Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

the waste, which they happily do. After that the teacher suggeststhat they build a small recycling station in the school, and that theymake a poster about waste with the heading ‘STOP WASTE’. Againthe children do this. The lessons are over and the teacher moves onto the next topic.A young researcher, interested in transformative learning andeducation for sustainable development (ESD), 2 visits the school. Shetalks to the teacher about the lesson, and asks the children whatthey have learned. The children tell her “Oh, we just picked uplitter – it was boring.” The researcher notices too that the childrenare not using their small recycling station. Passionate about ESD, theresearcher is pleased that the teacher is focusing on waste – after all,this is a major local problem. But she is not so pleased about whatthe children have actually learned as a result. Could the teacher havedone this differently? What could the children have learned thatwould make this learning ‘transformative’?The problem identified here by the researcher is a common problem.Often teachers expose learners to ESD topics or content, or even tointeresting activities such as building a local recycling station andmaking a poster, but the learning that results is not transformative.In Botswana, another young researcher visits some schools. Sheis also interested in ESD and transformative learning, and in howchildren are participating in waste management practices in theschool. 3 The Botswana government has emphasized participationin ESD. Policies expect teachers to engage learners in participatoryapproaches to learning. 4 In a number of schools, the researcherobserves teachers instructing children to clean up the school andto pick up litter. Teachers are pleased because the children areactive and busy, picking up litter and keeping their schools clean.Interested in the views of the children, the researcher talks to themin great depth about how they participate in waste management prac-tices in the school. She finds that the children are moreconcerned about the sanitation issues in their schoolthan the litter. They want to learn how to solve theproblem of poorly managed toilets, not pick up litter!The researcher sensitively engages the teachers andlearners in dialogue, and soon after this, the childrenare being listened to by their teachers. The teachers andlearners start to work out how the sanitation problemscould be addressed, and a more participatory form oflearning is established. It is also more transformative.In a completely different context, another youngresearcher, also interested in transformative learning,is observing how community members in a poorrural community are learning how to commercializebeekeeping. 5 Commercialization of beekeeping hasbeen identified by governments across southern Africaas a strategy to alleviate poverty in rural areas, and todevelop entrepreneurship skills. In his observationsthe researcher notices that, while the intention is tosupport transformative learning, the manuals for thetraining have been developed only in English, whichfew of the adults involved in the beekeeping trainingcan read. He is also puzzled by the fact that, even ifthere is economic benefit, some of the communitymembers are not interested in the beekeeping practicesthey are being taught. After some time, he discoversthat the trainers have failed to take local culture intoaccount. In the particular area where he is undertakingthese observations, people believe that bees are theirancestors and that it is wrong to put them in a box.The researcher, working with the trainer, engages theImage: EcoSchoolsTransformative learning involves meaningful participation where teachers are willing to listen to learners and engage in dialogue[ 187 ]