Yes, I made up a word - poly is the Greek word for many, diadromi is the greek word for - route/way/journey/course/trip.
One of the things I have talked about a lot while in Vietnam is the idea of education, and the supporting of educators, needs to be poly-diadromic - although I didn’t use that word then, I have tried to find something that would work to eventually explain a whole idea.
I heard many times over the course of the last month about how teachers are seeking to do it right, and ask how they are doing it wrong. My response is that we should stop seeing it as doing it right or wrong and more about are we practically going in the same direction as our own vision for our pedagogy and the way we are viewing children - and how does our vision align with children’s rights and the available knowledge about how children learn.
There are many paths to choose.
In the Original Learning Approach I keep coming back to the forest as one of my ways to explain - and again the forest (but any place urban or natural) will work. Imagine yourself at the centre… this is where you are now… the knowledge and experiences that you have gained have brought you here (maybe the image should have lots of foot prints pointing towards the middle too - but i felt that would make it so much more complicated as a visual)
Where you stand in this present moment you have multiple paths to take - some paths are your attitude, your beliefs, and some are what knowledge you seek out, others are how you put this into practice. Every day we walk multiple paths - and each path has multiple crossroads.
Every path can be walked and re-walked - we don’t have to walk it just once, because each time we walk on it, we notice something new - this is the process of repeating and practising to fully understand. And even when we fully understand the path and the surrounding, new wonder unfold on that same path.
I think far to often we are told to focus on the destination, about getting there quickly and that once we are there we no longer need that pathway. The thing is in a forest, a pathway that is not being used regularly is reclaimed by the forest - just as in the brain the neuron-connections that are not being used get lost - as my husband says - use it or lose it.
We also need to consider which pathways will lead us to our pedagogical vision? This vision could be a school-wide, class-wide or maybe your personal vision of how you see yourself as an educator. Are you practically walking the pathways that lead you to this vision or are you just thinking about those paths and that your actions do not reflect the way you want to be as an educator? Basically can you walk the talk?
This requires us to learn about the directions each path may take you - sometimes multiple paths will take you to the same place, and often those paths criss cross each other, or for a while share the same route.
What i think is important is that if we go down a path that is leading us in the opposite direction from where we want to be as an educator then we have the right to stop and go back, and hopefully unlearn the mistakes that became habits as we walked this path, and learn how to recognise these mistakes in order to avoid them in the future.
Sometimes it is a direction that many educators and school systems take. It is a valid direction for them to reach a specific goal of children levelling up at certain times in their life, passing tests and proving that the teachers have taught them (because I believe tests are not required to know what children have learned - they are merely about what have the children remembered about what they have been taught). But if you are striving towards a pedagogy of autonomy, creativity, curiosity, joy, inclusion and hope - then this probably won’t be the optimal pathway.
A poly-diadromic approach to education means that as educators we are empowered to take the pedagogical direction that best fits the children in our care - because we need to care about their education and their well-being.
In the Original Learning Approach I write about the three roles of the educator - teacher, facilitator and playworker. This means there will be times where we walk the teacher-directed path, but while on this path we have been informed by the play and the children how to best walk it so that we notice the wonders of learning and are best able to respond with our teaching. it will mean that while we walk on the child-directed path we do not just leave them to their own devices, but collaborate with them with respect and care - we facilitate - the children might be choosing the direction but we are supporting them to make informed decisions, to ensure that they are aware of hazards just as much as the adventures and wonders. As playworker we know the play path so well that the children are free to explore and do not need us to interfere (of course there are always surprises no matter how well we know the path, trees fall over, things get slippery, animals traverse - so on occasion we might need to intervene to ensure safety.) Sometimes we might even get invited to play.
I think it is important to always consider are we walking the path that allows authentic autonomy. Sometimes I think there is a lot of playwashing and that children’s “play” is not autonomous (therefore technically not play) even though the children are having fun.
I am not saying don’t do “fun”. What I am trying to point out is that the pathway of non-autonomy is less poly-diadromic than that of the autonomous path.
And if we are to focus on the idea of a world-centred education, that allows children to adapt to an ever changing world, a poly-diadromic approach is much more fitting than a singular or limited pathways to specific destinations that may not be appropriate for what the future holds.
Creativity is one of the major demands from worksplaces… yet there are few educational settings that teach for authentic creativity.
What is also vital to remember is that when we get to our destination (even if we changed destination on route) what happens is that we find ourselves at a new point in life - with more options to choose. The journey does not stop. There is no end destination (unless you think death might be, but for some it is a transition)
We might find ourselves in a place with multiple others, who all arrived there by different routes and have different stories to tell that can enrich our own experience and also inform our next steps. We might also find that we don’t all choose the same path in our continued journey - sometimes never to meet again, other times to reunite and share experiences once more. Our different contexts will require us to take different steps, make different decisions as a response to our own lived experience and empathy with the lived experiences of the children (and parents).
Sometimes we come to spaces by chance, and a person talks the talk but does not walk the talk. How can we help these people take the steps on the actual paths they so passionately talk about?
The purpose of the poly-diadromic approach is to create a space for the good-enough teacher. To acknowledge the wisdom so far learned and how that is put in practice, while also empowering educators to think about what the want their next steps to be, to consider their own personal vision of being a teacher, and what they need to be able to achieve this.
I also think teachers need to be able to make informed decisions - this requires the need for time to observe the children, listen/watch/read research, approaches and wisdom from a wide range of people to better understand pedagogy, play, children, creativity, rights, democracy, inclusion etc etc and how to be able to this into practice.
If you look up the word diadromous - you will see that it is about the journey of fish from salt water to fresh water to spawn and then of the young fish swimming to the ocean. This is a journey indeed. Fraught with dangers in both directions - not made any easier by man-made constructions such as damns - that forget the rights of the fish and their journeys because human consumption is the priority (of which I benefit from - I am aware). But maybe this idea can also be applied to children and education - that a river winding through the landscape offering waterfalls, lakes and various other challenges and also joys is like life and learning - it requires determination to get to the ocean and to live life. The knowledge from getting to the ocean helps the return.
The problem is when nature is being interfered with and barriers are put in the way, and insufficient support is put in place to help the fish reach their goal.
The brain is designed to learn. Play is one of the functions the brain uses to make sure the body does things over and over again in order to gain the knowledge and experience and strength and agility and… and… and
This is why I advocate for play responsive teaching. Working with nature rather than against it. A play ecosystem where knowledge is a vital part. Where the adults plays the roles of teacher, facilitator and playworker to be able to understand how the brain is learning and to be able to harness that in their teaching. A poly-diadromic approach - many paths.
As always, if you have a question, comment or any kind of feedback, please use the comments button. I always respond… sometimes it might take a few days.
This is one of my free posts… I do have some posts behind a paywall… as my husband reminds me that I also need to make a living. So I appreciate any and all financial support by those who can. I will though always continue to share free posts.