PROMOTING SYSTEMIC CHANGE IN OUR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THROUGH METACOMPETENCIES THAT DEVELOP TRANSFORMATIVE QUALITIES OF BEING AND AGENCY

Abstract

Education systems in Australia are currently in a state of flux and disruption, with student mental health and engagement at crisis levels. This contribution examines how systems awareness and self-awareness in education cannot be separated from the rest of the curricula for students living with impact of global systems changes including COVID-19 and climate disruption. Moreover, in this context, educators are struggling to keep students engaged and provide skills and competencies needed to navigate uncertain and unsustainable futures. Addressing this challenge, our study examines a proposed set of metacompetencies (or systemic competencies) required for a systems reboot within our educational institutions – including agency, adaptability, creativity, compassion, interbeing, self-awareness and reflexivity – described elsewhere as a Curriculum for Being. Findings of this study have demonstrated systemic metacompetencies have served to build student agency for these times of transition – providing social and emotional learning that helps students develop awareness of self in relation to others and systems. This study analyses the application of these metacompetencies for transformative resilience or transilience in both a secondary school and higher education systems setting. Using methodologies of participatory action research and awareness-based systems change it proposes interventions for a much-flawed current educational paradigm that prioritises individuality and competition over connectedness. The interventions described were prototyped, tested and iterated with students in schools as well as undergraduate students at university, with evidence demonstrating that agency, self-awareness and systems awareness can combine to engage students in profound ways to create a new generation of systemic changemakers.