In the early 2010s, Dr. Marylin Taylor developed the Emergent Theory of Learning to help understand how we learn and gain wisdom. She writes: Each time we are confronted with the unfamiliar, we make a profound choice. We either engage in exploring and learning from what we have encountered or try to secure ourselves inside familiar territory. The option we choose at one point in time tends to predispose us to repeat it the next time. As we accumulate a preponderance of one of these choices over the other, we define our lives and who we become in essential ways. Our actions are shaped by how we understand ourselves and our world, so how we learn, or not, very significantly shapes our own and others’ lives. These choices and actions also ultimately contribute to the texture of our world, which, in turn, presents us with further challenges (Taylor, 2011). Through this framework we can deepen our understanding of the impact of global education experiences in disrupting traditional learning and sparking new pathways of learning and gaining wisdom, regardless of our age.
At Havergal College, our Global Experience Program worked in partnership with Crescent School, and with the organization Alive Outdoors2, to offer an excursion to The Kingdom of Bhutan in March of 2023. Seven students from Havergal and four from Crescent School participated, along with myself, two other trip leaders, and Alive Outdoors staff. We met four times leading up to departure to build risk containers, grow cultural knowledge, and develop ethical travel skills and strategies. Each session was designed to prepare us for the unfamiliar, into which we would adventure for two weeks. Through the lens of Emergent Learning Theory, these sessions were adequate in ensuring that students and trip leaders alike had the disposition to be more curious than judgmental while away. However, once in the Kingdom of Bhutan, we were thrust into what Dr. Taylor calls, The Disorientation Phase. The altitude, the food, the language, and the cultural mores were surprising, and being thrust into such unfamiliarity – culturally and physically – triggered “... the discovery that our conceptual map does not relate to the current territory“ (Taylor, 2011). We reflected that the geography, altitude, and the language barrier made some of us feel isolated and far away from our comfort zone, and the ability to predict what would happen next.
In this phase, we were becoming aware of our unconscious incompetence and did not know expectations, shared language or mores. Dr. Taylor describes this moment of awareness as having, “... just stepped onto the bridge, losing our footing on one side and not yet having planted ourselves on the other” (Taylor, 2011). Our trip leaders and guides played a critical role of trusted others to make the unfamiliar and uncomfortable less so. The role of our trusted others evolved over the course of our excursion and, toward the end of the trip, came to the fore when we learned about the Divine Madman, a llama who was very untraditional and is honoured across the Kingdom of Bhutan through various representations of the phallus. As we entered the village of Chimi Lhakhang, where the Temple of the Divine Madmen is located, we were confronted with overt images of the phallus in souvenir shops, painted on the buildings, and even being blessed by a llama holding one. This was indeed unfamiliar. One student responded to the uncomfortable laughter and questions with: “C’mon, guys, this is just our worldview coming up against a worldview that we don’t get, don’t understand. We need to respect this and wonder about it, not laugh at it.” This denotes a shift into the second phase of Emergent Learning: The Exploration Zone, where learners are reframing their experiences.
In her work, Dr. Taylor explains, “The way out of the [Disorientation Phase] comes first in a moment of reconnection, specifically a moment of affirmation by a person significant to us in the setting because we have attributed credibility and authority to him or her.” We turned to our Bhutanese guide, Galay, to learn more. With him, we explored the history, meaning, and cultural significance of the Divine Madman and of the phallus. We explored the temple of the Divine Madman with solemnity and respect. In Dr. Taylor’s work, she leans into Buddhism, the religion and organizing principles of the Kingdom of Bhutan: “From a Buddhist perspective, Eleanor Rosch speaks of ‘primary knowing’ in a similar way: ‘Such knowing is open rather than determinate, and a sense of unconditional value, rather than conditional usefulness.’” (Taylor, 2011) We were beginning to integrate our experiences into the lived understanding and mental models. This leads to the Transformation Phase of Emergent Learning Theory.
Dr. Taylor describes this next phase as: “Suddenly, we become reoriented to a new intellectual position; the ‘repositioning’ makes it possible for one to apprehend the new pattern that makes sense of the particulars.” (Taylor, 2011) These reflective sessions and dialogue between students and our guides were collective inquiry and relational inquiry, where they could let go of our need for certainty, past experiences and future expectations, and listen to a new world of possibilities as a result of their experience and discussions with others from different worldviews. This was the beginning of acquiring wisdom (Taylor, 2011).
Once returned to Canada, at Havergal College we conducted sessions of “Transference” where students and faculty alike consider the story they can tell themselves and others about their excursion: solidification of our transformation. Knowing that others have not been to Bhutan, and have not experienced what we had, how can we relate and relay this to others? What is the story we now telling ourselves about who we are because of this experience? This Transference maps onto the final phase of Emergent Learning: The Equilibrium. Dr. Taylor writes that once we have passed through the first three phases: “We have returned to a period of psychic quiescence with a new and more expansive perspective with which to understand our world, at least until we meet our next perspective challenge” (Taylor, 2011). Time will cause these experiences to be told and retold by all on this excursion, and no doubt we will continue to pick up on different details of our experiences and their significance will shift our thinking further. The power of global learning is in this phase: we will all look back and continue to reflect on our experiences and see them through different lenses as we all continue to grow and mature. Our global learning project to Bhutan is something that we return to that will continue to cause us to know more about ourselves and our place in the world.
REFERENCES
The Kingdom of Bhutan: Blog from Alive Outdoors: Read about Havergal and Crescent students’ and trip leaders’ experiences on the website.
Taylor, M. (2011). Emergent learning for wisdom. Palgrave Macmillan.
Garth Nichols (he/him/his), the Vice Principal of Experiential Education & Innovation at Havergal College in Toronto, is a seasoned educational leader with a strong commitment to transformative global programming. Responsible for Experiential Education, including international experiences and Truth and Reconciliation at Havergal, Garth has a focus on unlocking innovation for student learning and the faculty experience. He sits on the Board of the Independent Schools Experiential Educator’s Network, a global not for profit committed to supporting and upskilling educators to make experiential education a transformational experience for all students. While attending Queen’s, he took part in a year-long exchange to the University of Edinburgh and is still very grateful and fond of his time there.