Most schools began doing this after the pandemic to make sure they were focusing on safety and connectedness. Sean shares a few ways that districts can successfully implement the whole child approach with their students:ġ) Make time in your schedule to allow students to talk about how they're feeling, or even just to connect on a social level with their peers. The good news is that as a result of this challenge, we are all reassessing education, and there has been a general community and societal appreciation that well-being is central to everything that we do. Sean believes that until we get that right, it will be very difficult for us to focus on our student’ cognitive and academic needs. This has opened up the eyes of policymakers and educational leaders to the need for us to focus on the well-being, safety and security of our students and teachers. Whether it's access to the health services, community services, or their peers and social networks, the pandemic has revealed that these gaps in societies are actually chasms. How is the pandemic impacting the whole child?Ĭlearly this past year has been challenging, and underserved students who were struggling prior to the pandemic are doing even worse. When ASCD created their whole child approach, they strategically included healthy on the bottom of that pyramid, followed by safe, followed by engaged, supported and challenged. The tenants of the whole child were based on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or five things that every person needs, not only to survive, but to thrive. We are preparing them to enter society-socially, emotionally, mentally, physically, civically, and cognitively-ready for the future. The whole child approach means that we are preparing our students for life beyond school. We recently spoke with Sean about the ASCD whole child initiative to move from a focus of academic achievement to one that promotes the long-term development and success of all children. Currently, he serves as the senior director of global outreach at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), focusing on promoting and expanding the whole child approach across the United States and globally. And yet, despite widespread agreement among educators on this vocabulary's importance in a child's overall educational experience, a persistent challenge exists to determining how best to incorporate these principles into the overall school setting and the curriculum.Sean Slade is an education leader, speaker, author and policy maker with over 25 years of experience, spanning five countries and four continents. ![]() Certainly, all these terms establish that myriad factors-both inside and out of the academic environment-promote a student's long-term development and success. Common threads connect such terms as whole child, character education, social-emotional learning, school climate, and 21st century skills. ![]() The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21),, the National School Climate Center (NSCC), the Coalition of Community Schools (CSS), and the Aspen Institute have all done outstanding work by addressing specific Whole Child elements that foster meaningful student growth, innovative and supportive learning environments, personal development, and community engagement. A number of national organizations have been instrumental in promoting more holistic visions of K–12 education and supporting progress toward their goals.
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