You say you want a revolution? Transforming education and capacity building in response to global change

• Published in: Environmental science & policy 2013-04, Vol.28, p.48-59
• Main Authors: O’Brien, Karen, Reams, Jonathan, Caspari, Anne, Dugmore, Andrew, Faghihimani, Maryam, Fazey, Ioan, Hackmann, Heide, Manuel-Navarrete, David, Marks, John, Miller, Riel, Raivio, Kari, Romero-Lankao, Patricia, Virji, Hassan, Vogel, Coleen, Winiwarter, Verena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capacity building; Education; environmental policy; environmental science; global change; Global environmental change; interdisciplinary research; learning; research support; secondary education; social environment; Transformation
• ISSN: 1462-9011; 1873-6416
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2012.11.011

► We discuss a “revolution” in education and capacity in response to global environmental change. ► We consider five arenas for facilitating transformative change in education and capacity building. ► Unlike circular revolutions, axial revolutions involve questioning core assumptions and beliefs. ► How we anticipate the future has implications for present day responses to environmental change. This paper considers the changes in education and capacity building that are needed in response to environmental and social challenges of the 21st Century. We argue that such changes will require more than adjustments in current educational systems, research funding strategies, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Instead, it calls for a deeper questioning of the assumptions and beliefs that frame both problems and solutions. We first discuss the challenges of transforming education and capacity building within five key arenas: interdisciplinary research; university education systems; primary and secondary education systems; researchers from the developing world; and the public at large and politicians. Our starting point is that any type of revolution that is proposed in response to global change is likely to reflect the educational perspectives and paradigms of those calling for the revolution. We differentiate between a circular revolution (as in the “plan-do-check-act cycle” often used in change management) versus an axial revolution (moving to a different way of thinking about the issues), arguing that the latter is a more appropriate response to the complex transdisciplinary challenges posed by global environmental change. We present some potential tools to promote an axial revolution, and consider the limits to this approach. We conclude that rather than promoting one large and ideologically homogenous revolution in education and capacity building, there is a need for a revolution in the way that leaders working with education and capacity building look at systems and processes of change. From this perspective, transformative learning may not only be desirable, but critical in responding to the challenges posed by global environmental change.