Podcast II :Change Laboratories for school development: Experiences from Finland and beyond
Links:
- SoundOn Link: https://player.soundon.fm/p/8817f7dc-748f-4f92-a131-d4c56c069d53/episodes/358c011b-0c32-4049-bfdc-aa0d3b461c16
- Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7oKdHdLM52CcdzQXS6BfnI
- KKBox: https://podcast.kkbox.com/tw/episode/1_63j-ViufooL_6jU0
Speakers:
- Assistant Professor HU Xinyun Annie, Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) & Assistant Director, GRIFE, The Education University of Hong Kong
- Professor Yrjö Engeström, Professor, Adult Education; Director, Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE), University of Helsinki; Professor Emeritus of Communication, University of California, San Diego
What if the goal of educational research wasn't just to analyze problems, but to actively transform learning environments with practitioners?
In our new GRIFE Podcast episode, Dr. Annie Xinyun HU sits down with Professor Yrjö Engeström, the creator of the Change Laboratory method. They explore how to turn schools into labs for sustainable development.
Key takeaways:
🔍 Why it's a "Laboratory": It’s not about control, but about creating a safe space for genuine dialogue and confronting contradictions productively.
🔄 The Bottom-Up Approach: Outcomes aren't pre-determined by researchers but are co-created with teachers, students, and parents.
➡️ The "laboratory" is a provocation: a safe space to tackle difficult, contradictory issues without suppression.
➡️ The goal is to break "self-fulfilling prophecies" and shift from a deficit view of students to understanding systemic root causes.
In this series, Professor Engeström explains how this approach, rooted in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, helps break "vicious circles" and empowers entire learning communities.
As Professor Engeström says, creative research should surprise us. It shouldn't just confirm what we already know.
