COVID-19: is there something to learn from a pedagogical point of view?
Franklin Kimbimbi, Education Officer, ETUI
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the ETUI published several articles which shed light on the social, economic, and political consequences of this pandemic. Amongst these publications, let’s quote a few of them:
“Four scenarios for Europe’s future after the crisis” (Pochet, 2020). “Essential but unprotected: highly mobile workers in the EU during the Covid-19 pandemic” (Rasnača, 2020). “Covid-19 contact-tracing apps: how to prevent privacy from becoming the next victim” (Del Castillo, 2020).
Among the vast number of articles published on Covid-19 in scientific journals or daily newspapers, some are worth mentioning: “How the COVID-19 crisis teaches lessons for dealing with the climate crisis” (Galgoczi, 2020). The Atlantic Council titled: “What the world can learn from regional responses to Covid-19” (Kalinina, 2020). According to The Guardian “We’re about to learn a terrible lesson from coronavirus: inequality kills” (Jones, 2020).
What is interesting about these articles is the fact that they invite us to consider this crisis as a learning opportunity: the Covid-19 crisis highlights and reinforces inequalities.
Innovative learning: our best antidote in a time of uncertainties
Throughout human history, catastrophe, crisis, emergency and adversity have always been our great “teacher”. Even up to the present, we rely on the shock of events to stimulate our learning. “Learning by shock” is still often the conventional formula to reconsider our skills, attitudes, or values. It represents the catalysis of what Botkin, Elmandjra and Malitza (1979) call “innovative learning,” which means a type of learning that can bring change and renewal by questioning fundamental values, purposes, or objectives of any society. According to these authors, “innovative learning is a necessary means of preparing individuals and societies to act in concert in new situations” (Botkin, Elmandjra, Malitza, 1979: 12).
Promoting “innovative learning” in times of crises or uncertainties is, without any doubt, understandable and vital. On the one hand, all of us want to learn from adverse events to prevent their occurrences. In this regard, learning from Codiv-19 will undoubtedly help us to cope with other crises if they occur shortly. On the other hand, innovative learning might be the only alternative we have when we are in the midst of a catastrophe. In this circumstance, using a conventional way of thinking could prove to be ineffective. Confronted with extreme situations, we might have no choice to learn to avoid a disaster.
Learning by shock could be traumatizing
If we admit that innovative learning is undoubtedly a value to cherish, we should ask ourselves the fundamental question: do we need to rely on a disaster or a crisis to adopt this form of learning?
Our answer is clearly no! We cannot wait for a disaster to become an innovative learner for at least two reasons. First, social costs provoked by a crisis are so high — according to ILO chief, Covid-19 could cause the equivalent of 195 million job losses — that learning by shock is not an acceptable procedure for coping with global issues. Second, some shocks are so destructive that they could be fatal to our planet — think about global warming, which could provoke irreversible climate damage.
“Innovative learning represents an indispensable prerequisite to handle global issues such as climate change and sustainable development”
One of our biggest challenges regarding human complexity is, without any doubt, climate change and sustainable development issues. Confronted with this urgent need to change or at least to adapt our economic paradigm, are we sure that our current way of thinking is still able to give us the right answers and the capacity of judgment? Not so sure!
We argue that a type of learning designed for dealing with known and recurring situations cannot give us the answers we need to deal with climate change and sustainable development. This form of learning will help maintain an established “way of life,” which destroys our planet.
On the contrary, we assert that “innovative learning” represents an indispensable prerequisite to handle global issues such as climate change and sustainable development. Although other actions like political activism, technological changes, or social reform will also make contributions, acquiring a new set of skills and attitudes is fundamental to provoke a necessary change of direction.
Towards a new work program
At the Education Department of the European Trade Union Institute, we take “innovative learning” seriously. As soon as the COVID-19 crisis emerged, we decided to make it an opportunity to “practice what we preach”: strategic thinking, foresight, and change management. We build a new program that repackages some of our training into online courses; we proposed new courses and new forms of training and learning (e.g., webinars, decentralized, face-to-face courses…).
For us, innovative learning also means adopting a competence framework approach regarding our training program on climate change and sustainable development. More precisely, we decided to base our training program on five transversal competences called “green competences”[1].
By working within this competence framework, trade unionists will be able to develop knowledge, abilities, values, and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a society that reduces the impact of human activity on the environment.
The green competences framework
Let’s have a look at these five competences.
• (1) ‘collective’ competence means the ability of trade unionists to organize themselves collectively to tackle a specific issue.
• (2) ‘prospective’ competence means the ability to prepare for the future, to create new scenarios, new mechanisms, and further legal rights that would expand the role of trade unionists — and ultimately the role of workers — in a world characterized by uncertainty.
• (3)’ responsibility and ethics’ competence means the ability to act according to values. The question is not to choose between jobs or climate. The right question is: how will trade unionists stick to their core values (solidarity, participation, nondiscrimination) and, at the same time, take responsibility for the present and future generations of workers?
• (4) ‘systemic’ competence means the ability to understand that any phenomenon is composed of various elements and is part of a broader system. Developing a systemic competence means for example providing opportunities and training for workers to reorganize work processes in order to reduce workplace climate footprint.
• (5) competence ‘in terms of change’ means the ability to identify and analyze change factors. (i.e., strong and weak signals of change). These competences are entrenched in facts or scientific evidence: to provide trade unionists with facts on climate change and the reasons why they should be dealing with it at the workplace.
From September 2020 to March 2021, this green competence framework approach will be translated into various training: webinars, face-to-face training, online courses… We invite you to look at our new website (www.etui.org) for more details.
The shocks of the Covid-19 crisis will be intense, and their consequences far-reaching. We do believe that, more than ever, trade unionists will need innovative learning to manage them.
References
Botkin J. W, Elmandjra M. and Malitza M. (1979) No limits to learning. Bridging the human gap. A report to the Club of Rome, Pergamon Press.
Del Castillo A. P. (2020) Covid-19 contact-tracing apps: how to prevent privacy from becoming the next victim, Etui Policy Brief. European Economic, Employment and Social Policy, n°5/2020, 1–5. https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Covid-19%2Bcontact-tracing%2Bapps%2BCorona%2BPonce%2BPolicy%2BBrief%2B2020.05.pdf
Galgoczi B. (2020) How the COVID-19 crisis teaches lessons for dealing with the climate crisis, ETUI- Medium, 27th March. https://medium.com/@ETUI_org/how-the-covid-19-crisis-offers-lessons-for-dealing-with-the-climate-crisis-8a4749ef1652
Jones O. (2020). We’re about to learn a terrible lesson from coronavirus: inequality kills, The Guardian, 14th March. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/14/coronavirus-outbreak-inequality-austerity-pandemic
Kalinina A. (2020) What the world can learn from regional responses to Covid-19, Atlantic Council, 24th April. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/what-the-world-can-learn-from-regional-responses-to-covid-19/
Pochet P. (2020) Four scenarios for Europe’s future after the crisis. Social Europe. 30th April. https://www.socialeurope.eu/four-scenarios-for-europes-future-after-the-crisis
Rasnača Z. (2020) Essential but unprotected: highly mobile workers in the EU during the Covid-19 pandemic, Etui Policy Brief. European Economic, Employment and Social Policy, n° 9/2020,1–10. https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/COVID%20Highly%20mobile%20workers%20Rasnaca%20Policy%20Brief%202020.09_0.pdf
[1] Our green competences are adapted from a pedagogical tool called “Guide compétences développement durable et responsabilité sociétale. 5 compétences pour un développement durable et une responsabilité sociétale”. Conférence des Présidents d’Université. Conférence Grandes Ecoles. 01/06/2016
