Why Crises Don’t Automatically Lead to Education

We’ve been aware of the problems for some time – but we’re doing very little to change them. Knowledge alone does not change the way we think and act. This is where transformative education comes in.

We’re constantly reading in the news about the climate crisis, wars, and social tensions – we’re in the know; we’re well-informed. But it doesn’t inspire many of us to change our daily routines. We keep on buying products produced by exploited labor forces and driving short distances in old gas-powered cars. “There is a disconnect between what we know and how we act. We know that things can’t go on like this, and yet we keep on doing the same old things anyway,” says Prof. Dr. Christian Grabau. This is precisely where his understanding of transformative education comes into play.

The Head of the General Educational Science Department at the FernUniversität in Hagen gave a lecture titled “Learning to Live Differently: Transformative Education for Sustainable Development in an Age of Multiple Crises” as part of the lecture series organized by the E/E/S (Energy, Environment & Sustainability) research center.

Among the key references for his presentation were UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The crux of these is: “Everything that we know, that we believe, and that we do must change. All that we’ve learned so far hasn’t prepared us for these challenges. Things cannot go on like this. And this opportunity is slipping away quickly. We urgently need to learn how to live differently.

Traditional views in educational science generally assume that crises automatically stimulate learning processes that help people to cope with them. But often, that’s exactly what doesn’t happen. People may well be constantly learning, but not necessarily in a way that leads to change. This is because they also learn to tolerate contradictions, to stick to routines, to block out uncomfortable realizations, or to remain stuck in their desire to prolong the status quo.

In the field of education, this kind of approach is by no means new. Democratic, dialogue-based and participatory approaches – such as those proposed by John Dewey, Paulo Freire and bell hooks – have long emphasized the importance of exchange, active participation and critical thinking. The problem, therefore, lies not so much in the absence of these ideas as in the limited significance they are given within the education system. “A society that wants people to be open to change must invest in appropriate education. It has to create space for ideas and experiences.” One reason that this is so difficult is that it’s a classic chicken-and-egg problem: This is because new educational objectives arise only in response to societal expectations, whilst at the same time also shaping them.

To ensure that this approach is incorporated into the future training of future educational scientists at the FernUniversität, Christian Grabau, together with the team from his department and his colleague Prof. Dr Eva Cendon, has developed a new module for the Bachelor’s degree in Educational Science, which will be offered for the first time in the coming winter semester: “Transformative Education in Childhood, Adolescence, and Adulthood.”

This module examines the role that education plays in processes of social transformation in the face of environmental, social and political crises, and how it can empower people to help shape change in a critical, reflective and responsible manner. The focus is on approaches to transformative, dialogue-based education that go beyond the mere conveyance of knowledge. “It is important to us that students not only learn about existing approaches, but also develop their own concepts and reflect on the conditions under which education can bring about social change.”