Resistance: Signs and Reasons
by Chevonne Vermaak
After completing two Dialogue Education courses, I returned home with great expectations of a new way of training. I started planning some of the learning designs I would be writing, and envisioned myself standing (no, of course, sitting) in front of my learners,
listening to their discussion.
Little did I know what was waiting for me back home: resistance! I proposed some suggestions to improve our facility in order for it to be more conducive to adult learning. However, my well-meant suggestions were met with the following kinds of resistance:
"It-worked-when-I-was-a-kid" Resistance
One of the very first kinds of resistance I experienced concerned
a white board. At one of our projects in Mozambique the room was
lovely and big but the tables (benches, luckily no partitions) were
quite close to the front which made it rather uncomfortable for the
learners right in front to see—especially if they sat way up against
the wall. It meant they would have to look at a sharp angle. There
were two white boards next to each other which meant that if you
worked on one side, learners on the other side would not be able to
see. My suggestion to have only one whiteboard in the centre of the
wall was answered with: “When I was in school my teacher used to
write from the one end of the wall to the other end of the wall and
that worked just fine.” Yes, maybe in 1950, but in the last 50 years
there has been an information explosion and people don’t learn that
way anymore considering all the multimedia tools available. Not to
mention that adults definitely do not learn the same way that
children do.
"I’ll-pretend-I-didn’t-hear-that" Resistance
Not one for backing down, after my first bit of resistance I kept
up the good fight and continued to press the importance of a good
learning environment. I went as far as taking the directors for an
outing to our current facilities to explain the reason why
bench-like tables bolted to the floor and partitions between the
learners will not stimulate dialogue in any way. I received a lot of
"ums and ahs" and I even received an understanding nod, but still
the passive resistance held firm and the benches bolted to the floor
remained.
"They-are-locals!" Resistance
The most infuriating resistance I received was the suggestion
that the “locals” learned differently, and that ‘any training will
be some training.’ To me that was an insulting statement. In
my opinion, the "locals" would especially benefit from dialogue
learning, considering the culture. Perhaps by listening more,
we would be the ones learning instead.
“Cause-I-actually-don’t-know” Resistance
Much of the resistance was really rooted in ignorance. People resist what is unknown and unfamiliar, instead of embracing what can be an amazing opportunity for learning and improving the quality of training.
“I’ll-do-it-my-way-any-way” Resistance
Having explained to a colleague the exciting results that can be
achieved through Dialogue Education, I thought I had finally found
someone who heard me and perhaps, at the very least, would try a
different approach. Unfortunately I found myself staring at yet
another participant fighting (and losing) the battle against boredom
as my colleague read slide after slide in a monotone voice, droning
on about something that was apparently important.
"It’s-personal" Resistance
The toughest resistance I had to deal with was within me. I had
to fight constantly not to lose motivation, and so build up a
counter resistance. This caused me to assess what I’ve learned and
to be creative in “educating” those who did not have the benefit of
going through Learning to Listen and the subsequent training. It
taught me most of all to listen and to understand the reasons behind
the resistance such as fear, ignorance and time constraints. I
realized that if I do not listen, how then will I, as a facilitator,
be able to learn? And if I can’t learn, then how will I be able to
bring my learners into a safe place to express their voices?
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