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Title Paradoxical promise and threat: Reviewing the Melbourne Goals
Abstract
Paradoxically the Australian Curriculum holds out both promise and threat for educational communities in Australia. A Steiner educational perspective suggests that the forward looking aspects of the Australian Curriculum as expressed in the Melbourne Goals may be jeopardised by other more retrogressive elements. This paper proposes various ways to achieve the learning objectives outlined in the Melbourne Goals. Recommendations focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and moral development and the way in which these are supported by creative arts learning, developmental theories and methodological approaches. Particularly in the areas of art and creativity, where research indicates learning objectives deliver in terms of critical and creative thinking, self-esteem and empathy, the method and steps of implementation of curriculum content matter greatly. If we accept the objectives expressed in the Melbourne Goals as the best way to move forward into the 21st century then we need to embrace the expanding science of qualitative research and place higher value on descriptive reporting.
The Promise
Consigned together within the vessel of the Australian Curriculum, two contrasting philosophical cargoes jostle with each other for focal attention. While progressive features, bearing the momentum of a large wave, push towards the shoreline of the global world, conservative elements form an undercurrent pulling the curriculum back towards past national traditions and strengths. Whereas competing forces necessarily characterise the chaotic processes of creation, through the dialogical tension of push-and-pull, contrasting elements can be joined, synthesised and transformed in a mutually beneficial manner (Bakhtin, 1981, 2004). Carried by the winds of change, the banner that foregrounds the Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA,
- in the rationale of the Australian Curriculum promises to deliver an authentic curriculum fit for the 21st^ century. For the effective implementation of the goals the competing elements need further assimilation, accommodation and resolution. In particular the weightiness of the content for the main subject areas needs to be balanced by adequate attentiveness to the general capabilities as the vehicle most able to deliver their promise.
The educational institutions of the future need to dedicate themselves much more intensively to emotional and social capabilities and convey a more extensive, value-oriented education concept. The importance of acquiring factual knowledge will decline significantly, in favour of the ability to orientate oneself within complex systems and find, assess and creatively utilize relevant information. The learner will take on a much more active and self-responsible role in the learning process, including the creation of content. (UNESCO, 2007, Kronberg Declaration on the Future of Knowledge Acquisition and Sharing; cited by Clouder, 2008, p.25) As ACSA’s guiding principles (2009) point out curriculum questions concerning ‘ what is taught’ are closely related to how curriculum is taught (pedagogy, teaching style) and how curriculum is assessed (assessment, testing, reporting). This paper explores curriculum challenges relating to the how questions: How best to deliver the Melbourne Goals in a way that ensures their promise is effectively fulfilled. The focus falls on three of the general capabilities – critical and creative thinking, personal and social competence, and ethical behaviour – as the ones most closely associated with
capable of understanding and engaging those forces that bear down on their lives as citizens of a larger global community. (Giroux and Ornstein, in Ornstein, 2007, p.3) The Australian Curriculum Coalition observes that an underpinning theoretical framework appears to be missing from the Australian Curriculum (ACA, October, 2010). The lack of an integrated philosophical approach leaves some areas of the design of the curriculum in contention with others. In particular the weightiness of content description (ACA, October 2010) reflects a more traditional approach that suggests a Perennialism and Essentialism at odds with the future’s orientation of the Melbourne Declaration which is more Progressive and Reconstructionist in design (Ornstein, 2007, pp. 9-10). In a similar way the conceptual statement in the Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities Draft Critical and Creative Thinking (ACARA, June 2011) is rather thin with critical thinking given more weighting than creative thinking which appears to contradict research reports and theories related to creativity. While the integration of critical and creative thinking improves learning outcomes (Sternberg, Torff and Grigorenko, 1998), other data suggests that content-laden tasks impede the development of creativity (Sternberg, 1988b; cited by Starko, p.70). A highly critical atmosphere tends to work against the flow of creativity and may negatively impact on psychological safety (Rogers, 1962; cited by Starko, 2010, p.244). Of the four interrelated processes or elements used to establish the ACARA draft learning continuum (inquiring, generating, analysing and reflecting), only generating is creative in terms of the attribute most associated with originality. Creative thinking as it is inspired by and generated through creative arts learning is not mentioned in the framework, even though literacy is included both as a general capability and in the subject domain of English. The expressive descriptor is missing from the list of elements as a vital part of imagining, creating and innovating (Dewey; cited by Simpson, Jackson and Aycock). Furthermore, as the Root-Bernsteins observe “to think creatively is first to feel” (cited by Starko, 2010, p.121), the relationship between creative thinking and intuitions or gut feelings is not developed. Other creative thinking tools (some of which are mentioned in the draft) include: imaging, abstracting, recognising patterns, pattern forming, analogising, body thinking, empathising, dimensional thinking, modelling, playing, transforming and synthesising (Root-Bernteins, 1999; cited by Starko, 2010, p.121).
Several theorists and researchers interested in creativity emphasise the importance of divergent thinking which produces many possible responses to a set task and which is often characterised by fluency (many ideas), flexibility (moving between different categories and points of view), originality (unusual ideas) and elaboration (adding detail to improve and refine ideas) (Starko, 2010, pp.127/8, 190, 295). Steiner perspectives stress the significance of students’ image-building capacities: their ability to create, hold and move inner images with fluency and flexibility (Steiner [1984] 1964). As imagination is understood to strengthen memory and moral capacity, the recall of images is emphasised. Recall is greatly heightened by feelings of wonderment and awe, by explorations conducted in a spirit of interest and adventure, attentiveness, playfulness and a wandering kind of wondering (Starko, 2010, p.123; Lipman, Sharp and Oscanyan, 1980, pp.103, 126). Strategies that support image-building and memory retention include: narrative-rich content, daily opportunities for oral speech work, discussions, retelling of stories, recitation, choral speaking and singing. Paying attention to the careful selection of high quality imagery from mythological stories, and exposure to sense-rich experiences in Nature like gardening, bush walks, camping, and the celebration of festivals related to the seasons provides further inspiration for imaginative development.
We want students to be curious, to commune with the world around them, to reflect on the changing formations of a cloud, to feel charmed by the opening of a bud, to sense the logical simplicity of the mathematical order. Students can find beauty in a sunset, intrigue in the geometric shapes of a spider web, and exhilaration in the iridescence of a hummingbird’s wings. (Costa and Kallick, 2000, p.34) Many creativity theories underline the importance of metaphorical and analogical thinking (Starko, 2010, pp.150-159). Strategies that support the development of metaphorical thinking include artistic tasks, poetic writing and speaking, experiential learning, and the visual and sense-rich representation of data in multimodal formats.
A developmental view
the holistic qualities of the leading perspectives is found in the field of research in quantum physics (Bohm, 1996; Bortoft, 1996; Pribaum, 2006).
Beauty, Truth and Goodness
Steiner pedagogy proposes that there are three main capabilities associated with the self, namely those of thinking, feeling and willing. ‘Thinking’ is seen to relate to cognitive and intellectual aptitude, ‘feeling’ to the development of emotional and social skills, and ‘willing’ to both the growth of manual skilfulness and moral awareness. The maxim ‘Head, Heart and Hands,’ is often used as a motto for Steiner education to capture the essence of the threefold alignment. The identification of the three faculties as important in the educational context actually predates Steiner’s writing. His predecessor, Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) placed significant emphasis on balancing ‘head, heart and hands’ in schooling. In this way Pestalozzi and Steiner both reflect the classical roots of their philosophies for the threefold aspect was originally identified with the three Platonic virtues of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Although Steiner was critical of Kant (1724-1804), he was thoroughly schooled in his philosophy. It is therefore interesting to note the coalescence of Kant’s three critiques with the virtues: The critique of pure reason relates to the virtue of Truth and is aligned with Thinking and the Head; the critique of practical reason is concerned with questions of Ethics, Goodness, and the nature of the Will; and the critique of judgement as a treatise on Aesthetics and Beauty is associated with the Heart (ASCF, 2011). There is also a strong alignment between the three virtues and the Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008; ASCF, 2011, Educational Foundations, p.15-16):
Melbourne Goals Successful learners Confident and creative individuals Active and informed citizens The Three Virtues TRUTH Thinking faculty
BEAUTY Feeling capacity
GOODNESS Strength of Will: Inner discipline
Cognitive development Intellectual aptitude
Socio-emotional learning Empathy; socio-emotional intelligence
Experiential learning; Skilfulness Moral consciousness.
Educational implications for SEL and moral development of a sensitive thresholds approach Of course, each major stage of development offers a window of opportunity distinctly different from anything that has come before. When a higher neural form in our brain completes its growth and begins its full function, a new form of reality and a larger world unfold to us and distinctly new behaviours and abilities fill our repertoire. As we grow from birth to age twenty-one, the strength and complexity of these stages increases exponentially. … we could expect that on completion and maturation of nature’s latest, largest, and highest brain at age twenty-one, we would possess capacities more dramatically different from and more powerful than anything previously experienced. (Chiltern Pearce, 2002, p. 51) While the foundations for each stage are established during the earlier stage, the crossing of the actual threshold comes like a vision, a “sudden coalescence that creates a qualitatively different way of making sense of things” (Egan, [1979] 1986, p.157). As each stage represents a letting go of the past, each stage can be seen as a “sensitive period” for the development of a particular set of capacities that calls for recommendations concerning the kind of content that is most appropriate for best encouraging that development (Egan, 1986, p.7, pp.112-137). The main feature of the first stage (up to 7 years) is that of mythic understanding which corresponds with the imaginative consciousness of early childhood in the Steiner approach. Very young children ignore the restrictions of reality and live in their own imaginary worlds. They learn by making sense of the unknown world without in terms of the known world within which necessitates the story form, games and creative play (Egan, 1986, p.29, 159).
Valuing Goodness: Imitation and Imagination
The motif for early childhood, when young children are very active in the limbs or ‘willing’ sphere, is Goodness. The main principle at work in learning during this early period and onwards (until approximately age nine), is that of imitation: “Every observation is first taken in deeply, grasped by
critical thinking (Zajonc, 2009), so children are able to move in and out of reality and the imaginative world they construct in their play (Harris, 2000; Jaffke, 2008). Imagination is valued as a capacity that continues to develop throughout life (Steiner, [1919] 1947; Vygotsky, [1930] 1967; cited by Starko, 2010, p.54). Paying attention to the growth of the imaginative faculty in early childhood in particular provides a firm foundation for continued development (Greene, 1995; Egan, 2005; Eisner, 2008). Conversely neglecting the imagination during this stage is likely to impede the development of creative capacities in later periods (Steiner, [1919]1947; Masters, 2007). In assessing school readiness in particular, it is necessary to understand the social importance of imaginative play. After the age of four children no longer play alongside each other but engage with their peers in a creative and constructive style of play. This social interaction signals a significant development which requires maturation time: Many children are quite capable of applying their intelligence to tasks such as learning to read and write. The question is: Shouldn’t this intelligence be given time to develop a social awareness of others through creative play? Without this, literacy can become anti-social, rather than a means of communicating and sharing. The listening and oral language skills, the social interaction and initiative that children can develop at this age in a structured Kindergarten setting should not be underestimated. If the early years period is essentially characterised by the child’s will in activity, this last part of the seven year phase is important for the development of will in the social and feeling realm. (Rawson and Richter, 2000, pp.16-17) Recent research studies confirm Rawson and Richter’s (2000) view that advantages of early reading ability “may dissipate over time, or worse, although a child may be advanced academically, socio- emotional skills may not keep pace, leading to worse psychosocial adjustment” (Callahan, 2006; Keitel, Kopala, and Schroder, 2003; cited by Kern and Friedman, 2009, p.420).
Valuing Beauty: Learning through Creative Arts
Romance is the sensitive threshold for the second stage of childhood (7 to 14 years) because, as Egan (1986, p.124) explains “the search for transcendence within reality is at the heart of romance” and children of this age have the ambivalent desire to discover the limits of reality and to transcend them.
This then is the critical period for creative arts learning that best supports “the development of the ability to make romantic associations with things in the real world that are outside everyday experience” (p.125).
Eisner (2009) observes that whereas an overemphasis on the scientific paradigm entrenches the values of prediction, control and standards (2003, p.378), the cultivation of artistic practice engenders an element of discovery, unpredictability and surprise (2009, p.8). Process is valued over outcomes; teachers are able to help students to “work at the edge of incompetence” and to view their work as “temporary experimental accomplishments” (2003, p.379). Instead of the focus falling on the collection of information data, and its classification and categorization, perception is slowed down to facilitate the savouring of qualities, to allow for the flow of process (2009, p.8). The cognitive capacity that enables the experience of qualitative relationships requires the integration of feeling and thinking (p.377). In turn, the development of aesthetic judgment (thinking-feeling cognition) is built on the basis of somatic experience, on a sensing into whether something “feels right” (2009, p.8). Eisner claims that “the primary mission of education is the preparation of artists” because everything that is made well is dependent on artistry: “Well-made objects, processes and ideas, whether practical or theoretical, require aesthetic judgment, depend upon technical skill, reflect attention to proportion and depend on imagination” (2003, p.373).
Valuing Truth: Phenomenology as Teaching Methodology The stage of philosophic understanding (age 14/15 to 20/21) is that characterised by the students’ search for truth (Steiner, 1967) and understanding about “the way the world works, people are, things happen” (Egan, 1986, p.128). It is the sensitive period for the development of the capacity to seek and find general patterns, regularities, laws in complex phenomena; … to organise complex phenomena into causal processes; … to bind all their knowledge and experience into a single whole; … to find unity underlying diversity; … to form ideologies and metaphysical visions. … to generate … general schemes. (Egan, 1986, p.128)
outside reality and the feelings of doubt associated with the classic existential dilemma (Steiner [1919] 1947). And because the world is external to our thoughts, we can be wrong about it. Individually we can make mistakes, and it is also possible that everyone can be wrong about the nature of the world. (McCall, 2009, p.81) Steiner’s epistemology offers a synthesising contribution that overcomes the dualism of the realist- idealist approaches. In line with more recent quantum theories, he proposes that the inner nature of the human being is aligned with the essential nature of the outside world, and that human consciousness is embedded in universal consciousness (Steiner, [1984] 1964; Zajonc, 1993; Bortoft, 1996). “The explicate order of matter in general … is also in essence the sensuous explicate order that is presented in consciousness in ordinary experience” (Bohm, 1980, p.208). Following Kohlberg who claimed that “moral perspective is gained as one sees life from the cosmic perspective of the whole of nature” Gibbs explores “the relation of moral development and behaviour to a deeper reality” (2002, p.225) by investigating reports of near death experiences. There is much consonance between the reports concerning the resolution of existential angst and the gaining of moral insight. Many of the respondents described experiences of a life review, and transcendent epiphanies related to peace, Love and Light (p.219). Gibbs observes that the heightened moral awareness gained from the near death experience prompted new spontaneous moral initiatives. This is the sense in which Steiner uses the word “Intuition” in his description of ethical individualism (Steiner, [1894] 1964). The highest moral development is signalled by the capacity to respond to a moral situation spontaneously guided by inner inspiration that knows what the situation requires and that grasps the underlying connection between self, others and the world.
Building Resilience
The developmental process whereby the self establishes a relationship with the outside world unfolds slowly and is associated with the capacity for intellectual thinking which reaches its first stage of maturity when students reach adolescence. While recognising the existential mode of awareness as an indispensable component of the human capacity to enact a free moral deed, the Steiner approach
works towards mediating the effects of existential distancing during childhood. When highly abstract intellectual tasks are scaffolded too early the associated experience of separation from the world can have a harmful effect on the socio-emotional development of young children (Lievegoed, 2005; Masters, 2007; Clouder, 2008). Steiner researchers investigate the developmental indicators that mark the evolving awareness of separateness from the world and the growing sense of selfhood, as well as strategies that support the building of connections between the inner self and the outer world, the self and others through relationship, and the realisation of selfhood through service to society. The emerging individuality of the child is understood to influence its own development which adds a further significant factor to the nature-nurture debate. The Dutch paediatrician, Schoorel (2004), describes the pathway whereby the self adapts itself to the body, one of emancipation because the self is seen to have the potential to overcome the forces of heredity and environment. Recent research studies on resilience appear to confirm this view and to reinforce the main tenets of the positive psychology movement (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Despite overwhelming suffering and exposure to trauma, the norm is for children to have the capacity to bounce back: “Resilience does not come from rare and special qualities but from the everyday magic of ordinary, normative human resources” (Masten, 2011). Factors associated with resilience include connections to competent and caring adults, self-regulation skills, a positive view of self, and motivation to be effective in the environment (Masten, 2011, p.234).
The Moral Significance of Empathy
While acknowledging Kohlberg’s considerable contribution to the field of cognitive moral development, Gibbs (2002) critiques his theories for placing too much emphasis on moral reasoning and distorting moral judgment and maturity:
In Kohlberg’s theory of stages and Deweyan levels, construction is confused with internalization and basic understanding with reasoning that reflects philosophical training. Contractarian and Kantian philosophies should not be seen as postconventional, final stages in an invariant sequence but rather as
one’s own original inner images is under threat (Kearney, 1988, 1989), the discipline required to activate the thinking and image-building capability is becoming a stronger imperative. The feeling faculty is understood to play a harmonising and mediating function. The principle of Beauty informs the development of depth of feeling, emotional intelligence, and empathic awareness. The aim is to refine and extend the students’ abilities to perceive with their senses. Training in aesthetic awareness, sentience, and sensibility therefore supports creative and imaginative as well as moral development.
As Steiner (1971, GA 9) proposes that ‘the Self’ is the vehicle of the spirit, self-realisation is understood to be “the human being’s most sacred task” (Lievegoed, 2005, p.133). The “I” organization which reaches the first stage of maturity around the age of twenty-one, is the bearer of self-consciousness and the source of ego-strength. Taking up the role of leader, orchestra conductor or director, the Self or “I” organizes the higher executive functioning of the organism (Riggs et al., 2006). Key characteristics of the I-organization therefore include the increasing levels of conscious awareness that inform intentionality (Schoorel, 2004, p.18) : the ability to fire the will through the warmth of interest and the related capacity to make conscious choices in freedom. The function of the I-organization is to direct the human being’s quest towards self-realization, ethical individuation and the fulfilment of destiny, including the carrying out of tasks and responsibilities that relate to service for others and world development.
Nodal points in the development of self-realisation
- Self-awareness (around age two/three) Children refer to themselves by their name, until the moment they call themselves “I” for the first time which marks their awareness of their own selfhood (Masters, 2007, p.32; Schoorel, 2004, p.27). This consciousness of self as a detached observer in relation to the outside world is a function of conscious thinking (Lievegoed, 2005, p.131). Self-recognising children sense their body as containing, and being guided by, an inner mental self, an “I,” which thinks, feels, plans, remembers … [and understands] that one is somebody separated from others not just physically
but also in terms of inner experience; and that one’s external image is an aspect of one’s inner experience. This makes it possible for one to realize that the same holds true for others: Their external image is the other side of their inner experience. (Hoffman, 2000, pp.72-73; cited by Gibbs, 2003, p.87)
- Experience of Self (around age 9 to 10 years) The self is not only experienced consciously in thought but is also experienced in the deeper layers of the feeling life. It is this deep-seated and felt experience of self that finds its first expression towards the end of the ninth year and that “is reinforced during pubescence and becomes the dominant feeling in puberty itself” (p.131). The first felt experience of the separation of self from the world is tragic in an archetypal sense: it is as if every self has to re-experience the original mythical expulsion from Eden which rings true to our inner psychological experience of the lost paradise of childhood. Children undergoing this experience often feel naked, vulnerable and ill-equipped. As Egan observes the world now appears new to them “full of strange entities, working by mysterious laws, unfeeling, vast, mysterious, threatening” (1986, p.29).
- Self-realization (age 18 years)
The felt experience of self is not the deepest layer of self-awareness, for lying deeper still and more hidden from consciousness is that aspect of self that is related to the will. However it is from this source that the resolution of the painful experience of separation finally flows. Consciousness and experience of self are followed by a need for self expression in the world. When realization of self awakens, students are often motivated to ‘save the world’, some are even prepared to fight and die for their ideals. Chiltern Pearce (drawing on Paul Maclean’s six decades of research in neuroscience) observes that this “poignant and passionate idealism” is accompanied by an expectation that “something tremendous is supposed to happen” (2002, p.53). He relates this experience to the growth spurt of the prefrontal lobes which takes place between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. Because the secondary stage of prefrontal growth is the highest evolutionary movement within us, it is the most fragile – precisely as the toddler stage is so fragile. This means that the emotional nurturing received at the mid-teenage period serves as a major determinant in the success or failure of this latest opening of intelligence. (Chiltern Pearce, 2002, p.49/footnote)
marginalised communities in Australia from the 700,000 children in schools without specialist teachers in the arts. Their research data indicates, significantly, that three out of four students in government primary schools in Australia do not participate in music education. The Song Room collaborates with arts and community organizations, universities and research partners. The research evidence from their programs demonstrates that they achieve improved learning outcomes (concentration, literacy, numeracy, school engagement and retention), enhanced personal development (communication and teamwork) and enhanced social outcomes (http://www.songroom.org.au/home).
Values Education VASP has once again confirmed my strong belief that values education, both explicit and implicit, must underpin all we do in our schools. (Teacher reflection, post-project survey, VASP, 2010, p.5)
The final report of VASP (2010, p.10) observes how well the project serves the goals of schooling that are expressed in the Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2010). The five key interrelated impacts that were identified by the project (values consciousness, wellbeing, agency, connectedness and transformation) demonstrate that a systematic and planned approach to values education achieves goals that extend beyond those related to values: such programmes have the potential to enhance students’ social and emotional well-being which in turn revitalises their engagement with schooling in general and leads to improved academic outcomes. The report also notes that the various cluster projects had an impact on the school as a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) as the benefits extended beyond the individual participants and led to transformations in “classrooms, relationships, school environments, teacher professional practice and parents’ engagement in their children’s schooling” (VASP, 2010, p.10, p.63-67). The National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools makes the following recommendations: use a shared language; embed student-centred and values focused pedagogies; promote values as an integrated curriculum concept; teach values explicitly; model values; create opportunities for increased student agency; foster intercultural understanding, social cohesion and inclusion; continue
professional learning and collaboration; encourage teacher risk taking; and collect data for continuous improvement (VASP, 2010, p.11).
Programmes supporting social and emotional learning
The national trend in Australia towards increasing recognition of the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) forms part of an international movement in which institutions like OECD and UNESCO have taken a leading role. The Fundaciόn Marcelino Botίn Report (2008) covers two major international meta-analyses that focus specifically on SEL and Skills for Life (SFL) and question whether SEL/SFL programmes significantly enhance what they are teaching; whether they reduce or prevent problematic behaviours (violence, aggression, and suicide); whether they promote positive behaviours such as pro-social behaviour, school compliance and service orientation; and finally whether the programmes effectively improve school grades and/or academic achievement (Diekstra, 2008, p.256). The results are clearly positive in regard to all the research questions. In line with the research findings of the VASP in Australia, the Botίn Foundation’s international research, reports that SEL/SFL programmes not only significantly enhance social and emotional development but also play a key role in “overall development in terms of personality, academic progress, school career and societal functioning” (Diekstra, 2008, p.256).
The overall conclusion from both reviews is crystal clear: systematic, programmatic attention to the teaching of social-emotional skills in the school system has world-wide significance. (Diekstra and Gravesteijn, 2008, p.259)
Towards a world-class curriculum fit for the 21st century
The lack of a theory of learning contributes to the perception that this is not a 21st century curriculum. ... The curriculum does not adequately reflect the intention of the Melbourne Declaration that young people should become successful, creative, innovative and resourceful learners … able to
