Why holistic Education ...

One of the greatest impediments to the provision of a meaningful education is not a lack of good programs, or innovation, or good teachers, but a lack of up-to-date perspectives. Old world-views have not only out lived their usefulness, they are detrimental to further progress.

"... young people are enculturated by schooling to know the world through the lens of rational, objective analysis that separates themselves as individual knowers from the interconnected totality of the environment. This way of knowing ignores or denigrates vast realms of meaning … which bind both individuals and cultures to the intricate, long-term processes of the evolution of life on earth.

Because we lack these meanings, we are cut off from our own sources of vitality and act upon the global ecosystem ignorantly and recklessly, doing tremendous damage." (Miller)

21^st century education needs a more holistic world-view. We need a learner centred education system built on the explicit assumptions of connectedness, wholeness and being.

"Because we lack these meanings, we are cut off from our own sources of vitality and act upon the global ecosystem ignorantly and recklessly, doing tremendous damage."

(Miller)

Connectedness

The concept of an interconnected reality which originated in the philosophy of holism and was further developed through ecology, quantum physics and systems theory.

• Interdependence - The function of each part of a system is mutually dependent on the functioning of other parts and the system as a whole.
• Interrelationship - A complex network of relationships exists among the parts of a system and with other systems.
• Participatory - The observer is always intimately connected to their environment, participating in the reality they 'observe'.
• Non-linearity - Complex patterns of interaction, described through feedback loops, self-organising systems and chaos theory, are more common than simple linear cause-and-effect interactions.

Wholeness

This is the concept of a whole that is "more than the sum of its parts". Whole systems have emergent properties that can't be deduced by studying their components.

• Whole systems - Thinking about whole systems involves shifting our attention from the parts to the whole, from objects to relationships, from structures to processes, from hierarchies to networks. It also includes shifts of emphasis from the rational to the intuitive, from analysis to synthesis, from linear to non-linear thinking.
• Multiple perspectives - Complex systems interact in complex ways and can be seen from many different points of view. There is no "one answer".
• Independence - Systems can operate as largely independent autonomous wholes  - that can be far from equilibrium with their environment.
• Multiple levels - Systems often include a network or holarchy of sub-systems that interact in complex ways.

Being

Being is about fully experiencing the present moment; it is about inner peace, wisdom and insight; it is about being honest and authentic.

• Fully human - Recognising the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of being human.
• Creative expression - Recognising the importance of opportunities for the creative expression of individuals and communities.
• Growth - Transformation and growth allow each person to reach for the highest aspirations of the human spirit.
• Responsibility - Personal and collective discernment and responsibility for choices and actions at local, global and cosmic levels.

Systemic Development

occurs when both the process and the outcomes are:

• Aesthetically acceptable

• Ethically defensible

• Culturally feasible

• Spiritually compatible

• Ecologically responsible

not just

• Technically feasible

• Economically viable

• Socially desirable

• Practically manageable

• Politically possible

(Richard Bawden)