Essay on Holistic Approaches to Education

Holistic education has been given a lot of focus from different researchers. One of them is Hare, who said, "Holistic education is a clear departure from the knowledge transmission approach to education that has been familiar in the past. Holistic education prepares a student for life-long learning in which the training focus moves towards the life skills, attitudes that the students will need in an increasingly complex world" (Hare, 2010, p.6).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

` Holistic education refers to the method used to prepare students to be able to meet any obstacles or challenges that they face while dealing with life cases. It is an aspect which is dealt with in the academic life and career of an individual. The most commonly identified issues in holistic education is the fact that it focuses on getting to know about one's self, developing positive social behaviors, being able to adapt to healthy relationships, resilience, truth, experience transcendence and being able to view the beauty of life.

When one undergoes an education of some form, it is a requirement that he or she should grasp all the positive aspects that it bears. Education does not provide 100% details on how to tackle life. It only provides a foundation of what needs to be done to survive and face cases and issues that are challenging. In short, one should be able to apply whatever has been learned in real life. In most cases, education leads to the development of innovative minds and gives ways of approaching circumstances that need informed decision-making processes. It is out of education that one gains skills on how to enter a job market and build on career development.

Education is classified into various fields, and all of them are connected interdependently. For instance, education builds the cognitive part of an individual, it provides the basis for learning both local and international languages, and it helps one on how to build on spiritual aspects of life based on the creative development of a child. Looking at all these aspects of education, you will realize that they are interconnected and related to each other. It is crucial to learn a language which can be used for effective communication, then later find out how to apply skills that have been learned to achieve development while moving from childhood to adulthood.

Hare (2010) tries to show how holistic education is important and great that it does to people. He argues that it provides the ability to deal with difficult situations in and out of the educational institutions. He insists that the world is complex and needs one to be well trained and prepared to deal with all the escapades that arise from it. In this case, it would be a good idea to look at what Hare says on the emotional, cognitive, spiritual, social, personal, language, physical, moral and creative development of a child.

Early childhood education is one of the most commonly known stages of education. Everyone should pass through it to get the best and firm foundation needed to go through the entire life cycle. These programs try to bridge the gap that exists between personal life and the collective well-being of an individual. It builds on a child's well-being from the perspective of social participation (Tayler, 2015, p164). Early childhood education is a phase of life which is very broad and it, therefore, needs practitioners to handle it from all fields. These include psychology, sociology, neuroscience, education and, social welfare. Each of the fields has what it takes to ensure that a child has been professionally trained based on intellectual developments. The way a child behaves or reacts to issues is highly influenced by the surrounding adults and the physical environment itself (whether at home or school).

Socially, young children need to relate to others who are of the same age. It can be realized that they learn different modes of behavior through interaction and being attracted to their parents and caregivers. They learn informally by getting a basic education from some of the issues and circumstances that they face. The way a child is attached or detached to parents and caregivers determines whether they will develop to be antisocial or social later in life. In short, the way a child is brought up has long-term effects later in their lives. It determines the kind of people they will become.

Tayler (2010) still says that "the quality of parent-child attachment influences the sense of security and safety in children and affects the way they behave." (Tayler, 2015, p.164). This is viewed from an emotional perspective. Their emotions are delicate, and if not handled in the right manner they can end up leaving stressful lives. For instance, children who are brought up in poverty need to be shown that they are not in permanent conditions and that they can get out of it. When they interact with children who come from wealthy backgrounds, they feel segregated and out of place. Peer pressure and hostile behaviors make children develop negative emotions with others, and they end up having difficulties when it comes to getting along with each other. Parental behavior, family disadvantages and, violence exposure, demoralize a child's emotions. Those who have empathetic emotions change and start doing the most unexpected, such as, robbery and destructions.

Holistic education bears aspects such as knowledge transmission, student focus, examination, and preparation. In addition to this, it has concepts of assessment which are student development, teaching improvement, testing, school accountability and control (Chen and Brown, 2016, p350). All these aspects help in building on a child's development as they revolve around what one needs to move from one life stage to the other. For instance, when education is student focused, it means that the child will be able to do all that it takes to remain attached to whatever is needed to succeed. Some of the children end up being book addicts and readers from the kind of education that they have received.

Knowledge transmission is assessed through examination. This is the only way that an educator can be able to know whether a child has grasped everything taught. In turn, this contributes to the moral development of a child. In morals, children gain knowledge of what is good and what is bad. All these depend on ethics that a given culture withholds or adheres to. Knowledge is transmitted from caregivers to children on how to manage anger, be responsible, manage finances, handle stress, pass exams and, also how to protect oneself in the case of a raging danger. Knowledge transmission is done in various ways which can be either practical or theoretical. Theoretically, teachers pass knowledge to children or students by providing them with case studies that they use to view life. This is one of the most appropriate ways as it allows children to view life in their ways and interpret what it avails.

Personal development of a child is still nurtured through holistic education, and this makes them achieve some of the set goals. In most cases, this is done by teachers who are responsible for what should be learned by children. I second Hares idea of people being able to handle complex life situations out of developed attitudes and personal lives. It is said that student-centered education allows students to present their issues to the teacher who then uses his or her skills to clarify things (Chen and Brown, 2016, p350). This technique builds on students' personal lives after being trained. Some of the issues which teachers are likely to receive are physical, emotional, psychological and intellectual. All these put together, build up the personal life of an individual. Therefore, it is a crucial idea to ensure that a child can maneuver through all of them.

Research has found out that a relationship exists between creativity, social play and language abilities of a child (Homes et al, 2015, 1180). For a child to be creative minded, he or she should be perfect when it comes to playing socially with others and being able to interact using the most basic languages. This is proved by Johnson (2007) who states that children brought up in the twenty-first century need to bear some problem-solving skills which will build on their productivity as adults. This is another accreditation of Hares claims on some of the reasons as to holistic education should be embraced.

Adult life means that one can handle issues maturely using some of the life lessons learned while growing up. The life lessons are characterized by focusing on better language use and being social while in different environments. A child who is poor in language use shows that the transmission of holistic education was not done successfully. Language use is examined by the way one presents him or herself. For instance, one who cannot communicate effectively while explaining simple personal details is not holistically sane. Language use is perfected through practice and appropriate application of social relations. When a child lives in an area where people use slang while communicating, the language at hand will be adopted and used even in serious situations. A setback comes in as no information will be passed in a manner that everyone can grasp or be able to understand.

Holistic education is used to promote physical activity in a child (Pater et al, 2013, p. 452). In the same way adolescents and adults adapt to different settings, children can also be made to do so. Most children get physical activities while in the preschool stage depending on the home and community environments where they are located. Some of the ways in which holistic informal education can be used to improve a child's physical activity are, providing open space for development and getting more time to be active. The main thing here is that children need to be given more time to play so that they be physically active as they prepare for their future lives. Children need to play with or possess portable materials such as balls and hula hoops that depict real life events (Pater et al, 2013, p. 452). Children have some ways of developing physically regarding formal holistic education. This is done by incorporating the use of teacher-led and teacher planned techniques from both inside and outside classes. Holistic education, therefore, is instrumental in the early physical development of a child.

Holistic education not only deals with the moral beliefs of an individual, but also majors on the spiritual emolument. "All indigenous communities have a time-tested, child-rearing knowledge base that reflects and honors their spiritual beliefs and historical experiences" (Hanckel and Segal, 2013, p.10). This statement is true as it is a continuation of what Hare tries to pass through. While building on the well-being of children, they are educated on how to embrace harmony and can collaborate with others in a spiritual and natural environment. Spiritual knowledge enables them to do what is right having in mind that there is a supernatural being who wants them to maintain righteousness.

In Australia, the educational curriculum is entirely focused on integrating indigenous knowledge into children regarding spirituality and other practices that involved development. The materials used in teaching them are culturally relevant, and they help in creating stronger bonds between parents and children. McLennan and Khavarpour (2004) realized that some of the stories and ceremonies which children are made to go through have got some elements of spirituality. In this case, they are given knowledge of the way spirituality well connected to culture and hence the relationships and actions that they engage in should coincide well with it. Children in Australia are holistically educated and most of them show some adulthood traits. They include...