In 1989, 80 education representatives signed the "Chicago Statement", and a year later this agreement led to the publication of “Education 2000: A Holistic Perspective” (1990), which set out ten principles for holistic education, fundamentally at odds with the prevailing reductionist paradigm (GATE, 2000). Drawing on the work of Douglas Sloan, David Purcell, Ed Clark, Ron Miller, Phil Gang, Jack Miller and Parker Palmer, a vision of holistic education based on ecological awareness, spirituality, relationships, and values was developed. Holistic education is a transformative, postmodern, ecological, cosmic, and spiritual education that addresses global issues. UNESCO (2015, p. 10) states that "Education alone cannot hope to solve all development challenges, but a humanistic and holistic approach to education can and should contribute to achieving a new development model ". The UNESCO (2015) publication suggests that the holistic approach is still relevant even though more than 30 years have passed since the “Chicago Statement”.  

In this study, holistic education is defined as education that focuses on the development of the whole child, with an emphasis on humanistic and posthumanistic educational ideas, interconnectedness, an ecological worldview, and respect for nature and the individual. Educating the whole child (Bhatta, 2009; Miller, 2010; Preston, 2012; Rudge, 2016) is defined as education that encompasses the intellectual, emotional, physical, social, aesthetic, and spiritual aspects of the individual learning process. According to Miller (2019), in the 1950s and 1960s, humanistic education was a direct precursor to holistic education. Rudge (2016) identifies eight philosophical principles of the holistic education movement: (1) spirituality; (2) reverence for life/nature; (3) interconnectedness; (4) the human wholeness; (5) individuality; (6) caring relationships; (7) freedom/autonomy; and (8) democracy. The first four of these encompass a spiritual/holistic orientation of education, while the other four embed humanistic ideas in a holistic educational paradigm. Posthumanist philosophy argues that man is not so unique from the rest of the living world, questions and criticizes man's centrality, and emphasizes man's development in relation to the organic world, where all life-forms are equally important, where man is only one of a number of species, and where the inorganic world is just as important as the organic (Duoblienė, 2018). Duoblienė (2018) argues that the process of posthumanist education is flexible, open, and sensitive, allowing for the perception of changing identities. Changing education promotes a focus on creativity, diversity, and responsibility in education rather than standards and expected achievements. An ecological worldview is an integral part of the holistic education paradigm because it highlights the interconnectedness of all living and non-living ecosystems on Earth (Nakagawa, 2000). As the world continues to face the challenges of climate change (COP26), the aim of the study is to identify gaps in empirical research on holistic education. 

To achieve this goal, the following research question is posed: what are the gaps in empirical research on holistic education? To answer the research question, three objectives were set:

1. to select empirical articles on holistic education from the “Scopus” database;

2. to identify which areas of holistic education have been empirically researched; 

3. identify gaps in empirical research on holistic education. 

This study carried out a systematic literature review – “A review that uses explicit, systematic methods to collate and synthesize findings of studies that address a clearly formulated question” (Page et al., 2021, p. 2) and based on The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement (Page et al., 2021, p. 1). Firstly, the research question was raised: what are the gaps in empirical research on holistic education? Second, after testing the “Web of Science”, “ERIC” and “Scopus” databases, the “Scopus” database was selected for the study. The “Scopus” database was selected based on the following criteria: social science database, accessibility, extractability in “pdf” and “cvs” formats. The articles were searched on 2021.12.12 using the search term: "( TITLE ( holis* ) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ( education ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( curriculum ) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ( pedagogy ) )”, detected n= 1,770 related articles. The search phrase was subsequently refined to exclude articles related to health, nursing, engineering, sustainability, and articles written in languages other than English were excluded. Finally, 218 articles were selected for further screening. All articles are saved in "pdf", "cvs" formats as scientific evidence. A three-stage screening of articles was carried out: (1) titles, (2) abstracts and (3) full text. 105 articles rejected after the first stage of screening (5 theological, 3 policy documents, 34 non-holistic education topics, 15 holistic analyses or approaches, 48 book chapters). 57 articles rejected after the second round of review (10 unavailable, 22 holistic analysis or approach, 25 unrelated topic). After the third round of review, 46 articles were rejected (6 unavailable, 11 unrelated topics, 3 policy papers, 5 descriptions of a new education programmes, 21 theoretical reviews). In the end, only 10 articles empirically exploring holistic education were found. The selected empirical articles (n=10) were carefully read and the most important information was coded in the following themes: (1) general information (research region, country, level of education studied); (2) methodological information (type of research, research strategy, methods of data collection, subjects); (3) the purpose of the research; (4) the theoretical models or concepts used in the research; (5) the definition of holistic education; and (6) the results of the empirical study. The data collected is presented in tables, followed by a qualitative content analysis. Limitations of the study: the study was carried out by a single researcher (a PhD student), and only one database was investigated.

A review of empirical research on holistic education in the “Scopus” database identified only 10 empirical studies that investigate holistic education as an object. The study did not apply a time limit criterion, so the oldest empirical study found was published in 1982 and the most recent in 2016. A comparison of the methodological information in the articles revealed a predominance of qualitative research (n=9), a case study research strategy (n=5). A comparison of the research objectives found that case studies of specific holistic schools/kindergartens or curricula are explored (n=4); holistic education is implemented in a specific region or countries (n=2); holistic education is measured through collaborative teaching/learning (n=2); and a quantitative study was carried out to evaluate the services provided to students as a reflection of the holistic needs of students in a traditional tertiary education setting (n=1). In response to the research question, it was found that to better investigate holistic education, it is recommended to carry out extensive quantitative research. The researcher was unable to find validated quantitative questionnaires on holistic education. It is recommended to further explore the following topics of holistic education: how can holistic education contribute to addressing climate change?; what is the prevalence of holistic education initiatives?; what is the demand for holistic education at different levels of education?; what is the impact of holistic education on the quality of education?; what are the opportunities for integrating holistic education into public education curricula?; and what is the extent of the complementarity of the holistic features of holistic education in public schools?, by means of both quantitative and qualitative research. The analysis of the data will continue, and it is hoped to identify the prevailing theories and the relationships between the results.

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