Head Hand Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century

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The Head, Heart and Hands approach facilitates social, emotional, and cognitive development at every age and stage of learning. Students have a broad range of opportunities to develop their physical fitness and ability, but they are also required to routinely demonstrate their core values in action – physical strength is equal to character strength! They are expected to support one another with respect, integrity and compassion. They are required to coach and lead each other, to make independent or collaborative decisions, to analyse movement in detail, and to assess not only HOW someone performs but WHY they perform in that way. Students are expected to develop a deep sense of self and personal awareness, which recognises the strengths and weaknesses of performance, and considers the steps required to make further progress. How do we do it? Head: The rational basis for the change. This element focuses on the broad reason that the change must occur. The reason should help employees understand what the company’s vision for the future is, how they plan to accomplish it, what the individual and team goals are, and why this change is necessary to remain competitive. Learning for children is not solely developmental in nature. There are transformational qualities involved in the maturation process that can be fostered and enhanced to make successful life transitions. Adult education is most often voluntary and tends to be authentic, more problem or project-based which gives the learning meaning and purpose. Children also need a spark of authenticity; for this engagement will lead to greater depth and meaning. The same factors that motivate adult learner engagement also motivate younger learners. Meaningful education focuses on transforming individuals regardless of age (Bracey, 2007). So it appears that transformational learning is a human process, not just an adult learning process. Looking toward the future of building just and sustainable societies, we need to include the next generation.

Roberts, J. W. (2002) Beyond learning by doing: The brain compatible approach. Journal of Experiential Education, 25(2), 281-285.Cajete, G. (1999). The making of an indigenous teacher: Insights into the ecology of teaching. In J. Kane (Ed.), Education, Information, and Transformation Essays on Learning and Thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. Pergams, O.R. W., & Zaradic, P. A. (2008). Evidence for a fundamental and pervasive shift away from nature-based recreation. Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0709893105

The assessment comes from level descriptors at your disposal. For example, GCSE criteria for the exam board that you use at GCSE level, or descriptors that have been written from scratch, breaking down skills in the same way the GCSE criteria does. You can then simply give the pupil a Level 1-9 or a Level based on their ability to meet the criteria.Riley-Taylor, E. (2004). Culture and ecology: Toward living a more balanced commitment. The International Journal of Humanities and Peace, 20, 59-62.

FMEA – Anticipate and mitigate potential failure points with this Failure Modes and Effects Analysis tool for robust risk management. Theobald, P. (2000). Communities as curricula. Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy. 15, 106-11.Meeting Manager – Enhance meeting effectiveness by planning, organizing, and executing meetings that achieve clear outcomes. The good news is, Ofsted won’t be looking for or at your data – only school outcomes. But we do know that they’ll be looking for an engaging curriculum, where pupils thrive and learn. Therefore, delivery and assessment go hand in hand – and how do we know pupils are learning and progressing if we aren’t assessing? Abstract: This conceptual article presents the Head, Heart and Hands Model for Transformational Learning. The model was conceptualized from a synthesis of diverse literature, such as sustainable education, transformative learning theories, placed-based learning, indigenous learning approaches, experiential learning, eco-literacy, curriculum theory and conceptual change in science classes. Transformative processes are necessary to change the prevalent anthropocentric eco-paradigm of western culture toward more sustainable values and behaviors. Head, hand and heart is a holistic approach to developing ecoliteracy introduced by Orr (1992) and expanded by Sipos, Battisti and Grimm (2008). The model shows the holistic nature of transformative experience and relates the cognitive domain (head) to critical reflection, the affective domain (heart) to relational knowing and the psychomotor domain (hands) to engagement. Pugh’s (2002) pragmatic construct of transformational learning experience offers an analytic tool for measuring transformational experiences through expanded perception (cognitive), expanded value (affective) and active use of learned concepts (psycho-motor). This model not only represents the multi-dimensional nature of transformative processes, it also includes the importance of learning context. The context of place provides a framework of authentic experience for deeper reflection, sense of belonging and body/sensory stimulation that acts as a catalyst for deep engagement required for transformation. Literature in the domain areas are discussed as well as the importance of nature connection and love of place to sustainability values and pro-environmental behaviors. I haven’t been able to find a purely holistic approach amongst the PE community, so we would welcome anyone from our audience to share with us if they’re taking this approach. How it is working? How has it been implemented sustainably? How are the pupils engaging with it?