PSYCHOLOGY 2

Guiding Principles of Adolescence Education 

 Adolescence is conceptualized as a positive stage of life, full of possibilities and potential. It should not be labeled as problematic and traumatic, and adolescents (and the `peer group’) should not be stereotyped in negative ways. o AE should recognize and respond to the reality that adolescents are heterogeneous: with diversity in terms of urban/rural, caste, class, religion, cultural beliefs, and so on. o The educational programme should be participatory, process-oriented and nonjudgmental, not prescriptive, stigmatizing or fear inducing o AE should enable adolescents to understand and negotiate existing and constantly changing lived realities. o Teachers need to unlearn and learn in order to facilitate the effective transaction of this curricular area. This is relevant in respect of content, attitudes and pedagogical modalities. o The program should enable adolescents to articulate their issues and know their rights, counter shame and fear, build up self-esteem and self-confidence, and develop ability to take on responsibility for self, relationships and (to an extent) society around them. o Adolescence education should influence the entire school curriculum and ethos, rather than being an isolated, stand-alone component. o The AEP should have inbuilt flexibility- in terms of content and process to be able to respond to dynamic needs of young people o The program should empower young people through participatory, processoriented, non-judgmental approaches that build on the experiences of learners, and provide them with opportunities to think critically, analyze, and infer learning rather than being prescriptive. o Adolescence education should be strongly oriented towards the transformational potential of education, based on principles of equity and social justice, rather than having a status-quo orientation.