On Friday, November 13th, Frank de Jong, lector at Stoas Vilentum in Wageningen, gave his second public lecture on ‘Understanding the difference. Responsive education: A search for ‘a difference which makes a difference’ for transition, learning and education’. I found that an inspiring talk, and many aspects regarding learning were presented. On the picture one of the learning theorists on cooperative learning showed by Frank on video.
I think participants had to make up their own mind about the message and meaning of the talk: to construct their own knowledge about the importance of factors which make a difference in achieving sustainable learning outcomes in individually and socially diverse and dynamic learning ecologies. In my opinion the challenge of education is to reconcile emerging heterogeneous (if not conflicting) societal-cultural views on the mission of and vision on education with the continuously developing identities, intentions, preferences, ambitions and competencies of the current cohorts in education; that is from Kindergarten to Postgraduate studies and everything in between. That is all in the hands of teachers and the professionals around them. I hope of Wisdom for All, for Education for All. For that I think we need operational principles. Or else, this general observation stays opaque. I would like to see the agenda outlined in the speech will include this search for Wisdom. Download the book on which the speech was based from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283788931_Understanding_the_Difference_Responsive_education_A_search_for_%27difference_which_makes_the_difference%27_for_transition_learning_and_education
