Social Constuctivism and Training

In social constructivism - knowledge is co-created within relationships rather than being something that is 'out there'.

I am intrigued by this idea, having always put knowledge from 'out there' on a pedestal. I have always understood it to come from others - from smarter people! In training on mindfulness, social constructivism is vital as every group is diffferent, and everyone's experience of meditation and mindfulness is unique. The learning comes from each individual experience. That is the starting point and that is what the trainer will work with.

Is there learning from this that can be taken on board for training more generally - on any topic? Whilst we train on topics where there are tools, manuals, course books, power points and flip charts summarising the key learning points - everyone's journey has been different and their experiences at work will be unique depending on the culture, the environment, the people. How do we ensure that we don't categories people, their stories and their answers to questions - as being the same as others and therefore, miss something? How can we take into account where they are and start from there? How much new knowledge could come from a course in this way? How much space is made for this in the course?

As trainers, we do our best to weave participants experiences into the prepared content, giving it a flow and building up a picture. The beauty of the course is only preparing half the picture and leaving the rest to be co-created by the other artists in the room - adding their particular shade and nuances to the canvas.

For more on this, see 'fill vs fulfill' post and 'overlearning'.