Otto Scharmer: 'Onderwijs gaat over het doen ontbranden van een vuur'

7 november 2011

Tijdens de conferentie ‘Elk kind is een belofte’ nam dr. Otto Scharmer plaats in 'De Stoel van hetkind'. De vraag luidde: "Wat is het beste advies dat u iemand voor de klas kunt geven?" Scharmer, grondlegger van de Theorie U, begint bij de Ierse dichter W.B. Yeats. ''Onderwijs gaat niet over het vullen van een vat, maar over het doen ontbranden van een vuur.'' Maar Scharmer gaat verder: ''het vuur geldt als bron voor alle verdere nieuwsgierigheid, voor alle honger naar kennis en alle ondernemingslust.''



Otto Scharmer is o.a  senior hoofddocent aan het MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)  en en een van de oprichters co-directeur van ELIAS (Emerging Leaders for Innovations Across Systems). Hij is wereldwijd bekend vanwege de Theorie U die hij ontwikkelde. Hij gaat er vanuit dat structurele, ingrijpende veranderingen in de maatschappij, ons bedrijf of onszelf, alleen mogelijk zijn als die van binnenuit komen. Vanuit ons authentieke zelf, zogezegd. De toekomst ligt daar al verborgen, maar het vraagt toewijding, aandacht en vooral lef om terug te gaan naar je eigen bron om die toekomst nu al te kunnen ontdekken. Theorie U is een methode die dat proces van structurele veranderingen stap voor stap begeleidt.

Zelfkennis: het mooiste dat een leraar kan geven

Het belangrijkste wat een leraar zijn leerlingen kan bieden, is volgens Scharmer niet eens zozeer kennis van de wereld, maar zelfkennis: “Kennis over wie jij als mens bent, en over wat jij wilt betekenen in de wereld.” Geen eenvoudige taak, erkent de Amerikaanse leraar, trainer en onderzoeker: zelfkennis kun je niet van buitenaf aangereikt krijgen. “Het is een kwestie van de leerling kennis laten maken met wat er al in hem zit.”

Voor zichzelf heeft Scharmer ontdekt dat zelfkennis niet alleen een kwestie van introspectie is, maar meer nog met het jezelf confronteren met de wereld, met moving out into the world. Vooral jezelf onderdompelen en actief deel te nemen in kansarme gemeenschappen binnen de samenleving waar de stem van mensen niet gehoord wordt, leverde hem veel op: “That social field is opening up my deeper capacities of empathy, of feeling, of attending. It’s not just emotion – it’s how I connect to the larger social field around us. That is the real source of entrepreneurship, of innovation, and also of cohesion in society that very often is about to break apart as we know.” (Voor het volledige transcript van dit interview: scroll naar beneden)



Voor wie nog meer wil leren van en over Scharmer biet de website van  hetkind:

1) Fragmenten uit zijn masterclass

Tijdens zijn masterclass liet Otto Scharmer een fragment zien uit de film The Legend of Bagger Vance, waarin een golfer "contact leert maken met het veld". Daarnaast toonde hij tijdens de plenaire sessie een fragment met een optreden van Placido Domingo. Beide filmfragmenten zijn hieronder te bekijken.

The Legend of Bagger Vance:

Placido Domingo in interactie met zijn dirigent:

2) Andere interviews van de conferentie Elk kind is een belofte

Interviews met o.a. Andy Hargreaves, Bas Haring en Eric Jensen. Zie gerelateerde items hieronder of zoek op "interview" en "Elk kind is een belofte".

3) Transcript van het interview met Otto Scharmer

Dr. Otto Scharmer (MIT) on learning and learning environments, February 7, 2011

The greatest advice I can give is something I have come to learn in my own learning process: every profound process of learning is not about filling an empty barrel called ‘student’ with knowledge until it is full. The learning process is basically about igniting a flame. Igniting a flame and using that – you could almost say – sacred source, of wandering, of questioning, of aspiring to know. Of grasping something larger than just myself, to nurture that, to hold the space for that and to partner with that sacred force of learning. That flame is the deeper humanity within us, the knowledge that I already bring when I am growing up, when I am being born.  

I do a lot of advanced knowledge creation and work with younger and senior leaders, institutions and organizations and what I really do, is not just knowledge about the world, but the most important is knowledge about yourself, self-knowledge. It is that dimension of knowledge, knowing who you are, as a human being, and what the difference is you want to make in the world.

In adult populations, self-knowledge is the most difficult to teach and yet the most important one to attend to and also the most appreciated from the side of the learners. I experience this across sectors in society and cultures all over the world. There is a deep hunger for that. I also experience that with twenty-somethings at MIT. The younger generations coming in are much more open for that deeper self-knowledge than we would have been a generation ago. I think it goes deeper and deeper into the student generation that now is attending the schools.

If I have any core competence, than it is being a teacher – that is what I am feeling a little comfortable to talk about, based on my own experience. So how do you operate as a teacher? Self-knowledge can not be taught from outside. You can only make the learner become aware of what they already know. That’s really the essence of self-knowledge and the deeper work of learning in leadership in all institutions today. Because I know a few people from the younger generations, I think what is new in this century, is that people wake up to that level of inquiry and interest and knowing, way before we used to when we grew up. I think that’s the cutting edge of learning.

So how do you attend to all these different biographies, to helping people to explore context where you can become aware of who you really are and what is the main mechanism there? One of the main mechanisms I am using, in finding out who I really am – much is about reflecting, but also by moving out into the world. By having deep emerging experiences with different 'pockets' of society – particularly the underprivileged, the voiceless, the powerless. As I connect to them I become part of the social field. That social field is opening up my deeper capacities of empathy, of feeling, of attending. It’s not just emotion – it’s how I connect to the larger social field around us. That is the real source of entrepreneurship, of innovation, and also of cohesion in society that very often is about to break apart as we know – even here in Holland, which has always has been the role model for integration. We know it is already broken apart in other countries.

Another aspect that I am focusing on in my environments of adult learning is not only to help people to access to empathy but also to help people to open to the deeper capacities of will – the Open Will. The Open Will has to do with my hand, with the doing, with learning by doing. People across all cultures very naturally connect to this learning by doing. I think it is much more important today than it was a generation or two ago, because the learning is through doing it, not just through theoretical models. The open will also means having a deeper knowing of who you really are and the change that you want to bring about. So those are environments that if you want to create them as an educator, what you do is on the one hand you allow people to have deeper emerging experiences in society at special topics, you allow them to create experiments where they help, where they try to make a difference in society and you help them to create deeper reflective spaces.

One practice I am using myself when I work with groups or with teams is that, every evening before going to sleep, I try to put myself into the service of that community, of these people. Just to align your own attention with the purpose, helping these groups or individuals to connect with their deeper capacity of creating and of making a difference. That is what I have found useful and a little bit my own experience.

Met dank aan André Meiresonne voor het transcript.