I have been sitting in a space of uncertainty for a few months, reflecting on the question of what I am doing. It does not always feel good, but I think it is ultimately a good thing. I have been doing this work of systems change, or human systems interventions, or hosting, or teaching (sometimes all at the same time) for more or less 20 years now, and lately there has been a melancholy, a tiredness. Listening, trying to make sense of it means today, here, and now, there may be a sense that as the world is changing, so does our purpose. What is good about it is that it feels like a sign that I am growing out of a comfort zone.
I remain convinced that several things hold true in this world and in this work. Here are some of them:
- We need each other, and so we need to get better at inviting, and at recognizing invitations
- No one is smart enough to lead us through the crisis of our times, we just can’t know everything.
- We all need to get better at learning and listening (to one another, to the world, to time, to ourselves)
- We are the systems we live in and the systems are in us; change is fractal
- Change is everywhere, everything, all at once
- Working with others who are different is challenging, and we need to work with others who don’t think like us
- Changing is dying a little bit, changing systems need a capacity for grief
- We know how to do this, when push comes to shove, we have always known
- We need to stay humble, and we need to learn how to use the power we have
- We won’t plan and control our way out of this
- Human systems (institutions, organizations, etc.) are built by humans and so they can be changed by humans.
- The outcomes of a system are its purpose. If a system produces exclusion and poverty, that’s what it is meant to produce.
- The human systems we have built do not work for the vast majority of us. We need to change them, or build new ones that will work for us.
- All good revolutions need campfires.
- The seeds of what is needed to change are already present.
There are more of course.
What are the skills we need to be good helpers, in a world where we hold these things to be true? What does helping mean, in this context? What does it mean to help systems change? What do we need to (un)learn? How do we need to practice? What do we need to practice? How and where do we (un)learn this?
It takes spaces to practice, be in dialogue, learn to learn from one another and from the world that is surrounding us. That, to me, is what education should be about. And there are practices we can explore to foster these spaces and infuse them with more life, and build more community while we are at it. This is what we are trying to create and offer with Reimagining Education: a space to experiment with new (and old!) ways of creating spaces where people can learn and be in community. This is the space we have been stewarding together for 4 years now.
This is one of my very favourite places to learn and practice. For four years, I have been blessed every time, working with good friends and inspiring practitioners, and meeting people coming from a wide diversity of cultures and practice fields. Together we create a deep field of inquiry around education, learning and how systems change. Wherever you are in the education systems, you will find something to offer and something you need in this conversation: if you are a student teacher thinking about how you will bet teaching students who will be becoming adults in a world radically different from the one you grew up in. If you are a school administrator who wants to see systems where no one gets left behind. If you are a parent who wants to see their child flourish and develop their agency in the world. Or if you want to help workplaces develop systems so that everybody can learn and be the best version of themselves. Bring your questions, your longings, your dreams, your dilemmas. Bring your projects and your work.
We are a team of 4, practicing from different places in the world of learning. Jenn Williams is a self-described teacher gone rogue, who has been creating her own way of setting learning spaces across worldviews, cultures and environments, and tearing down the walls of the traditional classrooms to build new bridges where people can unlearn and relearn who they are and what they can be together. Troy Maracle has been a leading force behind the resurgence of Indigenous Education in Southern Ontario for more than 30 years. As a proud Kenhté:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka he carries the teachings and practices of his culture in all the learning spaces he holds, including this one. Chris Corrigan has been stewarding the practices and the learning community that is the art of hosting and participatory leadership and he has been offering the gifts of many conversations he has been in throughout the years to this particular experience that is Reimagining Education. Our fifth and most important team member in this is the Land we will gather on and learn with: the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre , located in Peterborough, next to Trent University’s stunning Wildlife Sanctuary lands.
We all have a stake in reimagining how we help people (and ourselves!) learn. We all have our different entry points in this inquiry. So – if, like us, you are curious about how to foster learning spaces that are more inclusive and just, where the beauty of our human potential can flourish, where we can all practice the tricky art of being in community and co-creating together the world and the systems we need, come learn with us. That’s what we are here for.
You will leave from these three days with concrete tools, frameworks, methodologies to foster more engaging spaces. But you will also likely leave with some more things, more elusive, unpredictable and untangible: unexpected wisdom, a sense of belonging to a learning community, new allies in your work, new ideas, new clarity (or maybe more of the “good” confusion!). And overall, we hope you will leave with a sense that there are more of us than you thought, who are engaged in this work for the long run, and that there are more possibilities than you thought. This is the power of what Margaret Wheatley calls Islands of Sanity. What we are inviting you into is one such island, where you get to reflect on your work and explore your questions with others, only to leave with increased power and clarity to tackle the work that is yours to do.
This year we’re at Camp Kawartha’s beautiful Environment Centre in Peterborough, Oct 16-18th.
Come explore with us: what grows when we courageously imagine the future of education and learning together?
ici - ailleurs 