Facilitating unlearning in agricultural education : preparing for family-farm succession
van Oers, Laura LU
; Feola, Giuseppe
; Moors, Ellen H.M.
and Runhaar, Hens
(2025)
In The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- Abstract
- Purpose: This paper seeks to explore the manner in whichsecondary vocational education in agriculture can facilitateunlearning among young farmers. In this context, ‘unlearning’means deliberately letting go of mindsets, practices, and routinesthat are no longer fit for purpose.
Design/Methodology/Approach: We use a course on sustainablefamily-farm succession as a case study in order to illustrate howunlearning may feature in agricultural education. We organisedfocus-group sessions with three teachers of that course. Thesessions focused on three subprocesses of unlearning: (i) initialdestabilisation, (ii) ongoing discarding and experimentation, and(iii) developing and relinquishing.
Findings: We show that teachers can... (More) - Purpose: This paper seeks to explore the manner in whichsecondary vocational education in agriculture can facilitateunlearning among young farmers. In this context, ‘unlearning’means deliberately letting go of mindsets, practices, and routinesthat are no longer fit for purpose.
Design/Methodology/Approach: We use a course on sustainablefamily-farm succession as a case study in order to illustrate howunlearning may feature in agricultural education. We organisedfocus-group sessions with three teachers of that course. Thesessions focused on three subprocesses of unlearning: (i) initialdestabilisation, (ii) ongoing discarding and experimentation, and(iii) developing and relinquishing.
Findings: We show that teachers can facilitate unlearning, anddiscuss how teachers may help students to navigateintergenerational tensions in unlearning. We conclude thatunlearning is a layered concept: it involves adaptation to achanging agriculture sector context as much as emancipationfrom the social context. We also show how expressions ofsolidarity and loyalty may undermine unlearning.
Practical implications: Agricultural educators are increasinglybeing tasked with helping future food professionals to managethe complexity of food systems. Our analysis points to means bywhich teachers who are seeking to reshape agricultural educationmay adopt the concept of unlearning in order to foster youngfarmers’ consciousness and agency in food system transformation.
Theoretical implications: A pedagogy of unlearning cancontribute to designing education that enables young farmers toovercome path dependency in farm succession.
Originality/Value: This paper proposes unlearning as an innovativepedagogy for farmers’ training in view of food system transformation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/03e4b8b3-ee85-4f5a-87ed-9a51b433227e
- author
- van Oers, Laura
LU
; Feola, Giuseppe
; Moors, Ellen H.M.
and Runhaar, Hens
- publishing date
- 2025-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension
- publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85200650745
- ISSN
- 1389-224X
- DOI
- 10.1080/1389224X.2024.2379812
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 03e4b8b3-ee85-4f5a-87ed-9a51b433227e
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-20 15:31:45
- date last changed
- 2026-04-21 10:38:01
@article{03e4b8b3-ee85-4f5a-87ed-9a51b433227e,
abstract = {{Purpose: This paper seeks to explore the manner in whichsecondary vocational education in agriculture can facilitateunlearning among young farmers. In this context, ‘unlearning’means deliberately letting go of mindsets, practices, and routinesthat are no longer fit for purpose.<br/><br/>Design/Methodology/Approach: We use a course on sustainablefamily-farm succession as a case study in order to illustrate howunlearning may feature in agricultural education. We organisedfocus-group sessions with three teachers of that course. Thesessions focused on three subprocesses of unlearning: (i) initialdestabilisation, (ii) ongoing discarding and experimentation, and(iii) developing and relinquishing.<br/><br/>Findings: We show that teachers can facilitate unlearning, anddiscuss how teachers may help students to navigateintergenerational tensions in unlearning. We conclude thatunlearning is a layered concept: it involves adaptation to achanging agriculture sector context as much as emancipationfrom the social context. We also show how expressions ofsolidarity and loyalty may undermine unlearning.<br/><br/>Practical implications: Agricultural educators are increasinglybeing tasked with helping future food professionals to managethe complexity of food systems. Our analysis points to means bywhich teachers who are seeking to reshape agricultural educationmay adopt the concept of unlearning in order to foster youngfarmers’ consciousness and agency in food system transformation.<br/><br/>Theoretical implications: A pedagogy of unlearning cancontribute to designing education that enables young farmers toovercome path dependency in farm succession.<br/>Originality/Value: This paper proposes unlearning as an innovativepedagogy for farmers’ training in view of food system transformation.}},
author = {{van Oers, Laura and Feola, Giuseppe and Moors, Ellen H.M. and Runhaar, Hens}},
issn = {{1389-224X}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Taylor & Francis}},
series = {{The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension}},
title = {{Facilitating unlearning in agricultural education : preparing for family-farm succession}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2024.2379812}},
doi = {{10.1080/1389224X.2024.2379812}},
year = {{2025}},
}