Triple Focus: Systems Thinking and Social and Emotional Development

The Dalai Lama Center was honoured to welcome back to Vancouver Dr. Peter Senge, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the seminal organizational management book, The Fifth Discipline. Dr. Senge was a panelist in dialogue with the Dalai Lama at the Heart-Mind Summit in Vancouver in October, 2014, and also moderated the DLC's Business Leaders Roundtable. (See video of Dr. Senge's presentation at the Heart-Mind Summit).

The day-long working group session, held in the DLC's offices, was attended by representatives of the Dalai Lama Center, UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership, the Waters Foundation, Minerva Foundation, and a number of Metro Vancouver school administrators and educational policy makers.

Dr. Senge moderated an in-depth discussion about Systems Thinking and Social and Emotional Development in education. Some of the key questions addressed included:

• How can we focus on Systems Thinking and Social and Emotional Learning in developing Education for the 21^st Century?
• How do these two key concepts overlap, connect, and complement one-another?
• What is the value added of bringing these two learning frameworks together? Can doing so help develop a more compassionate and holistic worldview for students?
• What research needs to be undertaken to provide the evidence necessary for broad recognition, acceptance, and integration into formal education systems and pre-service training programs?

The Dalai Lama Center looks forward to continuing to facilitate this working group with Dr. Senge and local researchers, practitioners and educational policy makers.