The Teacher’s Goal is to Help the Child

Teachers must understand that the success of the learning process depends not only on the child’s ability to take responsibility for their own learning but also on the educator’s ability to take responsibility for the teaching process, especially its planning.
Educators cannot shift this responsibility onto the parents or the child. Therefore, teachers must continuously improve, adapt easily to changing times, and cater to the individual needs of each child. They are best placed to understand and delve deeply into the context. Each child’s context is multifaceted: socio-economic, cultural, biological, educational, and familial, among others. Only by understanding this complex, closely related context can teachers take responsibility for part of the child’s development and successfully implement the established goals.

Planning with the Child’s Environmental Context in Mind

Planning involves using methods that work for various groups. Based on the curriculum and the students’ needs, activities are planned for individuals, small groups, and the entire class. Teachers plan questions to explore with the class, ways to assess what students already know and can do, and what needs to be achieved. Each activity—whether it’s an experiment, a tablet app, or reading—must be well thought out.

All teachers working with the child plan together, considering the socio-cultural, biological, emotional, and educational context of both the child and the group. A successful plan reflects the needs of a specific group of children, so even the same topic may be planned very differently in each class. Teachers recognize that in one class, emphasizing a smaller aspect of a topic might become the focus throughout the entire lesson, while in another class, a different aspect of the same topic might be chosen.

A contextual plan takes into account the group’s needs, meaning there cannot be a one-size-fits-all plan because children’s abilities are limitless. In a contextual learning system, planning is not about completing a curriculum or achieving a good grade, but ensuring the child is constantly improving and surpassing their previous limits.

Once everything is carefully planned, flexibility becomes crucial—having the ability to adapt the plan to the specific group of children on a given day and even abandoning parts of it if the learning process demands it.

Personalization Through Differentiation

Differentiation is one of the key principles of contextual learning, forming an essential part of the ongoing learning process. It is an educational method that adapts the learning process to meet the needs of the children in the classroom.

At the core of differentiation are flexible groups and a well-prepared plan of activities. For example, all children might read the same chapter of a book, but one group writes a summary, another prepares a project or presentation, and a third group creates an illustration.

Differentiation is essential because children have different needs, home environments, interests, and abilities. These differences have a significant impact on the learning process, and in the 21st century, when technology allows for diverse planning of activities, it would be unethical to ignore these individual variations.

At times, differentiation extends to individualizing the learning process, focusing on the special needs of individual children. In these cases, teachers often collaborate closely with parents and other professionals working with the child. In the contextual learning system, we embrace the principle of inclusion, recognizing neurodiverse children as an integral part of the system.

In general, all participants in the system are evaluated through the lens of their unique context, understanding that everyone has special requirements—some of which are easier to address, while others require more professionals, time, and effort. The key is ensuring that all participants are equally valued.

High Community Expectations

Every teacher is responsible for minimizing the gap between a child’s environment and abilities. A child’s achievements are directly influenced by the comments and feedback from teachers about the child’s value, intelligence, and abilities. The system is also based on the research of Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968, 1992), which shows that high expectations—especially at an early age—lead to better outcomes.

If teachers, parents, and the child expect only average results, those are likely to be the outcomes. However, we work within a community that fosters high expectations for the child’s potential. This doesn’t mean that all children will read at a certain level or write without mistakes, but the highest achievement comes when a child puts in their maximum effort to reach their best—measured not in comparison to others but in relation to their own growth.

We’re not only referring to academic results but also to social responsibility, behavior, self-awareness, and any other areas measured by the educational institution.

In a contextual learning system, children are taught that anyone can achieve the highest results as long as they are willing to put in the necessary effort.

Parental Involvement

The contextual learning system works effectively only when all participants in the learning process—teachers, parents, and children—collaborate closely.
Just as educators must understand the child’s context, parents must understand the classroom, school, and educator’s context so that their expectations are realistic and the relationship is authentic. In a contextual learning system, there is no “us” versus “them”; there is only “us.” To successfully implement the curriculum, mutual trust and belief in the contextual learning program and its principles are essential.

Freedom of Self-Expression for the Child

The contextual learning system cannot be imagined without free play—this is the foundation for social competencies and emotional maturity, which are crucial for the child’s success not only in education but also in life.
In 1962, Jean Piaget identified that pretend play helps overcome fears, allows children to imagine things that would be impossible in real life, and teaches emotional regulation, helping children avoid the consequences of inappropriate behavior.
Pretend play also allows children to talk openly about both pleasant and uncomfortable situations, something they might not do outside of play.
While play is often associated with younger children, there’s broad agreement that it is essential for them, but extensive practice has shown that older children, who have time for free play, develop a more realistic sense of self, better emotional control, and healthier self-esteem. Since children realistically assess themselves, they begin to understand and believe that, with effort, challenges can be overcome, and self-esteem does not depend on any single success or failure.
Research has shown that creativity and play are closely related because both processes require the ability to use symbols (Johnson, Christie, et al., 1999; Singer & Singer, 1998; Spodek & Saracho, 1998).
Therefore, play not only teaches problem-solving (one of the most important skills of the 21st century!) but also fosters creativity, making children better learners.
Free play and its environment in the contextual learning system are everyday companions: preschool children should play for at least 4 hours per day, including one hour outdoors, while in primary school, play is integral to education until the third grade. From the third grade onward, play is integrated into activities, and playful elements accompany the entire learning process.
The goal of the contextual learning system is to transform the approach to the learning process by considering the latest scientific research and grounding it in empirical experience.

Character and Value Education

Are our children ready to face the challenges of a globalized world? In a technology-driven, ever-changing world, value education ensures stability, continuity, and sustainability. Character education focuses on forming good habits based on core values—educators must be role models of these values for their students. If we want to foster respect, we must be respectful. If we want to foster social responsibility, we must be examples of social responsibility. If we aim to foster tolerance, we must be tolerant.

The core values of the contextual learning system include gratitude, trust, perseverance, collaboration, curiosity, creativity, empathy, enthusiasm, independence, sincerity, respect, and tolerance.
As children grow, we focus on creativity, sensitivity, respect, resilience, and courage—these values encompass the previous ones but are actively, consciously, and deeply integrated into the everyday learning process.

By continuously pushing children out of their comfort zones into situations that require value-based judgment, we strengthen their moral backbone and nurture them as individuals. This is why character and value education happen through experience, analyzing specific situations, and integrating them into the curriculum.

Ability to Question and Think Critically

Questions are a cornerstone of the learning process, and the contextual learning program teaches children how to ask them—a skill whose benefits are immeasurable.
The program encourages children to take responsibility for their learning, which means fostering not only the ability to speak but also the ability to listen and truly hear.
Children naturally ask many questions: younger children wonder, “What is this?” Older children ask, “Why?” and as they grow, they may question, “Why is this important?”
The ability to ask questions teaches children critical thinking, boosts their self-esteem, develops socio-emotional skills, and helps them listen, delve deeper, solve problems, avoid stereotypes, and respond critically and rationally to challenges. Children grow like scientists, who do not blindly accept any truth but instead follow the methodology of scientific inquiry.

Encouraging the Child’s Curiosity

Humans are born with an innate desire to understand the world around them. This inherent curiosity drives children not only to ask questions but also to search for answers to the things that intrigue them. Thus, the pursuit of knowledge, driven by curiosity, not only optimizes the learning process but also makes it memorable for children.
The exploration of the world—powered by curiosity—forms the axis of learning, to which other disciplines, such as science, language, and more, can easily be integrated, because it answers the fundamental question: Why is it important for me to know this?
Even if the skills learned aren’t directly applicable in real life, the knowledge gained will help children develop a general understanding of how and why the world around them functions.
Learning happens not just within the educational institution but also outside its walls, showing children how everything in the world is connected and where their knowledge is practically applied.