The Merger of Assembled Educations

Under pressure to modernize, innovate, fulfill stakeholders' expectations and follow policies or political whims, schools are found to decorate themselves as if they are Christmas trees. Third parties, most with commercial intentions, swarm schools with an often illusive and delusive preaching of progress with regard to 'priority'-educations, namely in the fields of namely STEM, ICT, Citizenship, Entrepreneurship and Environmental Education. Consequently, we observe a landscape of loosely organized, stand-alone projects and activities parallel to daily practice where the need to comply with regular subjects, standards, curricula and examination demands remains and the bars are raised. Since we found the 'priority-'educations to include elements of adjoining domains and partly overlap with regular subjects, we came refer to them as 'assembled' educations. Although each of them can be valuable or even a gemstone to make 'ordinary' education shine a bit brighter, it was often observed they present an additional burden for the school organization with limited spare capacity that already suffers under layers of bureaucratic fog and the wimps and scorns of stakeholders. What was first perceived as improvements was often seen to lead to the deflation of regular education. During years of developing and testing an alternative approach in daily practice at schools, we found it is possible and desirable to fully integrate the entire set of educations, to merge them in the natural whole of transdisciplinary learning - consequently improving students' progress and results, freeing scarce budgets and bringing peace of mind to teachers while improving the schools' own capacity. A logical integration that proved an important stepping stone towards ESD Based Education.


re-valuing the Natural Real

Environmental Education

Environmental Education in the OPEDUCA Concept is close to the original joint complex of ecology and human life, a notion that seems to have withered away from present-day Environmental Education. A development not corrected but worsened by weak interpretations of ESD, presenting social issues which may or may not be related to the environment (Kopnina, 2012). Although promoted by ESD experts, we for example consider the installation of solar cells on a school’s rooftop as a most dramatic example of contra-productive ESD. In contradiction to overall best intentions, the academic discourse and from there policy development as found to inform a practice getting overwhelmed by (semi-)commercial (NGO-)offerings, not linking environmental protection to intrinsic values of non-human species (Johannesson, Norđdahl, Oskarsdottir, Palsdottir, & Petursdottir, 2011) and making the dimension Earth into an afterthought.

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away from an overwhelming pressed upon priority

STEM

Although we acknowledge technology rests in the core of many phenomena, we do not consider it the core of education. Experiencing dozens of campaigns on the local, regional and national levels from nearby, STEM appeared dominatingly present in terms of advocacy, funding and time programming in schools. A push for a STEM agenda not per definition meeting the needs of employers and graduates, nor in the interest of students (A. Gough, 2021). In OPEDUCA we discern between the consequent development of scientific thinking and reasoning, Science as (an academic) field of expertise and work, science as a collective term for disciplines and subjects, technology in the sense of ‘hardware’ (tools, machines), technology in the field of ‘Information and Communication’, ICT (overlapping embedded ‘hardware’ technology) and Engineering as the design of technological constructs and processes.

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from Ideas, over thinking to Action

Entrepreneurship Education

The development of youngsters' capacities to turn their ideas into action and by doing so develop entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, is an integral part of the OPEDUCA Concept. The instrument BusinessClass focuses on these qualities and the general capability to transfer thinking into action in a socially responsible way; it is the innovative, self-conscious and responsible student who can determine a more sustainable development of our society.
Moreover, we acknowledge that developing entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, competences and behavior can as such and in turn, contribute significantly to the quality of education.
OPEDUCA BusinessClass promotes Entrepreneurship inside regular education, for students, teachers and school management alike. In OPEDUCA Entrepreneurship is seen as the will and ability to turn ideas into action, to create, to see and manifest something that has not been there before. To boldly go ...

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building 'We' through the 'I'

(Global) Citizenship Education

The student's understanding of one’s own region is seen as a composing part of a global society. Therefore the concept expands the working of the various instruments to enable students to study the fabric of society from local to global, learning from educational sources beyond one’s own region and gradually grow understanding of a global reality and citizenship. 
Understanding that social consensus on what is considered (un-)sustainable and what constitutes progress can differ across cultures, countries and regions, it is an essential component of ESD to have students experience how objective the ‘knowing’ about these is, if (normative) valuations play a role, how people (re-)act towards sustainability.
Today's youth are obviously requested to not only understand the interconnected world in which they live and the complexities of the global challenges faced but also see a way forward and become competent to interact and bring about effective change.

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Climate Change Education

not to be(come) the newest bulb on an overloaded Christmas Tree

A 1st Dimension Priority

Learning about the world's climate system can and should be fascinating for it is meaningful, rich in fascinating aspects and applicable in daily practice - it is thereto a principle of the OPEDUCA Concept, laid down in the 1st Dimension of (Education for) Sustainable Development. It is a positive, a driver for learning.

Overruled by the whips & scorns of the present discourse

Whereas any Teacher in Geography, Biology and adjoining subjects taking herself seriously includes Climate (Change) per definition, schools might now again face a humble and jumble of (semi-)commercials offerings and preachers of superfluous 'innovations'. Moreover, we run the risk the Earth and its Climate are staged as a dark presence, a negative, a danger; the likely result when Climate Change education is pushed through teachers' throats and massaged into students' brains.

The working of Earth's climate system is obviously an important element of Geography, Climate Change however a consequence of human behavior i.e. activities rising from other domains (besides aspects natural to Earth). Obviously, we had it coming at the latest since 1972, the climate is changing and further change is unavoidable. The world is on fire on more than one way, now that forests vaporize before our eyes and draughts and devastating floods shake our brains and nerves. It is wise that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) points out that knowing about facts helps eliminate the fear of an issue that is frequently colored by doom and gloom in the public arena. Where UNICEF seeks to tap into the minds and imaginations of children around the world to capture what it means to be a child growing up in the age of rapid climate change we obviously enter the field of adaption to climate change.
To adapt effectively to climate change, we need to understand the risks related to different types of hazards such as droughts, floods, heatwaves and anticipate humanitarian crises. Understanding to be established with regard to our (global) production of Food and Energy, consequently bringing people to eventually change their behavior as informed citizens. Such is quite different from selling Climate Change to schools if it were an issue on its own. Otherwise Climate Change Education might degrade to the newest bulb on schools as overloaded Christmas trees. Running the risk the Geography teachers and colleagues are overrun by external parties and interests entering the school, further eroding subjects and drawing on already too scarce internal capacities. 
Working with students in daily educational practice, we found fascination by far exceeds data and (value-laden) information pressed upon them. Although youngsters can be mobilized for a cause such as Climate Change, a learning process to imbed deeper understanding and more profoundly underpin informed future action, appears to be better served through the explanation of the magnificent forces of nature, thus from a positive perspective. 

from a playful cacophony
to qualitative transdisciplinary education

About Causes and Cure for a cacophony of Educations

Most schools are found to hardly take the opportunity of possibilities real life offers to give more meaning to learning - no more than 8% of all worked with already upheld connections of the educational quality envisioned. An estrangement that also distorts their judgment of opportunities being offered to compensate for such. Schools were found to have come under the influence of an increasing variety and number of (semi-)commercial initiatives and renewals disturbing their daily operations. A proliferation the Dutch Inspectorate of Education (Inspectie & Onderwijs, 2019) eventually also pointed out, referring to the increasing variety of ‘hip’ school innovations (AGORA, New Learning, I-Pad schools, Kunskapsskolan, etc.), one we see combined with programs and school-formulas focussing on STEM (Technasium), Environmental Education (ECO-Schools), Entrepreneurship (Entreprenasium) and furhtermore a series of offerings from a multitude of (consultancy-)organizations. Three categories that represent questionable qualities that make up a cacophony of (perceived) innovations in education, the entirety exercising a disturbing influence, also due to the omnipresence of public and private initiatives promoting and representing them.

Over the board we found these assembled forms of education:

  • claim interdisciplinary practice, yet do not effectuate it
  • supply from the outside, not enhancing a school’s own ability
  • come with substantial labeled funding withheld from schools
  • have a link to specific sectors in society, not strange to advocacy
  • manifest themselves in the ‘layers of fog’, exercising (political) influence

Next to the fact each education externally offered holds elements of the other, we refer to them as as ‘assembled educations’ because we learned to see them as enlarged versions of subjects they relate most to, incorporating elements of other fields to meet contemporary claims and often implying the fulfilment of 21st Century Skills and alike not seldom with pretentious referrals to future labour market demands. In contrast with the claim they serve education, we found them to distort learning and disrupt schooling in an uninvited and unnecessary way. This moreover since it is unclear if pedagogical improvements claimed and assembled education offered are thoroughly observed and sufficiently evaluated, schools implementing ‘innovations’ even proven ineffective (Inspectie & Onderwijs, 2019). Schools’ adoption and buying into assembled educations is even more encompassing as it deteriorates their already weak development potential. Whereas this exertion of external influence was found rather gentle in case of Entrepreneurship-, Citizenship- and Global Education, namely advocacy in the realm of Environmental Education and especially STEM profoundly influence a school’s own transition capacity. 

As ESD-based Education no longer requires assembled educations and is even restricted by their presence, we looked to build understanding of their nature, presence and influence to further empower schools to let go of buy-inns and build own capacity, free human and financial means. To illustrate our reasoning, I will briefly recount it for Environmental Education and STEM. 

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For academic reference and publications: Eussen, J. F. G. (2022). ESD-based education - https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20220201je - ISBN 9789464235906