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  2. EDU T012

Transforming Systems: Leadership for the New
EDU T012

Course Information

Description

This course begins with a fundamental question: How do we transform the systems that limit our freedom, well-being, creativity, and common humanity? The course provides a set of incisive practical and analytical instruments that can help students answer these questions and move beyond them, toward actual change in the world. 
 
Increasingly, we find ourselves embedded in institutions and larger societal systems that seem so entrenched that the best one can hope for is to survive and perhaps to thrive within those structures. Most of the frameworks and tools that we learn, in formal and informal education, are the products of this limiting mindset. This is as true for personal life as it is in small groups, teams, organizations, fields of practice, and entire communities and societies. Those who want to create new forms of practice in any of these arenas need a different kind of learning. Now more than ever we need the capacity to diagnose structures in such a way that opens new possibilities. We need to learn how to navigate danger with clear sight and security. We need to know how to create alliances, communicate across great differences, and give life to alternatives that emerge but will disappear without our courage and wisdom. This course provides a grounding for that learning. We use philosophy (both non-Western and Western) to think beyond existing structures; use psychology and group relations to understand and overcome the pressures faced by individuals and communities; draw on theater and literature to craft new modes of communication; and sharpen our interventions by learning organizational dynamics and system analytics.
 
Participants in this course should expect to experience radical forms of teaching, learning, and leadership. They will have the opportunity to address key dilemmas in their own respective fields. They will strengthen their questions, craft their arguments, and develop their written and spoken thoughts with coherence and passion. We will move constantly between theory and real experience, and therefore the learning here will be both intellectually and emotionally intensive. In brief, this is a course in understanding and overcoming the pressures of transforming society. As such, students should only consider the course if they feel ready for that type of transformative work at this point in their lives and careers. (Instructor permission required: To apply, when petitioning the course on my.harvard, add a paragraph in the 'comments' section explaining your reasons for enrolling in the course).
 

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals <p>The learning in this course is both deeply experiential and rigorously intellectual. Past students have found this pedagogy to be a transformative experience for their thinking, writing and practice. We use a variety of methods to research and re-evaluate dilemmas of practice. We work on understanding the role of class, culture and institutions in social work; on placing ourselves in relation to issues of practice, policy and theory; and on gaining a strong grounding in philosophical and organizational literature.&nbsp;</p>
Career Focus The purpose of this course is to prepare students toward leadership for social change at the highest level. By highest level we do not mean highest offices, but a radical ability performed in any position and situation. The personalized and experiential nature of the course creates an environment where students interested in all aspects of public service, education, or activism can find the types of challenges that will help them deepen their relationship to their practice. The course will help you sharpen your arguments, strengthen your questions, face the most difficult conversations, write coherently and with passion, and experiment with radically new forms of acting and thinking.