Learning from each other and telling stories

“We have to write our own stories, about our issues, from our own perspectives” – Abhay Xaxa, a “Fiercely Unapologetic Adivasi Scholar-Activist | Read more >>

Learning from each other and telling stories is more than doing things the way they were done in the past. Like other researchers, Todor Proykov, officer at RIPFA (Research in Practice for Adults) at Dartington, is “discovering that people respond to the power of stories far better than to concise Powerpoint bullets”:

The idea of using stories is very much at the cutting edge of social work knowledge exchange at the moment. Stories deliver messages that really stick with people. The form is as important as the content and the personal aspect of the story is essential – the best learning comes when there is a strong personal identification with what is being related. […]

Enabling people to learn from each other opens up the possibility of creating learning organisations – where people are learning from each other every day at every level. […]

It seems like going back to the way things were done in the past – learning by telling stories, learning by hearing how other people did things. But now with the addition of email and the internet this becomes much more powerful as long term learning groups can form regardless of location.

Note: Dartington Trust in Totnes (Devon, UK) is an institution established to promote the Arts, Social Justice and Sustainability. It was founded by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst and inspired by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Asia’s first Nobel Prize awardee who worked towards education for all in combination with rural development. Tagore stayed at Dartington Hall during his European tour in 1930.

Source: Scene magazine, Issue one, Spring Summer 2010; published by The Dartington Hall Trust (Dartington Arts, Social Justice, Sustainability), Totnes, April 23, 2010 p. 18
URL: https://issuu.com/dartington/docs/scene-1
Date Visited: 6 February 2021

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