This hands-on workshop offers a practice-based introduction to the tools and approaches that have been developed in support of “Compassionate Systems Change”. The compassionate systems framework incorporates learning tools in development for several decades from the diverse fields of living systems change, organizational learning and systems dynamics, contemplative traditions, neuroscience and social and emotional learning, and is now being used at both the level of classroom innovations in schools and education systems around the world, as well as for governance, healthcare and diverse organizational settings supporting collective leadership in shaping a more generative culture. We conceptualize compassion as an essentially systemic property of mind: to cultivate compassion is to be able to appreciate the systemic forces that influence people’s actions. It is the capacity to hold paradoxes – to see and sense the larger system with all its interdependence and interconnectedness and all the unintended consequences of human behavior – without judgment, but with real care for the system and everyone involved in it, in support of human and planetary flourishing.

The work for compassionate systems change was initiated in education in support of the young people throughout different cultures and circumstances who are confronted with the complex contradictions of the interconnected, interdependent systems in our world – we are in a global poly-crisis, the established alliances and old world structures are deteriorating and we see unprecedented high rates of depression, anxiety and mental distress among children and adults alike. If we are to shape a different future than the one we are currently heading towards, we must have the well-being of our future citizens at the heart of society. This sparked our original investment in compassionate systems change in education for the past decade – but now it is clear to us that focusing on education alone is not enough. Societies and communities must come together to hold our children’s safety and wellbeing at heart, we aspire to be allies of educators in the support of greater geopolitical stability sparked by human decency, kindness and a profound sense of interconnectedness.

An essential question for the future of education is how do we help students to reflect on the consequences of the poly-crisis – both locally and globally – to learn to deeply understand and respond mindfully and compassionately rather than just feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of these systems. The same is true for adults. With the growing interest in education in social and emotional learning (SEL) and mindfulness today, we feel it is especially timely to show how these can combine with skills in understanding systems and complexity to establish a cognitive and affective foundation for global citizenship that can work across age, hierarchical positions, ethnicity and culture.

The overall aim of Foundations I - Introduction to Compassionate Systems Framework is to advance leaders who foster collaboration for compassionate systems change across organizational and hierarchical structures. Such leadership is a key dimension to support the profound changes needed for schools and education systems to become truly relevant for today’s students and for society at large. Transforming systems is, ultimately, about transforming relationships among the people and institutions that shape how those systems function.

The program is offered in partnership between the Center for Systems Awareness and the New Mexico School for the Deaf.