Transforming the Political Economy of Education
Transnational Workshop on Developing Educational Communities and Strategies for a Socially and Ecologically Liberated Future
1- -4. October 2024
Salzderhelden
The development of humanity is characterized by living together in groups, where we cared for each other, played together and taught each other. Learning is an important part of what it means to be human. However, our current education system tends to get in the way of curiosity and the natural ways in which people learn. Generations and skill areas are separated from each other, emotional education, play, collaborative problem solving, crafts and art are neglected. Instead of promoting comprehensive knowledge, critical thinking and practical skills, our educational institutions often serve to impart as much information as possible as quickly as possible and prepare students for entry into the workforce, in support of the capitalist economic system. We think this approach is wrong. We believe that our economy should be there to create creative and collaborative learning environments – not the other way around. We believe in the liberating potential of education – that by building collaborative learning environments we can fundamentally change our society. With our workshop, we want to develop an independent learning and research facility together with projects in Salzderhelden. We also want to build a network to support similar facilities in other places.