Creating a grassroots social movement to drive demand for a purpose of education that contributes to SDG 4.7
A social movement is a loosely organised effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal. It’s about social change – in OSW’s case, a change in thinking about what education is for.
What do we know about social movements?
- They happen all the time as change happens all the time
- It is about group action with individuals or organizations or both.
- We are in one now – climate change movement, COVID, Make Poverty History, Black Lives Matter, Occupy/disinvestments, democracy attacks, BREXIT, Teach the Future + student strikes
- Or historically: OXFAM, women’s emancipation, civil rights, gay rights etc
- They have a clear single purpose
- They are open source
The Social Movement Group is a large group interested in engaging a wider and wider network to have conversations about the purpose of education as well as take action to test it out. As this is new to most people, we are training ourselves up (and having fun!) in key ideas such as: keystone changes to change the purpose of education towards SDG 4.7, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support for the current education system, values, language to engage wider groups, system changes, and how to build the networks for social change.
”In a world pervaded by digital technology, power no longer resides at the top of hierarchies, but at the centre of networks. Movements become successful by expanding out, always seeking to widen their appeal.
Greg Satell‘Cascades’ (2019)
