Assimilative Learning: An Integrative Framework Bridging Classical Islamic Pedagogical Wisdom and the Modern Educational Theory, with implications for SDG 4 Lifelong Learning

Abstract

The paper suggests an integrative model called “assimilative learning” that connects classical Islamic pedagogical wisdom with the modern educational theory and proposes to rethink the value of reading and learning. This approach proposes that the fundamental nature of learning is a process that unfolds over time, that impacts the learner's intellect, character, and moral disposition over time, rather than whether the learner can immediately recall, summarize, or quote content after engaging in the learning. The paper extrapolates from classical Islamic education which has always made tarbiyah, or the act of forming one's ethical character and intellect, a primary goal of education, as well as modern ideas of implicit learning and tacit knowledge, to show that both agree on a single observation: substantive learning frequently happens outside the scope of conscious awareness and remains un-assessable by short-term recall-based methods. This assimilative learning process resituates the reader as a subject, not someone who simply receives data from other people to be retrieved, but a subject who is always being reshaped, subtly and subtly, from the language he constructs in his inner consciousness. On this basis, it is suggested here that curriculum design, religious education and wider pedagogical practice should be informed, and that assessment models should have a different emphasis, valuing the unseen, cumulative development of the learner over a timeframe rather than the measurable outcomes. This paper introduces a model for reconceptualizing the definition, significance and assessment of learning that foregrounds the gradual and embodied shift in nature as an appropriate and important indicator of educational achievement in both religious and general education settings.