As educators, supporting children to become confident, well-rounded adults is our driving goal. We want the very best for every child now and as they grow! Holistic education recognises the importance of educating the whole child. That is, incorporating emotional, social, physical and cognitive development into the way we approach early childhood education.
Embracing the whole child
Not every child learns the same way. A holistic approach in early childhood means we provide educational experiences to children that enhance their multiple intelligences and incorporate different ways of learning.
In doing this, children will have the opportunity to absorb in the way that is the best fit for them. This might be through their own preferred means or at their own pace.
The holistic approach
The key features of holistic education include:
- Taking each learners’ learning style into account
- Reflecting on what is being learned
- Focusing on experiences and exploration
- Shifting the focus to the learner, rather than the teacher
For the founder and creator of the Bonkers Beat Music & Wellbeing programs, Galina Zenin, holistic education is about linking performing arts, visual arts, languages, science and all other subjects together. It’s about enhancing children’s curiosity and connecting their mind, body, and spirit.
“Interdisciplinary education is a part of holistic education. Students’ emotional and cognitive growth will be enriched if multiple subjects are taught together. Children have multiple intelligences and learn in different ways. So when we bring a variety of subjects and children start looking at concepts from different perspectives, they understand the world around them better and learn more. Children thrive on interdisciplinary education!” – Galina Zenin
Further, Galina believes that a focus should also be on developing soft skills in children, such as empathy, kindness, resilience, health, creativity and caring for the environment.
Holistic education the Bonkers Beat way
Recently, Galina Zenin was interviewed by Holistic Think Tank about her inspirations behind the Bonkers Beat programs.
Holistic Think Tank, is a global organization that aims to promote a new way of thinking about education and provides schools with concrete systematic solutions.
Agnieszka Burton sat down with Galina and talked about her personal journey into music and wellbeing as well as what she wants to achieve in early childhood education, with the focus shifting to holistic education approaches. You can read the interview and article here.
The Bonkers Beat approach focuses on supporting early childhood educators and centres to deliver a holistic approach to education by harnessing the multi-faceted power of music.
While we are all living through times of great change, taking a holistic approach to education is vital to build strong values and a meaningful connection with the world.
