thanks, etc.2.) A child who is aloof from his classmates may be encourage to participate in a “get

acquainted game” where self-introduction is necessary.


3.) A lazy child may be assigned by his peers to some activities, like watering the plants, arranging the books or chairs in the room, beautifying the classroom, etc.

The handling of a behavior problem is not taken as an isolated aspect of the teaching-learning experience. It is made to become closely knitted with the activities planned for the unit. These needs acute alertness and sensitivity from the teacher in being able to utilize available opportunities and experiences related to the unit of work.

Evaluative Criteria for Classes Using the Balanced ApproachThese evaluative criteria may be used in making an assessment of classes using the

balanced approach:

Excellent (Ex) – means the conditions are extensive and very satisfactorily functioning; Above Average (AA) – means that the provisions or conditions are moderately extensive

and are functioning well; Average (A) – means that the conditions are fairly extensive and functioning in a limited

extent; and Below Average (BA) – means that the conditions are very limited and are functioning

poorly
