If you had to articulate your educational philosophy for supporting traumatised children in out of home care, what would you say? I am currently working on a number of educational plans and am using the following core philosophy (designed by myself) as the base for individualising timetables and educational goals.
Educational Philosophy
- Education is a life long process.
- Education is holistic with areas of emotional, environmental and self-care being as important as classical learning.
- Just as there are different types of intelligence, there are different types of education. Our goal as home educators is to offer balance across areas of intelligence and educational frameworks.
- Teachable moments present themselves throughout the day and when capitalized upon offer enjoyable and non focused educational learning.
- Home education is learning a variety of skills in many settings and in many ways.
- Education is multi faceted and accessible from a variety of support people with an array of different educational backgrounds, areas of expertise and different views on life.
- Natural learning occurs when a student is relaxed, happy and in an environment of safety.
- We are co-learners rather than teachers. We facilitate a learning process and encourage empowerment by enabling the student to accept that we do not know everything, that our way is not the only way and that there is learning available to all of us by accessing community, individuals and institutions.
- We recognize that by making the student the instructor at times, a wealth of knowledge will be gained for the student and a measurable increase in the students self esteem will become visible.
- Any situation is a possible teachable moment. To seize the teachable moment and deliver it in a way that will capture the interest of the student, is a role that we take on as co-learners.
- A progression from knowledge reception to higher learning evaluation occurs when: educational material is presented in a palatable way designed to a student’s specific learning needs; when the learning environment is charged with a air of enquiry across all learning partners; and when the traditional focus moves from fact retainment to fact appreciation
With emotional intelligence as the core curricula background and teachable moments as the vein of an unschooling approach, you will need supporting resources and material. I am using my own material from Parent Sense (see the Intiuition section) to move into emotional intelligence through talk, play and outings.
Here are some other articles that may help you understand your own educational philosophy and deliver it in a palatable way to your traumatised young person:
Making the most of Teachable Moments
Use a story to solve a problem – Bibliotherapy
