Holistic education: Learning from the experiences of three holistic teachers.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Holistic education is an alternative trend in education whose main characteristic is the idea that educational experiences should promote a more balanced development of—and cultivate the relationships among—all aspects of development (intellectual, physical, spiritual, emotional, and social), between the learner and what is to be learned, between reason and emotion, between the individual and the natural environment, among the various fields of knowledge, and among different forms of knowing. Two other main characteristics of the holistic movement are the ideas that educational processes should draw forth what is already within each child, and promote a worldview focused not on material achievements, but on the development of human potential and on the quality of human relationships.
This dissertation is a case study of the educational philosophy and practice of three teachers who see themselves as holistic educators and who team-teach at a school that defines itself as holistic. It explores three questions: (1) How do these teachers express their philosophy of education and conceptualize their practice as teachers? (2) How do they implement their conception of holistic education? (3) What kinds of difficulties interfere with their practice?.
I collected data through interviews, observations, and document review. I found that the teachers' understanding of holistic education is consistent with the main ideas of the holistic education movement expressed in the literature. The teachers tried to implement their conception of holistic education through a “pedagogy of connections”: connecting with students in an individual level, connecting with their emerging interests and strengths, and connecting with the real world and the natural environment. The main difficulty they faced was defining the right kind of balance between freedom and structure and what kind of freedom or structure they should provide to students. In the concluding section of my dissertation, as I elaborate on ideas that might help improve the school where I developed my study, I address the main complexities involved in the implementation of holistic education ideas in the real world of schools.