Structure

“Why don’t we encourage teachers and students to stay together for, say, three years instead of the usual one year (with mutual consent, of course)?” (Noddings, 2014, p. 18).

"Suppose, for illustrative purposes, that we consider an eight-period day. I have suggested that it be divided equally between the standard subjects and themes of care (Noddings, 2055b, p. 70).

In her book, The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education, Nel Noddings invited readers to:

…join me in an extensive thought experiment. We will pretend that we have a large heterogeneous family to raise and educate. Our children have different ethnic heritages, widely different intellectual capacities, different physical strengths, and different interests. We want to respect their legitimate differences. At the same time, we think there are some things they all should learn and some other things to which they should all be exposed so that they can make well-informed choices. Our general aim is to encourage the growth of competent, caring, loving, and lovable people. (p. xxvi)

The structure of the school is unique. The school is similar to that of an extended family where young and old, artistic and scientific, vocal and quiet all mentor each other. Students are partnered in relationships that last throughout the school years and beyond. Partnerships are not limited to a single paring but to multiple relationships, both vertically and horizontally. Teachers ‘loop’ with their students to develop that deep relationship that is often forfeited in a traditional structural setting. Parents and community are encouraged to be a part of the school family.

“Students should be aware that their schools are conceived as centers of care—places where they are cared for and will be encouraged to care deeply themselves. This suggests that the school day should be organized in a way that reflects the primary purpose” (Noddings, 2005b, p. 65.

"Perhaps mealtime should be such an event in the school day....There should be tables at which adults from the community and students sit together, eat, and engage in civilized conversation" (p. 65).

Including All Parents

Video Link

Teaching Tolerance (2014). Nel Noddings. Website. Retrieved April 20, 2014 from http://www.tolerance.org/author/nel-noddings.

The Noddings Center

A Center of Care

Structure