Third field of action: Learning through action-oriented thinking

Making a conscious choice in connection with a societal issue is the provisional end point of a thinking process that starts with detecting a societal issue itself. The intention here is that the school, as a place for practice, provides the space to build confidence around one’s own disposition to shape society (Sass et al. 2020). The societal issue is the start of a process in which pupils learn to work purposefully towards a desired end result, as a function of that issue. We call this action-oriented thinking and it includes a number of very important concepts. These are discussed below.

Goal-orientation

The whole process is carefully designed according to an equally carefully formulated goal (Swartz et al. 2008), which is ideally set by the pupils themselves on the basis of intrinsic motivation (see above), and which is expressed in the challenge. This challenge determines the strategic, goal-oriented thinking process (Perkins 1981).

It is important to realise that the world is in motion: after we have taken up the challenge, or even reached our goal, everything may still change (Lotz-Sisitka et al. 2015).

Action

Action is any possible end result expressed in the challenge, and can be either direct or indirect. Whereas direct action is aimed at an immediate transformation, indirect action is aimed at others who can make a transformation possible (Sass et al. 2020).

It is particularly important that we act together on societal issues (Sass et al. 2020). Pupils reinforce each other’s individual qualities when they work together towards action (Wals 2011). Moreover, it is always the intention that the action has an effect, and that it therefore becomes part of ‘the world’. In other words, that it is accepted and adopted, not only by ourselves, but also by others. The others are therefore a necessary component of action. The other is a necessary key to sustaining action (Biesta 2020).

Confidence

Pupils must be given the time to build up confidence in their own disposition to make their own choices in society and to actively shape that society. Enculturation is of great importance here: children and young people are socialized in an environment in which action-oriented thinking about societal issues is expressly valorised.

The challenge

A challenge is formulated in such a way that it invites action-oriented thinking and the search for different possibilities. The movement from societal issue to challenge is therefore a very important process in action-oriented thinking.

After the teacher or the pupils have determined the societal issue, an investigation follows which, as interim result, should end in a carefully formulated challenge (Sass et al. 2020).

A number of aspects of our vision on thought education are crucial in this research:

– Learning in interaction: An important part of the investigation is based on interaction with other perspectives.

– Knowledge: knowledge is imparted by the teacher as well as fellow pupils and is gradually built up by the pupils themselves.

– Subjectification: During the investigation, which is aimed at formulating a challenge, we strive to ensure that the pupil not only develops his or her own standpoint on the societal issue, but also the desire to act on it and take responsibility for it.

During the investigation one clusters information into categories, prioritises, deletes and adds information. Finally, one evaluates, in order to arrive at one’s own position on the societal issue (Sass et al. 2020). This perspective will determine which aspect of the societal issue falls within your scope of action or influence, which aspect of it you feel most involved with and where you want to see change. This will be the challenge you want to take up.

The school can provide pupils with the space to build up confidence around their own disposition to shape society. Starting from a societal issue, pupils learn to work purposefully towards a desired end result. Through enculturation, action-oriented thinking on societal issues becomes commonplace.

Fourth field of action: Learning through interaction

Learning by interacting with other perspectives requires activities that stimulate the dynamics between the learner’s perspective and other perspectives.

By identifying interaction as a field of action, we draw the attention of the school and the teacher to the importance of interaction with other perspectives. After all, an ESD experimental environment is one in which the disposition to make conscious choices in society is stimulated and nurtured through interaction with others, whether in person, on paper or through the internet. And indeed, books, articles, documentaries, websites, etc. also bring learners into contact with other perspectives (Taguchi 2011). This allows pupils to deepen and broaden their understanding. As with any field of action defined in the ESD experimental environment, it is important that the interaction is not limited by the classroom walls.

Societal issues require interaction because they cannot always be captured in a single truth. This ambiguity stimulates the exchange of perspectives. Other perspectives will always challenge, deepen or extend our own, but that requires a systemic view. For it is necessary to look at the different perspectives not as separate information, but as contributions to what we already know.

Personal and societal benefits of interaction

Enriching one’s own perspective through dialogue with other perspectives is invaluable for learners, both personally and socially.

We learn to use the richness of other perspectives as a function of our own insights. By interacting with the world, our views can change. It is not the information itself that brings about that change, but the way we structure it and how we think about it. Education should therefore not only focus on knowledge acquisition, but also on conceptual change. This takes place when pupils collaborate and enter into dialogue with others - both peers and teachers. Good dialogue allows the activities that shape mutual understanding to be elaborated and deepened.

– We learn an important democratic principle, namely that we do not necessarily exchange perspectives in order to convince others that we are right, but that we can use them to create new opportunities. We learn that our idea or perspective about a particular situation does not automatically apply to all situations (Öhman & Kronlid 2019).

– Interaction stimulates cooperation by, for example, dividing the work.

– Interaction encourages critical thinking. By interacting with other perspectives, it is easier to remain critical of our own thinking and actions, and those of others. In other words, we become more alert to the thoughts and actions both of ourselves and of other group members.

– By engaging in dialogue with each other, we are obliged to think and to make explicit, which facilitates the metacognitive evaluation of our thinking processes.

– Opposing views or opinions encourage further investigation of a topic (Håkansson, Van Poeck & Östman 2019).

– The fact that we are doing something together encourages greater commitment than when we are working alone.

Inhibiting factors

Social interaction can also constrain thinking, especially if there is too much emphasis on the fact that ‘all opinions are welcome’. A word of explanation. We can easily understand that doctrine, which requires a group of people to follow a point of view and live by it, inhibits individual thought. Thinking can also be restricted by authoritarian regimes or authoritarian management, where all ‘subjects’ are supposed to think and act in the same way. In both cases, individual ideas that potentially differ from the guiding ideas of the doctrine or leader are considered undesirable. Prejudice, in which people make unconsidered judgements, also severely limits thinking. Doctrine, authoritarianism and prejudice are all social forces that limit thought.

Social interaction can bring about the same thing. If every opinion is regarded as a truth with a right to exist, relativism can arise. The purpose of thinking together, however, is not to allow all the different perspectives to coexist, but rather to form a foundation for one’s own point of view, on the basis of which we can decide for ourselves what is relevant or right for us (Perkins 2001).

Enculturation, repetition, self-discovery and reflection

Building confidence in the disposition to make conscious choices regarding societal issues requires enculturation, repetition, self-discovery and reflection.

This means that the school and the teachers must systematically set up learning activities that stimulate interaction. These convey the message that interaction with other perspectives does not undermine the learner’s own perspective, but rather creates new opportunities (Öhman & Kronlid 2019). For example, by allowing the learner’s own understanding to evolve, to enrich and deepen. During discussions in which different perspectives are explored, it is important that the teacher does not strive for consensus, but rather emphasises personal enrichment through interaction with these different perspectives.

The frame of reference as a tool for exploring perspectives

As demonstrated earlier, the concept of ‘frame of reference’ provides a practical tool for examining different perspectives. A frame of reference is a dynamic frame that determines our perspective on a (societal) issue and is formed by emotions, values, norms, convictions, interests, knowledge, place, time, identity and also the societal dimensions applying to our perspective or standpoint.

When we look for different perspectives on a societal issue, it is useful to know which factors determine our own perspective. In this way, we can, for example, look for people with different knowledge, values, norms, interests, etc., in order to supplement our own perspective.

The frame of reference is a model that helps learners find answers to questions such as ‘what influences the way I perceive this information?’ and ‘what prior knowledge or experience helps or hinders me to understand the new information?’. From the answer to such questions, the richness of other perspectives can become clear and we can search for them in a focused way.

Learning by interacting with other perspectives offers benefits, both on a personal and societal level. It requires a systematic approach at school, so that pupils experience time and again that their own insights are not compromised, but rather deepened and broadened by interaction.