THE CHALLENGE OF AUTHENTIC COMMUNICATION: A JOURNEY FROM THE HEAD TO THE HEART

PROF. DR. GUILLAUME DE MEUTERVERITAS INSTITUT

"We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying

and another is struggling to be born - a shifting of culture, science,

society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has

ever experienced. Ahead, the possibility of the regeneration of

individuality, liberty, community, and ethics such as the world has

never known, and a harmony with nature, with one another, and

with the divine intelligence such as the world has never dreamed." Dee Hock, founder & retired CEO of VISA.

PARADIGM SHIFT

THE CHALLENGE

What should we teach ?

How should we teach ?

The nature of knowledge

A new worldview

The emerging Image of Man The emerging Image of the Universe The emerging existential guidelines

THE CHALLENGE

FOUR ASPECTS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING:

PAST: HOW THINGS WERE

The heritage of the past

PRESENT: HOW THINGS ARE TODAY

The Big Picture

PROBABLE FUTURE: HOW THINGS MIGHT BECOME

Scenarios of the future

POSSIBLE FUTURE: HOW THINGS COULD BE

Open-ended blueprints & guidelines DEE HOCK TRANSFORMATION BY DESIGN

THE TWIN CRISIS

THE OUTER CRISIS THE INNER CRISIS

Our individual and collective worldview is the key to both the crisis and its resolution

Stephen Sterling

Whole Systems Thinking As A Basis For Paradigm Change In Education

1. TRANSFORMATION OF PERCEPTION

2. TRANSFORMATION OF EXPERIENCE

3. TRANSFORMATION OF ACTION

DEEP CHANGE

QUICK FIX

THE THREE LEVELS OF LEARNING

LEVEL ONE : LEARNING WITHIN THE PARADIGM

Basic information processing - assimilation of ‘knowledge’

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SINGLE LOOP

THREE STAGES

Most discussions about education and learning take place within the

current paradigm. This explains their relative lack of effectiveness.

Despite efforts at reform, the dominant educational paradigm remains

self-referential and self-reinforcing.

What is often not appreciated is the depth of cultural change necessary

both in education and society in order for arrive at a sustainable

education in a sustainable society.

The main focus of attention remains an instrumental change through education, while underlying values and contradictions in education as a system and in our basic assumptions about ourselves, the nature of reality and the nature of knowledge go largely unexamined and unchallenged.

THE THREE LEVELS OF LEARNING

LEVEL TWO: DEGREE OF REFLEXIVITY

• A perception of the nature of the dominant paradigm

• Realization of the possibility of alternative sets of values & norms

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DOUBLE LOOP

THE THREE LEVELS OF LEARNING

LEVEL THREE: FULL REALISATION OF THE ‘CONTEXT OF CONTEXTS’• A transparadigmatic state of mind – beyond the constraints of paradigm

• Enables a conscious choice of paradigm and inner freedom from association

with any set of beliefs or mental/emotional filters

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THREE STAGES

Deep learning should take place in the way we view and practise education so that is can become far more transformative and align itself with the complex issues confronting us and the cumulative message and impact of the profound paradigm shift we are going through.

This implies a second order learning process for all involved in education, and beyond this, ideally, experience of third order learning for a significant minority who can act as agents of change.

What is also missing is a deeper appreciation of the culture of education as an expression and manifestation of a wider cultural milieu = lack of perception of education as a subsystem of a larger social ecosystem and as a subsystem of the dominant social paradigm or worldview.

This non-recognition of the interconnectedness of paradigm / belief system

/ practice partly explains the sterility of many efforts at reform and the lack

of response-ability of the educational system.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF PERCEPTION

We as educators have to challenge our perception of reality:

Our Image of Humankind – of who/what we are

Our Image of the Universe – of the nature of reality

Our Existential Guidelines – our value systems

This requires self mastery and courage – this entails swimming against the current and challenge sacrosanct beliefs and behaviour patterns. We are obliged to constantly question our own assumptions – this can be uncomfortable because it means that we have to leave our ‘comfort zone’ and confront unfamiliar thoughts and concepts, and be willing to modify our assumptions, opinions, value systems and behaviour.

OUR IMAGE OF MAN

OPEN-ENDED

EVOLUTIONARY

INTEGRATIVE

DIVINE SELF

MANY-LEVELED SELF

SOCIAL MAN

BIOLOGICAL MAN

IRRATIONAL,REPRESSED MAN

SUPERCONSCIOUS

EGO CONSCIOUSNESS

SUBCONSCIOUS

OUR IMAGE OF THE UNIVERSE

INTELLIGENT

SELF-ORGANISING

FINE-TUNED

MULTIDIMENSIONAL

SEAMLESS

EVOLUTIONARY

THE PRIMACY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

systemic interrelatedness non-linear causality integrative synthesis holographic epistemic participative self-organisation integrative transdisciplinary holarchic kosmocentric

reductionism determinism linear causality rational analysis dualism problem-solving objectivity construction atomistic specialization compartmentalizing anthropocentric

EMERGING PARADIGM MECHANISTIC PARADIGM

THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

RENE MAGRITTE

LA CONDITION HUMAINE

We constantly confuse our conception of reality with reality itself !

We see [the world] outside ourselves, yet all we have of it is a representation inside ourselves

THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

Neo:

This...this isn't real?

Morpheus:

What is real ? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

THE NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

THE MAP

= SYMBOL

THE TERRITORY

= OBJECT

GLASS

SiO2 ?

THE SCIENTIST

THE VALUE SYSTEM

1. We don’t have universally valid existential guidelines.

2. We are unwilling to have any new dogma, value system or worldview forced on us from the outside.

3. The Horizon Problem and the inbuilt limits to the powers of our logical and analytical faculties.

4. The dominant materialistic Image of Man and of the Universe.

FOUR CHALLENGES:

THE COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE

If we really want to inspire our students during this turbulent transition period, we must learn to communicate with them from heart to heart in an authentic, personal and powerful manner

And we must walk our talk.

If we talk of the need to challenge sacrosanct beliefs and concepts, if we preach intellectual freedom and flexibility, if we expect them to practice emotional and mental emancipation from any specific paradigm, if we teach a deep respect for all living beings and for Mother Earth, if we teach sustainability, we must have the courage and inner integrity to exemplify this state of consciousness and way of being ourselves.

READING

• Source:

Stephen Sterling

Whole Systems Thinking As A Basis For Paradigm Change In Education: Explorations In The Context Of Sustainability

Ph.D. Thesis of the University of Bath 2003

• Curriculum Design :

Bela Banathy

Systems Thinking in Higher Education

Systems Design of Education

CONTACT

Prof. Dr. Guillaume De Meuter

Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences and Humanities

Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences

Ignaz-Schoen Strasse 11

97421 Schweinfurt

Germany

gdemeuter@gmx.net

OPEN PODIUM DISCUSSION

THREE STAGES

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What is needed is an integrative systemic approach which:

• helps explain the lack of fundamental change in the educational paradigm

• helps outline a theory of transformation that can assist fundamental change

• shapes a transformed educational paradigm / policy / practice to support

the deep learning necessary for a societal shift towards sustainability.

The ‘vehicle of change’ role assigned to education clashes with its role and status as a servant of an unsustainable socio-economic system which is fundamentally misaligned with the ecosphere.

socio-economic

system

education

ecosphere

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Problem-solving strategies are still developed in a compartmentalized fashion. An explicitly systemic approach – recognizing that the various issues / aspects are linked – has yet to be adopted.

research

pedagogy, learningmanagement

paradigm, ethosresource management

physical structures

community links curriculum

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Reformation: 'Education for sustainability' This involves critical reflection on the assumptions and values of the paradigm, resulting in an attempted 'building-in' of sustainability ideas and reorientation of existing system. This process involves difficulty and conflict between old ideas and new ideas. Within the institution, there is more coherent coverage of content, an attempt to teach values and skills perceived to be associated with sustainability, and attempts to 'green' some or all aspects of the operation of the institution.

Accommodation: 'Education about sustainability' This is an adaptive response to the concerns of sustainability whereby the dominant paradigm, its values and modus operandi are maintained. In formal education, there is minimal effect on the institution and on the values and behaviour of teachers/lecturers and students, and take-up of sustainability concepts and values is piecemeal.

THREE STAGES

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Transformation: 'Sustainable education' An open interpretation of sustainability, giving rise to a transformative education paradigm. Education is re-thought and redesigned - through a continuous learning process - to embody and reflect the depth of change embodied in the current paradigm shift. Learning is seen as a creative, reflexive and participative process. Knowing is seen as approximate, relational and often provisional, and framed in terms of participatory knowing. The shift here is towards learning as change which engages the whole person and the whole learning community, whereby the meaning of sustainable living is continually explored and negotiated through - as far as possible - living it. In this way, sustainability becomes an emergent property of the sets of relationships that evolve. There is a keen sense of emergence and ability to work with ambiguity and uncertainty.

DEEP CHANGE

1. TRANSFORMATION OF PERCEPTION

2. TRANSFORMATION OF EXPERIENCE

3. TRANSFORMATION OF ACTION

Transformation of the educational paradigm

Transformation of educational theory & policy

Transformation of educational practice

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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The larger social system – its values, culture, norms and expectations – have a greater effect on people than formal education systems, and also on the nature of education systems than education has on the emerging society.

There are different time scales at work:• society has a ‘fast’ effect on education

• e.g. restructuring of education to suit the business paradigm• education has a long-term effect on society

Educators face the formidable challenge of opening themselves personally to the full depth and implications of the current paradigm shift in order to integrate it - and embody it - as effectively as possible.