What My Holistic Education Meant to Me: Feedback From Adults With Nontraditional/Progressive Education Backgrounds

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Fifteen
  In Roundtable Session: Care, Veganism, Nontraditional Pathways, and Holistic Education (Table 13)

Abstract

This mixed-methods research includes a survey distributed to over 300 adults in the US and Canada with holistic education backgrounds (homeschool, Montessori, Waldorf, Democratic Free, Friends, or other humanistic-progressive/non-traditional school). Focus group participants were intentionally selected to represent survey trends. Outcomes were analyzed relative to the proposed, Holistic Educational Theory, a systematic and research driven synthesis of the hopes and expectations of parents, teachers, founders and theorists of holistic education. Findings are discussed relative to setting characteristics (public/private, specific pedagogy), as well as participant characteristics (age, ethnicity, socio-economic background). Focus group participants flesh out the survey findings and offer invaluable insight into their experiences during and after holistic education with keen reflections on the advantages and drawbacks from their perspectives.

Author

• Autumn Joy Florencio-Wain, University at Albany - SUNY
  Presenting Author