What is good for the Earth is good for humanity. And those who feel connected to nature can draw strength, courage, and wisdom from that. For Bas van den Berg, associate professor of Regeneration at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, this has profound implications for education. “Teachers are here to help people find their place in the world so they can contribute to a healthy planet.”
A painting of a mountainous nighttime landscape decorates the online setting where Bas van den Berg shares his story. The mountains are dotted with flowers that glow in the dark. Bioluminescence.
Foto: Bas van den Berg
“Life on Earth is fascinating,” says Bas. “It follows the same cycle everywhere. There is loss or death, followed by recovery, and then consolidation or flourishing. This applies to flowers, plants, animals, but also to societies and educational institutions. Every human life follows this pattern, again and again, on a small and large scale. You get children, lose your parents, change jobs, lose someone you love, find a new place to live, and start something new.”
Restoring what is broken
This “regenerative path” is a source of inspiration for Bas, also in renewing education. “Education should be rooted in this regenerative reality. It’s clear that our relationship with the Earth must change. We can’t continue to treat the planet as an inexhaustible resource. The loss of biodiversity, climate change, the depletion of resources and communities—these developments are making large parts of the world increasingly uninhabitable. It’s time for restoration. How can we give back more life than we destroy? Education is key here. How do we prepare students for this task? How do we help them find the courage to contribute to planetary healing, in a way that suits them?”
“Only when you experience being part of something greater do you truly start learning.”
“Schools need to rethink what it means to be a school,” says Bas. “Ultimately, life itself is the most important classroom. When you feel that you are part of your city, the forest, nature, your environment—the larger, complex system around you—that’s when real learning begins. Feeling like you belong brings with it a sense of responsibility. Regenerative education therefore mostly takes place outside the classroom. It begins with a place: a company, a park, a community center. From there, you begin to observe. Everything starts with the questions students ask. The curriculum is built around that.”
Foto: Leiden-Delft-Erasmus students visiting a Polder Lab.
Autonomy
This is already happening in many places, including in colleges and universities. Students go into neighborhoods, talk to people, and learn about energy poverty. Or about PFAS and plastics in canals—and then go out with litter pickers. Teachers mainly ask questions: What do you see? What do you want to learn? What do you need? How can we support you? “There are wonderful initiatives.”
“In primary and secondary education, children even suggested ways to help professionalize the teaching team. There’s space to explore, to visit companies. How is the water board dealing with the plastics issue? Maybe we can write an action plan, or advise local political parties? What are they already doing? What theories about transitions or social design might help do better? Students grow enormously in their autonomy. You see it happen right before your eyes. After five or six weeks, they start to take ownership. They take the lead.”
Confrontation
But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Bas: “These projects take place within the current system, with all its rules. There’s limited flexibility. And maybe even more importantly: it demands a completely different role for the teacher. No longer the all-knowing authority, but someone who asks questions, points directions, uses their network, and guides. That’s quite a shift for many teachers.”
“We rarely ask: what will we stop doing?”
For students, this new form of learning is not only enriching—it can also be confronting, says Bas. And that’s necessary too. “In a lecture one can give statistics about pollution from PFAS or plastics. Those are abstract numbers. As soon as you see and hear what it does to people'sand animals’ health, and to the environment, it becomes real. Sometimes students get emotional about what they encounter. That’s hard—but it’s also inevitable.”
Foto: Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Thesis Lab students during a field trip to Tomato World in the Westland.
“It’s up to the teacher to give students space to share what they experience,” Bas continues. “To guide them in dealing with uncertainty, the discomfort of not having control. To help them look beyond sadness or fear. From grief and loss come resilience, recovery, growth, and action. Everyone is affected by something different. Only by truly experiencing things can you find your own place in this world. Only then can you determine what is your personal mission.”
New leadership
“There is a lot of scientific evidence that this approach works. People learn effectively through these active forms of knowledge development—especially in complex environments. Research also shows that more passive formats, like lectures, yield lower learning outcomes. Who knows, in the future students in higher education may only spend 20% of their time attending lectures, and only online. That would free up teachers to guide students in learning beyond institutional walls. To challenge them to take the next step.”
But we’re not there yet. Regenerative thinking and working is something you learn step by step. It calls for new leadership—both personally and organizationally—also within educational institutions. “Many schools are struggling with burnout and teacher shortages. We keep adding new things—a new minor here, a new subject there. But we never stop anything. I rarely hear a board member, director, manager, or curriculum committee ask: ‘What will we let go of?’ But loss is inevitable.”
According to Bas, this is a very relevant issue especially in light of current budget cuts. "Even though I strongly disagree with these cuts, it’s incredibly important to have open conversations about what we need to release. That we allow space for the emotions around losing a subject, a program, or a colleague. That we learn we can’t have or keep everything. Because if we hold on to everything, nothing new can ever happen.”
Want to learn more, read further, or get involved?
- Bas van den Berg earned his PhD on Regenerative Higher Education at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
- He recently published The Dragons Within Me, the first book in a trilogy that outlines a “regenerative path” for relating differently to the Earth.
- In June, The Art of Regenerative Educators will be published, co-authored with colleagues from the University of Amsterdam and the School of Regenerative Educators.
- In the Regenerative Futures community from the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability, you’ll find researchers, teachers, and societal partners exploring regenerative ways of thinking and working.
- Want to bring regenerative education into your own program? “Start small,” advises Bas. “Just giving one class outdoors can be deeply inspiring. Look at what’s already happening around you—and join in. There are pioneers everywhere.”