Putting the Student First: Humanistic Approaches in Education

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Putting the Student First: Humanistic Approaches in Education

Educational Psychology · Chapter 5: Identity, Language, Morality, and the Whole ChildSection 5.10 · lesson 47 of 1008 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

Maslow's hierarchy as a diagnostic, and Rogers on unconditional regard.

  • Explain what humanistic psychology reacted against
  • Use Maslow's hierarchy to diagnose barriers to learning
  • Define unconditional positive regard and what it excludes
  • Evaluate classroom decisions by fear, belonging and agency

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,030 words). Read along, or search it.

Identity, Language, Morality, and the Whole Child

Putting the Student First: Humanistic Approaches in Education

A student who did not sleep and has not eaten is in your classroom. You have a lesson on abstract reasoning prepared. One of those two facts is going to win, and it is not the lesson. This section covers humanistic approaches to education. We will start with where the tradition came from, and what it opposed. Then Maslow's hierarchy of needs, used as a diagnostic tool. Then Rogers, and unconditional positive regard. We will look at choice-based learning in practice. And at an honest limitation that Maslow himself acknowledged. The practical test at the end is one you can apply to any decision.

The Turn

A Reaction Against Two Traditions

Humanistic psychology emerged in the mid twentieth century. It was a reaction against two dominant traditions. Against the reductionism of behaviorism. And against the determinism of psychoanalysis. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers led it. Their claim was that human beings are inherently motivated toward growth. Toward meaning, and toward self-fulfillment. And that education should nurture that tendency rather than suppress it. At its core, humanistic education is person-centered. It treats the student as a whole human being. With needs, values, emotions, and a drive toward self-directed learning.

The Challenge

Learning Is Not Transmission

Humanistic approaches challenge a basic assumption about teaching. The assumption is that learning is fundamentally transmission. Information moving from teacher to student. The alternative changes the teacher's job description. The teacher's role is to create conditions. Conditions in which students discover their own questions. Pursue their own interests. And develop their own capacities. That requires more than a different set of instructional strategies. It requires a different relationship between teacher and student. One characterized by respect and empathy. And by genuine regard for the student's experience and potential.

Maslow

A Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs. Motivation is organized hierarchically. More basic needs take priority over higher-level ones. At the base are physiological needs. Food, water, sleep. Then safety needs. Then social belonging. Then esteem. And at the top, self-actualization. That is the realization of one's fullest potential. Maslow's ordering claim is the important part. Lower-level needs must be adequately met before a person can meaningfully pursue higher-level goals.

As A Diagnostic

Why Basic Needs Are Not a Diversion

For educators, the hierarchy works as a diagnostic tool. Consider a student who arrives at school hungry. Or sleep-deprived. Or afraid of violence in the hallways. That student cannot be expected to engage with abstract reasoning. Or with creative projects, whatever their ability. So here is the reframe this section rests on. Addressing basic and safety needs is not a diversion from academic work. Breakfast programs. Trauma-informed practices. Stable routines. Those are a prerequisite for academic work, not a competitor to it. And belonging and esteem needs are equally critical. Students who feel invisible, unwanted, or chronically criticized cannot access their full learning capacity, however well you teach.

Level By Level

What Each Need Looks Like at School

Each level has a school form, and a cost when it is unmet. Physiological needs. Breakfast programs, comfortable room temperature. Unmet, they produce inability to concentrate, and fatigue. Safety. Predictable routines, anti-bullying policy, trauma-informed staff. Unmet, they produce anxiety and hypervigilance. Fight-or-flight responses, in a room designed for thinking. Belonging. Inclusive community, cooperative learning, mentorship. Unmet, it produces social withdrawal and low motivation. Esteem. Specific praise, recognition, challenging but achievable tasks. Unmet, it produces learned helplessness and low self-efficacy. And self-actualization. Choice-based projects, creative expression. Unmet, it produces boredom, underachievement, and dropout risk.

The Pyramid

Each Level Rests on the One Below

The pyramid shape is not decoration. It carries the argument. Physiological needs form the base, and the base is the widest part. Safety sits above it, resting on it. Then belonging, then esteem. And self-actualization at the narrow top. Each level rests on the one below, structurally. A wide, secure base makes the upper levels reachable. An unstable base makes them irrelevant. No matter how attractive the task at the top happens to be. Which explains something teachers see and misread. A brilliantly designed creative project can fall completely flat. Not because it was bad, but because it was aimed too high up the pyramid.

Key Idea

Rogers and Unconditional Positive Regard

Here is the key idea from Carl Rogers. Genuine learning requires a particular kind of relationship. One in which the student feels unconditionally valued. Not as a performer of academic tasks. But as a whole person. Now the qualification, because this gets misread constantly. Unconditional positive regard does not mean accepting all behavior. It means maintaining a fundamental belief in the student's worth. And in their potential, independent of current performance. Teachers who communicate that consistently produce psychological safety. And psychological safety is what makes risk-taking possible. Which matters, because deep learning requires being wrong in public.

In Practice

Choice in a Fifth-Grade Unit

Here is a humanistic unit running in a fifth-grade classroom. The teacher designs a three-week inquiry unit. The topic is the American Revolution. But students choose their own research questions within it. And they choose how to present their findings. A written report. A visual poster. A short video. Or an oral presentation. Her role changes accordingly. She acts as a facilitator and resource guide. Rather than as a dispenser of knowledge. Student engagement and quality of work exceed all previous assessments. On the same topic, with the same students.

An Honest Limit

Self-Actualization Is Rare

One honest limitation, and it comes from Maslow himself. He acknowledged that true self-actualization is rare. And that the conditions enabling it are fragile. So the goal for educators is not to produce self-actualized students. Not on command, and not on a timetable. The goal is to progressively remove barriers. Beginning with the basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid. So that the natural human drive toward growth can operate. That is a more modest ambition than it first sounds. It is also a more achievable one. And it gives a teacher a way to evaluate any decision. Does this reduce a barrier, or does it add one?

The Practical Test

Three Directions That Count

That question resolves into three directions that count. Reduce fear. Predictable routines, and responses to harm that arrive reliably. Increase belonging. Inclusive community, cooperative structures, mentorship. Expand agency. Choice within structure, and genuine authorship over the work. Here is the claim in a single line. Every classroom decision that reduces fear, increases belonging, or expands student agency moves the room closer to the conditions for peak learning. Which is a rare thing in educational theory. A usable test.

About Educational Psychology at UPI Study

Educational Psychology (Psychology 120) is a self-paced online course of 100 video lessons in 11 chapters, from memory, conditioning and child development to motivation, individual differences, assessment, instruction and educational technology. It carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits.

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Why students take Educational Psychology with UPI Study

How people learn, and how to teach themEducational Psychology explains how students learn, develop and stay motivated, and how teachers assess and support them. It is a standard course in education and teaching degrees and a common psychology elective.
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130,000+students helped with college creditsACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Where the credit goes

Universities that work with NCCRS

Educational Psychology carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Thomas Edison State UniversityThomas Edison State UniversitySigned partnerUniversity of the PeopleUniversity of the PeopleSigned partnerCharter Oak State CollegeCharter Oak State CollegeSigned partnerStrayer UniversityStrayer UniversitySigned partnerColumbia Southern UniversityColumbia Southern UniversitySigned partnerIndiana TechIndiana TechSigned partnerPenn StatePenn StateWorks with NCCRSSouthern New Hampshire UniversitySouthern New Hampshire UniversityWorks with NCCRSSUNYSUNYWorks with NCCRS +many more cooperating universitiesFind my college →

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Putting the Student First: Humanistic Approaches in Education

What is humanistic education?
Humanistic education is a person-centered approach that treats the student as a whole human being with needs, values, emotions and a drive toward self-directed learning. Humanistic psychology, led by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, emerged in the mid-twentieth century as a reaction against the reductionism of behaviorism and the determinism of psychoanalysis. In the classroom, the teacher's role shifts from transmitting information to creating conditions for students to pursue their own questions.
What is unconditional positive regard in teaching?
Unconditional positive regard is Carl Rogers's idea that a learner should feel valued as a whole person, not just as a performer of academic tasks. It does not mean accepting all behavior; it means keeping a fundamental belief in the student's worth and potential regardless of current performance. Teachers who communicate this consistently create psychological safety, which makes intellectual risk-taking, including being wrong in public, possible.
Why might a well-designed creative project fail with some students?
A well-designed creative project can fall flat when students' more basic needs are not met, because in Maslow's hierarchy each level rests on the one below. A student who is hungry, tired, afraid or feeling excluded is unlikely to engage with work aimed at esteem or self-actualization, however attractive it is. Meeting basic needs through breakfast programs, stable routines and an inclusive community is a prerequisite for that kind of work, not a diversion from it.
What does choice-based learning look like in a humanistic classroom?
In choice-based learning, students choose their own questions or products within a structured topic while the teacher acts as a facilitator and resource guide. For example, a fifth-grade unit on the American Revolution might let students pick their research questions and present findings as a report, poster, video or oral presentation. Humanistic educators judge such decisions by whether they reduce fear, increase belonging or expand student agency.

About the Educational Psychology course

How many college credits is Educational Psychology?
Educational Psychology (Psychology 120) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does Educational Psychology cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 100 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does Educational Psychology take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 100 lessons total about 15 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
How do my credits reach my college?
When the course shows 100% complete, request the official transcript from your dashboard. It is sent to the college you name, and you can send it to more than one. Check your college first with "Find my college" on this page, or ask Athena.

Ready for the full course? Earn 3 credits in Educational Psychology.

100 video lessons, a quiz after each one, and the graded work that earns the credit. Recommended for credit by NCCRS.

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Educational Psychology
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