Al-Ghazali

1.     Biography

Al-Ghazali was born in Tus, Khorasan in 1058 CE. He worked as a teacher in Baghdad in the Nizamaya Madrasa at the age of 29. He was interested in education, so he focused on teaching methods, knowledge, the relationship between teachers and learners, and testing methods and principles. (SOUSSI, 2016)

2.     Al-Ghazali on Early Childhood Education

A learner passes through four main ages: early childhood adolescence, after 20, and around 40. According to Al-Ghazali, interests change from one age to another; thus, teachers should pay attention the interests’ development of their students. In Al-Ghazali view, the teacher’s role is to motivate the learners. (SOUSSI, 2016)

Al-Ghazali was a behaviorism supporter, so he encouraged the idea of rewarding students when they behave good with their classmates and teachers and show good morals. He considered rewarding as a way for motivating the student himself and his peers to rewarded as him. On contrary to “rewarding” there’s “punishment” for bad behaviors-not physical harm. (SOUSSI, 2016)

In Al-Ghazali’s view, teaching should be a gradual process, where the teacher starts with lower-level skill and information and then moves to a higher-level skill. He discussed another important principle regarding infants and children, which is teaching this group of leaners-infants and children-morals like equality between peers, trustiness, asceticism, and geniality due to their high influence by each other in this age. He encouraged teachers to deal with students that have extreme behavior traits as shyness. Also, he was with separation students according to their knowledge level. (SOUSSI, 2016)

3.     Curricula and Knowledge

Al-Ghazali wrote about the concept of knowledge in education, its categories, and teaching methods.

                          i.      Knowledge: The Concept and Categories

In Al-Ghazali’s view, the knowledge of God, his prophets, the heavens, and Shariah was the fundamental knowledge and the source of happiness in the life and after. He considered that natural sciences and religion one complementary and sciences doesn’t contradict religion.  “The best proof of this could be the fact the al Ghazali’s statements about natural sciences were included into the Al Azhar curriculum at the end of the nineteen century”. (SOUSSI, 2016)

                        ii.      Educational Curricula

Al-Ghazali divided higher education into two stages: obligatory, in which religions and related sciences as linguistics are taught; and optional where several subjects are chosen depending on the individual’s capacity and preference. The optional science subjects were divided into revealed, where Fiqh, ethics, Sunna, and Ijmaa are included; and non-revealed sciences such as medicine, history, and mathematics. (SOUSSI, 2016)

However, most artistic subjects weren’t in the optional subjects in Al-Ghazali curriculum. Music, for example, was divided into licit, which is favored and can motivate individuals to do their worships; and reprehensive and forbidden that are for entertainment. Painting and drawing, in Al-Ghazali view, were not accepted if they show man or an animal since they will be representing idols which one Haram in Islam. (SOUSSI, 2016)

4.     Teaching System

                          i.      The Learner 

Al-Ghazali focused on the interaction between the learner and the teacher as the said: “Education is an “interaction” and effecting and benefiting teacher and pupil equally, the former gaining merit for giving instruction and the latter cultivating himself through-the acquisition of knowledge” (in Nofal, p.528). (SOUSSI, 2016)

Following the interaction, Al-Ghazali focused on the relation between the learner and the environment he’s living in. Thus, the leaner’s environment as their personalities affects the teaching process, which should be noticed by the teachers. Diversity- whether it’s racial, gender, cultural, age, ethnic, racial, and social class- is an important issue for the teacher to deal with during teaching since any of these diversities can affect motivation. Al-Ghazali stressed on the importance of comfort of the learner in the classmate in getting knowledge and understanding. Thus, teachers must be prepared for any sensitive reaction from the learner about their diversities as they prepare for new lessons. (SOUSSI, 2016)

                        ii.      The Teacher

For Al-Ghazali, the teacher is a father, model, facilitator, and counselor; not a source of knowledge only. He cared about the “intellectual side of teaching”, where the teachers should think about the students and the subjects they teach. Al-Ghazali claimed that teaching is a complicated combination of mind, ethics, and heart of the teachers, where all should be present at once. Thus, a teacher should always keep their eyes on the students and ask them about their interest in the lesson, rate of understanding and the difficult ideas, learning styles and methods, and the barriers they’re facing in the teaching process. Therefore, the teacher breaks the barriers and obstacles, letting the knowledge pass in, and consequently the happiness of the learner’s soul which is the goal to be reached, according to Al-Ghazali. (SOUSSI, 2016)

                      iii.      Teaching

Al-Ghazali classified the religions studies as the most noble study since it’s the link between the human being and his God; thus, as the link gets stronger, an ultimate happiness will be sent to this person. He assured that knowledge should be practiced since learning is not effective until it’s functional. He described the teacher as “coach” in his natural learning theory. (SOUSSI, 2016)

As mentioned before, AL-Ghazali put a teaching approach named “gradual teaching” approach. He emphasized the importance of teacher’s patience toward their students and gradual teaching of new information. (SOUSSI, 2016)

According to Al-Ghazali, for a student to be a good learner, he should be characterized by having a pure spirit before requesting knowledge and dealing with their teachers in high moral behavior. Then, he should dedicate himself searching for knowledge. Whenever the learner starts at a level, he must master it before moving up to the next level; and last of all, he must specialize in a subject of his preference. Al-Ghazali focused on two main points regarding the characteristics of learner: gradual learning and subject choice. A learner can’t be specialized directly; however, he should move up step by step to choose a preferable subject according to gender and social background, in Al-Ghazali’s view. (SOUSSI, 2016)       

5.     References 

o   SOUSSI, D. K. (2016, November ). AL Ghazali Cultivates Education: A Comparison with Modern Theories. International Journal of Education and Research, 4(11), 425-436.