CC BY
16PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
EDUCATING COMPASSION TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL
ACTIVITIES AND CAREER ORIENTATION
Nguyen Thi Gam
Department of Pedagogy Ha Long University, Quang Ninh Province
Abstract
In this article, the author has covered the manifestations of compassion presented in the general education program 2018 in Vietnam and the measures of educating secondary school students on compassion through the experiential activities and career orientation.
Keywords: Career - oriented activities, secondary schools, compassion, educating, student.
1. Introduction
In response to the requirements of education reform and globalization, in Vietnam, a new general education program was enacted in 2018 and was implemented from 2021 at the secondary level. This program is built in the direction of developing the qualities and competencies for students to assist students to gain necessary qualities and competencies to become responsible citizens. As well to become cultural, industrious and creative employees who meet individual development requirements for building and defending the country in the age of globalization and the new industrial revolution. In the general education program 2018, compassion is one of the five core qualities that needs to be formed in learners. This quality can be developed through different pathways, including teaching and educational activities at school.
Experiential activities and career orientation (at secondary and high school) are compulsory educational activities under the general education program 2018. These activities are directed, designed and instructed by educators, providing students with the opportunities to have practical access, experiential positive emotions, exploit existing experiences, and mobilize to synthesize knowledge and skills of subjects to perform appropriate-age assigned tasks or solve practical problems of school life, family and society; through it, transforming experiences into new knowledge and new skills; contributing to promoting creative potential and adaptability to life, environment and future careers. Thus, it can be seen that experiential activities and career orientation are dominant activities in educating learners on compassion.
In this article, we have covered the manifestations of compassion presented in the general education program 2018 in Vietnam and the measures of educating secondary school students on compassion through the experiential activities and career orientation.
2. Contents
According to Vietnamese Dictionary, compassion is "the love for people, willing to help people in need" [3; p.1102]. Compassion education "is a process of purposeful and planned impact from the school and society to individuals in order to orient individuals towards thoughts, attitudes, and acts of love, sharing, forgiveness, empathy, solidarity, responsibility, gratitude and respect for human beings through suitable means"
[4; p 29]. In essence, compassion education is educating compassionate relationships as compassion is expressed and developed through human-to-human relationships in life.
2.1. Expression of compassion in human beings
In the general program of the general education
program 2018, compassion is defined to include the following manifestations [1]:
- Love for everyone: Respecting the honor, health and private life of others; Disagree with evil and bad; Not advocating and participating in acts of violence; Being willing to defend the weak and disadvantaged people etc.
- Respect for the differences between people: Stay positive and proactively participate in charity activities and community service activities; Respect for the differences in perception and personal styles of individuals; Respect for the cultural diversity of ethnic groups in the Vietnamese ethnic community and other ethnic groups; Sympathy and ready to help people.
2.2. The advantages of experiential activities and career orientation at secondary schools in educating compassion to students
There are four types of experiential activities and career orientation: Activities during flag ceremony, class activities, thematic educational activities (regular and periodical experiences) and club activities. The modes of experience are also diverse, including: Method of Discovery: it is a way of organizing activities that give students opportunities to experience the natural world, real life and work, helping to students discover new things, learn and discover the problems from their surroundings, foster their positive feelings and love for their homeland.
The group of these organizational modes include sightseeing, camping, field trip, and other similar forms; The mode of Experiment, interaction: it is a way of organizing activities to create opportunities for students to exchange, work and experiment with ideas such as forums, plays, seminars, competitions, games and other interactive modes; The mode of dedication: it is a way of organizing activities that create opportunities for students to bring about the social values by their practical contributions and dedication through humanitarian voluntary activities, community services, propaganda and other similar modes; Research mode: It is a way of organizing activities to create opportunities for students to participate in scientific research projects
and topics through inspiration from practical experience, thereby solutions are proposed to solve problems scientifically.
The group of these activities include survey activities, investigations, research projects, technology creation, arts and other similar modes. Thus, it can be clearly seen that the mode of dedication is the dominant method in educating compassion to students. Additionally, with the type of thematic education (regular and periodical experience), class activities, activities under the flag ceremony, educators have complete autonomy in the construction and implementation of educating compassion to students.
2.3. Measures to educate compassion to secondary school students through experiential activities and career orientation
2.3.1. Guiding students to mobilize knowledge and real-life experience of compassion related to the contents of experiential activities and career orientation
Compassion is always hidden in each student and is a good quality that needs to be nurtured, preserved and developed during his learning process. In experiential activities and career orientation, each thematic activity reflects different aspects of compassion. Therefore, teachers need to flexibly apply methods and experience in organizing educational activities to mobilize students' knowledge and real-life experience of compassion, laying the foundation for the development of this quality in learners. For example, during flag cere-mony/ classroom activity, the school/ teachers develop a topic of education compassion to learners.
Teachers informs students on the topic in advance, ask students to collect/build situations /skits showing human compassion and shown by role-play or storytelling. The positive feelings of learners when researching, learning, constructing, and demonstrating skits of compassion are an important factor for this quality in them to continue to be fostered and developed.
2.3.2. Educating compassion through social and voluntary activities
Among the topics of experiential career-oriented activities, social and voluntary activities are the most advantageous in educating compassion to students. Compassion is not only shown through individual personalities but also in community activities that requires the participation of a large number of social forces. Therefore, schools/teachers need to pay attention to this type of activity to educate compassion to learners.
The topics for the activities should be diversified and flexibly organized, suitable for each moment and time, and associated with historical and social events to inculcate meaningful lessons for learners.
2.3.3. Guiding students to apply the knowledge of compassion from the learnt knowledge into real life
One of the most effective ways to educate compassion to students is to educate them through real actions, through the examples of "good people, good deeds". Educating compassion to students not only stops at the level of correct perception and right attitude, but more importantly, also it is the right direction
of actions for students. Only through actions can compassion penetrate deeply into the hearts of each student, becoming a good human quality. That is the way of teaching in order to implement the principle of "learning with practice", "theory with practice".
Guiding students to apply knowledge of compassion from lessons into real life is shown as follows: with every event happening in life, the school needs to make use of it to educate compassion to learners. For example, in 2020, there have been a series of events and upheavals occurring in Vietnam and all over the world. It is the corona virus that has claimed the lives of millions of people around the world, shook the world economy and the that of each country, upset people's lives due to social isolation and distancing, leading to job loss or unfortunately even get infected with the virus etc.
From the images of frontline medical staff exhausted due to overload in epidemic prevention work, schools can design a topic of experiential and career -oriented activities to educate students on compassion by calling for donations, financial support to buy equipment for the frontline fighters during for pandemic prevention, sharing difficulties and challenges with those who have their jobs lost and who have no income, or organizing painting competitions, cultural activities, and sports from homes to cheer and motivate the forces who are working day and night to fight against the epidemic.
Besides, the slogan "the whole country for the beloved central region" is also a suitable topic that schools can exploit to educate compassion to students when the flood disaster happened in the central provinces of Vietnam in 2020. The activities of donating, supporting and sharing from the teachers and students with the difficulties that our people of Central Vietnam have been suffering, such as donating textbooks, notebooks, stationery, clothes, food, money etc. are close experiences, attached to daily life, helping students' compassion to be developed further and more.
3. Conclusion
Compassion is the root for the development of human moral qualities. Human compassion is formed and developed in everyday life, in the family and social environment. At school, students' compassion is formed and developed through learning and educational activities; in which, it can be said that experiential activities and career orientation are those which have a clear advantage in developing that personal quality in learners.
References
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