Challenging the False Dichotomy: An Evidence Thesis

Effective holistic approaches within education systems lead to improved academic, health, income, employment, societal and well-being outcomes. Their impacts are lasting, and their effectiveness spans high- to low-income countries. Their results are felt most strongly by those that need it the most. Such approaches make for smart financial investment, and they have led consistently to improved long-term life outcomes. Despite this, the wider institutionalization of holistic practices in education systems remains the exception rather than the rule. This, in part, can be attributed to the misperception that a trade-off exists between supporting academic development versus holistic development, the “false dichotomy” that is being challenged within this synthesis. In fact, holistic child development incorporates, and is deeply intertwined with, academic rigor. Beyond academic outcomes, holistic approaches have a compounding positive effect over the course of a person’s life. The consistent finding from the literature is that a holistic approach is a powerful driver of success and important buffer against adversities. Evidence behind these claims is both robust, consistent, and increasingly representative of diverse contexts.

Part of the challenge is that education systems are complex, with many competing interests and voices. However, in searching for a common ground in areas of critical concern for key stakeholders, four patterns of outcomes emerged. The patterns of evidence corroborate the hypothesis that, by supporting the holistic development of children, we can increase academic achievement, support children to overcome adversity, deliver wide-ranging societal and social consequences, and realize clear economic benefits.

• Increasing academic achievement: Across contexts, age ranges, and subjects, a holistic approach to learning, benefits and improves academic performance. Academic and holistic skills are intertwined and teachable, strengths and weaknesses in one area foster or hinder development in the other. We know that education systems can transform in ways that are equally attentive to students’ academic and holistic development, and that this does not compromise academic rigor but strengthens it.
• Overcoming adversity: Prioritizing and cultivating holistic skills and approaches within education systems offers a critical buffer for adversities that a child may face and has far-reaching impacts for the child, families, communities, and wider society. It also offers an effective means of addressing the impact of learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, displacement, crises, and climate change. A holistic approach to learning benefits all children and is essential for every child to thrive, but disproportionally benefits children facing adversity; many of whom experience trauma such as abuse, displacement, poverty, and exposure to conflict.
• Societal consequences: Outcomes related to well-being, health, criminal behavior, and addiction have been shown to be impacted by key holistic skills. These skills can support overcoming the impact of a toxic stress response that can lead to immediate and long-term negative consequences, such as poor physical and mental health, behavior issues, and unhealthy relationships, which have wider impacts beyond childhood. Holistic skills also stimulate relationships within the classroom and home environment.
• Economic benefits: The cultivation of holistic skills outweighs investment in what has been for decades the status quo of a system based primarily on academic skills. Social costs, employability, productivity, active citizenship, income levels, and reduced health and criminal justice costs can be attributed to the development of key holistic skills in children, which will compound their benefit when they become adults.

The empirical evidence includes examples of what success looks like in practice. While a sizeable proportion of the most rigorous evidence comes from the US and Europe, an increasing number of studies come from Africa and the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America. The focus here was to highlight examples that take diverse forms. The examples highlight successful holistic approaches in different levels of education systems (Colombia), examples of initiatives with strong results and promising early steps towards wider system adoption (Ethiopia, the Study on Social and Emotional Skills), and initiatives in crisis-affected contexts (The Better Learning Programme). The examples of success stories at school, district, and national levels are growing steadily. As is the increasing recognition that these skills and approaches, along with appropriate measures for them, are critical elements of modern education systems. The evidence base also points to enabling conditions for holistic approaches to thrive, based on patterns of success within the wider environment and systems.

There remain important evidence gaps and unknowns, and for the case to be made even stronger, these need to be addressed, particularly to better understand the constraints that prevents wider scalability. The motivation in synthesizing key evidence around why a holistic approach matters, is to not only build a compelling case for key stakeholders in the sector, but to serve as a tool for those already advocating for this approach within their own education systems, who despite the weight of evidence still need to convince those in power of its importance and viability. This highlights the need for honest dialogue across sector representatives to consider thoroughly how the multiple terms, definitions, and overly complex communication can be a barrier to changing mindsets.

Globally, we are at a critical juncture when it comes to the role and power of education. Driving this urgency is the need to address the global learning crisis, learning loss, a re-escalation of the number of out-of- school children, and worsening mental health amongst children. The anticipated impacts of climate change and the increase in displaced populations add further to the considerable challenges faced across systems. When considering the state of many education systems globally, evidence shows that the pandemic has exacerbated inequities in education, with children from low-income households, those with disabilities, as well as girls, less likely to access remote learning. These threats highlight the criticality of instilling key holistic skills in children that help them adapt, overcome, and thrive during such uncertain times, as well as making the case that such skills sit alongside academic skills such as literacy and numeracy when it comes to vital outcomes.