| Neohumanist Education Research Institute |
| One of the many challenges facing us as Neohumanist educators is the critiquing of existing educational approaches, theories and structures. We find ourselves often faced with the question: “What from this can be usefully and purposefully integrated into a Neohumanist approach to education?”This question is important for two reasons. Firstly, an enormous and valuable amount of work has been done and continues to be done by government and non-government educational institutions to improve teaching methods and learning environments for schools. There are many approaches, strategies and ideas that we can learn (and perhaps improve on) from this work that will save us needless and time-consuming re-invention. Secondly, many teachers, parents and students will come into our schools from diverse systems. We need to be able to meaningfully discuss and interpret the experiences they have had in these systems from a Neohumanist perspective. We need to be able to meaningfully explain what truly makes our schools different. However as Neohumanist educators we also need to research and develop our own education system. The practical day to day operating of schools is often all consuming leaving little scope for the actual development of syllabi and curriculum programs. Already much excellent research and development has been done and reported on in the Gurukula Network. The development of teacher training programs and the like is on-going and inspiring. As a regular feature of the Gurukula Network, From the Neri Desk will provide information, updates and overviews not only of developments in Neohumanist Education but also of educational trends, practices and theories in the broader global context (from a Neohumanist perspective). Our first article provides an overview of William Glasser’s Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. We invite readers to contribute other articles concerning educational approaches and commentaries on articles such as this one on Reality Therapy. |