A CURRICULAR PARADIGM BASED UPON VEDIC EPISTEMOLOGY: AN APPROACH TO DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON

The Bhaktivedanta Dharma School (BDS) provides quality but yet affordable holistic education to the local Indonesian community in Bali. The school’s educational orientation is inspired by the Vedic (Hindu) goals of fruition of knowledge (Vedanta or the essence of the Vedic scriptures) and devotion (Bhakti) to God (Krishna). The curriculum integrates the best of both the eastern and western approaches to enriching young minds. The strengths of both value systems are seen to be crucial in the all-round, dynamic development of children. Not only is academic excellence emphasized but character development and awareness of the higher spiritual purpose of life are also imparted to the kids. The role of the teacher extends beyond the taught curriculum and s/he plays a vital role in the character development of the child, through his or her own personal example. This paper examines the pedagogical effectiveness of the implemented framework of holistic education at BDS based upon the perceptions and experiences of the teachers working in the school. An ethnographic approach was employed as the main research methodology with participant observation and open-ended interviewing the primary means of data collection and analysis. A total of six teachers working at BDS were interviewed in this study. The findings of the study provide deeper insights on the differences between BDS and mainstream, traditional schools in terms of their structural and curricular characteristics and the key challenges participant teachers faced in orientating to the alternative learning culture of BDS.