Clyde Hertzman looking to Educate the Heart

Dr. Clyde Hertzman is confident the Vancouver Peace Summit will live up to its motto of “Educating the Heart” when over twenty leading minds take the stage in September. Of course, when you have one of the most recognizable and influential figures in the world talking about peace and education it’s easy to see why.

“The Dalai Lama’s stature allows us to raise the profile of early social and emotional development,” says Hertzman. “The event will give a boost to the momentum for educating the heart locally and globally.”

Hertzman’s experience has made him quite appropriate to engage in the Heart-mind Education discussion at Educating the Heart on September 29 at The Orpheum Theatre. He is part of a rich British Columbian field of research that is world-renowned for its cutting-edge research evaluating programs that educate the heart.

Hertzman is the Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP). HELP is an interdisciplinary network of faculty, researchers and graduate students from six universities in the province, and based at the University of British Columbia. HELP's research focuses on exploring how children’s environments affect their development. It seeks to use this information to help the families and children of British Columbia thrive.

So, what does it mean to educate the heart?

“Educating the heart means to provide opportunities in the environments where children grow up, live, and learn, to strengthen their social and emotional development,” he says. “So that they can grow up to be more empathic citizens.”

Even though Hertzman believes many schools are currently experimenting with programs to educate the heart, he still sees a lot of room for improvement.

“We need to better monitor social-emotional development in schools,” he says. “[We can] use this information to steer school development over time.”

Hertzman will be joined at Educating the Heart by the Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, Sir Ken Robinson, Mairead Maguire, Stephen Covey and many others.