TY - JOUR
T1 - You say you want a revolution? Transforming education and capacity building in response to global change
AU - O'Brien, Karen
AU - Reams, Jonathan
AU - Caspari, Anne
AU - Dugmore, Andrew
AU - Faghihimani, Maryam
AU - Fazey, Ioan
AU - Hackmann, Heide
AU - Manuel-Navarrete, David
AU - Marks, John
AU - Miller, Riel
AU - Raivio, Kari
AU - Romero-Lankao, Patricia
AU - Virji, Hassan
AU - Vogel, Coleen
AU - Winiwarter, Verena
N1 - Funding Information:
However, there are concerns that most universities and research institutes are limited in their delivery of the type of interdisciplinary knowledge needed to address environmental problems, and few have approached knowledge from a transdisciplinary perspective. Furthermore, they are not delivering as quickly as scientific findings suggest is necessary. The question is, what actions need to be taken? What kinds of capacities need to be built? What exactly does a revolution in education and capacity building entail? These are some of the questions that were addressed by the Working Group on “Toward a Revolution in Education and Capacity Building,” which was part of the RESCUE project (Responding to Environmental and Social Challenges for our Unstable Earth), a Frontiers of Science initiative funded by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). As a foresight project, a key emphasis was on the future of education, and in particular on moving from first-order changes that amount to “doing more of the same, but better” to second- or third-order changes that involve re-thinking systems by “seeing things differently” ( Sterling, 2001 , p. 28).
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - This paper considers the changes in education and capacity building that are needed in response to environmental and social challenges of the 21st Century. We argue that such changes will require more than adjustments in current educational systems, research funding strategies, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Instead, it calls for a deeper questioning of the assumptions and beliefs that frame both problems and solutions. We first discuss the challenges of transforming education and capacity building within five key arenas: interdisciplinary research; university education systems; primary and secondary education systems; researchers from the developing world; and the public at large and politicians. Our starting point is that any type of revolution that is proposed in response to global change is likely to reflect the educational perspectives and paradigms of those calling for the revolution. We differentiate between a circular revolution (as in the " plan-do-check-act cycle" often used in change management) versus an axial revolution (moving to a different way of thinking about the issues), arguing that the latter is a more appropriate response to the complex transdisciplinary challenges posed by global environmental change. We present some potential tools to promote an axial revolution, and consider the limits to this approach. We conclude that rather than promoting one large and ideologically homogenous revolution in education and capacity building, there is a need for a revolution in the way that leaders working with education and capacity building look at systems and processes of change. From this perspective, transformative learning may not only be desirable, but critical in responding to the challenges posed by global environmental change.
AB - This paper considers the changes in education and capacity building that are needed in response to environmental and social challenges of the 21st Century. We argue that such changes will require more than adjustments in current educational systems, research funding strategies, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Instead, it calls for a deeper questioning of the assumptions and beliefs that frame both problems and solutions. We first discuss the challenges of transforming education and capacity building within five key arenas: interdisciplinary research; university education systems; primary and secondary education systems; researchers from the developing world; and the public at large and politicians. Our starting point is that any type of revolution that is proposed in response to global change is likely to reflect the educational perspectives and paradigms of those calling for the revolution. We differentiate between a circular revolution (as in the " plan-do-check-act cycle" often used in change management) versus an axial revolution (moving to a different way of thinking about the issues), arguing that the latter is a more appropriate response to the complex transdisciplinary challenges posed by global environmental change. We present some potential tools to promote an axial revolution, and consider the limits to this approach. We conclude that rather than promoting one large and ideologically homogenous revolution in education and capacity building, there is a need for a revolution in the way that leaders working with education and capacity building look at systems and processes of change. From this perspective, transformative learning may not only be desirable, but critical in responding to the challenges posed by global environmental change.
KW - Capacity building
KW - Education
KW - Global environmental change
KW - Transformation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.11.011
DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.11.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876440343
SN - 1462-9011
VL - 28
SP - 48
EP - 59
JO - Environmental Science and Policy
JF - Environmental Science and Policy
ER -