Our Credo | The Bank Street Approach | Our Conceptual Framework
Central to the Graduate School's conceptual framework and our long-standing commitment to democratic education for children and young people are the Principles that underlie and infuse the work we do. These principles represent an elaboration on the original 1916 Credo developed by Lucy Sprague Mitchell.
The Principles
Education is a moral undertaking. Our educational aims require, as stated by Lucy Sprague Mitchell in Our Credo (1916), "the courage to work, unafraid and efficiently, in a world of new needs, new problems, and new ideas and a striving to live democratically, in and out of schools, as the best way to advance our concept of democracy. Our work is based on the faith that human beings can improve the society they have created." Educational practice should be informed by a rigorous method of observing learners, as well as recording and analyzing data about them. While engaged in this process, the teacher acknowledges and is sensitive to individual variations in development and the cultural construction of behavior.
The knowledge and understanding gained are essential to the development of curriculum. Understanding the dynamic relationship of people in interaction with their environments serves as the centerpiece of the curriculum. Through the multiple perspectives of social studies, opportunities are offered to question and understand the complex relationships, aspirations, and struggles of people, both near and far and past and present, in their social and physical worlds. Varied opportunities are consistently offered to learn from direct experience and diverse materials through which human beings give form to and express their thoughts and feelings.
Developing and maintaining a sense of community within the classroom is essential to experiencing the worth and meaning of a democratic and ethical society. Collaboration, caring, fairness, respect, responsibility, and a shared common purpose create the atmosphere in which both children and adults have opportunities to grow and develop as social individuals committed to the realization of a just society. The world outside of the school is brought daily into the classroom through the lives and experiences of all students. As these worlds intersect, the task of the teacher is to identify and address issues that obstruct democratic life; to create an environment in which questioning, communication, and active participation are essential to learning; to support the perspectives of both artist and scientist; and to encourage reflection, imagination, and the expansion of possibilities.