Humanistic education
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Not to be confused with liberal arts education or classical education. See liberal arts .
Humanistic education is an alternative approach to education based on the work of humanistic psychologists, most notably Abraham Maslow, who developed a famous hierarchy of needs, Carl Rogers, previous president of the American Psychology Association and Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education.[1] In humanistic education, the whole person, not just the intellect, is engaged in the growth and development that are the signs of real learning. The emotions, the social being, the mind, and the skills needed for a career direction are all focuses of humanistic education. "Much of a humanist teacher's effort would be put into developing a child's self-esteem. It would be important for children to feel good about themselves (high self-esteem), and to feel that they can set and achieve appropriate goals (high self-efficacy)." [2]
Contents
1 Principles of Humanistic Education
1.1 Choice or Control
1.2 Felt Concern
1.3 The Whole Person
1.4 Self Evaluation
1.5 Teacher as a Facilitator
2 Environment
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
6 Heading text
Principles of Humanistic Education
Choice or Control
The humanistic approach focuses a great deal on student choice and control over the course of their education. Students are encouraged to make choices that range from day-to-day activities to periodically setting future life goals. This allows for students to focus on a specific subject of interest for any amount of time they choose, within reason. Humanistic teachers believe it is important for students to be motivated and engaged in the material they are learning, and this happens when the topic is something the students need and want to know.
Felt Concern
Humanistic education tends to focus on the felt concerns and interests of the students intertwining with the intellect. It is believed that the overall mood and feeling of the students can either hinder or foster the process of learning.
The Whole Person
Humanistic educators believe that both feelings and knowledge are important to the learning process. Unlike traditional educators, humanistic teachers do not separate the cognitive and affective domains. This aspect also relates to the curriculum in the sense that lessons and activities provided focus on various aspects of the student and not just rote memorization through note taking and lecturing.
Self Evaluation
Humanistic educators believe that grades are irrelevant and that only self-evaluation is meaningful. Grading encourages students to work for a grade and not for intrinsic satisfaction. Humanistic educators disagree with routine testing because they teach students rote memorization as opposed to meaningful learning. They also believe testing doesn't provide sufficient educational feedback to the teacher.
Teacher as a Facilitator
"The tutor or lecturer tends to be more supportive than critical, more understanding than judgmental, more genuine than playing a role." [3] Their job is to foster a engaging environment for the students and ask inquiry based questions that promote meaningful learning.
Environment
The environment in a school which focuses their practice on humanistic education tends to have a very different setting than a traditional school. It consist of both indoor and outdoor environments with a majority of time being spent outdoors. The indoor setting may contain a few tables and chairs, bean bags for quiet reading and relaxation, book shelf's, hide-aways, kitchens, lots of color and art posted on the walls. The outdoor environment is very engaging for students. You might find tree houses, outdoor kitchens, sand boxes, play sets, natural materials, sporting activities etc. The wide range of activities are offered for students allowing for free choices of interest.
See also
Democratic school
Humanistic psychology
Liberal education
Progressive education
Sudbury school
Transpersonal education
Waldorf education
Neo Humanistic Education
Waldorf Education
References
1.^ Earl J. Ogletree, "Rudolf Steiner: Unknown Educator", The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 74, No. 6 (Mar., 1974), pp. 344-351
2.^ Stuart, G. (n.d.). Humanistic approaches to teaching. Retrieved from http://www.garysturt.free-online.co.uk/human.htm
3.^ Rowan, J. (n.d.). Humanistic education. Retrieved from http://www.ahpweb.org/rowan_bibliography/chapter17.htm
[edit] External links
"The New Humanistic education at Gurukul" - possibly an example of new humanistic education
"The New School at Dawson College" - possibly an example of humanistic education at the community college level
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