Strategies For Developing Students' Communication Skills From The Perspective Of Alternative Pedagogies

Abstract

The article "Strategies for developing students' communication skills from the perspective of alternative pedagogies" focuses on the application dimension, with an increasing emphasis on skills pedagogy. One of the most complex skills, which is formed from the first years of school, is the ability to communicate. This paper aims to highlight strategies for developing communication skills in primary school students from the perspective of educational alternatives, thus streamlining teaching and learning activities. This is especially important for understanding and responding to the needs of each student in the class. The study aims to provide solutions for teachers applied at the micro-educational level of the classroom and learners, in accordance with the requirements of beneficiaries of educational services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, by promoting a functional education focused on the student, the quality of education, strategic creativity in designing, organizing and conducting language and communication classes. In this educational context, the working methods and techniques specific to the educational alternatives and promoted in the traditional system have influenced the development of educators: of the capacities of active listening, of assertive expression, of receiving the message in different contexts; contributed to the development of cognitive autonomy, behavioural autonomy, emotional autonomy or value autonomy while influencing social and academic adaptation, but also the school success of students.

Keywords: Alternative educational strategies, communication skills, educational alternatives, schoolchildren, social relationships

Introduction

At the beginning of the 1990s, it represented for the Romanian education a rethinking of the educational policies, but also of the working methodology, of the educational alternatives, which through the pedagogical conception and the promoted principles opened new directions of action in the Romanian education system. Freedom of expression and training, functional differentiation and concentration, rejection of the book training system, substantiation of functional education from the perspective of needs and needs of learners, educational environment built for socialization, teamwork through cooperation and collaboration, reorganization of students by interest in depending on their needs and potential, they represent, only apart from the changes that have taken place at the micro-educational level of the dynamics of the class and the learners.

Problem Statement

In this dynamic of societal change, when the emphasis is on interpersonal relationships and constructive communication, educational alternatives offer us new strategies and techniques for developing the ability to receive the message and write messages in different contexts of communication to primary school students.

Research Questions

In this new cultural and social resettlement of our society, the quality of teacher is completed by its capacity for (self) training and (self) development at the level of the education system, but also of the social system, its adaptation to the dynamics of influences of educational contexts. , social, political and economic. Thus, the complex process of developing professional skills is also influenced by curiosity, the opening of teachers to social changes generated by the context covid-19, which examined with detachment and seriousness open the way to the complex process of solving the pandemic context, which affected and still affects the functionality of our lives. Given the dynamics of these educational changes, the research proposes to be guided by the question: To what extent are the principles of alternative pedagogies applied in the development of communication skills of primary school students, in order to initiate and maintain relationships with others to ensure active social inclusion?

Purpose of the Study

Given the fact that the twentieth century promotes a reorganization of pedagogical premises, bringing vehement criticism of the traditional educational model, focused on the student, the unidirectional act of teaching and the passivity of the educable in the teaching process. These anchors that were placed in time by the new contemporary pedagogical constructions, but also the realization of efficient connections between advanced pedagogical ideas by the representatives of alternative pedagogies led to the innovation of educational strategies, by building in time some theoretical bases and advanced research foundations. From this point of view, teachers in traditional education have the opportunity to develop their professional skills, to reflect on the educational act, on the way they design, organize, lead and monitor the production of changes in teaching in the classroom.

The priorities offered by the continuous professional training to the teachers from the pre-university education, justify the needs of respecting in class the professional standards, by promoting a system of values, by the educator's awareness of the moral, social and professional responsibility assumed, by the responsibility on the need for lifelong learning and opportunities for personal and professional development in line with labor market demands, but also new professional paradigms.

Research Methods

In this accelerated rhythm of society, of the intersection of the didactic act with information, communication and digital technology, it is necessary to rethink and reconsider the digital technological reality in educational management, the way in which in the last two years technology has supported the intrusive-educational process. a facilitator of learning content management. Thus, teachers taking into account the particularities of individual learning of Generation Z students, through educational methods based on interactive games, cooperation and collaboration projects, work tasks that challenge learners, teachers involved in research have in the educational act in the virtual environment, implemented methods and techniques of educational alternatives in teaching, which contribute to the natural spontaneity of students, solving real problems of students by developing a positive attitude towards the problem, practicing general models of problem solving, but also capacity building active listening, assertive expression of learners in different communication contexts, implicitly the virtual environment, in order to develop an assertive behavior and increase the efficiency of communication in interpersonal relationships generated by learners in social networks, but also to reduce cybe existing bullying in both online and offline environments (Cuc, 2013 , 2014 , 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c).

The aim of the research was the analysis of alternative educational strategies implemented in the teaching approach that contributes to the development of communication and interpersonal relationships of primary school students.

Findings

Through the data provided by the sample of subjects, the data of the ascertaining research were drawn, formulating the conclusions of the afferent study. By interpreting the research data, new directions of action were revealed in the design of educational programs that aim to develop communication skills in primary school students, but also identified the problems that teachers face in teaching during this pandemic period and solutions found for the development of communication skills. The research objectives being correlated with the research hypothesis, which underlined the coherence and validity of the pedagogical intervention. which addressed the training needs of educational beneficiaries, through the quality of the educational act designed, organized and carried out, through the time given in achieving these goals, through the diversity of educational, human, pedagogical resources used, through the most creative and effective teaching strategy for educators from class, but also through the degree of commitment and motivation that supports their efforts in achieving an act of quality teaching. A percentage of 64% of the interviewees highlighted that they are concerned in the educational approach during the fundamental acquisitions of promoting child- centered education, the act of teaching being directed to the educational needs and interests of students, taking from the educational alternative Step- by-Step principles and concepts its global, but also particularities of daily activities in the Step-by-Step class through organized learning in activity centers, but also through the strategy of this alternative "Circle Time", which strengthens the process of individual learning through diversity and quality (Albulescu, 2014; Albulescu & Catalano, 2019; Stan, 2014). Teachers pointed out that the "Circle Time" strategy is managed on a schedule as an independent activity, carried out in the first hour daily, throughout the stage of fundamental acquisitions, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the virtual educational environment. Through educational platforms. Provided by educational institutions, “as a personal data controller” (Order No. 5545 / 2020, art. 5, paragraph 1). The respondents found the formative valences of the activity through the systematic application in the classroom, an efficiency of the communication process by developing constructive teacher-student and student-student relations, but also by developing the capacities of active listening, of assertive expression in different dialogue contexts. , of assertive transmission of the message by educators both in the school and community environment, but also directly associated with the development of self and emotional intelligence and strengthening the cohesion of the group of students. A percentage of 85% of teachers stated the need to practice and apply the method of interest in the educational approach, promoted by the Belgian pedagogue Ovide Decroly, as an effective pedagogical way of learning for primary school students, through which they found that the design of language and communication activities being designed according to the needs, language inclinations, interests, desires, but also the need for independent work of the young student in the class or I see significant improvements in the development of reading and writing skills. Also, 90% of the respondents stated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the educational environment both online and offline through educational platforms experienced the free method of teamwork, of the French pedagogue Roger Cousinet, through the spontaneous organization of work teams, by offering work tasks aimed at linguistic creativity, and each student in the team takes over a sequence of tasks, which is in accordance with their needs, educational interests and inclinations, thus capitalizing on the initiative of students to develop cognitive, behavioral and emotional autonomy . Respondents pointed out that this technique used in language and communication activities has allowed students to form a personal opinion and develop the ability to justify it; the development of a critical thinking and implicitly of the linguistic creativity (Cuc, 2013, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c); through the method of free work in teams it was also found the improvement of the ability to formulate questions, interrogations, the formulation of one's own statements in concrete communication contexts; participating with interest in dialogues; Transmission of information through grammatically logical statements or expressive expression of ideas by students in work teams. Thus, 95% of the interviewees pointed out that the application of Freinet techniques, printing, free text, correspondence, free drawing, wall diary or school file were a real success in the virtual classroom. Through these techniques, the teachers aimed at the free, spontaneous manifestation of the students. The respondents emphasized the formative valences of the printing house, the method of individualization of learning, but also of (self) education of the young schoolchild. The teachers having at their disposal the online learning platforms, but also the educational applications, generated together with the students school contents, elearning learning supports, depending on the interests, the ability to understand the learnables, and thus 42% of the respondents give up the textbooks. classics, build texts in class, students are the ones who generate new texts according to their interests, relevant topics in the community, become familiar with the procedure of digital editing and orthoepic, syntactic, grammatical or stylistic correction of selected texts to the editing stage , comprehension or analysis. Another successful technique for the respondents' students was school correspondence, initiated online learning platforms between students from related institutions or managed through social networks aimed at educational values, dissemination of educational information, promoting the image and identity of the school. In the online environment or initiated projects and partnerships. Also, 90% of the respondents emphasized the formative valences of the school file or wall diary techniques, which they readapted on educational platforms through the multitude of their functionality, and which allowed students and teachers to actively participate in school life, to be a way of informing, to promote an open, flexible spirit, to capitalize on the potential of each member of the school team, through commitment, effort and recognition of individual qualities (Cuc, 2013, 2014, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c). Respondents as advanced solutions stressed the need to focus on training programs on the application side, familiarization with global concepts and principles characteristic of educational alternatives, drafting good practice guides to promote efficiency in the traditional system of strategies specific to educational alternatives, meetings with specialists and representatives of educational alternatives, to generate conclusive information on the field and the pandemic context. Also, the provision by specialists and trainers in continuous training courses of a new way to improve professional reflection and educational action, conclusive explanatory models of learning through technology, and to improve the instructive-educational process and school performance through through digital resources.

Conclusion

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the educational act and the class of students were transferred to the virtual environment, where the teacher had to rethink his entire class activity, and in addition to scientific, psycho-pedagogical and psychosocial competence, the educator must work personal and professional development to develop skills specific to the current social paradigm on activity in the online environment, rethinking the cultural and social dimensions of activity in the virtual environment; knowledge and application of specific security legislation in the virtual environment or training and education of other citizens. All these new aspects of daily life, make us apply good practice exercises from day to day, to make an adjustment of them, to inform ourselves, to be open to us, to have a high degree of involvement and commitment in this new societal reconstruction by adopting a critical thinking, generating viable solutions to the problems of educational crisis, a productive teamwork, adaptation to social and educational dynamics (Ceobanu et al., 2020; Oltean, 2020). In this social structure, we promote a teacher who is aware of the synergy in his professional training between scientific, psycho-pedagogical and technological skills, and under the influence of the paradigm "learning schools" (Senge, 2016) and which is in the dynamics of educational rebirth , it is necessary to build a team in which “people think and act together - systemic thinking, personal mastery, rebuilding mental models, building a shared vision and team learning - offers a very important advantage to those who want to build and develop organizations and good communities” (Senge, 2016, p. 15).

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