by Avanka Fernando
Reading the manifestos of presidential candidates in the run-up to the elections, many search for hope for the future. Studying the content in the manifestos on higher education, I soon realised that they engage little with the ‘real’ subjects that occupy my thoughts, for instance, the everyday challenges of those working in the Sri Lankan university system. These include the endless responsibilities of an academic, the desire to engage in impactful research amidst pressures of having to ‘produce’ and ‘publish’, balancing excessive administrative loads with teaching and research, addressing numerous issues of students, coping with everyday interactions of academic, non-academic staff, administrators, and striving to co-create a meaningful learning experience. Reflecting on these myriad tasks in everyday university life, I found a glimmer of hope in a subject close to my heart, experiential learning. While drawing on my experiences with students and communities in Sri Lankan universities of over a decade or more, this piece primarily focuses on a recent field experience from 2024.
Experiential learning has been a strong component in my department at the University of Colombo, where Sociology honours students attend an intensive field training programme in their third year. In addition, they conduct extensive independent research in their final year, and, as of more recently, engage in internships. Students following General degrees also participate in practicums. During the field training programme, students practice research methods learnt during their degree programme in different field settings, interact actively with diverse communities, experience everyday issues encountered in Sri Lanka, and are exposed to government administrative systems, such as Divisional Secretaries, Grama Niladharis, Public Health Inspectors, administrators, community officers, police officers, samithi and community members. However, over the years, the sustainability of these experiential learning components in our curriculum has been challenged. Field training programmes have been at risk of being discontinued due to budgetary restrictions and administrative stipulations have a detrimental effect on this fundamental aspect of student learning. Moreover, the current emphasis on outcomes-based learning and tightly structured semesters have left students with limited time and opportunities for problem-solving and reflection.
Learning as a process of learning, unlearning, and relearning
In our recently completed field training programme, students and staff visited five villages, comprising villages with Sinhala residents, estates with Tamil speaking communities, and mixed villages (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim) in the Ratnapura district. Students spent the mornings practicing research methods (i.e., questionnaires, interviews, observation, focus group discussions and community participatory methods) in the field, while evenings were spent presenting their findings and reflecting on their experiences.
The first day of presentations were filled with first impressions regarding the communities. Ideas were often framed in terms of personal value-judgements and societal stereotypes. The students presented ambitious conclusions regarding people, the communities, and the social structure. Initial student presentations characterised the villages as ‘dushkara’ (difficult), and the villagers as ‘nuugath’ (uneducated) and ‘duppath’ (poor). Undeniably, many villages were “dushkara”, with limited access to transport networks, educational resources, and health services. Roads to people’s houses were precarious, housing was in bad repair, and, despite residents paying monthly maintenance costs and politicians making grand promises, limited infrastructural improvements had taken place. Experiential learning also involved staff providing extensive feedback after presentations, often reminding students to look beyond the surface and not to jump to conclusions, based on a day’s observations.
It was evident that as the days progressed, students grappled in learning, unlearning, and relearning. For example, on day three, a student suggested that, contrary to popular stereotypes, these communities were not ‘uneducated’ and ‘poor’. He highlighted examples of members of these communities who were in the formal education system, spoke of their educational aspirations, and also discussed other forms of knowledge prevalent in the community. It was heartening to hear students reflect on processes, discuss ideas about people, navigate multiple narratives, observe and reflect on how things worked and discuss what mattered most to people.
Learning as engaging with the world
Experiential learning programmes provide students opportunities to extend their experience beyond classrooms and gain insights into a multifaceted world. During field training, students not only engaged with communities, but interacted with community/religious leaders, teachers, and government officials. On the first day, students met government officials and community leaders and listened to their perspectives. Later, they visited the villages in groups, and engaged with various communities. On the eve of day one, when they returned from the field, some students commented on the lack of government officials’ community involvement. While the immediate tendency was to blame government officials, students were soon reminded of their excessive workloads, their allocated areas constituting far more than the government stipulated population, and the everyday challenges they encountered due to the distance between the allocated villages and where they lived. These officers frankly discussed the numerous challenges in daily life explaining how they impacted their effectiveness in the field. These experiences helped students to navigate multiple perspectives, and to respect diverse groups of people and communities.
Learning and reflecting together in community
Experiential learning is central to transitioning students from individual centric learning to forming learning communities. While students learnt from people in the field, they also learnt from each other. As staff members who have accompanied several batches of students on field training over the years, we have been slightly perturbed by responses from contemporary batches, especially those who have enrolled after COVID-19 and other national crises. At times, students displayed a lack of engagement with those in the field, there appeared to be a regular need for selfies, and strong expressions of individuality as opposed to collective work, both in the field and in the presentations. These observations could not merely be dismissed as a generational vice of ‘Gen Z’. Instead, we were fascinated by these different forms of expression, and more importantly, these provided us perfect teaching opportunities.
In the classrooms, students encounter limited student-lecturer interaction. However, in the field, power dynamics drastically change. Students gaped open-mouthed as lecturers, often led by the most senior of them, waded through streams and leech covered areas to reach the villages. Others traversed barefoot in the blazing sun participating in community festivals, still others engaged in colourful rituals and practices of the communities. These experiences challenged the stereotypical role of the lecturer as a “sage on the stage”, instead lecturers became “guides by their side”. These impressions were consolidated through walking and learning alongside them, challenging their ideas, and even reluctantly appearing in selfies with them.
Another key lesson was the importance of peer-learning and group work. Initially, students who were more confident and verbose were prone to take the forefront. However, students soon realised that experiential learning was not solitary learning, but involved teamwork. Each student had to demonstrate skills, practice and mastery of research methods for each group to collectively present their findings, fostering understanding of the importance of forming communities of learning.
Experiential learning as a transforming process
As Paulo Freire observes (1974), the process of learning involves “reflection and action upon the world, in order to transform it.” Not only does experiential learning reap many benefits for students to learn, and practice research skills, acquire ‘soft skills’, and work in groups, it also requires them to engage in reflective thinking and problem-solving. Returning to our recent field training programme, students were encouraged to identify problems, co-create solutions, and take action. Conversations with community leaders helped identify areas in which students and the department could intervene. Students and staff even reflected on how the structure of the field training programmes, practical placements, research methods and theories could change.
In conclusion, in envisaging the future of higher education, it is essential to recognise the significance of experiential learning and strengthen existing programmes that integrate transformative learning into the curriculum. As mentioned at the onset, the rhetoric touted by the political powers that be, often promote ambitious and unrealistic plans rarely relevant to ground realities and needs of everyday university life. My initial exhaustion in reading the manifestos and future plans for education emerged from the sense of disconnect between political rhetoric and the everyday. Although one might place hope on elections and politicians who offer great plans and visions for the future of education, it might be more pertinent to go beyond manifestos and election propaganda, and engage with the realities of everyday life in the country.
Experiential learning emphasises the significance of ordinary people and concrete experience, the importance of people’s life-worlds, community strengths and resources, and what matters to them. Hence, to invest in experiential learning, is to nurture the potential that prevails in ordinary people and communities, it is to go beyond individual centric agendas and collaborate with each other, it is to listen, reflect and learn from each other in this deeply fragmented society. This would be when learning becomes transformative.
