Learning systems and learning paths in sustainability transitions

Svare, Helge; Gjefsen, Mads Dahl; Boer, Alanya C.L. den; Kok, Kristiaan

doi:10.5751/es-13868-280122

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 40 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…These programs include trainings on systems thinking, experimentation, content (such as on food systems or health), co-design, listening, prioritizing, and achieving shared visions and aims. In projects with multiple Labs, setting up reflexive learning spaces and CoPs for practitioners and researchers who are Labbing helps to further strengthen skills to manage the aforementioned challenges and the strategies below, as well as create an atmosphere of trust, shared learnings, and reflexivity (Svare et al 2023).…”

Section: Tailor-made Training For 'Labbing'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating infrastructural mazes

Erisman

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Social work is characterised by uncertainty and ambiguity, social workers are mandated to intervene in the lives of families, requiring them to make morally charged, complex decisions with and for families. The field is beset by high workloads, time pressure, negative media attention, and cost-containment measures. In recent years, acknowledgement of the complexities of social work and the challenges faced by professionals has grown, prompting attempts to reorganise the field through frequent reforms, and to reduce uncertainty of practice through standards and accountability measures. Concurrently, there is a greater recognition of the importance of professional judgement, and the need for reflexive practice that engages different knowledges, to allow for more tailored care. The Dutch social care system is currently facing a crisis, and the government has implemented temporary programs to redesign standards and practices. These experimental spaces are the main research site of this thesis, which aims to explore how Dutch social care actors navigate the friction between reforms, standards, accountability, and professional autonomy in highly charged moral settings in social care. This thesis aims to explore how Dutch social care actors navigate the friction between reforms, standards, accountability, and professional autonomy in highly charged moral settings in social care. The research for this thesis was conducted in three studies in the Netherlands: a study on the use of intuition by youth care professionals and two action research studies focused on reform, discretionary space and accountability in social care and child protection. Ultimately, I argue that we need to treat the system similarly to families in need: when professionals look at families, they are expected to look at them as a complex network with a history, with values, different roles and complexities. Families are not expected to get it right immediately, but can work in incremental changes together with those in their network and care providers. However, when there is a crisis or the need for sudden, larger changes, there is space and authority to make these decisions. There is a collective responsibility, reflection and shared decision-making towards the shared aims. This means that the social care system requires engagement in continuous incremental, collective, reparative work that explores alternative notions of success and failure, and in line with that to reconsider underlying values and notions of accountability and governance, to build a system that fosters a space in which vulnerable families, professionals, managers and administrators can be supported.

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Section: Tailor-made Training For 'Labbing'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating infrastructural mazes

Erisman

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Lost in a haze or playing to partners’ strengths? Learning to collaborate in three transdisciplinary European Living Labs

Knickel

Caniglia

Knickel

et al. 2023

Futures

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Labbing for sustainability transformations: Learning about challenges and strategies for impact

Erisman,

Feenstra,

Broerse

et al. 2024

GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society

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Creating impact in labs oriented at sustainability transformations is challenging. Combining the experiences of ten projects and sharing the insights in “Labbing”, gained through engaging in various activities within transformation-oriented Labs from the fields of agriculture, food, and healthcare, the author team established a Community of Practice at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, to identify impact challenges inductively and recommend practical strategies for addressing these.While the issue of creating impact in real-world labs for experimenting with sustainability transformation has been studied, little is known about how to assess and understand impact in practice. Deciding on “what counts as impact” is challenging as problem definitions and solutions are political and contested. In our research projects for sustainability transformations in fields such as agriculture, food, and healthcare, we encountered typical questions of creating impact in real-world labs. We established a Community of Practice to explore the different challenges pertaining to these impact questions. We identified four overarching challenges related to impact: 1. measuring the impact of Labs, 2. dealing with positionality and power dynamics, 3. fostering impact within and beyond projects, and 4. ensuring impact across different contexts. This paper offers practical strategies for responding to these challenges: 1. tailor-made training for Labbing, 2. reflexively engaging with power dynamics, 3. forging rich, translocal learning and impact. Sharing learnings from our experience with Labbing may broaden the repertoire of fellow Lab practitioners in enhancing and strengthening their impact.

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Learning systems and learning paths in sustainability transitions

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Navigating infrastructural mazes

Navigating infrastructural mazes

Lost in a haze or playing to partners’ strengths? Learning to collaborate in three transdisciplinary European Living Labs

Labbing for sustainability transformations: Learning about challenges and strategies for impact

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