Education towards education integration : an alternative programme

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to attempt to establish by the use of an environmental specific Personal Growth Programme, whether it is possible to assist students towards a more ‘holistic’ personal formation. It also aimed to investigate whether a move away from traditional education in the form of alternative or parallel programmes, would assist in bringing about an integrated individual, who is more capable of dealing with life as a whole (Krishnamurti 1953). The research was undertaken with adult students between the ages of 21 and 60, at the multi-cultural and extremely diverse residential theological College of the Transfiguration, in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province. An overview of Holistic and Mainstream education was explored in this study, which included also the challenges and influences which each type of education faces. The study then went on to investigate whether it is possible to bridge the gap that exists between holistic and mainstream education using various methods of alternative education. In the qualitative study, the Personal Growth Programme Annual Review Questionnaire was used to obtain feedback from the students to assess the usefulness of the Personal Growth Programme in their journey towards wholeness. This, together with the student’s responses from the in-depth interviews were used to ascertain the study’s limitations, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability.