Hendrik de With

Our educational programmes are focused on conceptual and theoretical knowledge building, and much less on developing skills and knowledge that relate to being able as a human being to make a change. Dealing with complex global problems requires developing creative, out-of-the-box solutions that are continuously rethought and adjusted to reflect insights generated from experience and new knowledge. This requires students to foster openness and a learning mindset to experiment with new ways of thinking.

However, I often see that students freeze when they are confronted with an assignment that in its set-up or content out of their comfort zone (Ref). It requires them to do something they have never done before or to experiment with new ways of thinking. It is difficult for them to be open to try something new, to not knowing, perhaps failing, and then trying to learn from this experience. In an educational system where ‘learning to pass a test or to acquire a good grade’ this openness to learning and to fail and try seems to be suffering (Ref.).