Sovereignty Education

CURIOSITY >> COMPETENCY >> CREATIVITY >> SOVEREIGNTY

CC 2009-2024. H.D. De Silva. | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Sovereignty Education

Purpose
The purpose of Sovereignty Education is to help individuals to understand and appreciate the world they live in, including themselves and their uniqueness; so that they may apply their uniquely skilful abilities to arising opportunities and challenges and transform aspects of their living for personal and greater good.

(De Silva, H.D.)

“Each one in this world is gifted to excel in at least one thing.”

- Proverb, Heladiva

Proposition
At the core of Sovereignty Education is the proposition that every individual has the ability to be uniquely skilful and already has the creative potential and an essence of goodness to excel in their skilful ability and achieve greatness.

"There's an artist imprisoned in each one of us.

Let him loose to spread joy everywhere."

- Bertrand Russell

Philosophy
We are all unique individuals, gifted with prodigious potential.

Our life is a journey towards the fulfilment of this potential.

We long to grow and become.

One of the five fundamental needs of the Human condition is the need for personal growth. This need for personal growth is satisfied whenever we achieve sovereignty. We achieve sovereignty by being our true-self and by expressing our uniquely skilful abilities for personal and greater good. Whenever we achieve sovereignty we experience the Bliss of Freedom. Freedom is the natural expectation of our Spiritual being. The vitality of freedom is a great fortune!

(Five fortunes - De Silva, H.D.)

With reverence,
See the beauty in the child,
The unique heart that has come before thee.
For it is he, who will enlighten the world,

For it is she, who will lighten the way.
Towards sovereignty,
Lead them all with love and wisdom,
To shine in their own path,
As the creative beings they long to be.
- H.D. De Silva

Power of Sovereignty

Sovereignty unleashes an individual's unique potential. Sovereignty Education empowers individuals to discover and express their uniquely skilful abilities, so they may achieve sovereignty and experience the bliss of freedom. With sovereignty, individuals are then self-empowered to develop and refine their unique faculties, unleash their innate potential and achieve great things that benefit them, their community, the economy and the environment. This is the noble outcome of an education.

"The potential is contained in the flower, which blossoms not because you direct it to, but because you release its potential by providing positive conditions of light, water, temperature, fertilizer, and soil."

- Richard Daft and Robert Lengel (Fusion Leadership)

Wealth of Instruction
A teaching that enables an individual to achieve an outcome is an instruction.

A teaching that empowers an individual to discover one’s heart’s longing, express one’s unique skilful abilities and unleash one’s prodigious potential for personal and greater good is a priceless wealth. This wealth of instruction is Sovereignty Education.

"Education is kindling of a flame, not filling a vessel."

- Socrates

Grow & Become
The teacher’s task is to help students to learn.

In Sovereignty Education, learning cycles begins with curiosity and progresses through the stages of competency and creativity and ends with the achievement of sovereignty. In a curiosity driven, positive, nurturing environment,
the teacher provides opportunities for students to learn about the world they live in, including themselves and their uniqueness. The teacher also provides opportunities for students to apply their unique skilful abilities to arising opportunities and challenges so students may transform aspects of their living for personal and greater good. With embedded opportunities for self-discovery, opportunities for self-efficacy and opportunities for self-expression individuals are empowered to achieve sovereignty. With sovereignty students experience the bliss of freedom, grow and become.

$Math Teacher$

The great and noble task of a teacher is to inspire individuals to keep learning for themselves: about the realities, possibilities and alternatives in their lives and to skilfully apply their unique abilities to arising opportunities; so they may better care for themselves, others and their living environment.

- H.D. De Silva

The Three-fold Task for the Teacher

1. INSPIRATION - Help individuals to gain curiosity, self-discovery and a sense of achievement.

Develop a positive nurturing environment where positive validation motivates individuals to be the best version of themselves.
Develop a curiosity driven culture where individuals are inspired to ask questions and keep-on learning for life.
With wise counsel, reverence, serenity, loving-kindness, mindfulness, honest-impartiality and care: help individuals to self-discover and gain a sense of self-worth for their self-confidence.

2. KNOWLEDGE - Help individuals to gain competency, self-efficacy and a sense of achievement.

In a curiosity driven, positive nurturing environment, provide individuals with opportunities for profound understanding (e.g. observation, experience, inquiry, reflection and introspection).
Help individuals to experience concepts, see things in a new light, connect knowledge and broaden their perspective and horizon.
With wise counsel, reverence, serenity, loving-kindness, mindfulness, honest-impartiality and care: help individuals to understand their world, themselves and their unique skilful abilities that hold great potential.

3. PERFORMANCE - Help individuals to gain creativity, self-expression and a sense of achievement.

In a curiosity driven, positive nurturing environment, provide individuals with opportunities for unique expression (e.g. participation, flexibility, adaptation, innovation and sophistication).
Help individuals to connect concepts, consolidate concepts and demonstrate their learning by expressing their unique, skilful abilities.
With wise counsel, reverence, serenity, loving-kindness, mindfulness, honest-impartiality and care: help individuals to develop and refine their unique skilful abilities through arising opportunities and challenges, so they may transform aspects of their living for personal and greater good.

Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives.

- Rudolf Steiner

Lesson Types
There are two types of lessons in Sovereignty Education.

These are the two faces of a single coin: Competency Study and Creativity Study. Competency study is about developing critical thinking. Creativity study is about developing skills. Embedded in these two types of lessons of Knowledge and Performance is a curiosity driven, positive, nurturing environment.

The key strategy of Sovereignty Education is to help the learner discover and express his or her unique, skilful abilities for personal and greater good.

This is achieved by providing opportunities for

INSPIRATION >> Curiosity >> Self-discovery
KNOWLEDGE >> Competency >> Self-efficacy
PERFORMANCE >> Creativity >> Self-expression

Through opportunities for inspiration, knowledge and performance, individuals gain the achievements of self-discovery, self-efficacy and self-expression. In this way, Sovereignty Education empowers the learner to discover and express his or her unique, skilful abilities and achieve the vital gem of sovereignty.

[NB: Self-efficacy as defined here is the ability to see clearly and apply effectively.]

"I KEEP six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who."

- Rudyard Kipling

In moving from curiosity to competency to creativity and finally sovereignty, the Sovereignty Education concept adheres to the Twin Lesson Cycle.

COMPETENCY ACHIEVED

Lesson for Profound Understanding

Critical thinking

(How, How well, Why?)

Achieves

COMPETENCY

'Self-efficacy'

LESSON ELEMENTS

Experience a concept

Connect concepts

Apply concepts

Gain insight

Evince critical thinking

LESSON SEQUENCE

1. STIMULUS

Gather Information

Individuals interpret written, numerical, visual or graphical information.

2. ANALYSE

Patterns & Relationships

Individuals identify essential qualities. Individuals connect ideas from different sources. Individuals find patterns and relationships between things. Individuals connect the dots with deeper understanding. Individuals acquire profound knowledge and broaden their perspective and horizon.

3. SHARE
Explanations & Evaluations

Individuals examine the pros and cons.

Individuals outline the relationships between things. Individuals relate cause and effect and implications. Individuals explain how and why. Individuals make judgements on size, value, quality, outcomes, results or size. Individuals to see things in a new light and feel inspired.

4. ASSESS

Assess Learning

Individuals assess ability, strengths and weaknesses.

Click here for

Sample Lesson Plan: PDF | PPT

Competency Study

CREATIVITY UNLEASHED

Lesson for Unique Expression

Imaginative thinking

(What if, Why not, What else?)

Achieves

CREATIVITY

'Self-expression'

LESSON ELEMENTS

Connect concepts

Consolidate concepts

Develop skills

Materialise creativity

Evince Imaginative thinking

LESSON SEQUENCE

1. STIMULUS

Gather Information

Individuals interpret written, numerical, visual or graphical information.

2. APPLY

Knowledge & Skills

Individuals construct ideas and discuss possibilities and limitations. Individuals put together various elements to make a whole. Individuals create a summative product of learning. Individuals express their unique skilful abilities. Individuals transform aspects of their living, for personal and greater good.

3. SHARE
Experiences & Evaluations

Individuals examine the pros and cons. Individuals relate cause and effect. Individuals explain how and why.

Individuals gain a sense of achievement.

4. ASSESS

Assess Performance

Individuals assess ability, strengths and weaknesses.

Click here for

Sample Lesson Plan: PDF | PPT

Creativity Study

"I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself."

- John Dewey

(My Pedagogic Creed, 1897)

"Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be."

- Rita F. Pierson

Assessment of learning

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

In Sovereignty Education, the teacher and the student use the same appraisal tool to assess the student's effort, ability and achievement.

Formative Grading System:

HA - Highly Accomplished

The student demonstrates a very high level of skill and outstanding work is evident.
Student: I am really good at all of this! I can do this, explain it and teach others.

A - Accomplished

The student demonstrates a sound level of skill and competent work is evident.
Student: I get this. I am good at most of this. I can do this and explain it.

N - Novice

The student demonstrates a basic level of skill and developing work is evident.
Student: I need some help with this OR I need motivation to do this.

Examples of Assessment and Success Criteria

✅ I can Identify things using my senses. HA A N

✅ I can use words and figures to convey information factually and accurately. HA A N

✅ I can interpret written, numerical, visual or graphical information. HA A N

✅ I can analyse information and show trends and patterns. HA A N

✅ I can summarize findings. HA A N

✅ I can connect ideas from different sources and acquire a deeper understanding. HA A N

✅ I can solve problems with new, deeper understanding. HA A N

✅ I can assess ability, strengths and weaknesses. HA A N

✅ I can construct ideas. HA A N

✅ I can discuss possibilities and limitations. HA A N

✅ I can create a summative product of learning. HA A N

✅ I can examine the pros and cons . HA A N

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

In Sovereignty Education, students undertake a creative study in a particular area of their interest. The result of their creative study is presented as a Product of Masterful Work to a wider audience including their peers, teachers and parents. It is this Product of Masterful Work that is assessed by the teacher using the following SE summative grading system.

Summative Grading System

HIGHLY ACCOMPLISHED - HA

The student's Product of Masterful Work demonstrates refined levels of skill and an extensive knowledge and understanding of the subject matter; acquired through detailed observations, critical thinking, mindfulness, honest-impartiality, passionate-diligence, care and creativity. The student has worked independently and researched extensively to create a unique product of elegance, which demonstrates refinement in form, function, motion, composition or interaction.

ACCOMPLISHED - A

The student's Product of Masterful Work demonstrates developed levels of skill and a sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter; acquired through observation, mindfulness, honest-impartiality, care and creativity. The student has worked independently and consulted broadly to create a product of quality, which demonstrates a uniqueness in form, function, motion, composition or interaction.

NOVICE - N

The student's Product of Masterful Work demonstrates a developing level of skill and a basic knowledge and understanding of the subject matter; acquired through observation, care and creativity. The student has worked with some assistance and own effort to create a product of reasonable quality.

When students graduate from high school, they will have collected a Portfolio of Masterful Work to present to prospective employers, organisations or institutions.

The graded Portfolio of Masterful Work will be the high school students final and formal academic qualification.

Elders in our societies, with their vast life experiences can and should significantly add to the inspiration, knowledge and performance of our young. Their compassionate generosity, loving kindness, mindfulness, honest impartiality and passionate diligence can make a significant difference to the life (and future) of a young person in need. There is mutual fulfilment in such an endeavour.
- H.D. De Silva

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