An Understanding of Learning

MAYA recognises learning, in its present form, as being inherently static. This form of learning inevitably overlooks the learner, his/her immediate environment, and the broader context of the learner. In overlooking these aspects, education and workplace institutions do not equip learners to meet the demands of their environments. As a result, MAYA has found that this quality of present 'learning' induces a severe disengagement between the learner and his/her context.

MAYA believes that learning is a continual process that takes place throughout the life of an individual, group and community. Given this understanding of learning, MAYA has always been concerned with the limited significance assigned to processes of learning within the formal educational system as well as within the society at large. Learning has been boxed within institutionalised, formal systems; with education compartmentalised into a set number of years, beyond which learning supposedly ceases to exist. Within this rigid educational system, teaching is equated with the transfer of 'knowledge,' often by processes of rote learning. Teachers transact this 'knowledge' from a decisive, authoritative role to students, who are conditioned into a passive recipient role; completely overlooking the contexts of the learners.  Assessment of students' abilities is merely a test of memory rather than an ongoing and supportive  process of understanding or enhancing student capabilities.

The critical need for a paradigm shift in the way learning is perceived and practised impelled MAYA to consider a new approach to learning. This approach seeks to identify and build a system to coordinate human, material, and institutional resources for learning.