In his history of affective education (JPC 1:1, Winter, 1998), John Steinberg traces the development of today's understanding that affective education, or teaching toward emotional intelligence, is integral to all learning.
	A History Of Affective Education	Links
	It is rewarding to see the recognition being given to the work of Daniel Goleman on emotional intelligence and Howard Gardner on multiple intelligence. Their work continues the progress from many years of bringing affective education into the classroom. The modern movement to recognize the importance of affective education (to complement the more traditionally oriented cognitive - logical, analytical, information oriented emphasis in education) perhaps began with Abraham Maslow’s studies of peak experiences in the 1950’s. Instead of focusing on problems, Maslow focused on health and well being. For the first time we were given insights into what well, successful and happy people seem to be doing right. Before Maslow most research efforts were concerned with diagnosing illness or failure. Carl Rogers’ client-centered methods and his book Freedom to Learn (1969), showed us the importance of feelings, concerns and asked us to put the learner (or client) in focus, not the teacher or psychologist. Until the beginning of the 1970’s, however, there were no particular school curriculums designed to enhance self-concepts, social or emotional growth. The University of Massachusetts School of Education became, in the early 1970’s, a center for humanistic-affective education. Methods for self-concept development, values clarification and conflict resolution were developed. Humanistically based psychotherapy, for example Gestalt Therapy, became more widely known. George Brown at the University of California in Santa Barbara was a pioneer in the concept called “confluent education” in which he made the claim that affective and cognitive growth go hand in hand. The 1970’s also saw the growth of a new model in psychology called NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). John Grinder and Richard Bandler at The University of California at Santa Cruz, developed models for recognizing more clearly individual learning styles and strategies. Kenneth and Rita Dunns’ work with individual learning styles also became more widely known. Yet another concept from the 1970‘s was the moral education movement, spearheaded by Lawrence Kohlberg from Harvard University. Kohlberg’s research indicated that there were different levels of moral behavior, much in the same way that Jean Piaget proposed different levels for cognitive or intellectual development, from concrete reasoning to abstract reasoning. Today one speaks also of “character” training, perhaps spurred on by a more politically conservative perspective than the previous psychological models. It is interesting because religious and politically conservative groups were very much against schools taking initiatives to teach values and morals. It is the realm of the home and the church. There is renewed belief that the schools can also play an important role in ethic and character development. What was happening? The old model was to see all students as having to meet a certain standardized norm of intelligence. Now a new model or paradigm was developing. This new way of thinking was to see the individual as unique. Each child and adult learns differently and has different needs and strategies for learning. Suddenly, the tables were turned. Instead of the student always having to adjust to the teachers way of teaching, the teacher was being asked to recognize that children learn differently. In other words, if a child doesn’t learn it could just as well be a teaching problem instead of a child problem. Humanistic or affective education means that we see the “whole” child. The research on leftbrain and rightbrain orientation confirms the importance of this. A whole new discipline is developing we may call “Brain Pedagogics”. People like Eric Jensen, Georgi Lozanov (Suggestopedia) and others are demonstrating teaching methods which speak to both the left and right sides of the brain. Howard Gardner’s model for seven types of intelligence points out what we’ve all suspected: people can be smart in different ways. Daniel Goleman’s efforts on behalf of emotional intelligence point out how nuances in social and emotional skills can lead to satisfying and successful lives. It is satisfying to see the movement towards giving more time and effort to developing not just cognitive skills but also affective skills in the classroom. Indeed there is no conflict between them. How can you be a successful doctor, teacher, salesman or boss without both knowledge and social skills? The “emotionally safe” classroom is logically a classroom where more learning can take place. The “social environment” of a school highly determines the ability of students to concentrate on school work. Indeed, “whole child” education will make schooling a “whole” lot better.	Official Abraham Maslow Publications Site Carl Rogers and informal education Ed. Psychology Interactive: Humanistic Education CONFLUED: Confluent Ed Discussion List NLP Resource List Description of Learning Styles and how to identify them. More about learning styles and modes of learning from Funderstanding [a very cool site!] History of the moral education movement: An Overview of Moral Development and Education
		Books Steinberg discusses
		available from our online bookstore in association with Amazon.com John Grinder's Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning Richard Bandler's Using Your Brain--For a Change Eric Jensen's book, Brain Based Learning Georgi Lozanov's book Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences : The Theory in Practice Dan Goleman's Emotional Intelligence   Carl Rogers' Freedom to Learn [no longer in print]

	John M Steinberg, Ph.D. is the author of 27 books on learning, influencing and values. He lives and works in Sweden. You can contact him through his web page at http://www.steinberg.se. Most of the information on that page is in Swedish, but more will be coming soon in English. His most recent book in Swedish is called, "The Death of Schooling - Long Live Learning." He is currently working on a book in English about the new purpose of education.
	Contact Mr. Steinberg through his web site at http://www.steinberg.se Most of the information is in Swedish, but more will be coming soon in English.