HUMANIZING SECONDARY SCHOOL CONTEXTS: LEARNING FROM AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND AND PERU

In the context of secondary education, changes are taking place which serve as an important source of inspiration for considering how to “promote the best possible realization of humanity as humanity” (Dewey, 1966, p. 95). Utilising concepts of care and restorative practice, high school students and staff in three schools in Latin America and Aotearoa New Zealand are engaging with alternative ways of understanding and enacting a “holistic” and “humanizing” education. Theirs is an educational vision that prioritizes learning that promotes notions of relationships – with one’s self and with others – through an increased awareness of mutual connection and interdependence. Drawing from an ongoing case study project with these three secondary schools, this article foregrounds student, teacher and principal voices to highlight how these learning contexts are enacting philosophies of care, restoration and forgiveness that serve a humanising educational aim. The article considers how Indigenous perspectives are able to further expand our vision for a holistic, humanising education.