Monday 16 December 2013

Integral Education

Last week, i got an opportunity to visit a fabulous school in my city. The school follows an integral approach to education and for me, it was a riveting and an enriching experience as i was oblivious to this kind of approach to education.
The school primarily believes in developing expression, observation, imagination, concentration, exploration, discovery and listening skills in children. The interactions i had with people in the school were captivating and thought provoking. I am no expert in Integral education but i would like to share my understanding of it through this post. Integral education looks at the totality of a person. The practitioners of this system believe that no part of being is superfluous and hence every part needs to be educated. There are 5 important aspects to education: physical, vital, mental, spiritual and psychic. 
Recognizing the voice of our physic being is important. It is a tool which is within all of us and listening to it is what will make us better human beings. To read more about the 5 aspects of education, you can follow the 
link:  Integral education

Many a times as an educator i feel that the burden of following a curriculum and expecting all children to perform at the same level does prove to be stressful and the love for learning that we want to inculcate in our children somehow gets lost. But integral education makes learning a life long process. It teaches us to connect and listen to our inner voice and not let it become submissive. 

I intend on reading the book: Igniting Brilliance: Integral education for the 21st Century by Willow Dea to get a better perspective on Integral Education. I will share my thoughts on it soon.

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