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Welcome
all. This congress, like those before, is committed to
exploring action learning (AL) and participatory action
research (PAR). Our mix of participants from different
fields, professions and sectors of society bespeaks the
opportunity for learning and exhilaration awaiting us.
As we seek to enrich life and our understanding of it,
we move in an increasingly complex world where
unforeseen forces – some enabling, some destructive
– challenge us to maintain courage and optimism. We
are compelled to think deeply, to act with tolerance and
circumspection. Indeed, time of profound change is
precisely when AL and PAR are most useful.
Victimhood, blame shifting and
resignation are easy but feckless responses. We need to
take practical responsibility for our local and global
problems, and acknowledge our ethical responsibility to
care for the earth for those who live in future times.
‘Think globally, act locally’ is today a truly
appropriate axiom. The actions advocated by Reg Revans,
who first coined the term ‘action learning’, offer
wise guidance: share our ideas, experiences and
ignorance; ask probing questions; learn from and with
each other, particularly from what didn’t go well in
our work. Before us now is an exciting opportunity to
engage with learning
partners in action. So let’s get together to
create some lively learning action of our own!
Professor
Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt, Congress Advocate
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