Concept of Education of Imam Ghazali

by Sultan

The great educator of Islam, imam Ghazali was born in a time, when doubts were raised from various sides about Islam.

Imam Ghazali was born in 1059 AD near Tus in Khurasan, a part of the then Persia. These were the times, when Muslims were dominating Europe, Asia and Africa, due to the effect of new culture of these countries they were deviating from the true teachings of Islam. Imam Ghazali came to the rescue them. We can say that, in one way he was responsible for the revival of Islam. He is also known as Hujjatul Islam.

Imam Ghazali mentions in his book Al-munqudeen –al- dalal, that he spent 38 years in the search of truth from place to place and studied different schools of thoughts of that time.

Because of his knowledge and study, he was offered the post of head of Nizamia School in Baghdad. This school was the center of attraction for scholars all over the world. But due to his curiosity and quest for knowledge, he resigned from this post after four years. He became the critic of that time Islam and he saw no difference between Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Imam Ghazali ’s skepticism continues from another ten years, in which he wondered in many palaces including, Makkah, Yathrab and Syria. He also performed several pilgrimages to Makkah and once took an oath, while standing beside the stone of Abraham (Maqam-e-Ibrahim) in the Khana Kaaba. He swear that;

I will not go to the court of any king
I will not get any money from rulers
I will not indulge in any type of discussion with scholars.

Imam Ghazali died in 1111 Ad. He has written number of books including the  “Revival of Islamic knowledge” (Ahya-e-uloom Islam) and “Incoherence of philosophy “ (Tahafat-ul-filasafa)

He provided rational basis for the Islamic beliefs and integrated Sufism and individual beliefs, to give a holistic picture of Islam in helping to reunite Muslims of the world. People criticize him for the lack of use of reason in Islam.

As an educator, he is the greatest and most influential educators of Islam and has great influence on the modern educational thoughts.

His educational philosophy based on his personal experience. the philosophy, which he formulated over a period of 10 years, resembles to the Philosophy of Plato. He used his personal experience and concluded the reasons, which he calls sixth sense, which can lead us to truth. Divine revelation (Ilham) is superior to reason but is endowed to only selected individuals called prophets (paighamber). The reason given to human beings also has limitations and can not acquire the absolute truth. Hence, it is obligatory for all human beings to obey the commandments send to us through [prophets from time to time.

It is very much clear that the educational ideas of Ghazali are deeply affected by his religious philosophy and research. He thinks that human mind is like a clean slate and the teacher can transform it with the passage of time. Plato and Aristotle also held similar views.

The importance of Knowledge:

According to Ghazali, knowledge can bring us closer to God as well as enhance worldly respect and position. Knowledge, according to him is not relative but has an entity in itself. It can raise the status of the individual, create self respect and take him to the highest position.

According to Ghazali, there are four categories of Knowledge;

Prophetic
Rulers
Philosophers/scholars
Preachers

1.    Prophetic:
Prophets convey the message of God regardless of any discrimination and help to purify the inner self.

Ruler:
They use their authority, legislation and rules to train and guide the society.

Philosophers/scholars
Their knowledge benefits only selected individuals but for benefiting masses.

Preachers;
They are meant to fulfill the religious needs of the society and train outer and inner self. Their job is to promote knowledge, improve the life of people, and help them to acquire desirable ethics through education.

Ghazali divides knowledge into two types; eg

Useful or desirable knowledge
Useless or undesirable knowledge

1.  Useful knowledge:
     It is further divided into two

Farz-i-Ain:     (Compulsory)
This knowledge is obligatory for all and contains the knowledge of Islam

Farz-i-Kafaya:  (Optional)
This knowledge is optional and depends on the will of the individual. It is further divided into two;

Worldly knowledge
Religious knowledge

2.   Useless Knowledge:
Although no knowledge is useless, it is not desirable if it can create an undesirable effect such as

If it harms somebody like magic etc
If the chance factor is involved like astrology etc
If it leads to thinking about God. Ghazali says that these matters should be left only to prophets and saints.

Aims of Education:
Ghazali based his aims of education on Islamic ideology. According to him, the major aim of education is that it is useful. The knowledge gained as a result of education should be useful both for individual and the society. It means that the aim of education is character building of individual so that it could differentiate between good and evil and avoids following the evil path.

Johnn Herbart proposed the same ideas about 700 year after the demise of Ghazali.

Psychological concepts of Ghazali:
Ghazali raises the basic question whether the human instinct is based on good or evil. He has presented his ideas in the light of Quran and Hadith. According to him good or evil are not physical and is not instinctual. Humans can be transformed by education and training. Rousseau expressed similar idea in 18th century.

Ghazali seems impressed by the Greek philosophers. According to Aristotle there are two types of creations in the world. i.e.

Perfect creation: These are perfected like moon , sun etc
Imperfect creations like seed of tree, which is imperfect in the sense that it has the ability to become a tree.

According to Ghazali, human beings are imperfect creatures and are similar to the seed. They have the ability and capacity to become perfect, only the suitable conditions are required. According to him, good character means good deeds.

Ghazali has given the following four ways in which deficiencies can be identified and removed.

Perfect teacher
Such teachers that have spiritual insight and knowledge and has the ability to analyze deficiencies of others

Close fiends:
We can identify our deficiencies with the help of our close friends

Foes:
We can know more about our deficiencies from our foes.

Self analysis:
Ghazali also stresses on self-analysis from time to time.


Curriculum:
Ghazali strongly criticizes the curriculum of his time. He raises the basic question of criteria for selection of subject matter for curriculum. He studied the various curriculum's in his times and reached the following conclusions:

More time is spent on religious education and worldly education is completely ignores
Worldly education is equally important
While teaching religious education , a great number of differences arise among the teachers, which result in mud slinging on each other
There is no. Prioritization and it is only left to the interest and opinions of the teachers to concentrate on certain subjects, while ignore others.

No place for character building in curriculum

Ghazali recommended that curriculum should be composed of obligatory (    ) And optional (               ) knowledge. It should be a combination of religion and worldly education.

Ghazali included industrial education, textile, agriculture, tailoring and hair cutting in the curriculum

This indicates that Ghazali ’s educational ideas are progressive.

Ghazali also stresses the acquisition of philosophy and logic

Methods of Teaching and Techniques:

Ghazali has recommended the following teaching methods and techniques, which are based on psychological principles. These methods and techniques are widely used and educators all over the world agrees with their usefulness.

Teaching  lessons to be based on previous knowledge and experience of the students.

This helps to know the ability, knowledge and aptitude of the learner and helps to motivate students towards the lesson which is very important for the educational process. Johnn Herbart and Pestollozi recommended the same principle about 700 year after Ghazali

Simplifying the lesson:
Teachers should simplify the difficult concepts by stories, tales etc other wise his teaching will not be effective

Move from simple to complex.
This is a very important principle. Some teachers try to teach everything in the very start. This is very dangerous and can create very dull students.

Ghazali stresses that teachers should first teach simpler concepts and when the students are motivated towards lesson, then he can introduce complex concepts.

Western educators have also mentioned this principle.

Proper planning
Ghazali stresses the importance of planning and advises that teachers should do his preparation before teaching , for effective teaching.

affection:
The teachers should avoid the use of force . He should be like a father to his students and should use love and affection instead of corporal punishment. Use of force can lead to bad habits among students

Teacher and students should also have good social relationship

avoid double standards:
Teacher is like a guide to students. He should not be a hypocrite and should breed good qualities like, honesty, good etiquette, good moral character etc

abilities of students:
Ghazali stresses that while teaching the abilities of students should be kept in mind. Concepts, which are above the mental level of the students will not make the teaching effective.

Female education:
Ghazali ’s ideas about female education are different from modern day. He is only in favor of elementary education for women so that they could play their due role in society. He is not in favor of higher education for females. Rousseau has similar ideas.

Ghazali also stresses acquisition of home-related knowledge for women.

Physical education:
Ghazali has greatly stressed the physical education for children. He believes in old Greek axiom “ sound mind in sound body”

He suggests proper clothing for children so that they could develop and grow properly. He suggests avoid tight and fit clothing.

He also stresses the importance of good and simple, diet for good physical growth.

In short we can say that the contribution of Ghazali to education, what he said later reflected by western educators. That was actually originated in the times of Ghazali.

Leadership and human relationship

Sultan Muhammad

Definition of leadership:

·       School leadership” is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, pupils, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with educational leadership in the United States and has supplanted educational management in the United Kingdom”.  Wikipedia

·       Leadership is "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal.”

·       "Leadership occurs when one person induces others to work toward some predetermined objectives."  Massie

·       "A manager takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to."  Rosalyn Carter

Definition of Human relationship:

·       Human relationship: An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. Human relationships are formed on different circumstances; it could be cultural, social family, friendship, work and social groups. Leadership and human relation go side by side, you cant chose between them, and you have to choose them altogether. 

Leadership is all about relationship, there is a good leader behind every successful task, and tool of every successful leader is good human relationship. A leader inspires other with his character and earned the trust with whom he interact. He gives respect to his staff members and treats them like a family. He knows the problems of staff members and helps them at the time of crisis.

Relationships involve some level of interdependence between two parties and people in a relationship tend to influence each other by different means; share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together with trust.

Educational leadership depends on human relation, it all about relationship at every level, Relationship with teaching staff, administrative staff and students. Without good relation with teacher it is impossible for a leader to achieve good academic result. Without the help of administrative staff and teachers it is almost impossible to run a school in proper order, teachers are the soul of a school and without the help of them the school would be a chaos. Therefore good relations between leader and his school teachers are very important for the improvement of school and the over-all performance of teachers.

Teacher student relationship is also very important. A good relation between them will lead the school to better performance and academic achievements, which will be success on the part of leader, therefore it is the responsibility of a leader to provide them better environment where teacher and students could develop better relationship. Get together from time to time and tour of teachers and students outside the school. Arrange co-curricular activities in the school where teacher and student both participate.

Relationship of the leader with his colleagues in educational institute:
 

Milo Stuart states, “The relation of the principal to his teachers should be the most intimate of any. If a teacher fails, the principal fails; if the teacher succeeds, the principal succeeds. To sum up what the principal’s job is, I shall call him a referee the captain of the ship the boss of the firm a juvenile judge before whom tribunal come out not only the culprits but the adults who frequently contribute to the pupil’s shortcomings. He is a promoter who must project the future of his institution and convert the public to his plan. He is a social physician to every parent who has wayward son who needs attention. He is a friend in need to pupils and to all the homes in which misfortune comes. His power, his activities, even the good he does, can not be measured by a material yardstick.”

The role of the leader in educational institution is very Delicate and critical. He keeps his relation with all stakeholders of the school and keeps balance in them, fighting and quarrelling students, reluctant and difficult teachers and complaining parents. The leader will establish good relation between all of them. He seeks their whole hearted cooperation in all the activities of the school, academic, co-curricular and administrative.

In leadership and human relation lot of things are common,

• I admit I made a mistake: take blame for the failure
• You did a good job: appreciate other for the success
• What is your opinion: open to suggestion from others
• If you please: give respect to others
• We: sharing responsibility
• Minimum use of the word "I"
• One who cannot empathize with others will never become a true leader. 

Bibliography

• Khaki, J., & Safdar, Q. (2010). Educational leadership in Pakistan:  ideals and realities. Karachi: Oxford University Press
• M. Sultan Mohiyuddin,(1999) School Organization and Management Lahore, West Pakistan Publishing company Ltd.
• Rao Ush, (1991) Education technology Bombay, Himaliya publishing house
• 1.6, a. f., respectively), 2., & between, (. t. (n.d.). ANALYTIC HIERARCHY ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN EDUCATION AS RATED BY SELECTED EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND BUSINESS MEMBERS IN.

           Google. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FLdQZ77hBMcJ:purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/WFE0000047+top+20+educational+leadership+skills&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

• Muhammad, S. (2008). Education: Leadership in Islamic Perspective. Education.Retrieved May 24, 2011, from http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership%20in%20Islamic%20Perspective

The Role of Principal

By Dr. Sultan Muhammad Khan

keywords ;The Role of Principal, Responsibilities of  the Principal, principal is a  leader,

Principal is the most important person in a school. Every thing depends on him. The importance of the principal and viewing him as a leader is not a new concept. If a principal is a good leader, the school will have success stories. A good principal is do not afraid others people skills and wisdom but he use there skills and wisdom for the improvement of institution. It is the quality of a leader to share leadership with others and turn them in to good leader from them. Principal is not an instructional person, he did not teach he supervise, he guide other how to teach, what to teach and when to teach.

1.                  Shape staff roles for teachers and allocate time for meetings.

2.                  Keep the school's goals head of all things and try to achieve these goals

3.                  Works closely with distract education office to ensure the school remain on the right track to achieve goals.

4.                  principal create budget for annual spending and repair of school if any, also create schedule for school which is best for teacher and teaching learning process.

5.                  Ensure to achieve academic expectations, and fulfill the challenging curriculum requirements and it objectives,

6.                  Create team of teachers to monitor the school performance and create future leader for school administration.

7.                  Build strong relationships between teachers, students and community.

8.                  Keep discipline in school.

9.                  Supervising teaching from time to time by different means.

·         Evaluation of students

·         Help teacher for more reflective and insightful about their methods of teaching.

·         Observe classroom teaching.

10.              The principal role is to monitor student progress and assessment of student knowledge according to objectives of curriculum.

11.              Promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication

12.              Collecting data, analyzing data, and use that data to identify school needs

13.              Implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan

14.              Plan Strategies for classroom management and teachers to monitor student understanding and academic progress.

15.              Introduce tested Research-based practices in school for improvement in the performance of teachers and students.

16.              Introduce multiple methods of teaching in school.

17.              Collaboration with stakeholders in the process of school improvement 

18.              Communicates and share school vision, goals for the future and progress for the attainment of goals to parents, community and staff members.

19.              Recognizes the contribution of parents and community in the process of ongoing school activities and celebrates it on parent’s day to motivate the community members.

20.              Nurtures and develops the leadership capabilities of staff, parents and community members.

21.              Identify the weakness of staff members and plan various training course for them to improve their skills in that particular area.

22.              Identify performance instruction indicator that link to achieve key goals and objectives.

Leadership skills

Sultan Muhammad

Leadership is the ability of a person to lead a group of people to achieve a given task, Leadership is an inspiration for the people, and those people are leaders who inspire others. Leaders are present around us, we can see them in every day life, when some one among them attain the level where he can demonstrate and exercise his ability for the common purpose, they excel and then we recognize them as a leader

Mohammad (peace be upon him) is the greatest leader of world, in the history of mankind there is no other person who can reach to his level or status. He is model for all humanity, how to lead the people, if we read all the modern books about leadership today, we will see the qualities of Mohammad (peace be upon him) in these books.

Here is a list of skill which is necessary for a leader.

1.         Inspired people: Leader inspires others by his actions and character.  

2.         Educational Vision: leader has a clear vision for the institution future goals and a clear plan for achieving those goals.

3.         Management Skills: Improving institutional effectiveness by initiating change in

Procedures and organizational goals

4.         Agent of Change: leader is the agent of change. He brings new changes to institution and always welcome to new change.

5.         Open-minded: Leaders always accept new ideas and suggestions despite his view.

6.        Acceptability: Leader is the person who is acceptable to all.

7.        Diagnostic skills: Diagnose the problem and bring solution to the problem.  

8.         Decision making: A leader should have the ability to decide. What to do, why and when to do. Quick decision making is an essential skill of a leader

9.         Communication skills: communication skill is the most important skill of a leader, with communication he builds good relation with staff, students and community members.  

10.       Planning skills. Planning skill help leader to organise activities in school e.g. teaching activities, co-curricular activities, administrative activities and education organization need from time to time.  

11.       Sharing Leadership: sharing responsibilities with teaching staff and develop them for the role of leadership

12.       Dynamic: leader is dynamic and ready to lead any time when ever he needed.

13.       Man of words: leader is the man of words and it gives trust to his follower that he will do what he said.

14.       Innovative: leader is Innovator in nature and he Support new change and take vital steps to complete a project.

15.       Team Builder: Focuses activities toward increasing the effectiveness of the staff members.

16.       Know the Talent: He knows the skill of people with whom he is working and gives them responsibilities according to their skill.   

17.       Humble: Down to earth and respect his staff members. 

18.       Coach: Leader is like a good guide and trainer for his staff members.

19.       Community Building: As the role of the educational leader widens, so does the need for these leaders to build a network of relationships inside and outside the school. The community are consists of school, teachers, students, parents and other members of the community. It is the duty of a leader to bring them together.

20.       Sphere of Influence / area of concern: the leader knows about his shortcoming and speciality.

21.       Embrace error: leader accepts failure and don’t blame others.
 

http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/search/label/Leadership%20and%20human%20relationship

Bibliography

1.6, a. f., respectively), 2., & between, (. t. (n.d.). ANALYTIC HIERARCHY ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN EDUCATION AS RATED BY SELECTED EDUCATION, COMMUNITY, AND BUSINESS MEMBERS IN. Google. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FLdQZ77hBMcJ:purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/WFE0000047+top+20+educational+leadership+skills&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

Defense Mechanisms

By Sultan Muhammad Khan

Psychoanalytic theory was presented by Sigmund Freud, a great psychologist of 19th century. Psychoanalytic theory is the study of human mind and how it responds during the time of crisis or grief. Defense mechanisms are unconscious state of mind. Our minds find a way out for our emotions and satisfy us, take away us from unpleasant circumstances. It is the conflict between ego and super ego, one made a person emotional (sorrow, angry, unpleasant) and the other make it bearable and provide a way out from this unpleasant emotional condition. Defense mechanism is protection form undesired emotions and help during the time of grief and sorrow but some times it can take wrong turn and could be very dangerous. Defense mechanism some time can split the personality of a person which led to a more difficult stage where one needs the help of a qualified professional to help him and bring him on the right track. After Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic theory, the psychologists paid attention to the state of mind and they start the study of mind. They find different types of defense mechanism in people, some are harmless and some are very harmful. Even in some cases some take dangerous shapes which not only dangerous for the person who had it but for other people too. Here are some types of Defense mechanisms.

• Undoing it is the state of mind where one tries to take back his previous behavior. This type of Defense mechanism is not very harmful. If they insulted some one they tries to get them back and compensate them by praising them extremely 

• Fantasy, also called day dreaming, is a defense mechanism where one starts imaging thing which is not happening to him in real life. If a person is not respected in real life he will start imaging him self in a life very he will be respected by all and the people will love him for his great personality or position. This type of defense mechanism is not harmful to others but is harmful to the people who have it because they left behind in real life.

• Compartmentalization it is a process where one divided him self in compartments mentally where one part follow good values and other have no values. Where some time he will follow the law and other time he will try to find loopholes and excuse for not abiding the law. It is an unconscious act by his part. It is like two minds in one body. 

• Compensation it is defense mechanism where one tries to compensate his weakness and stress on his strong area it is also called the process of psychologically counterbalancing
• Projection in this type of defense mechanism the person blame other for being hostile to him, the fact is other way around. He himself is hostile person and he projects his image on others. Some time he would unreasonable to his spouse but he will thank that his spouse is unreasonable to him
• Denial it is a defense mechanism where one refuses to accept the reality that he is in problem. It develops during childhood, where he denies that he is afraid of dark or he is not afraid of parents after doing something bad or accepts that he is in a painful situation. He looks other way and do not face the fact or reality unless it catch himt and he has no way to hide from it.
• Displacement it is the redirecting of feelings and anger to other person who had nothing to do with it. It is like in school when a bully angry or hit a weak boy and he could not respond to him, he take out his feeling on smaller boys or on pets. It is harmful defense mechanism for others. Innocent people are targeted due to it. In office boss is angry on staff and the person who is target of that anger redirect it to others, wife, children or neighbors.

• Reaction Formation. It is a defense mechanism where one can’t express his true emotions of unhappiness toward a job or task given to him by some one. He converts his feeling of unhappiness and unwillingness to opposite thoughts and shows his willingness and happiness for that task. He became very kind.

• Acting Out is a defense mechanism where a person can’t express his extreme behavior he just said I am angry at you. On the other hand another will use a more practical way to show his expression like punching some thing as a result it release pressure from him. This type of defense mechanism some time harmful for one self. He can hurt himself in the process.

• Regression is defense mechanism in which the person reversion to an earlier stage of development when he face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. In some cases adolescent that is under pressure, fear and anger may start bed wetting again show signs of earlier childhood behaviors.

• Repression is defense mechanism where one unconsciously blocks unacceptable feelings and thoughts. The problem is that they are doing it unintentionally. It comes out with a different behavior which could harmful in some cases. 

• Disassociation is a defense mechanism, when a person loses track of him self and create another personality or another representation of their self in order to continue in the moment. He lose track of time. People with the history of childhood abuse suffer from this kind of disassociation. It is a very serious disorder which is very harmful for the person who has it. He sometime disconnects from the real world and lives in a different world which is not real.

• Rationalization it is a defense mechanism where one finds different explanations for his failure putting and sees things in different perception. If  boy dumped a girl who like her very much, she reframes the situation in her thoughts that he was a loser

• Sublimation is a defense mechanism where a person channels energy of unacceptable feeling to a more useful feeling. Redirecting unacceptable or harmful impulses into productive use.

• Assertiveness is defense mechanism where person stress on the needs and thoughts which is respectful. They express their self in a very respective manner and people listen to them when they spoke. They are very assertive and have a strong communication skill. in some cases it is a very helpful defense mechanism

Bibliography

Bondi, L. 2005: Making connections and thinking through emotions: between      geography and psychotherapy Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

Elliot, A. J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. Educational Psychologist

Nast, H. 2000: Mapping the “unconscious”: racism and the oedipal family Annals of the Association of American Geographers

http://psychcentral.com/lib/2007/15-common-defense-mechanisms/

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/155704/defense-mechanism

http://www.planetpsych.com/zPsychology_101/defense_mechanisms.htm

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (more than 10 million sold!)
Stephen R.Covey

Lubna Toheed Lubna Toheed

12 tips for development of teacher

by khan

A good Supervisor helps with the teachers in their professional problems and arrange professional development program for teacher. Supervisor gives priority to the needs of teacher for effective teaching. Different ways through which a supervisor could help a teacher in their professional growth and development:

· Teachers need continuous training and awareness about new ways of teaching

· Identification and Development of the skills of a teacher

· Enhance the experience of teacher through teacher training workshops, teacher tours and visits to other schools

· Teachers involvement in day to day activities

· In-service training opportunities for the teachers

· Orientation of new teacher to school and community and helping him in class room environment

· New refresher courses for teacher to gain new experiences for utilizing their skills effectively

· conversion course for the teacher to help him to move on from old course to a new course

· Arrange skill Development program to use computer in classroom and give demonstration and presentation.

· Internal skill development program by arranging audio and video training equipments

· Keep the teacher up to date with global educational changes

· Provide video conference facility to teachers to see the teacher of developed countries in real class room environment

http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/supervirsory-tips-for-professional-development-of-teachers-in-the-21st-century