Education is an essential human need and right. The purpose of education is to further our collective human development toward a loving, equitable, peaceful, and engaged existence.
How can education transform our human experience in the present and the future?
My philosophy of education explores this question and proposes that education:
- Is steeped in love.
- Holistically oriented to engage the whole child in mind, body, soul and spirit.
- Nurtures a sense of belonging, care and relationship with all life, including and especially our living earth.
- Upholds truth through listening, accepting, and valuing the expanse of lived and felt experiences and perspectives across people and cultures.
- Cultivates vulnerability, empathy, and courage as keys to learning.
- Is gently guided and embraces the learner’s curiosity.
- Invests in building community through authentic relationships.
- Enriches the imagination to inspire divergent thinking to dream up and create new possibilities.
- Opens spaces for discovery through play and creative expression through art.
- Shifts from either/or thinking and adopts a both/and mindset. In other words, practices holding the tension of two opposing truths at once.
- Invites inquiry and experimentation.
- Encourages trying and recognizes failure as a prerequisite to learning.
- Organizes around moments of joy and creativity through celebration and affirmation that facilitate connection.
Education must honor the individual and be committed to the collective. I believe in public education as a defining characteristic of a democratic society and that it is each generation’s responsibility to ensure that every child has access to a high quality, inclusive education. It is through education that we can chart the course into our shared future and continued development.
Learning to Create. 