Humanistic education is an approach to education based on the work of humanistic psychologists, most notably Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, and Rudolf Steiner.
The approach seeks to encourage the whole person: the intellect, feeling life, social capacities, artistic and practical skills are all important emphasis for growth and development. Important objectives include developing children’s self-esteem, ability to set and achieve appropriate goals, and development toward full autonomy. This was to be attained through the study of the studia humanitatis, today known as the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry and moral philosophy.
Methodology
Environment
The environment in a school which focuses their practice on humanistic education tends to have a very different setting than a traditional school. It includes both indoor and outdoor environments with a majority of time being spent outdoors. The indoor setting may contain a few tables and chairs, bean bags for quiet reading and relaxation, book shelf’s, hide-aways, kitchens, lots of color and art posted on the walls. The outdoor environment is very engaging for students. You might find tree houses, outdoor kitchens, sand boxes, play sets, natural materials, sporting activities etc. The wide range of activities are provided for students allowing for free choices of interest.
Principles
Choice or Control
The humanistic approach focuses a great deal on student choice and control over the course of their education. Students are motivated to make choices that range from day-to-day activities to periodically setting future life goals. This allows for students to focus on a specific subject of interest for any amount of time they choose, within reason. Humanistic teachers believe it is vital for students to be motivated and engaged in the material they are learning, and this happens when the topic is something the students need and want to know.
Felt Concern
Humanistic education tends to focus on the felt concerns and interests of the students intertwining with the intellect. It is believed that the overall mood and feeling of the students can either inhibit or foster the process of learning.
The Whole Person
Humanistic educators believe that both feelings and knowledge are significant to the learning process. Unlike traditional educators, humanistic teachers do not separate the cognitive and affective domains. This aspect also links to the curriculum in the sense that lessons and activities provided focus on various aspects of the student and not just rote memorization through note taking and lecturing.
Self Evaluation
Humanistic educators believe that grades are not important and that only self-evaluation is meaningful. Grading encourages students to work for a grade and not for intrinsic satisfaction. Humanistic educators disagree with routine testing because they teach students rote memorization as opposed to meaningful learning. They also believe testing doesn’t provide enough educational feedback to the teacher.
Teacher as a Facilitator
“The tutor or lecturer tends to be more supportive than critical, more understanding than judgmental, more genuine than playing a role.” Their job is to provide an engaging environment for the students and ask inquiry based questions that promote meaningful learning.