The learning conference and worldview transformations

In this chapter, the authors explore both the nature of worldview and their particular significance within the context of the learning conference as a potential locus of transformative action learning and research. As presented here, worldviews essentially comprise those idiosyncratic sets of beliefs and assumptions that each of us hold (essentially non-consciously) about matters that include the nature of reality, of knowing and knowledge, and of value and the process of judgement. Our worldviews represent the way we ‘see’ the world about us, which in turn and in large part determines the way that we ‘act’ in it. From this it follows that transforming the way we view the world is prerequisite if we want (or need) to profoundly change what we do in (and to) that world. This is obviously relevant to all who embrace action-for-change as an integral aspect of the process of learning. The key submission in this chapter is that ALAR conferences, which are explicitly designed to facilitate democratic conversations and collaborations among action-oriented scholar-practitioners, can and should provide unique opportunities and safe learning environments for fostering critical epistemic consciousness and supporting worldview transformations. The details and arguments presented provide insights into the character and significance of worldviews along with some suggestions about how these might be used as conceptual foundations for transformative practices that can be adopted and rehearsed within the critically creative, yet safe and supportive culture of the learning conference.