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A to Z Theories
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Here
is our A to Z listing to help you understand some of the philosophies,
approaches, and types of school that you may come across. We have compiled
this from the most accurate and informative web links on each subject
that we could find. Please let us know if you are aware of any others.
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comprehensive MAP of historical and contemporary influences (Holistic Education Network) ENCYCLOPEDIA of Informal Education (Infed) |
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This
page was funded by The Foundation for Educational Renewal in co-operation
with Paths
of Learning Resource Center
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What are the key theories associated with current Holistic Learning Systems?
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Accelerated Learning has been variously described as Superlearning, Whole Brain Learning, Integrative Learning, Quantum Learning and Holistic Learning. The term currently covers a whole spectrum of techniques from the use of music and drama, visualisation, teaching practices based upon multiple intelligence's and the creation of co-operative classroom enhancing self-esteem. Above all, Accelerated Learning is promoted as FUN learning where learners are recognised for their unique ways of processing information.
Alternative Education is the term used to describe all forms of learning systems that are offered as an alternative to traditional formal schooling. Parents are increasingly demanding systems that nurture their children as individuals, and that recognise the indivisibility of mind, body and spirit. As modern research is consistently confirming, each of us has innate predispositions and unqiue ways of perceiving and processing information about the world. Alternative Education tries to offer us a more diverse range of learning environments within which to develop as dynamic learners.
This learning theory is based on our knowledge of the structure and function of the brain. Each person develops a unique learning style dependent upon the experiences and challenges that he or she has in their early years. Brain-Based Learning assumes that learning is innate and that the brain is a dynamic processor of information.As every one of us experiences the world in a way that is unique to us we each achieve self-value through our favoured forms of experience and will seek out things that confirm our value and reject things that don't. As the brain stores both conscious and unconscious memories this theory recognises that negative patterning can severely distort our desire and ability to learn. Brain-Based Learning therefore looks at how a person is interpreting and processing information and recognises that learning engages the whole physiology. Emotions are a critical part of the process.
Brain Gym® is built upon 80 years of research by specialists in physical movement, education, and child development. The specific research that lead to Brain Gym® was started in 1969 by Paul Dennison, Ph.D. Dr. Dennison, who was then Director of California's 8 Valley Remedial Group Learning Centers, was looking for ways to help children and adults who had been identified as "learning disabled." His research led him to the study of kinesiology, the science of body movement and its relationship to brain function. At the time, it was already well established that coordinated physical movement is necessary to brain development. Babies and young children naturally perform what experts in early childhood education call developmental movements. These movements develop the neural connections in the brain, which are essential to learning. Dr. Dennison discovered ways to adapt and sequence these movements so they could be effective for older children and adults. The result is a system of targeted activities that enhance performance in all areas – intellectual, creative, athletic, and interpersonal. Brain Gym® has been taught worldwide in thousands of public and private schools. It has been shown to be effective in published studies, and it is being incorporated into a growing number of corporate, institutional, and athletic training programs. Since 1990, Brain Gym¨ has been selected annually by the National Learning Foundation as one of today's leading technologies for education.
Character education holds that certain core values form the basis of "good character," --the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that best serve a caring, creative school society. It means the school stands for these values and that actively promotes them in school and the community. Character education also seeks to demonstrate these values directly, as a matter of practice, not solely to present academic information about values as a classroom exercise. It supports the belief that the social, ethical, and emotional development of young people is as important as their academic development. It
calls for education in the new millennium to be grounded in a decidedly
different agenda--that of a strong foundation of relationships, human
experience, and inter-connectedness. Teachers are asked to have a deep
appreciation of the fact that that they shape the conditions under which
future generations learn about themselves and their relationships with
others and the world. Character Education: Promotes core ethical values as the basis of good character. Teaches students to understand, care about, and act upon these core values. Encompasses all aspects of the school culture (promotes the core values in all phases of school life). Fosters a caring school community. Offers opportunities for moral action. Supports academic achievement. Develops intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic consequences. Includes whole-staff involvement (the staff must become a moral and learning community). Requires positive leadership of staff and students. Involves parents and community members as full partners in the character building effort.
In the United States Charter Schools are deregulated, autonomous and independent of the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools, and most often the impetus for involvement is the opportunity to work in more flexible, innovative school environments. In return for that autonomy, the schools must show results, theoretically, or face revocation of their charter. Charter schools have strong political support. States have passed laws that permit the creation of charter schools in record numbers since 1991, and according to the U. S. Department of Education, nearly 1,800 charter schools were in operation in the 1999-00 school year. Charters are run by such various groups as parent/teacher partnerships, community groups, and universities; for-profit companies have an increasingly high profile as managers of charters. Some charters are new schools, others are converted from existing public schools, and many have a specific curricular or instructional approach. Some charter schools offer a very traditional educational focus. The result has been a wide variety of choice in public schooling in some areas.
Citizenship
looks at children as key participants in community and voluntary affairs
and in public life at local, national and global levels. Citizenship studies
try to offer Healthy democracies need well-informed citizens who take an active interest in their community. They need people who value themselves and others and are aware of the contribution they can make to society. Many people are calling for Citizenship studies to be an essential part of every school curriculum. People at all stages of life need to have access to information about their community and opportunities to develop their skills and understanding. This is particularly important for those who feel excluded in today's society. Children who are made to feel that they matter, and that they are part of a greater whole, are more likely to grow up into morally responsible adults who care about themselves and the world in which they live.
An Israeli pschologist called Reuven Feuerstein has spent a lifetime working with the belief that intelligence is not a fixed, static, structure, but an open, dynamic system that can continue to develop throughout life. Feuerstein developed his theory in the late 40's through his work with children who were orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the Holocaust. His therories IE (Instrumental Enrichment) and MLE (Mediated Learning Experiences) aim to sharpen critical thinking with the concepts, skills, strategies, operations, and attitudes necessary for independent learning; to diagnose and correct deficiencies in thinking skills; and to help individuals "learn how to learn". The program has now been successfully used in seventy countries as a tool for the enhancement of learning potential in specially challenged individuals and those living in environments requiring high levels of adaptation. This latter criterion extends the importance of IE to large groups of otherwise normally functioning individuals in industry, corporations and teaching professions.
Constructivism is an educational philosophy which holds that learners ultimately construct their own knowledge that then resides within them, so that each person's knowledge is as unique as they are. Among its key precepts are: situated or anchored learning, which presumes that most learning is context-dependent, so that cognitive experiences situated in authentic activities such as project-based learning cognitive apprenticeships, or case-based learning environments result in richer and more meaningful learning experiences social negotiation of knowledge, a process by which learners form and test their constructs in a dialogue with other individuals and with the larger society collaboration as a principal focus of learning activities so that negotiation and testing of knowledge can occur. The first major contemporaries to develop a clear idea of constructivism as applied to classrooms and childhood development were Jean Piaget and John Dewey. For Dewey education depended on action. Knowledge and ideas emerged only from a situation in which learners had to draw them out of experiences that had meaning and importance to them (see Democracy and Education, 1916). These situations had to occur in a social context, such as a classroom, where students joined in manipulating materials and, thus, created a community of learners who built their knowledge together. Piaget's constructivism is based on his view of the psychological development of children. He called for teachers to understand the steps in the development of the child's mind. The fundamental basis of learning, he believed, was discovery: "To understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition." To reach an understanding of basic phenomena, according to Piaget, children have to go through stages in which they accept ideas they may later see as not truthful. In autonomous activity, children must discover relationships and ideas in classroom situations that involve activities of interest to them. Understanding is built up step by step through active involvement.
Cooperative
learning takes many forms and definitions, but most approaches involve
small teams of children, with or without the inclusion of adults, that
then take on a group task in which each member is individually accountable
for part of an outcome that cannot be completed unless the members work
together. Positive interdependence is critical to the success of the cooperative
group, because the dynamic of interconnectedness helps students learn
to give and take--to realize that in the group, as well as in much of
life, each of us can do something, but none of us can do everything alone. When cooperation is successful the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. For cooperative groups to be effective, members often engage in teambuilding activities and other tasks that deal explicitly with the development of social skills needed for effective teamwork. Members also engage in group processing activities in which they discuss the interpersonal skills that influence their effectiveness in working together.
Democratic schools provide educational environments that allow each child's inherent love of learning to be acknowledged and facilitated. They place equal emphasis on the children's social and emotional development and their intellectual growth. They strive to encourage the empowerment of children, and the respect for self, each other, and the environment. Children are encouraged to see themselves as valued members of larger learning communities, both local and global, and there is a recognition of the importance of family dynamics.The primary purpose of these schools is to create safe environments where children can learn freely, that is without the use of force or coercion, drawing on their own innate, dynamic curiosity to lead their own learning.
The writings of John Dewey span a broad range of subjects, including psychology, epistemology, ethics, and democratic politics, but his philosophy of education lies at the heart of his work. Democracy and Education, published in 1916, is Dewey's seminal work on education and arguably its most influential on this topic. In Democracy and Education Dewey outlines the social role of education, both formal and informal, as the transmitter and bearer of a society's identity through the preparation of youth for adult society. This general discussion is then applied to the type of contents and methods that are necessary in a progressive democratic community. The final section of the book examines the intellectual roots of social divisions that impede the application of democratic education in the contemporary society. These divisions stem from the dualisms embedded in philosophical systems of education, which dichotomize certain domains or relationships, such as the mind and the body, the mind and nature, and the individual and society. Dewey argues for a philosophy of education that nullifies these dualisms, and is centered on the freedom of the mind and thought in directed, social activity. Dewey defines education as a process of growth, and it is through this concept that he links education with democracy. Democracy, understood as a mode of associated, conjoint, communicated living, is the only type of society in which individuals are able to grow and socially participate in a manner that allows for the realization of their unique interests and gifts. Conversely, for a democracy to flourish, it requires individuals who maximize their potential in activity with others. Learning in isolation perpetuates the duality of mind and action, and of the individual and society. Another important concept in the book is freedom, which is not just the ability to move or act as one pleases, but it also means intellectual initiative, independence in observation, judicious intervention, foresight of consequences, and ingenuity of adaptation to them, and entails the participation in group activities. Moreover, Dewey argues, certain capacities can only be learned in a group. He claims that this type of free social and intellectual interaction, in which each member of the group considers the actions and interests as information for informing their own actions, dissolves the artificial social barriers of race and class by allowing for free communication of interest between varied social groups). The method of Deweyan democratic education is an experimental process in which thought and reason are applied to activity to find the best answer to a problem at a particular time and place. This, the scientific method and his applications to the field of education, is one of the great themes in his work. The scientific method shows that knowledge does not exist statically or separate from action. Knowledge that is isolated from action and is acquired passively prevents the formation of new habits and the reconstruction of experience, thereby preventing growth and learning. The experimental method unites mental activity and experience, and allows for the creation of new knowledge. This presupposes that knowledge is not a body of universal truth waiting to be uncovered by rational, objective thought. Experimental science has shown that there is no such thing as genuine knowledge and fruitful understanding except as the offspring of doing. In seeking to overcome the idealization and remoteness of reason, making it experimental and practical, Dewey called for a curriculum that combines liberal and vocational education, and enlarges personal experience by 'furnishing their context, their background and outlook' to the present community life.
Ecological Literacy looks at approaches that encourage and educate people to live sustainably and in harmony with the environment. Human activities are seen as having an unavoidable impact on the world as a whole and students are taught that they are a part of the natural world, not apart from it. They are encouraged to be stewards of their environment and to feel a sense of responsibility for the care and maintenance of the global ecosystem. In this way communities can then be designed in such a way that their ways of life, businesses, economies, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. Human interactions become a harmonious part of the greater whole rather than a potentially devastating threat to its survival.
Normal brain function requires efficient communication among the functional centers throughout the brain. "Learning disabilities" occur when information does not flow freely among these functional centers. Edu-K was developed by Dr. Paul E. Dennison, Ph.D., a learning specialist in the U.S.A. He worked with people who experienced learning difficulties and sometimes behavioral difficulties as a result of their poor learning abilities. He developed tools for assisting them to learn more effectively and therefore to lead more successful lives. The Edu-K movements stimulate the flow of information within the brain, restoring our innate ability to learn and function at top efficiency. To explain how Edu-K works, Dr. Dennison describes brain function in terms of three dimension: laterality, centering and focus. Laterality is the ability to coordinate one cerebral hemisphere of the brain with the other, especially in the midfield. This skill is fundamental to the ability to read, write and communicate. It is also essential for fluid whole body movement, and for the ability to move and think at the same time. Centering is the ability to coordinate the higher and lower parts of the brain. This skill is related to feeling and expression of emotions, responding clearly with safety, relaxation, grounding and organization. Focus is the ability to coordinate the back and front lobes of the brain. It is directly related to participation and comprehension, the ability to act on the details of a situation while keeping a perspective of the self, and for understanding new information in the context of all previous experience. People without this skill are said to have attention disorders and an inability to comprehend. Edu-K movements integrate the brain in these dimensions, allowing information to flow easily from the senses into memory and then out again as new learning. One is able to perform with less stress, and to express her creativity using more of her mental and physical potential. The movements are effective in clearing emotional stress from the system. These movements are enjoyed in classrooms and work sites around the world to integrate the brain before learning, work or sports activities, and during breaks. More focused results are obtained in private consultations by setting a goal for a specific activity. Results are evident immediately and are cumulative. The benefits include improvements in learning, expression and movement abilities in children and adults. Teachers typically report improvements in attitude, attention, homework performance, discipline, and behavior for the entire class.
Emancipatory Education looks at how learning, knowledge and education can be used to assist individuals and groups to overcome educational disadvantage, combat social exclusion and discrimination, and challenge economic and political inequalities - with a view to securing their own emancipation and promoting progressive social change. The kinds of knowledge, pedagogy and educational relationships encouraged by emancipatory learning are those which are formed in resonance with the interests of the least powerful in society. The aim is to support and encourage the least powerful to gain more autonomy and independence, more control over their own lives, and to bring about change in the interests of greater equality and social justice. Emancipatory learning is relevant today because of the stark realities of increased material poverty and inequalities - not simply within societies but also between societies in the context of globalization. This includes growing inequalities of income and wealth , massive inequalities in relation to cultural recognition and social diversity, and huge inequalities arising out of access to information.
Emotional Intelligence or EQ refers to the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions in us and in our relationships. In 1990Two American university professors, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, first published academic articles about the subject. They were trying to develop a way of scientifically measuring the difference between people's ability in the area of emotions. They found that some people were better than others at things like identifying their own feelings, identifying the feelings of others, and solving problems involving emotional issues.They went on to develop two tests to attempt to measure what they are calling our "emotional intelligence." Because nearly all of their writing has been done in the academic community however, their names and their actual research findings are not widely known. Instead, the person most commonly associated with the term emotional intelligence is the New York writer Daniel Goleman. Goleman had been writing articles for the magazine Popular Psychology and then later for the New York Times newspaper. Around 1994 and early 1995 he was reputedly planning to write a book about 'emotional literacy', but in 1995 he changed the name to Emotional Intelligence. It rapidly become an international best seller and the term widely discussed in educational circles. Now many organisations are calling for there to be increased research in the area. EQ describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence or the purely cognitive capacities measured by IQ. Traditionally, the emphasis when evaluating potential performance has been on intellectual skills; now research indicates that emotional intelligence may be as much as twice as important as IQ .
Experiential education is a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill, and value directly from his or her personal experiences within the environment. Such learning occurs when carefully chosen experiences are supported by reflection, critical analysis, and synthesis. Experiences are structured to require the learner to take initiative, make decisions, and be accountable for the results. Throughout the experiential learning process, the learner is actively engaged in posing questions, investigating, experimenting, being curious, solving problems, assuming responsibility, being creative, and constructing meaning. Learners are engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, soulfully, and/or physically. This involvement produces a perception that the learning task is authentic. The
results of the learning are personal and form the basis for future experience
and learning. The
educator's primary roles include setting suitable experiences, posing
problems, setting boundaries, supporting learners, insuring physical and
emotional safety, and facilitating the learning process.They recognize
and encourage spontaneous opportunities for learning and
According to psychologist and best-selling author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, PhD, (pronounced 'cheeks sent me high') such people are most likely experiencing 'flow,' a state of deep focus that occurs when people engage in challenging tasks that demand intense concentration and commitment. Flow occurs when a person’s skill level is perfectly balanced to the challenge level of a task that has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. Almost any activity can produce flow if these elements are present, says Csikszentmihalyi, and making them a constant part of your life can enhance work, personal relationships and leisure time. Csikszentmihalyi, a professor of education and psychology at the University of Chicago, has studied the lives of thousands of people for more than 30 years in search of what makes their lives meaningful and satisfying. He has found that it is achieving a balance between challenge and ability that is the key factor - one that provides creative tension without anxiety. This is the state that is natural to early childhood and his studies would seem to indicate that current educational systems are all too often preventing children from maintaining this natural 'flow'.
It was the Danish clergyman, poet and historian, N.F.S. Grundtvig, who laid the foundation for the idea in the beginning and middle of the 1800s. He underlined the needs of the peasants for education and development, not least so that they could take part in the budding democracy. He visualised folk high schools, where the peasantry could enter into a dialogue and thus become conscious of the Danish national character and their own national and cultural character. Grundtvig therefore found that the teaching should first and foremost focus on history and literature. The first folk high school was established in 1844 by the educationalist Christen Kold, who was inspired by Grundtvig's ideas. The folk high schools soon increased in number. Soon the target group was not only peasants but also workers, craftsmen, fishermen etc. Today, there are 104 folk high schools in Denmark. With one exception, they are all boarding schools. And the folk high schools are used by all sections of the population. Each year, approx. 60,000 Danes spend a short or longer stay at a folk high school, corresponding to around 2% of the adult population. And they come from all parts of the Danish population in order to add to their experience and develop through dialogue, companionship, freedom and solidarity. The folk high schools are independent institutions, and they differ greatly from each other. Most of them have a Grundvigian approach, others are more politically or religiously oriented. Specialised folk high schools have also appeared during the past 20-30 years - for instance sports folk high schools, music and drama folk high schools etc. The courses are typically of 3-6 months' duration, but shorter courses become more and more popular. The
folk high schools are free schools. There are no examinations, no marking,
and no certificates/diplomas are issued on completion of the courses. According to the Folk Education Association of America, folk education is "learning that happens when individuals and communities come together to celebrate culture and life, to critically analyze challenging, especially oppressive situations, to build a knowledge base and apply that knowledge to reframe and create alternative possibilities for the institutions in which we live and work."
Célestin Freinet was born on October 16, 1896 in Gars, a small French village close to the Italian border. Unable to finance his secondary school studies, Freinet graduated with a school-leaving certificate from a junior high school. With this certificate he could go on to qualify as an elementary school teacher but was not eligible for admission to a university. At the age of 18, however, Freinet was conscripted into the army during the First World War. Within three years he had been seriously wounded at the front. A lengthy convalescence meant that Freinet did not start his career as a teacher until 1921 in Le Bar-sur-Loup, a little village in the coastal Alps near the Mediterranean. In October 1924 Freinet introduced the Learning Printing Technique. This meant that the children used a printing press to reproduce texts that they had composed freely. The pupils wrote down their own personal adventures, the incidents that they had experienced inside and outside the classroom, and so on. Usually these texts were then presented to the class, discussed, corrected and edited by the class as a whole before being finally printed by the children themselves working together. Freinet called this approach Free Writing ("Texte libre"). Later these texts would be assembled to create a Class Journal ("Livre de vie") and a School Newspaper ("Journal scolaire"). From 1926 on, the productions of his class, particularly the School Newspapers, were regularly exchanged with other elementary school classes in France, whose teachers were also involved in innovative teaching. Freinet also encouraged children to conduct their own Field Investigations ("sortie-enquête") and research. This meant that his pupils regularly left the classroom in order to observe and to study both their natural environment and their local community. Back in the class, they presented their results, printed out texts, produced a journal and then sent all this material to their counterparts in other schools. These opportunities for child-centred learning and independent enquiry are organized according to a Work Schedule ("Plan de travail") in which the students set out their plan of work for a certain period. The Work Schedule is discussed and evaluated together with the teacher. The Essential Concepts of Freinet Pedagogy - Pedagogy of Work ("Pédagogie du travail") - meaning that pupils learned by making useful products or providing useful services. - Co-operative Learning ("Travail coopératif") - based on co-operation in the productive process. - Enquiry-based Learning ("Tâtonnement experimental") - trial and error method involving group work. - The Natural Method ("Methode naturelle") - based on an inductive, global approach. - Centres of Interest ("Complexe d'intérêt") - based on children's learning interests and curiosity.
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Friedrich Froebel(1782 - 1852). Friedrich Frobel was born in a village near Weimar in what is now central Germany in 1782, and grew up in the political and intellectual turbulence of the Napoleonic era. He read widely in contemporary philosophy and, much influenced by the Swiss educators Rousseau and Pestalozzi, he came to believe in the importance of the pre-school period as laying the foundation for not only a sound education for the individual, but also for the health of society at large. Friedrich Froebel's enduring significance was through his formulation of the 'kindergarten system' with its emphasis on play and its use of 'gifts' (play materials) and 'occupations (activities). He believed that humans are essentially productive and creative - and fulfilment comes through developing these in harmony with God and the world. As a result, Froebel sought to encourage the creation of educational environments that involved practical work and the direct use of materials. Through engaging with the world, understanding unfolds. Hence the significance of play - it is both a creative activity and through it children become aware of their place in the world. He went on to develop special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls - gifts), a series of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities, and an linking set of theories. His original concern was the teaching of young children through educational games in the family. In the later years of his life this became linked with a demand for the provision of special centres for the care and development of children outside the home. The concept of 'unity' was the driving force of his philosophy and educational practice. His belief in the unity of mankind and nature, and of the inanimate world and living things, led to his conviction of the crucial importance of a harmonious relationship among home, school and society. The kindergarten was to be an environment in which children could reach their full creative potential under the protective and interactive guidance of an adult. In his view, the concept of the mother was the crucial link between child and home, and he established training courses for female 'kindergartners', at a time when teaching was an all-male profession.
Holism: The view that parts of a system have significance mostly in virtue of their interrelations with other parts. Throughout the 200 year old history of formal schooling, a widely scattered group of critics have pointed out that the education of young human beings should involve more than simply molding them into future workers or citizens. The Swiss humanitarian Johann Pestalozzi, the American transcendentalists Thoreau, Emerson and Alcott, the founders of progressive education - Francis Parker and John Dewey, the psychologists Maslow and Rogers and pioneers such as Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner, among others, all insisted that education should be seen as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical and spiritual dimensions of the developing child. During the 1970s, an emerging body of literature in science, philosophy and cultural history provided an overarching concept to describe this way of understanding eduation - a perspective known as holism. A holistic way of thinking seeks to encompass and integrate multiple layers of meaning and experience rather than defining human possibilities narrowly. Every child is more than a future employee.; every person's intelligence and abilities and far more complex than his or her scores on standardised tests. Holistic education is based on the premise that every person finds identity, meaning and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace. It aims to call forth from young people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an academic 'curriculum' that condenses the world into instructional packages, but through direct engagement with the environment. Holistic education nurtures a sense of wonder. Montessori, for example, spoke of 'cosmic education': help the young person feel part of the wholeness of the universe, and learning will be enchanted and inviting. There is no one best way to accomplish this goal, there are many paths of learning and the holistic educator values them all.; what is appropriate for some childrem, in some situations, in some historical and social contexts, may not be best for others. The art of holistic education lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles and needs of evolving human beings. Holistic education, therefore, reflects and responds more fully to the understanding of what it really means to be human. It recognises that we perceive and understand in the world in different ways and that a love of learning is something innnate within us. It seeks to provide us with environments that protect, nurture and encourage this love of learning as a most precious inner resource. Some of the more recent voices advocating holism include Jiddu Krishnamurti, David Bohm, John P. Miller, Parker Palmer. Ron Miller, and The Dalai Lama.,
Homeschooling has become the largest alternative learning approach in the United States with the number of homeschoolers becoming an estimated 1.5%+ of the K-12 student population. Numbers are also seeing an increase throughout the world as parents seek more personalised educational alternatives for their children. The goals of homeschooling vary as widely as the goals and purposes of schools around the world. Like other educational alternatives, homeschooling expands well beyond traditional modes of teaching and learning as well. With the freedom to explore the best alternative theories around many homeschoolers turn to Montessori and Waldorf approaches along with other holistic philosophies that recognise the importance of nurturing mind, body and spirit. With the growth in interest around this subject many parents are joining together to offer co-operative learning resources. We are, therefore, beginning to increasingly see the introduction of learning communities where children are actively involved in being collaborative learners within the dynamic support of family and community settings.
Humanistic Education refers to an educational philosophy that believes humans are, by nature, self-developing creatures. The educator's primary responsibility, therefore, is to create an environment in which students can do their own growing. Humanistic educators have a broad understanding of the knowledge that children acquire as they grow, and highly value a student’s affective and social development as well as their intellectual development. The goal of humanistic education is to contribute to the development of energetic, positive, self-respecting,caring human beings who can meet all challenges. The basic assumptions of humanistic education suggest: Students learn best what they want and need to know as individuals. When provided with interesting and challenging environments they will be naturally drawn to levels of activity that will further their own self development. Learning how to learn is more important than simply memorising data. Learning processes are more important than results. Self-evaluation is the only meaningful evaluation of a student's work. The emphasis is on internal development and self-regulation. Feelings are vital components for successful learning Students
learn best in non-threatening environments.
Krishnamurti
Education The
key elements of Krishnamurti schooling are: To educate the whole human being; To explore what freedom and responsibility are in relationship with others and in modern society; To see the possibility of being free from self-centred action and inner conflict; To discover one's own talent and what right livelihood means; To learn the proper care, use and exercise of th |