Heartful Education. Benefits from Teaching Unity in Schools

Gabriel Berges

ABSTRACT: Several papers indicate the benefits of an educational model based on the teaching of values, character strengths, and both academic and non-academic contents. In this paper, we proceed to review the most significant and relevant articles regarding this holistic educational approach which considers the spiritual heart as a fundamental pillar to connect mind, body, and spirit. The concepts of heartful education, values and character strengths are examined, to stress the need of a new and innovative approach in education that considers teaching unity in schools as a method to provide a type of education that intends to cover the whole spectrum of learners’ needs. It is claimed in this article the benefits of providing such educational model and it is also suggested the possibility to create a subject named “unity” within the schools’ curriculum so that learners are consistently reminded of the countless aspects that they all have in common. This paper shows the conclusions and beneficial repercussions of this holistic and heartful educational approach.

KEYWORDS: Heartful education; character education; holistic education; unity.

INTRODUCTION

The world is in disarray. Multiple crises are spreading around the world: health emergencies, wars, environmental disasters, ethical and corporate scandals, energy prices rising, food supply shortages, etc. At the same time, it seems that many of our consolidated rights and fundamental liberties are in danger: free speech is challenged by censorship; in some places, freedom of movement or association is being limited; attending work, schools, or public places is also restricted, and even breathe the air is subject to mandatory health directives. The proliferation of these events is creating division and controversy, which causes separation among human beings. However, times of difficulties require the opposite: union, fraternity, cooperation, dialogue, tolerance, humility, empathy, mutual understanding, and respect (Berges-Puyo, 2020; Kitchen, 2005; Peterson and Seligman, 2004; Rand and Nowack, 2013).

In this context, teaching unity in schools becomes a crucial aspect to help learners understand how many things we all share, how many things human beings have in common, how much the world can improve if we put our differences aside and focus on the things that we all share. Thus, some authors and researchers believe in the need to find unifying factors to be part of our schools’ curriculum (Krishnamurti, Sharma, 2022).  One of these unifying factors is heartful education, an educational approach based upon the concept of the spiritual heart which these authors consider as a factor that serves to unite body, mind, and soul. Accordingly, heartful education provides a holistic vision in which learners are exposed to academic and non-academic aspects, which honor the condition of being human. Another unifying educational factor is human values and character strengths, since these values and character strengths serve as a reminder of a set of universal values and principles that we all share as learners, individuals, and human beings (Farmer and Farmer, 2015). This results in an inside-out educational vision where teaching unity in schools becomes the main pillar. Next, we are going to refer to these unifying factors in education: heartful education and values and character strengths.

HEARTFUL EDUCATION

Traditionally, the main goal of education is academic. In academic education, it is expected that learners accumulate a certain amount of knowledge across different disciplines, and at the same time, students are offered possibilities to develop their aptitude, critical and independent thinking skills, reasoning ability, curiosity, inquisitiveness, and habit of keep learning.

Heartful education promotes a holistic view (Kimakowitz, 2022; Amann, 2022) by considering not only the academic learning side but also the moral, spiritual and humane aspects of the learning process. Thus, heartful education believes that academic education is not sufficient, since some essential learning aspects are left out: ethical and universal values, moral character, spiritual and emotional intelligence, the idea of simple living, selfless service, humility, dignity of labor, respect, tolerance to all traditions, etc.

Heartful education is based on the concept of heartfulness. Heartfulness.org defines heartfulness as: “a state of being where the center or locus of control is the heart; not the physical heart as a pumping station of blood, but the ‘spiritual’ heart as the guiding principle in one’s life”. But what is the spiritual heart? Chopra defines the spiritual heart: “It is our connection with the Divine and is like an inner sun that shines forth Divine Light into all areas of our lives. The Spiritual Heart is always awake, always ready to light our path to enlightenment.” Thus, heartful education is a spiritual heart-based educational model aspiring to link the humane and the Divine aspects, which several authors (Amann, 2022; Farmer and Farmer, 2015; Rand and Nowack, 2013) believe are within all individuals. Precisely, the holistic approach of heartful education is based on this uniting idea, proposing a universal and non-denominational education for all in which the humane part of this approach is represented by traditional academics and the divine side of learning is based on the need of transcending the humane academics system, looking beyond, and developing an acute awareness conducive to be more present and sensitive to the reality around us. As a result, heartful education tries to inspire learners to be confident, healthy, holistically developed, and committed to a series of moral and character values (Saevi and Eilifsen, 2008).

VALUES AND CHARACTER STRENGTHS.

As Berges-Puyó (2020) states: “the incorporation of values in education has been present since the mandatory obligation to send children to school, (p. 101). Farmer and Farmer (2015) affirm that there are five core universal human values: Love, Truth, Peace, Right Conduct, and Non-Violence. These authors consider these five human values and good character to be synonymous. Park and Peterson (2009) developed a project named Values in Action (VIA) which investigated a series of character strengths that “contribute to optimal development across the lifespan”, (p. 2). The Values in Action project developed a list of 24-character strengths, organized under six main virtues see Table 1)

Table 1. VIA Virtues and Strengths

1. Wisdom and knowledge

• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Open-mindedness
• Love of learning
• Perspective

2. Courage

• Honesty
• Bravery
• Persistence
• Zest

3. Humanity

• Kindness
• Love
• Social intelligence

4. Justice

• Fairness
• Leadership
• Teamwork

5. Temperance

• Forgiveness
• Modesty
• Prudence
• Self-regulation

6. Transcendence

• Appreciation of beauty and excellence
• Gratitude
• Hope
• Humor
• Religiousness

Park and Peterson (2009) stressed the importance of preserving these virtues and character strengths across all sectors of society, especially in education for the “promotion of positive development among young people”, (p. 4).

In the literature (Berges-Puyó, 2020; Pala, 2011; Wagner and Ruch, 2015; Weber and Ruch, 2012), there is a common agreement that the implementation of character strengths into the school curriculum generates students´ wellbeing and school success.

Thus, values and character strengths are represented by a series of universal values that we all share. They are at the core of this uniting vision of education, where students, teachers, administrators, and families are encouraged to adopt a proactive endeavor to remind students of their inner nature to lead peaceful, caring, responsible, honest, and respectful lives.

UNITY

As we mentioned earlier, heartful education (Berges-Puyó, 2022) is an educational model that aspires to bring unity to communities of learners since it is universal and non-denominational. At the same time, heartful education (Sharma, 2022) suggests a holistic approach in education with which being able to adjust the different curriculums to learners’ needs. In this view, learners are above all things, human beings who need to be helped in a comprehensive and holistic way, not just as learners but as human beings.

Concept

The concept of unity in education is profoundly unexplored. Most educational studies are focused on differences or diverse characteristics of learners, leaders, or communities (Brown and Richards, 2007; Castagne, 2014; Meyer, 2010). But as Krishnamurti (2009) stated, divisions create separation. Therefore, the innovative approach we take here is finding uniting aspects that can bring students, learners, and communities together. How can students come together if we often talk about their differences? How can we bring communities together if we stress their differences? How can societies come together pointing out the aspects that keep them separated? That is why we believe the way to bring unity to schools is by finding elements that we all share and have in common, mutual aspects that may bring unity, understanding, respect and empathy among all members of our schools. Celebrating the things that we all have in common is a first step to coming together, to get united, to understand each other better, to foster solidarity, patience, compassion and love. Merrian-Webster dictionary defines unity as: “the quality or state of not being multiple”. From this definition we can deduce that unity means togetherness or oneness. Now, the next question is: what is the quality or state that represents unity best? We referred earlier to some unifying factors such as heartful education and universal values and character strengths. However, we agree with others (Archer, 2000; Arendt, 2013; Mahapatra, 2023; Vanier, 1998) on the importance of stressing the condition of being human as a uniting factor for humanity. Indeed, what represents unity best is us, we all, human beings, since we all share the same human condition. We all share the divine connection with life and nature. In this sense, we all are interconnected. Us, we, being human, is the supreme unifying concept that may bring us together, that may help us celebrate the extraordinary possibilities that we carry within us.

Teaching unity in schools

What is teaching unity? We can define teaching unity in these terms: teaching unity means the teaching of a series of universal values and character strengths in a student-centered and holistic heartful educational approach where learners are taught academic and non-academic knowledge and are reminded of the common humane aspects, they all share.  Thus, teaching unity helps create an educational vision where those human values and character strengths are celebrated, remembered, and incorporated into the schools’ curriculums. This unity would serve both as a reminder and guide for learners to fully understand the limitless possibilities they have, to live a successful and fulfilling life.

Now, more than ever, we need this heartful education vision to be implemented so that the universal values (Lang Jr., 2020; Nussbaum and Idaho, 1999) and character strengths that it represents serve their purpose: helping learners walk the path of life with love, compassion, humility, simplicity, honor, justice, understanding and peace. Can we imagine a world without violence? Can we imagine a world with no wars? Can we imagine a world with no hunger nor starvation? Can we imagine a world where we all are kind, loving and empathetic to one another? If we can imagine it, all of that is possible, because those qualities are within our spiritual hearts. As educators, we need to provide opportunities for those qualities to be celebrated, embraced, and remembered in our schools with holistic models that understand the vital need of filling minds and hearts. Thus, teaching unity becomes the central factor in heartful education, since unity reminds us of who we are, of what matters the most, of the brilliant and magnificent world we can build together, of our spiritual hearts, as the divine connection to a selfless, simple, peaceful, and grateful life. All of that, creates a new paradigm in education, which first acknowledges learners as human beings and second, creates a model where togetherness is an essential quality in all the activities, policies, actions, and behaviors in those holistic heart-based schools. Once the culture has been created through the establishment of a uniting vision, it is easier to consistently help learners remember the universal values and character strengths that sustain their spiritual hearts. These values and strengths will bring them back to who they are: human beings with love, compassion, tolerance, understanding, generosity, empathy, peace, and humility. Therefore, teaching and fostering unity in schools becomes a guiding and inspiring way to prepare learners better for the challenges of life. Then, the unity that grew in each learners’ heart, will be their inspiration and motivation to make the right choices and commit themselves to a glorious endeavor: bringing light, peace, and prosperity to this world. Regarding this heartful-uniting educational model, we mention next some examples: the educational philosophy of Waldorf Schools, the Schools of Character model, and two specific schools that are leading examples of the same uniting and heartful approach in education: Toogoolawa School in Australia and Unity School in the United States.

Waldorf Schools

Waldorf Education is a child-centered educational philosophy based on a holistic vision of education which believes learners must be educated in mind, body, and soul. Rudolf Steiner founded the first Waldorf school in 1919. Steiner believed in life as a uniting factor.  In its pedagogical vision, the human component of the learner comes first. This human component must be put in connection with real life, and both factors, become central on the design of schools’ curriculums and goals: “the shape that all instructional goals and curricula take must result from the above-characterized understanding of the human being and of life” (Steiner, 1996, p. 3). Thus, Waldorf Schools’ curriculum focuses on the individual rather than the group. This curriculum integrates arts and music into all areas of study so that students’ mind, body, and soul are developed. This educational philosophy that was born at the beginning of the twentieth century, remains nowadays despite the influence of technology in our schools. In fact, many Waldorf schools are technology free institutions where intrinsic motivation is dominant and engagement is obtained through traditional values, a strong program of arts and music, connections with nature, and the preparedness to face life’s challenges. Waldorf Education is represented by more than 1000 schools worldwide in 60 different countries.

Schools of Character

Schools of Character are a series of schools that are committed to inspiring learners to understand, care about, and practice their character strengths. Schools are denominated of character by the organization Character.org which has the mission to encourage people to carry out good ethical values. This organization encourages schools to become a school of character. To earn such a denomination the school has to submit an application and follow the rigorous standards represented by the 11 Principles Framework for Schools. Once the school has started the application, a team of trained evaluators assess the school’s progress. To be a school of character, the school must follow the 11 Principles mentioned above (see Table 2).

Table 2. 11 Principles Framework to Cultivate a Culture of Character

1. Core values are defined, implemented, and embedded into school culture.
2. The school defines character comprehensively to include thinking, feeling, and doing.
3. The school uses a comprehensive, intentional, and proactive approach to develop character.
4. The school creates a caring community.
5. The school provides students with opportunities to moral action.
6. The school offers a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners, develops their character, and helps them succeed.
7. The school fosters students’ self-motivation.
8. All staff share the responsibility for developing, implementing, and modeling ethical character.
9. The school’s character initiative has shared leadership and long-range support for continuous improvement.
10. The school engages families and community as partners in the character initiative.
11. The school assesses its implementation of character education, its culture and climate, and the character growth of students on a regular basis.

In the last 20 years, more than 1000 schools have become National Schools of Character worldwide.

Toogoolawa School, Australia.

Toogoolawa School is a boys independent (grades 3-10) school in Australia, near Brisbane in the Gold Cost. The Aboriginal name Toogooglawa means A place in the heart. The objectives of this school are to develop good character traits in students; preparing learners to succeed in life through education, and designing a school environment where students are offered multiple possibilities to succeed. The teaching methods are based on the implementation of five universal values drawn out from within, which all human beings possess: Love, Truth, Peace, Right Conduct, and Non-Violence. In this learning environment, the presence of Role Models is essential. Examples of role models are teachers and parents. Role models help students hold a good emotional wellbeing. Toogoolawa School is a holistic institution, since the school program targets mind, body and soul simultaneously. This program incorporates specific techniques like thought of the week, storytelling, silent sitting, quotations and prayers, quiet time, meditation, etc. Also, the school promotes indoor and outdoor activities, healthy lifestyle, community service, or the Virtues Program. Thus, the school philosophy places a greater emphasis on good character than academic achievement. This spiritual heart-based school model has proved very successful, helping generations of students in need for almost 40 years, by applying loving practices and universal values. Generations of students with disabilities, physical impairments, socio-emotional disorders, or other conditions, were reinserted successfully in schools, universities, or workforce.

Unity School, United States.

Unity School is a PK, K-8 independent school in Florida, United States. The mission of this school is to inspire learners by educating them through a holistic model, which targets mind, body, and spirit. In its vision, Unity School promotes activities and subjects based on an intrinsic motivational model, with the goal to empower students to become lifelong learners. Also, Unity School helps students be ready for real-life challenges. Thus, the school developed an entire department devoted to pursuing this goal: Lessons in Living, which are designed to educate students in the vision of love, wisdom, and divine greatness. This holistic educational model stresses six core values: honesty, loyalty, perseverance, tolerance, inclusion, and compassion. The school prides itself in offering a strong academic program, where arts, physical education, and real-life connections are key aspects. The school also emphasizes the importance of attaining certain non-academic goals such as independence, empathetic leadership, and love of learning. The name of the school ultimately reflects the vision and mission of this academic institution: to unite all members of the community to better serve students and the world.

STUDIES ON TEACHING UNITY IN SCHOOLS

At this moment, we are in uncharted territory regarding academic studies targeting explicitly benefits of teaching unity in schools. As we just mentioned in the prior section, there are educational approaches and schools that follow a holistic-based educational model where human values and character strengths are emphasized in a context where learners are helped with academic and non-academic content. In our view, adopting an educational approach based on a values education and character strengths model implies the teaching of unity in our schools. This is a first step. As of today, there is not such a thing as unity as a subject or unity as an explicit part of a school curriculum. Regardless of the lack of studies focusing explicitly on teaching unity in schools, we can mention other studies related to concepts that may promote unity, studies that evaluate the use of a holistic approach in academic institutions, and their conclusions.

Lauricella and MacAskill (2015) conducted a study with college students regarding the benefits of the exposure to holistic principles (personal identity, meaning and purpose, connection to the community, connection to nature, human values). Results showed that 70% of participants believed that a holistic educational model while in the K-12 system would have been beneficial for their academic and personal lives.

Hare (2006) investigated the benefits of the implementation of a holistic education model related to students in the middle years of their education. Hare distinguished seven themes of holistic education (see Table 3) and seven values associated with holistic education (see Table 4).

Table 3. Themes of Holistic Education

1. Our interconnectedness with all that is around us.
2. Development of relationships.
3. A sense of shared community.
4. A genuine sense of caring.
5. Management of personal development and growth of the whole person.
6. Developing personal goals.
7. The environment.

Table 4. Values related to a holistic educational model.

3. Desire to understand and learn,
4. High achiever.
5. Belief in own self-worth.

Hare (2006) also distinguished 7 behaviors associated with these holistic values and 15 behavioral outputs that may be expected from a student after completing a holistic educational program within a middle year’s education program. Thus, Hare (2006) states that by implementing a holistic educational model based on a series of values and themes, learners may develop a series of behaviors that will help learners academically and non-academically. Examples of these behavioral outputs are creativity in solving problems; being proactive; working effectively; being confident at taking risks, etc.

Wagner and Ruch (2015) investigated the benefits of the implementation of a character educational model in schools. To carry out their investigation, they developed two studies, centered on the VIA system used by Park and Peterson (2009). Study 1 targeted 179 primary school students. Study 2 targeted 199 secondary school students. Both studies showed that character strengths “contribute to positive classroom behavior, which in turn enhances school achievement”, (Wagner and Ruch, p. 1).

BENEFITS FROM TEACHING UNITY IN SCHOOLS

It is important to stress that at the present time, schools don’t offer a specific subject of “unity” in their curriculums. Therefore, there cannot be studies regarding the effects of teaching such a subject in schools. However, there are schools and educational institutions where policies, curriculums, and instruction are based upon the pillars of unity. These pillars are the elements mentioned earlier in this paper: heartful education, character and values education and holistic educational approaches. All these educational approaches are human-centered models where the exploration and recognition of the human nature comes first so that certain values, principles, and characteristics shared by all individuals are considered to provide a holistic and uniting educational environment. Thus, the benefits below refer to the consequences and outcomes observed because of the implementation worldwide of those approaches in schools.

After reviewing the literature, we can distinguish 15 concrete benefits of teaching unity in schools:

• Students’ satisfaction. According to several studies, the implementation of a unity-based school model produces an effect of students’ satisfaction. Lauricella and MacAskill (2015) report how a model of holistic education makes students feel satisfied. Pala (2011) also states that one of the effects of character education is the satisfaction of learners.
• Promotes a sense of belonging to the world. Holistic education fosters an educational model where learners are encouraged to develop their consciousness and awareness. Thus, learners develop a set of skills with which they learn to be present. Being able to be present helps learners be in a specific moment in time: now. Therefore, through that awareness, consciousness and presence, learners feel that they are part of the world in which they live, the school they attend, developing a sense of belongingness (Jennings, 2008).
• Generates strength, courage, and solidarity. Bennett (1995) names ten unity-based traits: self-discipline; compassion, responsibility; friendship; work; courage; perseverance; honesty; loyalty; faith. These traits foster learners’ strength, courage, and solidarity.
• Shows that we all are interconnected. Unity-based policies in schools promote the realization that all learners share the world, the space around, and mainly, the inner nature of human beings (Grossenbacher and Parkin, 2006).
• Promotes togetherness. A values/heart/holistic-based educational model centers on the main aspects that bring people together: universal values, innate character traits, heartful education, which serve as reminders of the aspects that all learners have in common. Thus, the achievement of togetherness in the educational process helps increase involvement of the individual learner in the group activities and routines (Van Oers and Hännikäinen, 2010).
• Classroom and school ambience. The commitment to sustain learning models upon policies and procedures that unite the educational community, results in classrooms and schools where relationships among students, teachers and administrators improve, students show higher levels of engagement, and a positive culture of learning and teaching is established (Lovat et al., 2011).
• Academic performance. A meta-analysis (Jeynes, 2019) including 52 studies, shows that a school model based on values and character education determines higher levels of education outcome.
• Higher attendance. Promoting an educational model based on the teaching of unity through a holistic, character and values education approach, generates an increase in students’ attendance. Students are more likely to regularly attend their classes since they get more motivated and inspired, developing a higher sense of belonging and better relationships with their peers, teachers, and administrators (Berkowitz and Schwartz, 2005).
• Cooperation among students, administrators, faculty, and staff. The implementation of a uniting educational model results in a better school ambience, which helps fostering a better and more productive cooperation among students, faculty, administrators, and families (Campbell and Zegwaard, 2011).
• Higher quality of teaching. Hawkes (2009) affirms the correlation between the implementation of uniting factors in the school curriculum and the attainment of excellent teaching levels.

(11) Drastic reduction on ethical scandals. Winston (2007) expresses the relationship between the implementation of ethical education in reducing ethical scandals in a variety of scenarios: corporate world, higher education, public sector, sports, etc.

(12) Effective leadership. Education models based on uniting principles and values can establish a set of principles and norms that enhance the leadership model present in an educational institution (Berges-Puyó, 2022; Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2021).

(13) High productivity. Under educational leadership, where ethical values are established, higher productivity is present. Teachers, students, and leaders enhance their crafts, so that the overall quality of the education institution grows (Nauman and Qamar, 2018; AlShehhi, Alshurideh and Kurdi, 2021).

• Reduction of discipline issues. Different authors (Berkowitz, 2011; Jeynes, 2019)

found that the implementation of an educative model based on high morals and values provided improved levels of respect and responsibility, learning environment, and student learning. All of that, created a lower amount of discipline issues in classrooms.

(15) A culture of celebration. Amazing things happen every day in our schools. A learning model in which unity is central, promotes mutual celebration, so that a culture of recognition is established, and accomplishments are recognized (Posner, 2003).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Interpretation of findings.

After reviewing the most relevant literature regarding holistic, character, values, and student-centered educational models (Berkowitz, 2011; Grossenbacher and Parkin, 2006; Hare, 2006; Lovat et al., 2011), we found some important findings that are worth considering. These findings may help administrators, teachers, students, and families to create better and prosperous communities where a uniting and integral educational model is established, setting up the foundations for a caring and more humane society. These findings, due to their correspondence, are presented under four categories: leadership, culture, humanity, and academics. The order in which these categories are introduced is intentional. It has well been established in different studies (Chang and Lee, 2007; Nam and Park, 2019), how leaders create habits in institutions, corporations, and groups with their vision and daily decisions. From those habits result a culture that impregnates all members of that community. At the same time, that culture has a direct impact on the individuals that are part of that community, in this case an educational community, where academics, is a crucial part. Below we present these categories and their repercussions in the educational community:

Schools and educational institutions are guided by their leaders. Teaching unity in schools provides a specific and concrete advantage in the leadership area, which has implications in all aspects of the school system, since leadership measures extend across individuals and disciplines. Our findings show that the implementation of unity in schools promotes a leadership that is effective and helps reducing ethical scandals and discipline issues in a decisive manner: people are happier, produce a higher quality work and there is a favorable learning and teaching environment that promotes cooperation, respect and responsibility (Jeynes, 2019; Winston, 2007).

Teaching unity through a character, values, and holistic model of education makes an impact over the culture of that particular institution where that model is implemented. We found that in that model, students are satisfied, content, that there is a welcoming and respectful ambience in classrooms and workplace (Pala, 2011). Also, this established culture promotes cooperation, support and collaboration among all members of the educational community. These findings show how teaching unity in schools generates a culture that benefits all members of the community, which feel more fulfilled, content, and realized in their daily obligations and routines (Campbell and Zegwaard, 2011).

As we mentioned in this article, teaching unity is teaching with the heart (Amann, 2022). Teaching unity is adopting an educational model where the humane aspects are celebrated, embraced, and recognized (Jennings, 2008). Teaching unity in schools focuses on an integral and holistic approach towards the students’ learning and personal development process. As we found, this approach generates a series of advantages in that learning and personal process. These advantages are the achievement for all of a sense of belonging, interconnectedness and togetherness (Van Oers and Hännikäinen, 2010). Thus, the use of those teaching methods and contents, creates schools where all students are considered the same, because all of them are seen as human beings. The humane aspects of each individual stand out, helping everybody be courageous, solidary, and moral with one another (Bennett, 1995).

The implementation of unity in schools’ programs generates important academic benefits (Berkowitz and Schwartz, 2005). We found that learners improve their performance, attendance, and productivity: more things get done and with a higher quality (Jeynes, 2019). Also, we found that learners make the effort to do better and enjoy delivering a great work. At the same time, these uniting policies help teachers improve their teaching methods, materials, and behaviors. Therefore, the implementation of unity across schools’ areas and disciplines creates inspiration and academic success, which ultimately develops educational institutions where excellence becomes a habit.

We live in times where it seems that societies are more divided than ever. In the last few decades, there is a push to label individuals, to focus on an identity approach that creates divisions, classifications, groups, sub-groups, etc. As Krishnamurti (2009) states, divisions generate conflicts. These conflicts are breaking the world: wars, genocides, corruption, poverty, etc. Therefore, the world needs a different approach, an approach based on what unites us, makes us feel whole, together. On an approach where we all feel like one, as brothers and sisters, helping one another, lifting each other up. A new approach that reminds us of the limitless possibilities that human beings have if we put our differences aside and learn to work together. Thus, the educational field is a great and fundamental field to start, so that educators can make a real difference in this world, reminding the next generations that a better future is possible, a future where all are treated with compassion, respect, understanding, justice and love. It is time to try something that it has never been tried before: teaching unity in schools through

an integral, holistic, and heartful educational model that celebrates all students as they are: genuine and unique human beings with precious hearts and beautiful minds capable of extraordinary achievements. We believe that the try is worth.

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