Effectiveness of Wholistic Education among SDA Secondary Schools in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions, Tanzania

This study was conducted among SDA secondary schools in Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions to establish the effectiveness of wholistic Education. Out of five schools, three were randomly selected for participation. The three schools had a total of 120 Form Four students from whom 92 were selected to fill the questionnaire through simple random sampling. The analysis involved descriptive statistics, t-test and Pearson Correlation. The study concluded that wholistic education is effective in the schools under investigation. This is due to the fact that students, regardless of their religious affiliation, agreed with most of items that measured the variables in the questionnaire. Furthermore, there is significant positive relationship between the physical, the spiritual and mental aspects of the wholistic education. Therefore, there is need for leadership in schools under investigation to improve the quality of food provided to students since they were not satisfied with the quality of food provided. Since the physical, mental and spiritual aspects correlate with one another, there is need to ensure a balanced curricular and extra-curricular programs that accommodate the three aspects so that learners may receive quality and balanced education which prepares them physically, mentally and spiritually for better service in this world and in the world to come.

“Be proactive not reactive”: Understanding gaps in student sexual consent education

A growing number of universities are providing sexual violence prevention programs to students in recognizing the need for this programming. While universities favour programs on singular topics aimed at preventing sexual violence, scholars have argued that comprehensive sexual health education should begin prior to entering university to better ensure safer campus communities. Further, students have expressed unmet needs regarding the sexual health education they received prior to attending university. Therefore, the current study sought to explore gaps in sexual health education as identified by university students. Participants ( N = 444) were asked to describe the consent definition they were taught in high school and from their parents, and how the sexual health education they received could have been improved. An inductive thematic analysis was used to identify six themes from the data: back to consent education basics, you have the power to set boundaries, staying safe in sexual situations, take a sex-positive approach with sex education, wholistic education on consent-based relations, and practical recommendations for providing sex education. Findings highlight that participants desired a more wholistic approach to their sexual health education that included practical components on healthy sexuality. Notably, participants relayed how proper sexual health education may have prevented experiences of sexual violence they had. Thus, it is essential to continue exploring how best to provide comprehensive sexual health education to adolescents.

Philosophy and Practice of Wholistic and Physical Student Development at Select Seventh-day Adventist Higher Educational Institutions and Work Colleges

Problem and Purpose There is an extensive array of literature and research espousing the importance of developing the whole student. Comparatively, there is limited research on examining how colleges and universities that promote wholistic student development incorporate each of the human dimensions into an integrated educational experience. There is, therefore, a need for scholarship that compares and contrasts how separate and distinct higher educational systems having a philosophy of educating the whole person define and implement the development of the physical dimension. Similarly, research is needed that examines how the differences in interpreting and implementing the development of the physical component align with the school's guiding framework. The purpose of this study was to examine and describe how two institutions with a wholistic approach to education from each of two higher educational systems—Work Colleges Consortium members: College of the Ozarks and Warren Wilson College, and Adventist schools: Southern Adventist University and Union College—interpret and implement the development of the whole student, particularly the physical dimension. Research Design A qualitative descriptive multiple case study design was chosen to address the three research questions. This study employed multiple interactive (interviews and focus groups) and noninteractive (observations, document review, and field notes) data collection and field observation techniques. Results Though the definition and implementation of wholistic education differ among the colleges and university in this study, all four institutions share two common overarching goals. First, they aim to develop students who are well-balanced, productive, responsible citizens. Second, they aspire for students to mature into well-balanced individuals who will regard serving humanity as an important, lifelong component in reaching their optimal personal fulfillment. This aim is an outcome of the schools' shared value of service to others. The results found that physical activities, athletics, and sports are the main practices used by all four schools to develop the physical dimension. Several differences were also noted. First, the ideology driving the rationale for developing the whole student is different among the schools. Providing a wholistic education at College of the Ozarks, Southern Adventist University, and Union College is understood within a Christian perspective. The physical body is the avenue through which God communicates with people. Caring for one's body glorifies God and allows people to serve Him and others more effectively. In contrast, Warren Wilson College understands the world through a humanistic perspective of wholeness and interconnectedness. The physical body is important in the context of sustainability because people must be healthy and physically fit in order to care for the earth and each other. Second, while students at all four campuses are able to obtain physical activity through campus jobs, only the two work colleges require work as an essential educational and graduation requirement. In fact, work is the main practice used to develop the student’s physical dimension at these two schools. Conversely, the absence of work as a component of developing the physical dimension at both Adventist institutions is not in harmony with their educational philosophy. Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations Cognitive research supports the understanding that wholistic development is in agreement with the brain's natural principles for learning. It is not the practices that these schools use to develop the whole student, particularly the physical dimension, that make them unique. Rather, safeguarding congruency between each institution's curricular and extracurricular programming and its underlying guiding framework allows it to facilitate transformation while remaining authentic to its mission and vision. Each of the four schools considers physical activities, athletics, and sports to be important practices for overall health and well-being, as well as a means to improve learning. Brain research supports the relationship between learning and the physical body. Best practices show that physical activity and sports are the two main approaches used to build healthy bodies, develop strong minds, acquire social competencies, and create better-quality lives. However, the focus is shifting to health-related objectives in combination with physical education instruction. Recommendations are provided for the educational institutions in this study. All four schools are encouraged to ensure that their physical development praxes align with best practices by identifying health-related objectives for each physical activity/fitness course offering. Further, because student work contributes to the development of the intellectual, physical, and social dimensions, these same institutions are encouraged to more prominently promote the benefits of work as a means of facilitating learning and developing the physical dimension. It is also recommended that Adventist colleges and universities restore the role of work as a component of their wholistic educational development model. This is encouraged, not just because it reduces educational expenses, but because work is a key component of a wholistic and balanced educational approach guided by Adventist educational philosophy. Recommendations for further research include: (a) determining which types of exercise most effectively improve student learning and whether the results of previous research using children/young adults would be the same with college-aged students, (b) comparing and contrasting physical activity and physical labor with student learning, (c) studying learning at work colleges as compared with other institutions that do not require work, (d) determining the feasibility of volunteerism serving as another practice for developing the physical dimension, and (e) examining how Adventist higher educational institutions can reestablish work as part of their wholistic educational approach.

DEVELOVING CHARACTER EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW

The paper focuses on the description of how character education is effectively developed and implemented. Using qualitative descriptive method, the writer presents efforts for character education in various countries and synrthesizes to formulate a proposed effective character education system. Character education in Indonesia has been the priority and the implentation is mandated to be included in all subject matters through curriculair and extra-curriculair activities. Effective practical implementation must be taken care off. The suggestive development and implementation of the character education include the strenghtenning of being valued people as in ikhsan, being good creatures of Allah as in Iman, and being able to do good deeds and moral action in the community as in Islam. These can be done through academic lessons, habituations, creativity-action and services. Character development is suggested to be internalized in the wholistic education system by developing the whole students’ potential through various active learnings and habituation.

DEVELOVING CHARACTER EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW

The paper focuses on the description of how character education is effectively developed and implemented. Using qualitative descriptive method, the writer presents efforts for character education in various countries and synrthesizes to formulate a proposed effective character education system. Character education in Indonesia has been the priority and the implentation is mandated to be included in all subject matters through curriculair and extra-curriculair activities. Effective practical implementation must be taken care off. The suggestive development and implementation of the character education include the strenghtenning of being valued people as in ikhsan, being good creatures of Allah as in Iman, and being able to do good deeds and moral action in the community as in Islam. These can be done through academic lessons, habituations, creativity-action and services. Character development is suggested to be internalized in the wholistic education system by developing the whole students ’ potential through various active learnings and habituation.

Fostering A Wholistic Education: A Practical Approach For Advisors

This article defines wholistic education and provides a model currently used in a college-level, academic setting. The various dimensions of the model are described along with the manner by which each is measured. An important contribution of this paper is the introduction of nonlinear methods which provide appropriate means for analyzing and responding to individual student behaviors. While the model is specific to our institution it is general enough to be adapted to any other academic setting.