Crossing Walls: Motivation, Commitment, Self-Discovery and the 'World'

Abstract

This contribution adopts a humanistic, neo-Vygotskian and contextualist perspective to examine how individuals learn to “cross walls” – physical, symbolic and psychological – that characterise contemporary anti-group dynamics, in order to construct the Self and engage meaningfully with the world. Through a theoretical reflection that interweaves group analysis, the ecology of human development and generative pedagogy, the article analyses the constitutive tension between destructiveness and creativity and shows how such tension may be contained and transformed into an educational resource through formative relationships. Particular attention is given to the educational environment as a transitional space in which imagination, reflexivity and freedom can be exercised; to the role of schooling in cultivating each learner’s “small–great talents”; and to the connection between talent development, political responsibility and moral decision-making in the face of the challenges of the twenty-first century. The article argues that educating for freedom and the courage to know enables the passage from the personal to the social and supports the overcoming of the walls of indifference and individualism.