Transformative Education Lab

Stanton Wortham
Inaugural Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean
Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College

A few decades ago, education policy began to focus more and more on academic content. This had some salutary effects, but it also drew educators’ attention away from developmental needs that go beyond subject matter knowledge and vocational training. Over the past 15 years, educators, policymakers, students, and parents around the world have increasingly recognized that the narrow focus on academic standards went too far. This has manifested in concerns about increased burnout and other mental health challenges, and it has led to the proliferation of both old and new educational
approaches that take a more holistic perspective—focused on character, civic participation, social and emotional learning, well-being, flourishing, and related initiatives. This is an auspicious moment for holistic approaches to education, but we need to reflect on the types of whole-person education that
will be most productive moving forward.

At Boston College, we never lost our focus on education as the development of whole human beings. We applaud the (re)emergence of movements that emphasize holistic development. Most of these movements draw attention to important student needs and pursue worthwhile educational aims. We
believe, however, that “formative education” as practiced at BC offers something beyond these other approaches. Here I offer a provisional definition of formative education, and I argue that it can make crucial contributions in the contemporary moment.

Formative education can be defined as the intersection of four characteristics. Other approaches focus on each of these, in various combinations, but only formative education involves all four.

First, formative education is not instrumental, but instead focuses on intrinsic ends. We do not educate students just so that they can get jobs or experience happiness, for example, although these are both worthwhile goals. We also educate them so that they can participate in intrinsically worthwhile practices that can support a truly fulfilling life.

Second, formative education focuses on both individual and community development. Education helps young people develop, and this often means focusing on their aspirations and dispositions as individuals. But any educational practice also presupposes a vision of the community that
young people should contribute to. Ideally, young people develop into the kinds of people who are disposed to contribute to the common good and who also find this individually fulfilling.

Third, formative education is holistic. Young people must learn knowledge and skills, but they are also developing emotionally, relationally, civically, ethically, spiritually, and in other ways. Educators should aspire to facilitate development along all of these dimensions. Furthermore, these various developmental processes cannot be separated from subject matter learning or from each other, because human activities simultaneously involve interrelated aspects. The developmental goal should be to increase integration across these developmental pathways, such that they buttress each other. People’s understandings should be aligned with their values and
life goals, for example, and they should pursue these goals while participating in productive relationships and experiencing appropriate emotional reactions in context. These various dimensions of our lives do not always align, but increased alignment should be a developmental goal.

Fourth, formative education helps young people develop a sense of purpose. This is a spiritual goal—with “spiritual” not necessarily meaning adherence to an organized religion, but in the sense of helping young people figure out what is ultimately important. Educators should help students discern their calling, a sense of what they ought to contribute to a broader moral order.
It is not our place to tell them exactly what the moral shape of the universe looks like, but it is our responsibility to have them ask how they can contribute to the common good as they and their communities envision it.

Formative education is aligned with many other holistic approaches that have received increasing attention in recent years. But it is unique in emphasizing all four of these characteristics. We believe that a comprehensive approach like this will better facilitate productive human development and position young people for flourishing lives that advance the common good. At Boston College we put this formative approach into practice through a range of academic and co-curricular activities. We also do research on holistic human development from various disciplinary perspectives. Formative education can be a compelling approach that appeals both to educators and to students, at a moment where people are increasingly searching for ways to facilitate holistic development.