Facilitating unlearning in agricultural education: preparing for family-farm succession

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptualisation of unlearning, based on van Oers et al. (2023).

Table 1. Overview of sessions, Sustainable Family Farm Succession (2019–2020).

	Session	Parents present
1	Welcome and kick-off Challenges in the agrifood sector	X
2	Finances and farm succession
3	Vision, mission, and strategy, including farm visits
4	Visits to farms and other links in the supply chain (full day)
5	Communication, succession, and entrepreneurship styles (‘matrix exercise’)	X
6	Final presentations	X

Figure 2. Facilitating unlearning in preparations for farm succession.

Table 2. Suggested prompts to consider when incorporating unlearning into course design.

Initial destabilisation	Ongoing discarding and experimentation	Developing and relinquishing
‘Recognise’	‘Strategise’	‘Act’
Need for unlearning becomes clear	Motivated to make a change	Making a change
How may the course help students to recognise the need for unlearning?	How may the course help students propose strategies for addressing the limitations of established farm practices, routines, and beliefs, and how can it help them to experiment with new ones?	How may the course support students to make a change, in terms of discarding old routines and adopting new ones?
In what ways may the course encourage reflection on established farm practices, routines, and beliefs and help students to recognise the potential limits of their learning?	How may the course encourage students to confront their biases and stereotypical thinking and to consider alternatives perspectives as legitimate?	How may the course support students in detaching from prior behaviours and perspectives and in consolidating emerging understandings?

van Oers, L., G. Feola, H. Runhaar, and E. Moors. 2023. “Unlearning in Sustainability Transitions: Insight from Two Dutch Community-Supported Agriculture Farms.” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 46:100693. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2023.100693

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