188 Chapter 5 through personal research or educational design, on the other hand. In the midst of their conversation on the topic, they took a short break for personal writing on WCD to be shared later in the ongoing focus group interview. Their responses were as follows (8): WCD is… St1: An educational concept that looks to the whole child in all of its aspects, not just cognitive but also social-emotional, physical, spiritual, moral, et cetera. Also, the development of the child is considered in its context (community, citizenship, etc). St2: An educational concept that puts the whole child in the centre and thus is aimed at several developmental aspects, in which life comes before learning and explorative learning is very important. The central question is: What is good education? St3: Looking at the whole child. Not looking to the (cognitive) restrictions, but first to the possibilities; seeking for the talents of each child and deploying them. St4: The development of each child is central, regardless of background/ cognition; as teacher have/show esteem in which every pluriform background is recognised. St5: To pay attention and invest in the wellbeing and development of all aspects of the human being in children; in addition to that, the development of a (Christian) worldview, lifestyle and attitude are the core. St6: For me, the development of the child, in which social and emotional and all non-cognitive capacities are valuable for the overall development and, therefore, necessary for the cognitive development. The interview transcript proves, by means of thematic colour coding, that all of the students perceive the holistic approach of WCD as an eyeopener regarding the conviction that education is about much more than just working on the cognitive aspect. Four of the students (St1, St2, St3 and St6) express this explicitly in the interview by stating: ‘There is more’. Several times, they indicate aspects such as happiness, wellbeing and good relations as the ultimate goal of education (St1, St3, St5 and St6). They associate WCD with having an eye on, being interested in or paying attention to the child itself (St1, St3, St4 and St6). St3 explicitly connects WCD to having an eye on the child’s talents, whether cognitive or not. St2 addresses the same issue. St6 connects WCD to hope, especially for children in a less advantaged socioeconomic context. 8 Translation is mine.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw