"The essential principle of education is not teaching; it is love" - Pestalozzi

From Kurt Hahn, and the Atlantic College (founded in 1962) 

To the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO, founded in 1968)

Alec Peterson (1908-1988)

Born in Edinburgh in 1908, Alec Peterson was sent to boarding school in Britain, while his parents lived in India. He started his teaching career in 1932, after finishing his education at Oxford. During WWII he served under Lord Mountbatten's command as Deputy-Director of psychological warfare for South-East Asia. He continued his military background from 1952-1954, when he was appointed Director General of information services during the Malaysian Emergency. Through his military years, Peterson acquired contacts at the highest levels, that will contribute to the acceptance of the IB.

Alec Peterson continued his educational career as headmaster of public and independent schools in England, where he began his serious involvement in international education.

In 1957, he met Kurt Hahn at a conference on International Education, in Bruges. After his acquaintance with Hahn's educational philosophy - who he later described as "one of the most remarkable educators of his time" - he visited in 1961, the Atlantic College in Wales. During the summer of 1962, while heading the Department of educational Studies at Oxford University (since 1958), he collaborated with Robert Blackburn (Deputy Headmaster of Atlantic College) to implement a broad academic curriculum  for students attending this first of the "United World Colleges" in September of that year.

He was nominated in 1966 part-time Director of the International Schools Examination Syndicate (ISES), in regard to his academic standing and international reputation. The ISES was reorganized in 1968, and became the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), that Peterson continued heading from his office in Oxford University until 1977.

Made an honorary member of the IBO's Council of Foundation in 1983, he continued his interest with the organization until his death in 1988.

"Arts and Science Sides in the Sixth Form", a report published by Peterson in 1960, was based on research funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation, in which he described the need for a new kind of educational system. In principle and essence, it was very similar to the IB Diploma Programme created a few years later. In his report, he cited his concern of  solving "the problem of combining general education with the requisite skill or understanding in a specialist field". He believed this could only be achieved when "we cease to think of general education in terms of general knowledge". He was particularly interested in the theory of knowledge (TOK), at the heart of the educational philosophy of the IB Programme. This course uses a process of discovering and sharing students' views on issues, composed entirely on questions. Gerard Renaud - former Deputy Director of the IBO - declared that " without Alec, the Theory of Knowledge would never have seen the light of day".

Like Kurt Hahn, Alec Peterson was convinced that knowledge alone could not prompt young people to action. He considered experiential learning as an essential part of education. Through the Creativity Action Service course, students could acquire analytic skills and cultural sensitivities, a counterbalance to academic studies - the link between the classroom and the world they live in and people around them.  Like TOK, CAS emphasizes the importance of reflection and self-awareness, but it's based on experience, it's most commonly described as "experiential education". 

If you would like to read more ...

- Alec Peterson, A Memoir by David Sutcliffe 

 http://www.ibo.org/council/peterson/sutcliffe/documents/AlecPetersonbyDavidSutcliffe.pdf

- Speech by The Agha Khan at the Annual Meeting of the International Baccalaureate

 http://www.akdn.org/Content/637

- "International Education : Mirage or Oasis? (Peterson Lectures)

 http://www.ibo.org/council/peterson/sutcliffe/documents/sutcliffe_lecture.pdf

        

"There is more in you than you think" - Kurt Hahn and experiential education

“There is more in us than we know if we could be made to see it; perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.” 
― Kurt Hahn

Kurt Hahn (1886-1974) 

Born June 5th 1886, he is considered as a key figure in the development of experiential education. From a cultured Jewish German family, he was educated at Wilhelm Gymnasium in Berlin, the University of Göttingen, and finally finished his education at Christ Church, in Oxford, where he studied philosophy and classics.

In 1902, while on vacation with friends, he started his interest in education, influenced by Plato, Baden Powell, and others, giving direction to his thinking.

Hind his return to Germany, he worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs. At the end of the  first world war, he grew close to Prince Max Von Baden, and together they founded in 1920 the Salem Schloss Schule, to promote peace through education, while applying his innovative educational theories. His educational theory was based on the respect of adolescents, protecting them from a deteriorating society, through training in personal responsibility, kindness, and justice.

In 1933, Hahn spoke against the Fascist state, and was arrested and exiled in England, where he founded Gordonstoun. During the war, the school was moved to Wales, where he was inspired to found Outward Bound in 1941.  He went on to create the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme (1954) and the Atlantic Colleges (1957).

Through the 1960's Hahn traveled to the United States and other countries to visit the schools established in  other locations.

He died on December 25, 1974, not able to finish implementing the Service by Youth Commission.

Inspired by Plato, Powell, and the Parable of  the Good Samaritan, Kurt Hahn was concerned to develop active citizens. His educational "philosophy" was based on the belief that education should be regarded as a means to educate the "whole person". He believed in personal challenge, and his students were encouraged to rise to them, in order to "defeat their defeatism". He also incited students to join service projects, physical activities that would enable them to be involved with others, thus developing "caring" for others.  His main objective was helping young people to become healthy, inquiring, skillful, caring and compassionate citizens. To him, education was equally important for the mind as the body.
Hahn stated regularly that there was nothing new in his schools, but material that was efficiently proven in time. We can therefor say that his genius resided in his ability to put together what is regarded as "experiential and outdoor education".
In an address on Outward Bound, Hahn quoted Napoleon's words as a warning: "the world is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good". He recognized the importance of taking into consideration the lessons of history.

"I regard it as the foremost task of education to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial, and above all, compassion" - Kurt Hahn
Like Kurt Hahn,  Alec Peterson acknowledged the fact that any development in society will come from its younger generations. Knowledge should definitely come with action. In today's global world, diversity in cultures, races and believes, can only bring enrichment to our lives.

More about Kurt Hahn and Experiential Education

- Address at the 48th Annual dinner of the Old Centraliens
 http:// www.kurthahn.org/writings/oldcentral.pdf

- Harrogate address on Outward Bound
 http://www.kurthahn.org/writings/gate.pdf

- The Kurt Hahn Address - A Speech by an Exceptional Experiential Educator
 http://www.aee.org/about/awards/hahnaddress

The "Father" of experiential education - John Dewey

Before we try to understand experiential education, CAS, and the theories of Alec Peterson and Kurt Hahn, I would like to talk about John Dewey.

Regarded by many as the "father" of experiential education, he was most commonly known as a supporter of  "Progressive Education".

John Dewey (1859-1952)

Born October 20, 1859, in Burlington, Vermont. After he graduated second in his class from the University of Vermont, he started teaching high school. He then spent a year studying under the guidance of G. Stanley Hall at Johns Hopkins University in America's first psychology lab, where he earned his Ph.D. He taught at universities from 1884 to 1930, when he retired from Columbia University with the title of professor emeritus. 

An academic philosopher and proponent of progressive educational reform, he believed that education should be based on the principle of learning through doing, or what we call today "active learning". In 1894 Dewey started an experimental elementary school to test his theories. In 1919 he co-founded The New School for Social Research.

After his retirement from teaching in 1930, he was an active member of many educational organizations. At the end of his life, he was more and more involved in politics, eventually becoming president of the People's Lobby - an organization that lobbied their own candidates to avoid being "servants of big business".

Dewey published over 1,000 pieces of writings during his lifetime.

He died June 1, 1952, in New York, New York.

One of the greatest educational thinkers of the 20th century, and the "philosophical father" of experiential education, Dewey believed that the strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach of education was only concerned with "delivering" knowledge to students. He was also critical of completely "free" non-structured education, because students should not only be guided, but also motivated, in order to achieve critical understanding. To him education should be designed on the basis of a theory of experience.

Two currents of thoughts are opposed to Dewey's theory:

The less credible one believed Dewey to be a socialist, regarding education as a means to condition children, in order to create a socialist society. He was regarded as being against literacy, and in favor of "anti-education" to achieve a goal.

The other main opposing current believes that Dewey's philosophy concentrated more on the individual as a part of a group, a member of a social structure, neglecting individual needs. That his methods would go against the development of "independent young minds".

Both of these currents opposed Dewey's theories to those of Maria Montessori M.D (1870-1952) - an Italian physician, scientist, philosopher, feminist and humanitarian, who developed a theory on education, described in The Montessori Method in 1912 and in The Discovery of the Child in 1948. Her method was founded on the observation of children at liberty to act freely in an environment prepared to meet their needs. Her educational method was highly and internationally acclaimed, and is still in use today.

Articles you might find interesting

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER2/dewey/cover.html

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/montessori-dewey-and-capitalism-educational-theory-for-a-free-market-in-education#axzz2PzyUGmP5

http://www.kazakbar.info/article-03.html

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/ThinkersPdf/deweye.PDF

http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/ThinkersPdf/montesse.pdf

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/montessori/method/method.html