Publications
Holistic Think Tank is also a substantial knowledge base of scientific literature and expert opinions on educational challenges around the world. We research and learn to understand. And then we write about it for you.
Leszek Olpiński: Teachers often choose quiet quitting. I did it my way
An interview with Leszek Olpiński, philosopher, physicist, former teacher (he worked in schools for 22 years), and today: educator, social skills trainer, and coach.
21 September 2023
Jolanta Okuniewska: Every true teacher has reflexivity and flexibility
Interview with Jolanta Okuniewska, early school education teacher and teacher trainer. She has received numerous national and international awards for her teaching activities, including the Medal of the National Education…
07 September 2023
Outdoor movement has a beneficial effect on children’s mental and physical health as well as social development. Sadly, schools barely meet this need
Physical activities and contact with nature prevent physical illnesses, reduce stress in children, ensure fuller intellectual development, and positively affect social interaction and mental well-being. Meanwhile, the summer vacation is…
01 September 2023
Mariola Bogucka, Ph.D.: Believing young generation is inferior means losing touch with reality
An interview with Mariola Bogucka, an English philologist, Ph.D. in social sciences, and academic teacher at the University of GdaÅ„sk. Dr. Bogucka is also a member of the Scientific Board…
24 August 2023
To teach children humanistic values, we must show them by our own example. Change is always worth starting with ourselves
Interview with Marta Bujakowska, English teacher, teacher trainer, and graduate of the School of International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, US.
03 August 2023
Abusers of school shootings have usually been victims of peer violence themselves. Meanwhile, a teacher can prevent it
Interview with Prof. Jacek Pyżalski, pedagogue, academic teacher (from Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznaÅ„), trainer in the area of communication and school violence prevention, and author of numerous publications –…
27 July 2023
Justyna Pokojska: Education determines conscious living. That’s why we created IDS
An interview with Justyna Pokojska, Ph.D., HTT’s executive director. The interview was conducted by RafaÅ‚ Cieniek, a journalist working for the Holistic.news portal, where the article first appeared.
20 July 2023
Teaching children with special educational needs is a mission
Interview with Barbara Skrok, an English teacher with over 40 years of experience and trainer of other educators in teaching neuroatypical children and those with other difficulties. Lecturer and participant…
13 July 2023
A strategy for the turnaround, or what a school should be. Essay by Joanna Górecka, Ph.D.
Why schools need to be transformed, what that transformation should look like, and what impact a Holistic Think Tank would have. This piece is written by Dr. Joanna Górecka, a…
07 July 2023
Piotr Walda: Stop punishing children for our own mistakes. It’s not right
Piotr Walda, history teacher: Sometimes I hear pedagogues saying, “This kid is so stupid, he didn’t learn again.” Zero self-reflection, asking the question: “What did I do wrong that the…
22 June 2023
Małgorzata Nowakowska: As a teacher and as a mother, I dream of schools that teach how to live wisely
An interview with MaÅ‚gorzata Nowakowska, physicist, school teacher, founder of the blog “Fake news busters,” and Copernicus Science Center employee. MaÅ‚gorzata Nowakowska is also one of the IDS Ambassadors, working…
07 June 2023
Inside a child’s brain, or why is early school education so important for human development?
Most do not doubt education is the key to raising sensible and responsible people. Fewer realize this view has a strong neurobiological basis: the human brain develops most strongly in…
01 June 2023
Reputable pedagogue: If we are serious about the future, there is no sector more worth investing in than education
Interview with BogusÅ‚aw Åšliwerski, pedagogue, professor at the University of Åódź, chairman of the Committee on Pedagogical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
25 May 2023
Edyta Kłeczek: One of the fundamental mistakes in relationships with students is an assumption that we don’t need each other
Interview with Edyta KÅ‚eczek, historian, an English teacher at a primary school in Brzeźnica near Skawina (MaÅ‚opolska), school coordinator of the Erasmus Plus and English Teaching programs, and ambassador of…
18 May 2023
How to remain Human in the World of Artificial Intelligence
Prof. Ryszard Tadeusiewicz: Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, we can build a future where everyone lives with dignity. But for the world to have justice, we must first believe in that…
11 May 2023
Dr. Joanna Górecka: It’s time for schools to be a place of humanity
Interview with Joanna Górecka, a doctor of humanities, a Polish language teacher at the “No Bell” school in Konstancin-Jeziorna, and director of the Institute of Educational Innovation there. Dr. Górecka…
04 May 2023
Pasi Sahlberg: We hold on to traditional ideas and methods, but the world has changed. Everything has changed. Schools should reflect this
Interview with Pasi Sahlberg, one of the creators of Finland’s phenomenal education reform, professor of education policy at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a former senior specialist…
20 April 2023
Jo Johnson: School should teach how to make space between one’s thoughts
An interview with Jo Johnson, Project Specialist at The Innovative Learning Center for Adult Education in West Michigan (US). Formally a high school industrial technology and mathematics teacher. Certified yoga,…
12 April 2023
Dr. Ryan Bramley from the University of Sheffield: If teachers don’t care for young people’s feelings, wants, and needs, then that crucial element of education gets missed out.
Interview with Dr. Ryan Bramley from the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, a grantee of the first and second phase of the Holistic Think Tank program on…
06 April 2023
Human Restoration Project: If we start with humanity within the school, then we can expect to see humanity in the world outside
Interview with Nick Covington and Chris McNutt, co-founders of the Human Restoration Project, a non-profit organization promoting human-centered school education, based in the U.S. HRP at the same time is…
27 March 2023
Fab Foundation: We need to transform schools before we lose children entirely
Interview with Sherry Lassiter, President and SEO of Fab Foundation, and Rodney Williams, who works there as a Program Manager. The Fab Foundation is an organization in Boston, USA, which…
17 March 2023
Prof. Dominika Dudek: I dream of schools that teach students how to deal with stress
Interview with Prof. Dominika Dudek, psychiatrist, president of the Polish Psychiatric Association, head of the Department of Psychiatry at Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Medicum, editor-in-chief of the journal “Polish Psychiatry,” organizer…
30 January 2023
Anna Szulc: Yesterday’s teachers are using the day before yesterday’s methods. How is it supposed to work well?
An interview with Anna Szulc, a mathematics teacher from Kazimierz Wielki High School in Zdunska Wola, Poland, who does not give grades, does not assign homework, does not quiz at…
16 January 2023
The price of success. Is Korean “education fever” a warning or an inspiration?
As recently as the 1950s, South Korea’s economy was not too different from those of sub-Saharan African countries (calculated by the amount of GDP per capita). Today, South Korea is…
29 December 2022
Human Centered Interdisciplinary Subject
The recording was taken during the Holistic Think Tank Grant Summary meeting with Human Restoration Project in September 2022. Willing to join our team, receive a grant or present your…
27 September 2022
My Media, My Power, My World. A new Interdisciplinary Subject for Pupils in Primary Education
The recording was taken during the Holistic Think Tank Grant Summary meeting with the University of Sheffield in September 2022. Willing to join our team, receive a grant or present…
27 September 2022
Different approaches to Interdisciplinary School Subject (IDS) curriculum
Holistic Think Tank’s grant beneficiaries meeting & debate | March 2022 The recording was taken during the first meeting of the Holistic Think Tanks grants beneficiaries in March 2022: Willing to…
21 September 2022
Galina Zenin: “Music provides the children with an opportunity to learn about the world in a holistic way by being wholly engaged”
In an old photo Galina’s head is adorned with a huge white bow, she is wearing a short brown dress with white cuffs and collar of white lace, and an…
21 September 2022
Prof. Magdalena Ślusarczyk: “Nowadays it is not easy to talk about universal values, because we live in a world of their pluralism”
Professor, we are really grateful for this opportunity to talk to you. For us, Holistic Think Tank, it is really important to validate the ideas we promote. Dynamic changes in…
21 September 2022
Educational journey into the unknown begins with leaving the familiar port
We sometimes hear the expression of a rather melancholic notion that we were, in fact, born too late to have discovered any new continents but, at the same time, too…
21 September 2022
School should stress the mutual permeability between various fields of study, along with the permeability of values
Children starting off on their educational journey ought to be provided with opportunities to develop in many different directions. Emphasis, at the same time, must be shifted from an overarching…
21 September 2022
Interdisciplinary School Subject (IDS): The point is to do inquiry based learning
Holistic Think Tank recently awarded a research grant to Fab Lab Foundation for creating a new interdisciplinary subject. Today we are joined by Monika Aring and Larry Hulbert from Fab…
21 September 2022
Approaching the global issues based on interdisciplinary knowledge, values, and skills
Education for global citizenship, in its critical rather than “soft” version, invites students to question existing social order and to engage into transformative action (Banks, 2008). Students are at the…
21 September 2022
What kind of citizenship should be taught at school?
Functioning in a relationship with the state should be an important part of the life of each and every one of us. In this relationship, naturally there is an imbalance…
21 September 2022
The role of the school is to teach how to learn
“What is the purpose of the school?” – this question seems to have an obvious answer. The objective of the school is to teach. It is to convey knowledge that…
21 September 2022
“Mathematics is something more than a subject based on the data”
Travelling through different places allow for observing rich fauna and flora, describing the landscape and recording the most beautiful views. But this is not all. When walking through the wildest…
21 September 2022
Holistic Think Tank Methodological Manifesto
1. A methodology to match the approach to the world and to education At Holistic Think Tank we are primarily interested in education, it is the starting point for us.…
21 September 2022
Communication triad – is a mature educational dialogue possible?
Communication is a basic tool of knowledge transfer in a school situation. The child and the adult communicate with each other in a different way than people the same age…
20 September 2022
Computational thinking as a fundamental skill used by everyone by the middle of the 21st Century
We all agree that the school should not only impart knowledge, but also help develop specific skills. The catalog of these skills seems to be unchanged for years: it includes,…
20 September 2022
“Empty Pedagogy, Behaviorism, and the Rejection of Equity” – Chris McNutts diagnosis on the educational reality.
The use of techniques based on the achievements of behaviorism stirs rampant emotions among education specialists. It is worth remembering, that behaviorism had its origins in experimental research involving animals.…
20 September 2022
The question returns like a boomerang: How to make pupils want to learn?
The Holistic Think Tank team has been working for many months on an international research project on primary school education. Investigating similarities and differences in school environments in different countries…
20 September 2022
Maciej Winiarek: “We need to flip the classroom relationship and put the student in the center of the education system”
“I think we should increase the potential of children now, which will enable them to take responsibility for their own learning. A teacher and a parent are just supportive persons”,…
20 September 2022
Does homeschooling teach what schools do not?
Statistics indicate a growing interest in homeschooling among many members of the public. In Italy, over the past two years, the number of homeschoolers has tripled. In Poland, official data…
20 September 2022
Neither education nor production systems are tailored to develop 21st century competences
Today we face the reality of modern society: neither education nor production systems are tailored to develop 21st century competences. Neither in schools nor at work do they teach us…
20 September 2022
Holistic approach in education
A list compiled by the Holistc Thnik Tank researchers – Jan Bazyli Klakla and Katarzyna PajÄ…k-ZaÅ‚Ä™ska – based on preliminary analyses and discation. The list is a central point for the think…
20 September 2022