Philosophy

Values education contributing to the physical and moral development of children and youth has been the focus of my work for the past twenty years. In particular this work has focused on Olympic and fair play education. My orientation to this work is a product of my education, my professional expertise and my personal experience as teacher, international curriculum specialist and researcher. As an Olympic educator I am interested in questions of how to apply educational knowledge, wisdom and promising practices to the teaching of the values of the Olympic movement - joy of endeavour in sport and physical activity, fair play, respect for others and international understanding and pursuit of excellence.

With respect to learning and teaching, the following principles of learning have guided my work:

Learning is an active and not a passive activity. In order to learn, people need to process the information and ideas. Learning processes include writing activities, discussion or debate, creative activities, e.g., art, drama or music, and physical movement through activities like sport and physical education.
People learn in different ways. Some people learn best by reading; some people learn best by listening; some people learn best by creating things or moving around.
Learning is both an individual and a cooperative activity. People sometimes work best independently. In order to learn and practise cooperation, however, people need to work together.

As a curriculum specialist, I have come to a much greater understanding of the complexities of the curriculum development process. Curriculum development is a practical endeavour, a process of application. It takes place within the knowns and unknowns of specific contexts and real situations. In understanding these processes, I have been aided by Hans Georg Gadamer’s (1989) discussions on “application” and “practicality.” For Gadamer, the word “practical” does not mean “technical,” and “application” does not involve relating some pre-given universal to the particular situation. He argues that application of a text in concrete situations “co-determines understanding or interpretation.” Education is a process of “co-determining understanding” between teachers and learners. Curriculum development is a process of “co-determining understanding” between curriculum specialists and collaborators, each of whom has his or her own special expertise or interest. Thus, within the realm of “the practical” the curriculum specialist applies the following skills:

Practice, particularly in human endeavours like education, is much more than technique, since the fundamental concern is the responsibility for others, and how to manifest that through good actions. Practice itself must be imbued with understanding, and practice must show understanding.

As a researcher, I have explored the challenges of applying curriculum theory to international curriculum development projects. Since, traditionally, curriculum has been developed within national boundaries, processes of globalization highlight concerns about transferring curriculum concepts and processes from one cultural context to another. I have come to understand that international curriculum development is a complex collaborative process in which “co-determining understanding” is an ongoing challenge.

In my doctoral dissertation I explored the question: How is it possible to responsibly facilitate cross-cultural collaboration on an international curriculum development project based on the philosophy of Olympism? Titled Odyssey this dissertation used an autobiographical methodology to interpret the often-conflicted and unpredictable nature of these experiences. Gadamer’s ideas on how understanding is possible?that is through a dialectic between the past, future and present horizons of the researcher?provided the philosophical foundation for the study.

Through this research, carried out in Greece between 1997 and 2001, I came to an understanding that although Olympism and Olympic education is practiced within the contexts of cultural difference in all parts of the world, the imaginative vision of Olympism seems to launch teachers and students on quests, seems to open up questions, and seems to stimulate an imaginative journey into the realms of the possible. Olympism seems to act like an umbrella, arching over differences of religious and cultural difference and integrating the broad human desire to live in a better and more peaceful world.

Educating for this concept is values education. If teachers are universally interested in helping their students with “possibility” and “becoming,” then perhaps the imagination that is stimulated by a concept such as Olympism is a pedagogical tool. A curriculum based on the context of Olympism may be universally attractive because it explores themes of possibility - presented through symbols, ceremonies, narratives, art and physical movement.

Pierre de Coubertin, the French aristocrat and educational reformer who founded the modern Olympic Games, seemed to understand the connections between physical endeavour and the arts. He understood the importance of emotion and imagination as educational tools. He combined sports with culture in the organization of the Olympic Movement. In his planning for the promotion and staging of Olympic Games he created symbols and encouraged ceremonies, music, pageantry and culture. It has been my experience that these ceremonies at school mini-Olympic Games, with their paper torches and home-made gold medals, become an emotional highlight for all who are involved.

Ever since the first of the modern Olympic Games, the world has been inspired every four years with emotional stories of athletic triumph and disappointment. These stories act as models and as confirmation for future generations of potential high achievers. De Coubertin also suggests that this stimulation of imagination – the subsequent development of positive values - takes place in process of striving for physical excellence. De Coubertin suggests that whether you are climbing a mountain or playing cricket the effect is the same. Engagement of the whole body in the physical domain engages not only the physical, mental and intellectual domains, but also the emotional and imaginative self.

When master teachers are engaged in Olympic education initiatives, they engage learners actively in sport and physical activity, in art, music, storytelling and role-playing. They help learners break through the barriers of tradition and prejudice by seeing the world in a different way, seeing each other in a different way, and changing their attitudes and behaviours so that they act in a different way. This is joyful teaching. The international network of educators with whom I have been privileged to work use Olympic values educational themes and ideas to help learners help their communities to become better and more peaceful places.