EDUCATION INNOVATION

Take care of the children Take care of what they hear Take care of what they see Take care of what they feel For how they grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa. (Dame Whina Cooper, Te Rarawa) A truly educated person is not one who knows a bit about everything, or everything about something, but one who is truly in touch with his centre. He will be in no doubt about his conviction, about his view on the meaning and purpose of life, and his own life will show a sureness of touch that stems from inner clarity. (Rev. Mori Marsden, no ng iwi o Te Tai Tokerau)
INTRODUCTION Below are a few of my thoughts and suggestions concerning priorities for our iwi, given the research that Ive consolidated over recent years on Education Innovation. SUGGESTED PRIORITIES 1. Recognise more Life-fulfilling and Valuable Purposes of Education

1.1. There is increasing acknowledgement that mainstream education is primarily grounded in economics (having its origins from the industrial revolution) that is, to indoctrinate children to believe that their value as human beings is largely a factor of the degree to which they can1: a. b. contribute to the market economy by obtaining a salaried job, and consuming lots of goods and services; and react in a predictable and controlled manner to people in authority.

1.2. However, education should be about more than merely readying humans for the workforce, like compliant robots to participate in the capitalist market economy. There is much more to life than just the 99% working to earn a living to make the 1% of those who disproportionately hold the lions share of power and wealth more powerful and more wealthier.
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See for example, RSA Animate Changing Education Paradigms, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtu.be

Cultivating potential 1.3. Life should be about exploring and discovering peoples interests, passions and gifts so that they can enjoy a more diverse range of personal experiences, and in so doing lead happier more fulfilling lives. Life should also be about using ones interests, passions and gifts to make a meaningful contribution to society as a whole. 1.4. Therefore, education ought to be first a key mechanism for this process of self-discovery and cultivating ones potential to contribute, and about readying humans for the marketplace in the second instance. Increasing innovative, solution-based thinking 1.5. This notion of contribution is also a very important one in todays changing world. Many social commentators believe that never in the history of the world has humanity faced so many different crises all at the same time2: e.g. the climate crisis, the peaking of our ability to extract fossil fuels, water shortages and desertification, the increasing number of super-bugs and disease, growing unemployment (due in large part to technology making humans redundant), the financial crisis, and the threat of war. 1.6. It was Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist and mathematician Albert Einstein who said that a problem cant be fixed with the same mind or thinking that created it. Systems theorist and inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller also said You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. So, according to these two great thinkers of our time (and there are countless other great thinkers who would agree), what the world needs now more than ever is increased innovative and outside-the-box thinking. 1.7. There is an extraordinary range of and potential for human intelligence, creativity and divergent, critical thinking. However, current mainstream education models tend to dislocate people from their inherent, natural gifts and wisdom.3 Notions about what counts as ability, value, success, normal are deeply ingrained in society, and these paradigms only serve to limit creativity, not expand it. 2. Identify and implement education curricula, pedagogies and methodologies more conducive to Higher Learning

2.1. Once we have expanded our view of what the real purpose of education is and should be (and for ease of discussion, I will refer to those more expansive purposes collectively as Higher Learning of the heart and mind), it is then for us to identify what sort of subjects, learning models
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For instance, see Gregg Braden, Deep Truth Conference, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFcfX87s64. See for example, Sir Ken Robinson, Educating the Heart and Mind, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1A4OGiVK30.

and techniques are well-suited for cultivating such Higher Learning. Luckily, there is a wealth of scientific research, indigenous tradition and Age-old spiritual (as opposed to religious) wisdom which provides the answers. Diversity is natural, and should be honoured in education 2.2. For example, if we use Te Taiao/nature as a model, we know that life is organic and diverse. In fact, human survival depends upon a diversity of talent, competencies and aptitudes (just like biological diversity is required for ecosystems to thrive).4 This suggests that we need a more organic curriculum, one that is more personalised to the individual, that excites their interest, that maximises freedom to explore and develop their talents and their ideas about their identity and life purpose. So by being responsive to such factors, we improve the chances of students having a fun learning experience, and of holding their keen attention throughout their learning journey. This should not be a format used for only those at the far ends of the academically intelligent spectrum (i.e. to extend the smart students, or for students lagging academically and in need of remedial classes). We should be starting from this proposition. Recognise and nourish the creative intelligences 2.3. It is now widely established that creative intelligence (our ability to imagine, to feel emotion - which is a form of intelligent perception - to intuit, to empathise, to make music, to interact spatially with our environment through drama/ dance, etc) is as important in education as literacy or maths.5 In other words, there are many different intelligences. 2.4. However, mainstream systems tend to educate/ indoctrinate people out of the creative capacities that we are born with, so that by the time we become adults most of us have lost that capacity, and were frightened of being wrong because were often stigmatised for making mistakes or thinking differently. In the vast majority of cases school curriculums value subjects along the order of maths, languages, the humanities and the arts (and a hierarchy in the arts, where art and music are prioritised over dance and drama). This is because academic intelligence has come to dominate what we think is important in terms of (supposedly) of getting a job. But while competition to acquire a University degree is higher than ever, University degrees are losing their value at an alarming rate6: where once you needed a B.A., you now need a Masters degree; where once you needed a Masters degree you now need a PhD. This kind of academic inflation just makes people feel more helpless and despondent.
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Sir Ken Robinson, Educating the Heart and Mind, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1A4OGiVK30. Sir Ken Robinson, Educating the Heart and Mind, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1A4OGiVK30. 6 Sir Ken Robinson, Educating the Heart and Mind, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1A4OGiVK30.

Understanding the true nature of reality 2.5. Understanding the natural, physical, external world, what its made of, natural law and so on has always featured in the educational curriculum. And historically, science has been based on the notion that it can objectively explain such things. However, the most recent scientific discoveries are revealing that past ideas of what reality really is are actually incorrect, in many cases the polar opposite! In fact, we are finding that traditional indigenous knowledge and ancient spiritual beliefs teach us more about the true nature of reality than historically science ever did, and science has a lot of catching up to do. 2.6. Why is this important for education? Well, the first (and obvious) point is, our children are being taught misinformation in schools, and this needs to be corrected urgently especially if they are to go on to become the critical thinkers and solution-makers of the future to solve the many current and emerging crises in the world. 2.7. The second point, however, is arguably even more fundamental. In a nutshell, understanding the true nature of reality has a profound effect on human mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. It affects how we form our beliefs and opinions, how we perceive and experience7, and how we deal with those experiences. In fact, science is now admitting the truths that traditional indigenous knowledge, spirituality and ancient wisdom have taught through the Ages, that: a. b. There are different levels of reality that exist8; and there is an amazing system of the human mind/ body/ soul and cosmic consciousness that together creates reality moment to moment.

2.8. The bottom line is, if people understood the systems and mechanics of how reality unfolds moment to moment, imagine the implications not only for individual wellbeing and happiness, but for society and the world in all areas: health, the development of culture, personal relationships, social relationships, the environment, the economy and wealth creation, expansion of knowledge and technology (to name a few). 3. The need for a revolution

3.1. The fact that we havent achieved an education system which our children in particular can relate to is evidenced in the high level of school dropouts and those leaving with few qualifications. However, this failure of the education system also has a significant causal connection to increased incidences of apathy, disaffection, disengagement,
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E.g. see Cellular Biologist Bruce Lipton on epigenetics, e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVECAlT4AXY&list=PLCAEBBC9ED5B2B34C, or The Biology of perception http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeZL72IStGo. 8 See for example John Hagelin PhD, Consciousness, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrcWntw9juM.

aggression the ultimate expression or manifestation of which is suicide. Theyre the lost generation they dont know really who they are and what their purpose in life is. They have lost their connection firstly and primarily to themselves, and then to the outside world and their place in it. But the Education system could be a key part of the solution. ENDS

More resources: International Foundation of Consciousness-based education: https://consciousnessbasededucation.org/ Ahukaramu Charles Royal, The Woven Universe: Selected Writings of Rev. Mori Marsden. (2003) Steiner Education in New Zealand http://www.rudolfsteinerfederation.org.nz/steiner-education