Elements of Social Learning Supporting Transformative Change

The body of literature on social learning is enormous, with differently framed ontologies and epistemologies aligned to multiple perspectives of learning in a social context. These have grown out of the many academic disciplines which have seen the value of social learning. This paper highlights the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: David Lindley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Environmental Association of Southern Africa 2016-06-01
Series:Southern African Journal of Environmental Education
Online Access:https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/137671
Description
Summary:The body of literature on social learning is enormous, with differently framed ontologies and epistemologies aligned to multiple perspectives of learning in a social context. These have grown out of the many academic disciplines which have seen the value of social learning. This paper highlights the need to be aware of these multiple perspectives, and draws on the work of Lotz-Sisitka, Mukute and Belay (2012) to argue that there is a need to understand, and engage deeply with, the antecedent perspectives on social learning and to avoid ontological collapse in social-learning research in environmental education research and practice. It provides a broad-based understanding of transformative social learning by simply defining social learning with a socially critical orientation, and distilling key elements of social learning important to supporting social change. A recommendation is made for interventionist researchers and practitioners to use a theoretically sound, ontologically congruent methodology to support their social-learning research and implementation.
ISSN:2411-5959
2411-5959