Holistic education
[1] Its philosophy, which is also identified as holistic learning theory,[2] is based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to their local community, to the natural world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace.
The term holistic education has been attributed to the South African military leader, statesman, scholar and philosopher,[6] Field Marshal General Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950), who is noted for his role in the foundation of the League of Nations, and the formation of the international peace organization, the United Nations.
[10] Smuts' "holism" was also the inspiration for Emile Durkheim's concept of the "holistic society",[11] as well as Alfred Adler's psychological approach, which views the individual as an "integrated whole".
[12] There are also sources that credit Rudolph Steiner, John Dewey, and Maria Montessori as the originator of the modern model of holistic education.
[2][13] Steiner, particularly, developed a holistic education framework based on the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and H.P.
[14] It is difficult to map the history of holistic education, as in some respects its core ideas are not new but "timeless and found in the sense of wholeness in humanity's religious impetus".
[15] The explicit application of holistic ideas to education has a clear tradition, however, whose originating theorists include: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Johann Pestalozzi, and Friedrich Fröbel.
More recent theorists are Rudolf Steiner, Maria Montessori, Francis Parker, John Dewey, Francisco Ferrer John Caldwell Holt, George Dennison Kieran Egan, Howard Gardner, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Paul Goodman, Ivan Illich, and Paulo Freire.
The conference was presented by The Mandala Society and The National Center for the Exploration of Human Potential and was titled Mind: Evolution or Revolution?
[citation needed] Education with a holistic perspective is concerned with the development of every person's intellectual, emotional, social, physical, artistic, creative and spiritual potentials.
In describing the general philosophy of holistic education, Robin Ann Martin and Scott Forbes (2004) divided their discussion into two categories: the idea of "ultimacy" and Basil Bernstein's notion of sagacious competence.
Rather than seeing education as a process of transmission and transaction, transformative learning involves a change in the frames of reference that a person might have.
As a result, if "we ask students to develop critical and reflective thinking skills and encourage them to care about the world around them they may decide that some degree of personal or social transformation is required.
Holism sees the various aspects of life and living as integrated and connected, therefore, education should not isolate learning into several different components.
"[15] In holistic education, the teacher is seen less as person of authority who leads and controls but rather is seen as "a friend, a mentor, a facilitator, or an experienced traveling companion".
