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Education in humanistic psychology

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rogers.htm
Maslow+Rogers: advocates of non-directive and person-centred approach to
education_laid the psychological framework for the movement of Open education in
the USA.
Open classrooms very popular in the 1970s.
Examples: In Denmark: Bernadotteskolen in Hellerup in UK: Summerhill School.
Also the Montessori schools.
See timeline and influence of humanistic education principles
http://www.playmountain.org/philo_timeline.htm
Purpose of humanistic education: provide foundation for personal growth +
development towards life-long learning in a self-directed manner and self-
actualisation (De Carvalho 1991).
Rogers (1959): the role of humanistic teachers is to organise the classrooms so that
students will wish to learn, want to grow, seek to find out, hope to master, and desire
to create.
Open classrooms: humanistic education ideology taken into the classroom vs.
traditional classrooms
Traditional classroom Open classroom
Teacher-centred (teachers responsible for
the learning)
Student centred and student self-directed
+independent+responsible
Teacher tell students what to do Teacher=facilitator
Fixed curriculum and no connection
between the subjects
Students free to choose what to study +
integration of subjects across the
curriculum
Material for study fixed Students can use a variety of learning
materials
Students work alone Students work alone or in groups (co-
operative learning)
Focus on grades + standardised tests Grades and tests not important:
evaluation in terms of meaningfulness to
student
Students learn facts (rote learning) and to
reproduce facts
Students learn to learn + reflective
thinking
Ideal university (_enhance motivation in students) according to Maslow:
No formal credits, required courses or degrees
Educational retreat: possible to explore various subjects according to own interests
and identities
Teachers should be self-actualisers
Teachers should provide unconditional positive regard
Help people actualise their potentials
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Criticism of current educational system:
All academic courses no matter their difficulty is arranged in same ways
Emphasis on learning facts (not personal growth)
Motivation provided by external rewards (grades) _students only do what they are
told (they dont see it as their project)
Present school system efficient in crushing peak experiences and prevent them
from happening according to Maslow
Rogers core conditions and education: facilitative teaching
From Rogers (1967) The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning or
Rogers Freedom to learn (1969). Basic principles in Rogers approach to learning:
You cannot teach another person- only facilitate learning!
Structure and organisation of the self appears to become more rigid under threat
(and the opposite when there is no threat) because in both cases, self-esteem is
involved (cf. article on girls self-esteem and Dweck et al. 1968 on class-room
feed back)
Efficient learning when
o Threat to self is reduced to minimum
o Differentiated perception of the field of experience is facilitated
o Self-direction in learning (cf. Summerhill school and A.S. Neill)
Criticism of Rogers:
Perhaps Rogers underestimate the role of teaching in general because he was
himself such a formidable facilitator.
Too much focus on the other_selfish individualism?
http://www.probe.org/docs/psy-educ.html criticism of Rogers ideas in education
Rogers theorizing on education based on his ideas in clinical work: the client
(student) usually knows better how to proceed than the therapist (teacher): facilitative
educational practice needs congruence (realness); acceptance and empathy as key to
self-actualisation in education.
Congruence (realness) in the facilitator of learning:
o The facilitator (teacher) must be
! Real (genuine) _no facade (being herself)
! Able to communicate feelings if appropriate
! Meeting the learner on a person-to-person basis
Acceptance (prizing the learner)
o The facilitator must
! Care for the learner in a non-possessive way
! Accept the learner as an individual, separate person
! Accept the learner as fundamentally trustworthy
! Accept the learners many potentials
Empathy (understand the learner)
o The facilitator must
! Have empathetic understanding of the student (i.e. see the world
from the students own view): enter the students private perceptual
(phenomenological) world.
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! Avoid evaluating and judging the student (i.e. against negative
teacher feed back and formal marking system which classify the
student)
! Promote the whole person (wholeness/congruence).
Evaluation of Rogers concept of empathetic understanding in the student: It is not
enough to just enter another persons view of the world, it is more important to put
together different perspectives in conversation, cf. Freire (1972): a point of
encounter is important, and a dialogical rather than person-centred practice.
Based on this page http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/affsys/humed.html
Empirical study: Aspy & Roebuck (1975) studied teachers in terms of their ability to
offer facilitative conditions (empathy, congruence and positive regard) as defined by
Rogers (1969). They found that facilitative teachers were characterised by
1. Response to student feeling
2. Use of student ideas in ongoing instructional interactions
3. Dialogue (discussions with students)
4. Praise of students
5. Congruent teacher talk (less ritualistic)
6. Tailoring of contents to the individual students frame of reference (explanations
created to fit immediate needs of the learners)
7. Smiling to students
Empirical study: Aspy & Roebuck (1977) studied 600 teachers from kindergarten up
through 12
th
grade and found on students in classes with highly facilitative
teachers:
1. Fewer absences (5 vs. 9 for low facilitative teachers)
2. Increased scores on self-concept measures
3. Greater gains (academic achievement measures incl. math + reading scores)
4. Fewer disciplinary problems + fewer acts of vandalism
5. More spontaneous + use of higher levels of thinking (knowledge vs.
comprehension through evaluation)
In humanistic education the main focus is on the
Regulatory system
o Filter for connecting the environment and internal thoughts to other
thoughts and feelings
o Connect knowledge and feelings to action
The affective/emotional system.
o Modify information acquired through the regulatory system or cognitive
system to action
Cf. Norman's (1980) model of the mind identifies three major components:
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1. Cognitive system -- encodes, processes, stores, retrieves, processes information;
purpose is manipulation of information
2. Affective system -- connects the regulatory system and cognitive system; purpose
is arousal
3. Regulatory system -- biological structures that regulate the processing of stimuli
and activation of responses; primary purpose is maintenance of the organism
Gage and Berliner (1991) outline 5 basic objectives on human education
1. Promote positive self-direction + independence (dev. of regulatory system)
2. Develop ability to take responsibility for what is learned (regulatory+affective
system)
3. Develop creativity (divergent thinking aspects of cognition)
4. Curiosity (exploratory behaviour: function of imbalance or dissonance in any of
the systems)
5. Interest in the arts (principally to develop the affective/emotional system).
These skills are especially important in the information age (Whetzel 1992). No other
model of education emphasises on the above outcomes as the humanistic approach!!
Gage and Berliner (1991) basic principles in humanistic education used to develop
these skills
1. Students learn best what they want to know. When students have analysed the
situation and know what they want and need_students learn easily and quickly
(many educators agree to this but one major problem: what exactly contributes to
students motivation?)
2. Learning to learn more important than knowledge itself. (Many educators
agree to this in a world where knowledge changes rapidly, esp. cognitive ps.)
3. Self-evaluation more important than teacher evaluation. Emphasis on internal
development and self-regulation (educators think that students must learn to meet
external expectations: against humanistic ideas).
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4. Feelings just as important as facts. (Work based on humanistic ideas seems to
confirm the importance of feelings in learning).
5. Students learn best in a non-threatening environment. This has influenced
current educational practice.
How can humanistic principles be applied in education to beneficial changes?
Teachers must allow students choice between tasks and activities whenever
possible
Students should learn to set realistic goals
Group work (esp. cooperative learning) to develop social and affective skills
Teacher act as facilitator when appropriate
Teacher should be a role model
Research on efficiency of humanistic education confirm beneficial outcome on some
points such as encouraging better attitude to learning while only slightly lower
academic achievement.
Confirmed by Giaconia & Hedges (1982) review of 150 studies of open education
that showed humanistic approach associated with
Improved cooperativeness, creativity and independence
Increased positive attitudes toward teacher and school
Lower language achievement and achievement motivation
No consistent effect on math, reading
No consistent effect on anxiety, locus of control and self-concept
So a problem: the approach does not meet the humanistic ideals.
Evaluation of research results:
Rogers approach to education is perhaps more descriptive of the critical
conditions for achieving academic success
Important to point at affective and volitional outcomes in academic success,
esp. in the information age.
Evaluation of humanistic education principles:
Generally, the very optimistic view of humans and in this case, students willingness
to learn if they are left to follow their individual path may not be for everyone.
Dr. Coulson (1991) a psychologist working within non-directive therapy, Christian,
worked with Rogers and Maslow for many years is very critical when it comes to
applying non-directive methods in education because according to him:
1. It has an opposite effect to what is wanted because of the spirit of non-
judgementalism in the system: it is important to teach kids what is wrong and
what is right, especially concerning drug use and teenage sex.
2. Maslow never intended his ideas of hierarchy of needs to be used with children.
He found that children could be exploited economically if they dont learn the
distinction between right and wrong.
3. The focus on self-esteem and values in the American school system has gone too
far: students cannot navigate in a world where everything is accepted.
4. Co-operative learning is not efficient in teaching kids what is wrong and right.
The strong students (and they may not be the best kids) will often have the
greatest influence.
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http://www.probe.org/docs/psy-educ.html
Summerhill School itself goes against this criticism:
No teenage pregnancy in the schools history
No drinking or drug problems
Bullying and harassment are dealt with by the whole community and sanctions are
voted by the community.
January 2000 evaluation of the school as a counter evaluation of the Secretary of
State for educations formal evaluation and complaints about the school conclude that
the school has clear structures and rules and that students from Summerhill
Are very creative
Are responsible
Are very democratic and tolerant
Does not seem to be idle as suggested by the inspection team
Seems more self-assured and self-managed than children their age
Seems to meet all the criteria for the formal UK learning objectives
Many former students have university degrees
http://www.selfmanagedlearning.org/Summerhill/RepMain.htm
Conclusion: there are suggestions to beneficial changes in the humanistic education
system because of its focus on student motivation and Summerhill is one of the
schools that have applied the system fully with some success. However, a system like
Summerhill may be a system that works best with intelligent students who have
strong personalities but schools could find inspiration to ensure that students are
encouraged to learn instead of taking motivation away and reducing their self-esteem
(cf. girls self-esteem article and Dweck et al. 1968). In that sense, the movement of
humanistic education has focused on important problems in the education system, e.g.
short changing of motivation and decrease in students self-esteem and belief in
themselves in more traditional learning environments as well as pointing at possible
interventions to the benefit of both students and teachers.
http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/chap4l.htm a link to motivation in learning
Here are other links to different perspectives on learning applied
http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/
Link to motivation theories including humanistic
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivation/motivate.html