Owen's Perspectives

During the sessions we learned about Robert Owen's perspectives on learning and discussed what relevance they have today. Owen was interested in the inconsistencies in the world which he believed were the reasons why people act out of character when they commit crimes or are unkind to each other. He was particularly keen on the idea that characters could be shaped and moulded. He said

"“The poor and the uneducated profligate among the working classes, who are now trained to commit crimes, for the commission of which they are afterwards punished… …the remaining mass of the population, are now instructed to believe…that certain principles are unerringly true, and to act as though they were grossly false.”

The purpose of the adult workshops is to celebrate the opening of the Institute of Character Reformation in January 2016 by exploring Owen's principles for learning. What do they mean to us today? Has Owen left a forgotten legacy?

Owen made three main reforms:

• Reforming rights - giving children the right to education up to the age of 10 (or 12 for those that chose to continue) instead of providing cheap labour in the mills.

• Reforming character - which for Owen was essentially based on the 'truth' that one gained from valuing the principle of kindness to all in pursuit of happiness.

• Reforming the community - creating good conditions for living that reduced any need for deviant behaviour through for example good health and hygiene, the creation of the Institute for Character Reformation that was a centre of learning for the whole community - adults and children, and a form of democratic participation in setting and maintaining common rules and regulations.

There are lots of ways to learn more about Robert Owen including this learning zone.

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