Dr Paul Vare’s A Rounder Sense of Purpose session kicked off the second season of Our Shared World’s Learning Lunches last week. Paul offered an uplifting and inspiring exploration of what it truly means to educate for a just and sustainable future. Introducing the Rounder Sense of Purpose (RSP) framework, Paul presented the palette of competences that empowers educators to move beyond teaching about sustainability to nurturing the values, attitudes, and connections that make learning transformative. Although Paul said that working on one competency inevitably invites the other eleven, he focused specifically on empathy – the capacity to listen deeply, understand others, and act with care – as the heart of effective education and meaningful social change.
Paul celebrated empathy as a powerful, active competence – something that can be learned, practised, and modelled. He encouraged educators to create spaces where learners can imagine different perspectives, express emotion, and connect authentically with people and the wider living world. Through creative and reflective practices he suggested empathy becomes a catalyst for resilience, cooperation, and hope enabling both teachers and young people to see themselves as part of something larger and more meaningful.
