Sunday 22 March 2009

Conductive Education Classic no. 4

Maguire, G. and Sutton, A. ed. (2004) Maria Hari on Conductive Pedagogy. Birmingham: Foundation for Conductive Education.

As I have mentioned before, there are not many books on Conductive Education and even fewer that present a clear account of what Conductive Education actually is, how it is practised.
This book was published in 2004 to make a number of papers written and presented by Maria Hari over a period of thirty years and held in the National Library of Conductive Education, available to a wider audience.
I quote from the blurb on the back of the book:
An edited collection of previously unpublished papers presented in English, French and Russian, 1968-2000, on how to teach children of kindergarten and school-age the conductive way. An unprecendented account in the English language of the philosophy and practice of conductive pedagogy by the originator and developer of conductor-training.
In reading these eight papers, arranged in date order, it is possible to see how her attitude to sharing the knowledge willingly, changed over the years as Conductive Education was taken up by others, and 'practised' without full understanding of the system.
I make no apologies for recommending a book I was involved in producing, as it is an important account of Hari's ideas, thoughts and attempts to share the system combined with recording part of Conductive Education's history.
Copies are available to buy :
on Amazon at
and Cafepress at
and the National Institute of Conductive Education, Birmingham, UK. foundation@conductive-education.org.uk
I hope there will be more in the future which tell us what conductors actually do! If you are aware of any in the pipeline, please do let me know.

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