Holistic Education: Montfortian Mission

 Holistic Education deals with Ecological Consciousness, Democratic Values, Individual Freedom, Social Responsibilities, Accompanies School Children Physically, Psychologically and Emotionally, Intellectually and Spiritually for all round Development and Character Formation.

Montfortian Mission towards Holistic Education

1. Introduction:

Education helps in character formation, empowers mind and expands intellect. “We are creatures of both reason and emotion, mind and body, matter and spirit”.  Since all are called to become lifelong learners, innovators and become holistic persons to create a just society. We as Montfort Brothers and educators, how can we make, our educative mission as Holistic Education? I would like to present you some concrete action plans to create our educative mission as holistic one. Before we enter into action plans for implementation, let us try to understand what Holistic Education is, in general.

2. First Understanding of Holistic Education (HE):

Holistic education is democratic education, it deals with individual freedom, social responsibilities and cultural peace. It is an approach which focuses on preparing students to meet the challenges they may face in their academic career and in life as whole. Holistic education encompasses a wide range of philosophical orientations and pedagogical practices. Its focus is on wholeness, it attempts to include all significant aspects of the human experience. Holistic Education takes contemporary cultural influences such as the media, music and teaches young mind how to be human. It gives clarity to the biggest challenges in life and how to overcome obstacles, accomplish success, and what basic concepts need to be learned initially, in order to accomplish all of those which are kept for us later on in life.

Holistic Education is a method which focuses on preparing students to meet any challenges they may face in life and in their academic career. It is learning about oneself, developing healthy relationships and positive social behaviors, social and emotional development, resilience, and the ability to view beauty, experience transcendence and truth.

In the ancient times, a child used to get adequate support from families, religion, or old tribes, are no longer exists, holistic education seeks to modify learning of human goodness, personal greatness, and the joy of living both in trials and in successes. Pressure from competition in school, after school activities, and the social pressure to look a certain way, as well as the violence which typically accompanies school children both physically, psychologically, and emotionally, takes away from a child's ability to learn.

A child is compelled to perform as per the instructions by the parents or teachers; we are not ready to give the child wings to fly. Holistic education rectifies this. Holistic education notes that children need to not only develop academically, but develop the ability to survive in the modern world.

This should begin from the childhood. Parents and teachers being the first socializing agents should help the children to learn to value themselves, their worth, and recognize their abilities and how to be able to do what they want in life. Doing what they want ties into the relationships that they build and how they treat those relationships. The idea of resilience is a learned quality, not one which is inherent and thus children must be taught to face difficulties in life and overcome them. This concept inspires children to observe truths, reality natural beauty, and the meaning of life.

3. Importance of Holistic Education in our mission:

3.1.1 There is concern for the inner life, for the feelings, aspirations, ideas and questions that each student brings to the learning process. The contemporary education is no longer viewed as the transmission of information or diffusion of ideas; instead it is an expedition innermost as well as outward into the world. It helps the children to understand the inner self and to connect to the world.

3.1.2 Holistic education expresses an ecological consciousness; it recognizes that everything in the world exists in context. This involves a deep respect for the veracity of the biosphere, if not a sense of veneration for nature.

3.1.3 It is a worldview that embraces diversity, both natural and cultural. It shuns ideology, categorization, and fixed answers, and instead appreciates the flowing interrelatedness of all life.

3.1.4 It is an education that recognizes the innate potential of every student for intelligent and creative thinking. It is child-honouring education, because it respects the creative impulses at work within the unfolding child as much as, if not more than, the cultural imperatives that conventional schooling seeks to overlay onto the growing personality.

Thus, holistic education is essentially a democratic education, concerned with both individual freedom and social responsibility. It is education for a culture of peace, for sustainability and ecological literacy, and for the development of humanity’s inherent morality and spirituality. It leads to freedom, good judgement, Meta learning, social ability, refining values and self-knowledge.

 4. Four ‘Pillars of Learning’ in Holistic Education:

4.1 Learning to Learn:

This starts with learning to ask. The inquisitiveness to know more and gain more knowledge. To ask is a natural act of consciousness in its search for knowledge. Its real purpose is not so much for the question to be answered as to be explored. It helps in empowering the attributes of consciousness to exercise skills such as concentration, listening, perceiving, and developing curiosity, intuitiveness, and creativity. Learning to learn means having the ability to direct and take responsibility for one’s own learning, for keeping oneself up-to-date, for knowing where to look for knowledge.

4.2 Learning to Do:

In the contemporary system, this means learning to change society through logical, intellectual and responsible action. Learning to do is learning a skill and become productive. It also implies learning to adapt to the requirements of work and ability to work in a team, along with the strategically using facts to resolve problems and also to make rational decisions in generating quality products and services. In also make us understand how to take risks as well as take the initiative.

4.3 Learning to Live Together:

This means learning to live responsibly, respecting and cooperating with other people and, in general, with all the living organisms on the planet. It accepts the uniqueness of every individual. Learning must overcome prejudice, stubbornness, discrimination, authoritarianism and stereotypes, and all that leads to argument, disagreement and war. The fundamental principle of this pillar of learning is interdependence or knowledge of the network of life. This pillar implies an education taking two harmonizing paths: on one level, discovery of others and experience of shared purposes throughout life.

It implies the development of stupendous qualities such as: knowledge and understanding of self and others, positive reception of the diversity of the humanity and an understanding of the similarities and interdependence of all human being. It enhances the feeling of empathy and cooperative social behavior in caring and sharing. Respect of other people and their cultures and value systems, capability of encountering others and resolving conflicts through dialogue; and competency in working towards common objectives.

4.4 Learning to Be:

Learning to Be means the journey to find the essence of oneself which goes beyond the thoughts and action. The universal dimensions of human values rather than individual values are discovered. Holistic education nurtures this learning in a special way, by recognizing the human being as a basically spiritual being in search of meaning. “Learning to be” may therefore be interpreted in one way as learning to be human, through acquisition of knowledge, skills and values conducive to the development of personality in its intellectual, moral, cultural and physical dimensions.

This implies a curricula aiming at cultivating and refining qualities of imagination and creativity, acquiring universally shared human values and developing potentials. It enhances aspects of a person’s memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacity and communication/social skills. It helps in developing critical thinking and exercising independent judgment and developing personal commitment and responsibility.

5. Let me sum up:

Holistic education is a process that can meet the needs of all types of learners and that mould future citizens who will contribute a concern and mindfulness for the society and the planet. Both global education and environmental education, which are also based on the principles of interdependence and connectedness, are embedded in it. Based on this interdependent perspective, holistic education seeks to create a society where we live in harmony with the ecosystem. It discards consumerism as the dominant approach of being in contemporary society. Instead, it seeks education which is a becoming of a person and rooted in the fundamental realities of nature and existence. Holistic education seeks to connect the part with the whole. Holistic education calls on us to restore the vision in the primary goal of Education is sustainability.

 6. Action Plans:

After having studied and gone through the details of Holistic Education and I wish to  recommends the following action plans. 

6.1 It is recommended to you to organize a counselling and guidance program for teachers and students in our institutions separately:

·   Program at province level for the teachers, coordinators and collaborators. It can be organized in two or three groups according to the convenience of province.

·  Organize a counselling and guidance program at local level for the students in different groups.

     ·    Organize a training programs for teachers on holistic life, career guidance  

          and life skill training for students at various levels separately once in a year.

     ·   Organize a seminar/ retreat for the spiritual formation of students at least  

          once in a year.

2.Annual retreat for faith formation of catholic students and teachers.

3. Organize a seminar on ethics, moral values and cultural integrity for the non-  Catholic teachers and students separately at least once in a year.

4.  Create an awareness on Health, Hygiene, self-care, love oneself and others in daily school assembly.

5. Empower the students in group discussions, debate, role play, miming, brainstorming, dialogue and questioning.

6.2 We recommend you to create a fund for poor students in the society at local community and province level:

1.  Identify and provide scholarship to dropout students, economically weak, migrant children, orphans and Catholics for various futurist skill training and higher education.

2.  To pay the school/course fees even if they are studying in some other institutions.

 6.3 Organize ongoing holistic spiritual formation for young Brothers, twice in a year, who are future of our congregation:

1. Arrange an annual seminar on self-assessment, book review and PPT presentation.

2.  Organize a program on environmental education.

3.  Organize a seminar on building and acquiring life skills like reading-writing, reason– emotion, question-answer, health-hygiene, communication–relationship, discussion- debate, role play–miming, society-culture and dialogue and brainstorming in order to empower our young Brothers.

4.  Organize a seminar on life skill development for personal growth.

6.4. Create environmental education as a part of our mission in all our institutions:

The importance of environmental education is all about learning the way we should live and how we can develop sustainable strategies to protect the environment. It helps us to develop an understanding of living and how to resolve challenging environmental issues affecting human and nature.  It helps to inspire awareness of the environment, leading to informed concern for active participation in resolving environmental problems. Some of the current problems are  air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, Global warming and climate change, natural calamities and disaster, Deforestation, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution  which pose great concern towards life and death of all living beings.

We as a citizens need to take sense of responsibilities to earth’s resources which are dwindling and being degraded by human activities. The imbalance creating challenges to our survival and sustenance on earth. Therefore, the environmental education is needed to understand ecological imbalance and the ill effects on human, animal and plant life. It enables to protect biodiversity and responsibilities towards environmental protection. The study also helps in:

1. To clarify modern environmental concepts like how to conserve biodiversity.

2. To know the more sustainable way of living.

3. To use natural resources more efficiently.

4. To know the behaviour of organism under natural conditions.

5. To know the interrelationship between organisms in populations and communities.

6. To awaken and educate people regarding environmental issues and problems at local, national and international levels.

7. To save Humanity from Extinction and to create an Alternative Solution to                   existing problems.

6.4.1 Therefore, we recommend that all our institutions to organize regular programs and seminars for our teachers and students on environmental issues in order to create an awareness and them with knowledge and skills to preserve the ecosystem:

           1.  Conduct school level exhibition based environmental issues.

2. Organize quiz competition, craft and drawing competition on preservation of nature.

3. Create green school campus by planting trees and maintaining school flower garden.

4. Organize a conference for students on Global warming and climate change, natural calamities and disaster.

Kindly post your valuable comments  in the comments box given below.

Thank You.

Author: Bro.Antony, Delhi.   

           e-mail: tonyindiasg@gamil.com