What is whole person education and multiple intelligence?

16th June 2020

KnewSTEP Education focuses on the development of a whole person, including the six areas of intelligence development including IQ (Intelligence Quotient), EQ (Emotional Intelligence), SQ (Social Intelligence), AQ (Adversity Intelligence), CQ (Cultural Intelligence) and FQ (Financial Intelligence). The so-called Intelligence does not simply mean to be knowledgeable through reading lots of books and gain diverse knowledge, as this could only develop your IQ (Intelligence Quotient), such as English skills or geographical knowledge.

What we mean by ‘Intelligence’ here is not about the IQ score you gain, but rather, your development in a particular area of intelligence. For example, your AQ (Adversity Intelligence) refers to your ability to face challenges and overcome difficulties; and the formal interpretation of multiple intelligence refers to the distribution of comprehensive abilities of a person. Certainly, no matter what the ability assessment is, our job is not to assess one’s IQ. Instead, through providing a variety of activities, we hope to help our students to develop themselves in all areas of intelligence and grow as a whole person.

For instance, many people think that FQ (Financial Intelligence Quotient) is only applicable to people working in the finance, banking or business sectors. However, we might forget that in fact, we are all managing our own income and pocket money every day, as well as allocating our timeable to do different things. All of these experiences are, in fact, our ability in the area of financial intelligence, which means our management on money and time. In Chinese, we have an idiom saying, “to first cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, then lead the world to peace”. It works the same for one’s whole person development. In order to develop yourself intellectually and socially, perhaps one shall first work on their own financial planning and time management.

Often we would buy a lot of things that we WANT, but do not NEED, which we end up putting these stuff aside, or throwing them away after some time. Therefore, developing a habit to distinguish what we need from what we want is important especially from a young age. Parents can co-create shopping list with their children when they are going for shopping, by comparing prices and qualities of items, as well as controlling our budget, we will then be able to cultivate a good habit of healthy and responsible spending. Through these everyday learning opportunities, children are more likely to learn to be self-disciplined and have effective time distribution.

So, what about Social Intelligence? SQ refers to our ability to deal with people and social relationships. Psychologist Daniel Goleman pointed out that our reactions and relationships with one another can have a far-reaching biological impact. For example, when we have a good relationship with others, hormones will be sent out to our hearts and immune systems like vitamins, while having bad relationships is like catching a cold resulting in poison-like effects that harm our physical well-being, for example when we experience social stress such as isolation and rejection. From a research Goleman had led, students from schools who were facilitated with EQ and SQ curriculum and support were found to have 10% higher achievement in academic results than students from schools without EQ and SQ curriculum design. Therefore, a good relationship not only brings profound and healthy biological development to human bodies, but also improves our academic and professional achievement. Imagine if our children were deprived of sufficient time establishing social relationships with others due to heavy workload and tight schedule, they might not grow healthily and happily even though they might achieve a good score in school.

At KnewSTEP, we deeply understand that studying abroad can create extra social stress to students, it’s not easy to adapt to a new environment. Therefore, we focus heavily on hand-holding support with our students. Through 1 to 1 mentoring and guidance, we hope to provide solid support to students fighting against new cultural and environmental shock and help them to establish a good social network while studying abroad, and to solve their difficulties in interpersonal communication. With this, students can pursue their study in a stress-free environment while enjoying a happy and healthy social life.

Let us work together to build the development of our child’s or student’s whole person growth! To learn more about the whole person education and multiple intelligence, please consult our educational consultancy team.

#wholepersondevelopment #personalisedlearningcurriculum #knewstepedu #summerproject #multipleintelligences

Photo Credit:
https://www.sohu.com/a/155025691_649006
https://www.sohu.com/a/275521680_395649
https://dy.163.com/article/EI2FB1JI0519C60D.html
https://www.sohu.com/a/275739313_169201