558
M. R. Anastacio
Transformation needs to be leveraged somewhere in the system. According to
Morin (2006), reform will emerge at a peripheral and marginal point of the system,
from a minority perhaps misunderstood or even persecuted, until it is diffused and
strengthened; that is, in order for the metamorphosis to happen, a “revolutionary
engagement” will be necessary (Bauman 2001).
This study argues that the educational system is one of the points in the set of
structuring systems of society with great revolutionary potential—not the only one,
of course. And within this system, that transformation must be initiated by institutions of higher learning because, by nature, they constitute spaces of dissemination.
In this case, not only because of the indication that is commonly attributed to them of
dissemination of knowledge. This is of paramount importance, but in the contemporary context it is necessary to go further, fostering the awakening of people’s wisdom
and imagination, not the automated reproduction of the current normotic system.
It is essential that these institutions become spaces that allow people to reach
higher levels of understanding about relationships with themselves, with others, with
nature and with the cosmos. That they are capable of transforming premises (beliefs
and values) incompatible with the clamor of the new times in premises compatible
with the possibility of earthly survival.
I also believe that in higher education institutions, this process should begin with
teacher training and the promotion of collective engagement with the knowledge of
the various segments of society, on the central and most critical issues that afflict
humanity—aspects that cause the university to assume a truthful and strong commitment to social transformation.
The formation of higher education educators must be aligned with the effective
demands of contemporary society, based not only on the epistemological and methodological dimensions, but also ontological dimension in the formative processes. This
involves, among others, the way in which the “being” perceives the “realities” and
acts in the world, which presupposes, in a first instance, the understanding of “being”
by the “being” itself.
The perspective defended here requires that teachers, besides an episteme and a
methodology, adopt an ontology that involves a worldview and attitude to the realities
in line with the transdisciplinary principles—which dismisses, on their part, going
beyond the intellectual comprehension of a theory and a set of teaching techniques.
Moraes (2012, p. 82) affirms that new theoretical and epistemological contributions are needed to help ecologicalize the ontology, that is, the relationships of being
with its reality, to better understand the relations between subject and object, as
well as the methodological aspects related to the pedagogical practices adopted in
education.
From the conception of education defended in this study, and considering even
the principles brought by Morin (2001), the following elements are presented to the
training of teachers of higher education: methodological congruence; multidimensionality of being; multidimensionality of relationships; attention to the unveiling
of ‘power from within’; meaningful learning; solidarity and civic culture; learning
spaces; access to truths; heterogeneous plural practices (transdisciplinarity); wisdom
M. R. Anastacio
Transformation needs to be leveraged somewhere in the system. According to
Morin (2006), reform will emerge at a peripheral and marginal point of the system,
from a minority perhaps misunderstood or even persecuted, until it is diffused and
strengthened; that is, in order for the metamorphosis to happen, a “revolutionary
engagement” will be necessary (Bauman 2001).
This study argues that the educational system is one of the points in the set of
structuring systems of society with great revolutionary potential—not the only one,
of course. And within this system, that transformation must be initiated by institutions of higher learning because, by nature, they constitute spaces of dissemination.
In this case, not only because of the indication that is commonly attributed to them of
dissemination of knowledge. This is of paramount importance, but in the contemporary context it is necessary to go further, fostering the awakening of people’s wisdom
and imagination, not the automated reproduction of the current normotic system.
It is essential that these institutions become spaces that allow people to reach
higher levels of understanding about relationships with themselves, with others, with
nature and with the cosmos. That they are capable of transforming premises (beliefs
and values) incompatible with the clamor of the new times in premises compatible
with the possibility of earthly survival.
I also believe that in higher education institutions, this process should begin with
teacher training and the promotion of collective engagement with the knowledge of
the various segments of society, on the central and most critical issues that afflict
humanity—aspects that cause the university to assume a truthful and strong commitment to social transformation.
The formation of higher education educators must be aligned with the effective
demands of contemporary society, based not only on the epistemological and methodological dimensions, but also ontological dimension in the formative processes. This
involves, among others, the way in which the “being” perceives the “realities” and
acts in the world, which presupposes, in a first instance, the understanding of “being”
by the “being” itself.
The perspective defended here requires that teachers, besides an episteme and a
methodology, adopt an ontology that involves a worldview and attitude to the realities
in line with the transdisciplinary principles—which dismisses, on their part, going
beyond the intellectual comprehension of a theory and a set of teaching techniques.
Moraes (2012, p. 82) affirms that new theoretical and epistemological contributions are needed to help ecologicalize the ontology, that is, the relationships of being
with its reality, to better understand the relations between subject and object, as
well as the methodological aspects related to the pedagogical practices adopted in
education.
From the conception of education defended in this study, and considering even
the principles brought by Morin (2001), the following elements are presented to the
training of teachers of higher education: methodological congruence; multidimensionality of being; multidimensionality of relationships; attention to the unveiling
of ‘power from within’; meaningful learning; solidarity and civic culture; learning
spaces; access to truths; heterogeneous plural practices (transdisciplinarity); wisdom