Resourcive Pedagogy - the Vitality is the Future’s Master
PD DDr. Johannes Gasser, Switzerland
Summary
Resourcive Pedagogy shows how the future of education and schooling could look like. It is falling back not only on "classical" external and internal resources (institutions, books, knowledge, self-esteem), but also on existential resources, such as cleverness or ingenious zest for life. It is inviting everyone to sail on the waves of vitality and zest for life. Following are two examples of how resourcive pedagogy changes perspective and approach: "There are no difficult students!" and "You can't learn what is essential!"
1. "There are no difficult students!"
Man does not need solutions
"Educating people is difficult and is not leading towards an end!" Is this a thesis or a fact? Does education always determine constant problems and half-hearted solutions? Isn't it strange that education is always seen in the context of problems and imperfect solutions! First of all, you cannot solve people! Education that tries to dissolve people's problems will not be successful. Development and learning is not a task that can be solved. Development and learning are ongoing processes and continuously getting more complex. It is a permanent enrichment with knowledge, experience, success, mishap, cleverness, survival and reappearance. Learning is no redemption and far from being a solution. Is swimming resolvable? No, if you want to cross the lake you will have to do swimming. There is no solution to swimming but swimming!
Man is not a problem
Man is not a problem, but an inner place that produces nothing but uniqueness: unique experience, unique views, unique success and failure. In the course of his development man has to solve problems, but it is not his task to dissolve or resolve himself. Man is not a problem but a dignity. But in every day life this principle originating from 19th century enlightenment is often avoided. The teacher says: "Meggy, behave yourself!" This remark indicates that the teacher is convinced that the person called Meggy is not behaving herself in this moment. He is aiming at Meggy, not at her behavior. Obviously he is thinking that Meggy is what she does. A similar way of thinking reflects the phrase "Stephen has been difficult since half a year or so". And father Artho complaints: "Beth is bad in math".
Man is not difficult
"What's wrong about this? Isn't it just a fact?" may be father Artho's comment. "No, that's exactly what it is not", would Resourcive Pedagogy say. These phrases are not facts but interpretations and indicate a very unfavorable attitude, because they demonstrate a belief that such a thing as a "difficult student" really exists. But this is wrong: there are no difficult students, but only students that have more difficulties than others! Why that? The student is a person, who deals with multiple tasks, the challenge of life, with discouragement and various fears. But this does not lead to the conclusion that he or she is difficult. People are not difficult, even when their behaviors are difficult to us. The student's behavior may be difficult, but not the person. This person is full of longing, expectation, hope and intensity of life. Even if life is difficult for her, it's not her, who is difficult.
I am working on difficulties - doesn't that make me difficult?
Sometimes it is not my child's behavior that is difficult. What I find difficult is to accept my reaction to my child's behavior. Still I wouldn't dream of saying: "I am difficult". To say that I am difficult makes no sense to me at all. Nor does it make sense to tell my child: "You are difficult!" - how difficult the situation may be to me. Instead of taking difficulties as what they are - i.e. tasks to manage - we are projecting the difficulties on to the other person - due to our usual way of thinking. This is common practice in Traditional Pedagogy while resourcive support calls it by its name: destroying life’s energy! And what's the alternative? If you manage to ally the learner with his searching zest for life and respect the young person's vital energy (by questioning and considering your own rhythm and swing), then you will find that resistance is no refusal but an offer on the market of flow. Flow is the stream of experienced vitality. "Resourcive" means to fall back not only on "classical" external and internal resources (books, knowledge, self-esteem), but to also exploit existential resources, such as atmosphere and ingenuity, and to sail on the waves of human energies.
Difficult? Disturbances and blockage of flow
Resourcive thinking assumes two actual reasons for difficult disturbances: bewitchment and flow blockage. First: In contact with difficult youth you are bewitching yourself, meaning your consciousness and thinking are confused. Well then, give up your self-bewitchment and give space to the student to activate his cleverness. Teach him to use his cleverness to achieve both: to reach fulfillment while performing well. Second: Every disturbance is a blockage of flow and thus a waste of energy. So why don't you give the power to the student to organize himself - this changes his system of disturbance and difficulty. And third, freedom alone is not enough to organize yourself. So teach him to coach himself to independence.
We cannot learn the real essential things in life. Only non-essential things can be learned, such as subjects, method, knowledge, other's insight, books, content, correct behaviors, right grammar. It is our very personal task to discover and experience what is essential. We have to take our own ingenuity really serious and develop it to an accessible level as well as bringing our activating pleasure to a point where it can't hold itself and breaks out in performance. This "have to" that results from the pleasure to know more is the only productive "have to" that there is. All the other "shoulds" and sanctions, all those "you must" and "why don't you finally do" are consuming more energy than they are providing.
Who has to, doesn't want to
Take this example. Jo: "Ma, where is dinner?" Mother: "Jo, go and do your homework first - there will be dinner then." After this dialogue Jo will probably find some excuse, such as "I have done my homework already" or "There is almost no homework today". The form of energy that the mother uses is expectation and pressure: the mother is giving an order and performance is the main issue to her. This provokes Jo's zest for life as life's energy stops wanting to do something the moment it has to.
Opposition protects the zest for live
Instead of finding an excuse Jo may also use the tool of opposition: "How stupid (you are)! I'm hungry now and I am tired. I will definitely do it later." Mother is focusing on the duty but for Jo his rhythm goes first. He doesn't want to be told what to do and he does not want what he is told to do. The pressure that goes with the order is the reason for opposing. Our reactions don't follow performance in the first place but they follow the form of energy. Pressure creates counter-pressure. If Jo decides to stay with himself and with his flow, he actually "has to" resist her directives. He opposes or tries to escape (by using an excuse). With regard to the logic of energy this is a correct reaction, but it is unproductive for life and performance. Resourcive Pedagogy suggests to give priority to the form of energy in every action and to rank the result of that action (the performance in its narrow sense) second. The performance will thus get better und fewer difficulties will occur.
Resourcing instead of commanding
How would the dialogue sound, if mother wouldn't act in a know-all attitude but in a supportive way? A requirement is that Jo generally agrees that homework makes sense and that it is an advantage to do them quick. This makes conversations necessary - outside this situation and in advance. On this condition the game of offers to think may be: (Mother :) "Jo, what do you intend to do today?" Jo: "Go swimming, go playing with a friend and there is homework to do". "What is the grade you want to achieve in your next test?" "A 'B' would be fine!" "How do you plan to gain the necessary knowledge? Do you want me to help or do you think your goal would be easier to reach if you sit down and learn right now or do you think it's easier to do that work after dinner, since you're tired now?" Jo: "The best way would be to do it right now, but my friend is waiting". Mother: "Do you want to ask him to wait or do you want to have him come here? Or what else could you do to find the cleverest way to reconcile your different interests?" Jo decides to do the homework immediately which leaves him more freedom later.
How does the resourcing "mechanism" work?
The mother isn't talking about performance and duties any more, but she is activating Jo's self-confidence. She encourages him to use his brain to learn to do what he really wants to do and to not just answer the needs of the moment. And it is amazing to see how young people are able to choose the most efficient way, the way that fulfills all requirements perfectly. This is resourcive action. The six big tools that support this are: working on your consciousness, self organization coaching, efficient use of human energies and its logic (human energy management), navigation of flow, supportive and cunning strategies as well as the 15 tools of clever communication.
PD DDr. phil. habil. Johannes Gasser
Dr. of philosophy (1969) and clinical psychology (1995), habilitation 1990, Privatdozent University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Director of the Institut für HumanEnergie, Bern and of the ZukunftsAkademie Energon, Bern. Founder of the GasserSchule
GasserSchule am Bodensee, Schloss Glarisegg, CH-8266 Steckborn, Switzerland.
Tel: +41 (0)52 770 29 29 / gasser@energon.ch / www.energon.ch
