Outcomes of K–12 Holistic Pedagogies: Montessori, Waldorf, Democratic-Free, and Homeschooled Adults' Perspectives and Retrospectives

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Approaches to Seeing the Whole Person

Abstract

This investigation brings scholarly inquiry to the perspectives of people with direct experience of education settings founded in the paradigm of holism, wherein the all areas of human development are viewed as intertwined and within the purview of education. The research methodology includes an online survey (open to any former student of each pedagogy in the US and Canada), and focus groups. This methodological approach allows the identification of broad trends in the understandings, values and attitudes of former holistic education students along with a focused investigation of the meaning making of selected respondents. Holistic education intends to create a more compassionate, democratic, life-affirming and ecologically sustainable society; this research brings those aspirations into conversation with adult former students.

Author

• Autumn Joy Joy Florencio-Wain, State University of New York at Albany