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4.2: "Articles" - Page 3-5   |
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DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN RELATIONSHIP WITH HEALTH AND EDUCATION Dhyan Vermeulen, APS/ HEE 2002 Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity...we shall harness...the energies of love. Then, for a second time in history of the world, men will have discovered fire. Teilhard de Chardin 
Mastering the art of living, it isn't something that just happens. Introduction Personal life has become an open project, creating new demands and anxieties. Our interpersonal existence is being thoroughly transfigured, involving us all in what Antony Giddens calls: Everyday social experiments, in which wider social changes more or less oblige us to engage. 1 These changes of great importance, essentially concern an exploration of the potentialities of 'art of living' and what Giddens determined as 'pure relationship'. 'Pure relationship is a relationship of sexual and emotional equality, which is explosive in its connotations for pre-existing forms of gender power.2' Care for yourself, health and healthy behaviour are two of the basic competencies of what we call "the art of living" that promote social capital of a healthy school culture. A healthy school culture can promote healthy behaviour. Healthy social behaviour includes healthy sexual behaviour and intimacy. How can we promote healthy social behaviour in education? Can health and healthy behaviour when promoted in schools convert social capital into cultural and economic capital?3 Art of living. The classical art of living refer to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and above all to the lessons of Epicureanism and Stoicism. Both Stoics and Epicureans advise us to live in the present, not to dwell on the past and not to worry about the uncertainty of future. Classical philosophy was therefore first and foremost therapy, with objectives such as peace of mind (ata-raxi-a), auto-sufficiency (au-tar-kei-a), cosmic sympathy (sympa-theia) and well-being of the soul or happiness (eu-daimo-ni-a)."4 Philosophy was education in human existence, 'care of self 'and craft of living; an vitae. Foucault established that Western philosophy was originally a way of life, an art of living. Foucault's interpretation of the development of the self in modern societies should also be placed in question in a rather basic way. "Instead of seeing the self as constructed by a specific 'technology', we should recognise that self-identity becomes particularly problematic in modern social life in the very recent era. Fundamental features of a society of high reflexivity are the 'open' character of self-identity and the reflexive nature of the body.5 " The self today is for everyone a reflexive project - a more or less continuous interrogation of past, present and future.6 What applies to the self applies to the body. The body is the domain of health and in some sense also the domain of sexuality. In education the body has always been adorned, and sometimes, in the pursuit of higher ideals, mutilated or starved. What explains, however, our distinctive concerns with bodily appearance and control today, which differ in certain obvious ways from those more traditional preoccupations? Foucault has an answer. Modern societies, he says, in specific contrast to the pre-modern world, depend upon the generating of bio-power.7 Yet this is at most a half-truth Giddens (1992) tells us, because: "The body becomes a focus of administrative power, to be sure. But more than this, it becomes a visible carrier of self-identity and is increasingly integrated into life-style decisions which an individual makes. As such decision making in life-style becomes the aesthetic input of 'art of living'. This special competence in mastering the art of living, it isn't something that just happens. Human capabilities. To regain clarity about who, what, when and where that can get lost if we move at internet speed, we need new higher order human capabilities. Higher order human capabilities like language, creativity, self-reflection, complex problem solving, and the ability to choose what is appropriate behaviour are believed to emerge from these structures. From our teen years onward, specialized circuitry continues to develop in the prefrontal lobes of our third brain. It is the third brain that helps us chart a moral course in life. We learn to manage and balance reaction and emotion in making the small as well as the big choices in life through the development of the frontal lobes.8
This depicts the three generalized stages of brain evolution and levels of control, functions, and behaviours that are associated with the three main structural regions of the modern human brain. Institute of HeartMath (IHM)-research suggests that emotional reactiveness and stress, which we often experience as feelings of inner turmoil, can inhibit the cortical regions in the third brain.9 With the cortical functions inhibited, problem-solving is hampered, reaction speeds and coordination are impaired10, and we cannot think as clearly: Higher intelligence can be jammed by the reactions and pulls of the first brain and second brain regions. The first brain controls approach/ avoidance behaviour, hormonal control, temperature control, hunger and thirst, basic respiration and heart rate control and the reproductive drive. The second brain controls the basic drives, including: territoriality, fear, anger, attack, maternal love, anxiety, hate and jealousy. Emotional information appears to be processed in this brain region. If the first and second brain react incorrectly, our decisions are less effective, our listening skills impaired, our creativity obstructed. Fortunately the reverse also is true. When we feel harmonious and balanced cortical higher brain function is enhanced. We can see possibilities where previously we could perceive only dead ends. When we feel harmonious the third brain works more efficient. The third brain including the iso-cortex, frontal lobes, temporal lobes, parietal lobes, and occipital lobes, constitutes roughly 80% of the human brain. Methods Art of living Art of living is a qualitative way to deal with life events and life-style decisions. In human ethical education (HEE) in primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands Art of living is a special subject. HEE develops conditions necessary for giving pupils the chance to become people who can deal with questions concerning values in a creative way. This is a group process method. It involves the whole group including the teacher, meeting in a circle at least once a week to look at issues relating to personal, social, moral and health education. The pupils are stimulated by assignments to reflect on their actions regarding the given theme, in the context of a situation they have experienced. In discussing these micro-level reflections, the pupils are challenged to take their own point of view, make decisions, reflect on it and defend or revise it. This process will activate third brain functions including:
The circle-time forum. Humanistic psychology and consequent student centred approaches to learning underpin circle-time practice. It is rooted in the notion that each individual has worth, individuality and the right to control their own direction. It also requires that the teacher is self-aware and able to create a classroom 'climate' that is supportive and conductive to helping pupils realise their innate self-potential. (a third brain activity) Circle-time creates an emotionally 'safe' place for pupils to explore what they think and feel. This model of circle-time is safe because it is bound by strict ground rules for teachers and children, based on respect, valuing, and reflecting back to the participants a positive image of themselves. Of paramount importance is the rule that no name may be used negatively, thus keeping parents, pupils, teaching and non teaching staff safe from exposure or ridicule whilst allowing issues (issues that have emotional implications like, fear, anger, health, sex) to be discussed and problems to be solved. Jenny Mostley's model of circle-time follows a firm structure so that the group moves from warm- up exercises and fun into a round where every person is given the opportunity to speak individually. The respect afforded to an individual and their choices is very powerful in raising self-esteem. For just a few minutes, they are in the centre of attention and a whole group of people is listening intently to everything they say. The round progresses to 'open forum', where issues and individual problems are aired and brainstormed. This activity often leads to an individual or group action plan. The next stage is to celebrate success and finally to end on fun. Care and method. Appreciation, caring, courage, and compassion are examples of core 'frequencies' within the bandwidth of heart-intelligence. Each time you generate one of these frequencies or positive emotions your physiology shifts into a more efficient mode. Activation of heart feelings is an intelligent use of the body's emotional power and serves as the ignition key for intuitive intelligence. Often in moments of peace, stillness or appreciation intuitional insights start to flow Even the most restless mind gains new perspective and understanding in the presents of a caring heart. Positive emotions have a specific frequency pattern, as seen in HRV (heart rate variability) traces, and their frequency is quite different from negative outcomes.11 Approach and method. Social capital of schools in relation to health will grow when teachers and pupils develop health and care competencies include attitudes and skills referring to care as "art of living". Education can enable students:
This approaches and methods that bring social capital of schools in relation to health can be seen as a corrective to all theories that exclusively stress health and care competence and forget about the conditions of implementation of health and care competence. The health habitus is the product of social conditions (social reality) and is not simply the production of utterances but the production of utterances adapted to a 'situation'13. Amplified Contrast. Organisational incoherence in school - the accumulated noise, turmoil, pressure, and conflict - can increase the internal distortion children or students feel, strengthening and reinforcing the negative, chaotic pattern in the individual. The good news is that a positive environment can play a significant role in making coherence more familiar and help dissolve the negative patterns. Schools of the future will study closely how learning happens at the biological level and help students maximise their learning and art of living. Results and Research Recent research indicates that successful schools are characterised by a healthy climate, a strong ethos which respects and nurtures good relationships with clear, safe and secure boundaries.14 Research in emotional intelligence has shown that the most successful people in life are the ones who have learned to manage their emotional reactions, neutralising or transforming negative emotions and processes and gaining a new richness of experience.15 Recent preliminary research in 200 schools in UK which have used the Circle Time forum showed, in the evaluation forms returned, that 69% of these schools had been inspected by OFSTED and had received positive feedback in the areas of pupils behavioural, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This has in turn reduced the number of children reaching the stage of exclusion.16 Research over the last two decades has revealed that emotional states profoundly affect the rhythmic beating of our hearts, and signals the heart transmit17. These signals in turn cause measurable changes in our brains ability to think and process information.18 For the Netherlands the Rescon19 research gives data of school-climate. Discussion Health and healthy behaviour is one of the basic competencies to promote social capital. Health and healthy behaviour promoted in schools create social capital. Can health and healthy behaviour promoted in schools convert social capital into cultural and economic capital?20 What can heart match research develop in education as an instrument of educational research? Notes: 1 Antony Giddens: Modernity and self- identity 1999 2 Anthony Giddens: The transformation of intimacy, Cambridge 1992. 3 Pierre Bourdieu 1975-1988 4 Joep Dohmen Art of living, humanism of ethics. Utrecht HVO 2002. 5 Anthony Giddens 1992 idem 3. page 30. 6 Anthony Giddens Modernity and self-identity, Cambridge:Polity 1991. 7 Michel Foucault The history of sexuality, Harmondsworth: Pelican 1981 8 Karl H Pribram, Language of the brain, Newyork 1971 9 R.McCraty, W.A.Tiller, M. Atkinson, Head-Heart Entrainment: A pre-liminary Survey: " Proceedings of the brain-mind applied neurophysiology EEG Neuro-feedback meeting 1996 Key West Florida (pp26-30). 10 Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer: From Gaos to Coherence, Boston 1999 p 39-42 11 Doc Children and Bruce Cryer 1999 page 54-55 12 Joan Tronto 1996 SLO 'Attitudes and skills referring to care in the Netherlands" 1996-2000 13 Pierre Bourdieu 1975-1988 14 Research Quality Circle Time on secondary schools in UK Social inclusion: pupil support Circular july 1999 UK 15 Coleman: Emotional Intelligence 1982 16 Support for learning VOL 6 No 4 1991 17 McCracy, Barrios, Coplin, Roseman, The Impact of a New emotional Self Management Program on stress, Emotions, Hart rate Variability, DHEA and cortisol,"Ingrative Physiological and Behaviour Science (1998 in Press) 18 Doc Cildren and Bruce Cryer: From chaos to coherence, Boston 1999, page 48. 19 Carian Gorts and Ruud Jonkers Rescon report: Gezondheid op school. April 2001. 20 Pierre Bourdieu 1975-1988 Dhyan Vermeulen Senior educational expert APS/HEE d.vermeulen@aps.nl Host of EQ Europe: www.eqee.org European Network on Emotional Quality © 2002-2008 |