Manon Joosten, Nanda Deen, and Guido Stompff
Acknowledging minority voices within the system and oneself when designing educational programs
Organisations are living organisms whose lifeblood is composed of feelings, beliefs, and dreams. (2002, Mindell, p15)
An organisation ignoring its own bloodstream will not likely survive and strive. Nevertheless, it is uncommon for educational organisations to dedicate time to feelings, beliefs and dreams. This is especially important in periods of transition: it is not the intellect but the heart that ensures movement in a collective system (Mars, 2021). Yet, feelings and desires are ambiguous: even genuine innovators experience internal forces that long for the past and fear the unknown. For change, the more innovative forces within a system and oneself must overcome these conservative forces.
Unfortunately, in systems, “overcome” often becomes “overrule,” a genuine pitfall in the case of educational transitions. Kramer (2019) advocates using the voice of the minority to enrich the decision of the majority. We believe that these (often unheard) minority voices have considerable value for educational innovations: it enhances collective intelligence and reduces underwater counterforces that can delay or even sabotage change.
In this workshop, participants experience first-hand how the basic principles of deep democracy help to navigate through the entanglements of co-design and how they can listen to their own minority voices in educational transitions.
KEYWORDS: co-design, education, innovation, transition, deep democracy, system change
Presentation dates
to be announced
