Promoting holistic learning for the development of competences in Mozambique

Abstract

This article presents results of a study carried out at the Faculty of Education of the University Eduardo Mondlane, in Mozambique, aimed to assess the extent to which the bachelor course in Psychology promotes multiple intelligences as superimposed to holistic learning styles within its effort to develop students’ competences. For that purpose, 158 psychology students were invited to fill in a four-point Likert scale questionnaire. Respondents were asked to gauge lecturers’ practices of employing different methods and strategies to promote multiple intelligences and holistic learning styles and to indicate what their preferences were concerning methods that could be employed more often. Results show that lecturers promote holistic learning, despite prominence of practices that are more tied to logical and analytical skills, in the left hemisphere, with less emphasis on right hemisphere processes such as ludic activities, drama and simulations, and physical involvement. Such results point to the need for the promotion of professional development efforts towards increased adoption of more holistic learning and multiple intelligences within the bachelor course in Psychology.Received: 22 January 2018Accepted: 02 May 2018Published online: 31 May 2018