facilitating transformative learning in education: rethinking stakeholder roles and responsibilities...
TRANSCRIPT
Facilitating Transformative Learning in Education: Rethinking Stakeholder
roles and responsibilities through teaching about the Social Economy
Annie McKitrickJanel Smith
October 2009
Content of the presentation
• Brief overview of CSERP.• What is the Social Economy in
Canada and around the world.• Why it is an important concept in
facilitating transformative education.
• Potential in community service learning.
• Discussion.
Background
• Analysis of Canadian provincial and territorial high school curricula to explore what students bring to their post secondary studies.
• Focus on the organizations that are integral to the community service-learning and university-community research partnerships.
The Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships
• Six research centers.• A National Hub - University of
Victoria.• 79 affiliated universities (Canadian
and International).• 300 Researchers come from15
academic disciplines.• 140 partner organizations including
all three levels of government.• 40 student researchers
Overview of the CSERP – Vision
• To build collaboration between researchers and practitioners to better understand and encourage initiatives at the local, provincial and national levels so that the Social Economy and its related approaches will be more widely understood and applied in Canada.
• To encourage the creation of an enabling environment for the Social Economy to thrive.
The National Social Economy Hub – jointly
managed:• Dr. Ian MacPherson from University
of Victoria• Rupert Downing, of the Canadian
Community Development Network (CCEDNet), a practitioner organization
• National board made up of the 6 regional nodes and national practitioner organizations.
CSE Hub Organization
Overview of the Social Economy
The Social Economy consists of association-based economic initiatives founded on values of:
• Service to members of community rather than generating profits.
• Autonomous management (not government or market controlled);
• Democratic decision making;
• Primacy of persons and work over capital;
• Based on principles of participation, empowerment.
Definitions:Canadian Practitioner Definition:"The Social Economy includes: • social assets (housing, childcare, etc.), social
enterprises including cooperatives, equity and debt capital for community investment, social purpose businesses, community training and skills development, integrated social and economic planning, and capacity building and community empowerment.
• The social economy is a continuum that goes from the one end of totally voluntary organizations to the other end where the economic activity (social enterprise) blurs the line with the private sector." –
• Between the private and public economy
the CCEDNet National Policy Council, Social Economy Roundtable Consultation Briefing Notes, 2005
One way to conceptualize the SE
Market-Based Coops and Nonprofits
(A)
PublicSector
Nonprofits(B)
Social Economy(A), (B), (C)
Public Sector
Private Sector
Civil SocietyOrganizations
(C)
Source:Jack QuarterSouthern Ontario node
1. Service to Community / Primacy of persons over profit – provides goods and services for the public interest or to members, not a tool in the service of capital investment
2. Empowerment – transformation of individuals or communities, to become more invested with power and authority however defined.
3. Civic Engagement / Active Citizenry / Volunteer Association – concept of investing (non-monetarily) and active participation in one’s community.
4. Social and Economic values and mission – the set of values and overarching mission of Social Economy acteurs and organizations are both social and economic in scope.
Values
1. Profit (re)distribution – limited or prohibited distribution of profits to members or invested back into the business, limited return on capital, not publicly-traded or available for purchase in the sense of the capital economic model.
2. Autonomous Management / Collective ownership – self-management by members or communities, no one individual holds ownership over the organization.
3. Democratic governance and decision-making – refers theoretically to the principle of “one member/person”, one vote (not “one share, one vote”).
4. “Third sector” / Self-governing Sector – a middle way that operates for the most part operates between the public and private sectors, and is governed by neither sector.
Characteristics / Structure
Transformative/Civil Society Defining Principles:• empowerment of individuals and communities, and collective enterprise/action focus.
• contributes to the renewal of positive and active citizenship.
•principal focus on political function (though not excluding social and economic) of Social Economy.
•concerned with political measurement and impacts of SEas well as impacting and altering political structures.
•approached function and mission of SE and an alternative to neo-conservative, capital models of governance and economic activity, and doesn’t accept as “given” the current political and economic structures in which we operate, i.e. goal is to transform sectors, re-draw boundaries of operation. Cont……
•primary focus: prioritizes social change over economic/market Function.
•locus of activity: transnational, communities and spaces conceived of generally as broader than geographic location, presents and searches for alternative views and practices of globalization, economy, and ways of practicing politics/governing.
(McKitrick & Smith 2008)
Introduction• Change in the nature of the state from “interventionist
to facilitative” (Brock and Bulpitt 2007, p. 2).
• increase in reliance on the private and “third” sectors.
• increase in the number and coordination of social movements and organizations.
• renewed discussion around what it means to live in a democratic society and the ideas surrounding active citizenry, responsible citizens and civil or civic associations and society.
Education
• “one of the major tasks that education must perform in a democratic society ‘is the proper preservation of young citizens for the roles and responsibilities they must be ready to take on when they reach maturity’’’ citing Kelly (1995), Smith (2001).
Transformative learning
• Process of seeking to “get beyond” a pre-occupation with the attainment of factual knowledge in the classroom.
• Involving experiencing a deep structural shift in basic premises of thought, feelings and actions. It is a shift of consciousness that dramatically and permanently alters our way of being in the world. (Transformative Learning Center at OISE/University of Toronto).
How does the concept of the Social Economy facilitate Transformative
Learning
• Education as a transformative experience helps to shape and define citizenship.
• Can also be understood to be connected to the practice of democracy and values of social justice.
• Calls for active engagement with, and seeks to strengthen, relationships and movements that embody democratic values and encourage collective action.
Existing opportunities
• Service-learning or experiential learning
• Community education programs
• Community based research
• Citizen education
Opportunities – rethinking the community service-learning
partnership
• Role of university in partnership with Social Economy organizations to enable the development of transformative learning opportunities.
• True reciprocity and mutuality in service (experiential) education. (Marullo & Edwards 2000)
• Understanding the values of the Social Economy organizations and their transformative roles in society.
Conclusion
• Ultimately, “if we are to facilitate in schools some notion of an ethical culture to which an altered form of aesthetic education might powerfully contribute, it is important that the personal, social, and political implications of moral values for our lives and actions, in and out of school, become part of the curriculum” (Beyer 2000, p. 85). This is the essence of transformative learning.
