Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AECED (Transforming Education for Democracy through Aesthetic and Embodied Learning, Responsive Pedagogies and Democracy-as-becoming)
Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31
Project description
Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy-as-becoming
Most education for democracy omits a fundamental dimension of learning – that is, the aesthetic and embodied nature of learning. The ambition of the AECED project is to remedy this omission. To do this, the AECED project aims to enhance and enrich education for democracy by creating an innovative pedagogical Framework and associated Guides that focus on the aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy.
The purpose of aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy is to nurture in people a grounding for active engagement in democracy and democratic relationships. This grounding includes aesthetic awareness and qualities, ethical sensibilities, collaborative, reflexive, and critical capabilities, and an openness to newly ‘seeing’ the other – as well as awareness that aesthetic and bodily experience shape and are shaped by societal structures. In developing this grounding, learners' identities are nurtured as sources of awareness and knowing who experience the interconnection of body and mind and the aesthetic and embodied engagement of experiencing others. Educators are learners in this, too: both educators and learners are engaged in aesthetic and embodied experiences, and neither can stand outside them.
The project views democracy as ‘democracy-as-becoming’. It does not see democracy as a destination to be reached, but a constant relational process of becoming towards future possibilities underpinned by principles of power sharing, transforming dialogue, holistic learning and relational well-being.
Objective
The project will:
1. Design an innovative aesthetic and embodied pedagogical prototype Framework with associated Guides to practice that support responsive, participatory pedagogies.
2. Test the prototype Framework and Guides through participatory action research across different educational phases and contexts.
3. Refine the Framework and Guides based on research results.
4. Disseminate and promote the Framework and Guides through 'trailblazer users' who will lead educational transformation.
Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy-as-becoming
Most education for democracy omits a fundamental dimension of learning – that is, the aesthetic and embodied nature of learning. The ambition of the AECED project is to remedy this omission. To do this, the AECED project aims to enhance and enrich education for democracy by creating an innovative pedagogical Framework and associated Guides that focus on the aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy.
The purpose of aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy is to nurture in people a grounding for active engagement in democracy and democratic relationships. This grounding includes aesthetic awareness and qualities, ethical sensibilities, collaborative, reflexive, and critical capabilities, and an openness to newly ‘seeing’ the other – as well as awareness that aesthetic and bodily experience shape and are shaped by societal structures. In developing this grounding, learners' identities are nurtured as sources of awareness and knowing who experience the interconnection of body and mind and the aesthetic and embodied engagement of experiencing others. Educators are learners in this, too: both educators and learners are engaged in aesthetic and embodied experiences, and neither can stand outside them.
The project views democracy as ‘democracy-as-becoming’. It does not see democracy as a destination to be reached, but a constant relational process of becoming towards future possibilities underpinned by principles of power sharing, transforming dialogue, holistic learning and relational well-being.
Objective
The project will:
1. Design an innovative aesthetic and embodied pedagogical prototype Framework with associated Guides to practice that support responsive, participatory pedagogies.
2. Test the prototype Framework and Guides through participatory action research across different educational phases and contexts.
3. Refine the Framework and Guides based on research results.
4. Disseminate and promote the Framework and Guides through 'trailblazer users' who will lead educational transformation.
During the first year of the project, there were three main achievements.
1. Prototype Development: The prototype pedagogical Framework and Guides were created to inspire democratic education through aesthetic and embodied learning. These will be tested in various educational phases and national contexts.
2. Methodological Framework: The project established a Framework to guide participatory action research in 19 cases, ensuring coherence and a foundation for evaluating the prototypes. A metadata matrix was also created to facilitate cross-case analysis.
3. Case Designs Completion: Creative and rigorous case designs were finalised for data collection and analysis to explore use of the prototype Framework and Guides, measure transformational change and improve the prototypes.
All the project deliverables were submitted within the planned schedule, underpinned by extensive collaboration between partners.
1. Prototype Development: The prototype pedagogical Framework and Guides were created to inspire democratic education through aesthetic and embodied learning. These will be tested in various educational phases and national contexts.
2. Methodological Framework: The project established a Framework to guide participatory action research in 19 cases, ensuring coherence and a foundation for evaluating the prototypes. A metadata matrix was also created to facilitate cross-case analysis.
3. Case Designs Completion: Creative and rigorous case designs were finalised for data collection and analysis to explore use of the prototype Framework and Guides, measure transformational change and improve the prototypes.
All the project deliverables were submitted within the planned schedule, underpinned by extensive collaboration between partners.
The impact of the project will be scientific and societal.
The scientific impact that the project is progressing towards is ground-breaking and transferable research on aesthetic and embodied learning and responsive pedagogies for democracy and the change these evoke in learners and educators. Progress in the first reporting period along the pathway to this scientific impact has involved:
• collaborative work between partners on exploring and sharing a range of theory, concepts, practices and research literature relating to aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy.
• the design of cases, guided by a project Methodological Framework, to trial the Prototype Pedagogical Framework and Guides and to generate in-depth data in varying and contrasting contexts.
The societal impact that the project is progressing towards is new pedagogical approaches to education for democracy that engage learners’ and educators’ hearts as well as minds, increase capacity to engage actively in democratic citizenship that connects and evolves locally, and strengthens the ways in which practising democracy challenges social injustices and engages with conflict and antagonisms. The project will introduce new innovative pedagogies and engage educators’ creativity in developing aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy, through use of the project’s Pedagogical Framework and Guides by ‘early adopter’ education stakeholders in all phases of education (primary, secondary, higher education and adult/professional) and ensuring research results and pedagogical resources are available after the project’s funded period.
As it is in its early phase, the project does not yet have measurable results. However, the created prototype pedagogical Framework and associated Guides are first step towards measurable results, such as scientific publications and the launch-ready Framework, which will be the project’s pathways to its scientific and societal impact. Successful completion of research trialling the prototype Framework and Guides in 19 cases in differing national contexts and the forthcoming cross-case analysis, as well as ongoing efforts of the CDE strategy, which includes maintaining and strengthening relations with a variety of European stakeholders, are critical aspects in achieving future results and in proceeding towards the realisation of the project’s scientific and societal impact.
The scientific impact that the project is progressing towards is ground-breaking and transferable research on aesthetic and embodied learning and responsive pedagogies for democracy and the change these evoke in learners and educators. Progress in the first reporting period along the pathway to this scientific impact has involved:
• collaborative work between partners on exploring and sharing a range of theory, concepts, practices and research literature relating to aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy.
• the design of cases, guided by a project Methodological Framework, to trial the Prototype Pedagogical Framework and Guides and to generate in-depth data in varying and contrasting contexts.
The societal impact that the project is progressing towards is new pedagogical approaches to education for democracy that engage learners’ and educators’ hearts as well as minds, increase capacity to engage actively in democratic citizenship that connects and evolves locally, and strengthens the ways in which practising democracy challenges social injustices and engages with conflict and antagonisms. The project will introduce new innovative pedagogies and engage educators’ creativity in developing aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy, through use of the project’s Pedagogical Framework and Guides by ‘early adopter’ education stakeholders in all phases of education (primary, secondary, higher education and adult/professional) and ensuring research results and pedagogical resources are available after the project’s funded period.
As it is in its early phase, the project does not yet have measurable results. However, the created prototype pedagogical Framework and associated Guides are first step towards measurable results, such as scientific publications and the launch-ready Framework, which will be the project’s pathways to its scientific and societal impact. Successful completion of research trialling the prototype Framework and Guides in 19 cases in differing national contexts and the forthcoming cross-case analysis, as well as ongoing efforts of the CDE strategy, which includes maintaining and strengthening relations with a variety of European stakeholders, are critical aspects in achieving future results and in proceeding towards the realisation of the project’s scientific and societal impact.