I recently had an interview with an international school and was asked what “holistic education” meant to me.
Having worked in education for the past 10 years, I constantly think about the purpose of education, and what we, as educators, should consider when preparing people for the future. In this short post, I would like to explore my views on holistic education.
Often education systems focus solely on academics. Though academic rigor is necessary to fulfill one’s potential, it is only one of the many aspects. This is where holistic education comes into play.
Holistic learning theory puts forward the idea that to stimulate and achieve the potential of each human being, one needs to consider the individual as a system of interacting pieces, including the intellect, emotion, imagination, and body.
It would be difficult to create an exhaustive list of the different aspects of holistic learning, but in an attempt to create a simple framework, here are my thoughts. Holistic education is the triad of academic growth, socio-emotional skills, and career / professional development. There is a huge body of literature on each of these aspects, which have their own sub-aspects, and sub-sub-aspects and…you get the picture!
I will attempt to address these aspects in further posts but to conclude, a combination of academic growth, socio-emotional skills, and career / professional development can help one reach their potential.