Integral Development and Educational Renewal in Saskatchewan: A Visionary Process

“We must educate to survive, critique and create.” (Berry, as cited in O’Sullivan, 1999, p. 8) Transformative educators such as Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, and Edmund O’Sullivan believe that the time has come for a shift away from the dominant Western educational ideology that focuses on achievement, individualism, and material success. They propose that education must become more than a system of banking information and standardized testing, and educators must be prepared to operate out of a much larger integrated worldview. They suggest that schools must provide balanced non-dualistic education that values students more for who they are than what they can achieve. In June 2008, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education published a document which addresses similar concerns to those raised by Berry, Swimme, and O’Sullivan. The document entitled Renewed Objectives for the Common Essential Learning of Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) and Personal and Social Development (PSD) recommends a number of key changes to existing educational policy in the areas of emotional, social and spiritual formation. The recommendations place emphasis on spiritual development, environmental awareness, ecological principles, human diversity, creative-ability development, and community-based achievement. This paper analyzes the educational need for renewal of current Western ideology and it supports the revamping of policy as proposed by the 2008 Ministry of Education document. It also discusses how the three principles of O’Sullivan’s (1999) integral development theory towards transformative education may be helpful for enhancing the effective implementation of the 2008 CCT and PSD Ministry of Education document.Keywords: integrated education; transformative education