Learning from uncertainty: educating self-orientation in groups (“Let's talk about it”)

Future has shifted in our times, from a notion of progress and/or repetition, to an open and unpredictable idea (Morin, 2001). The prevailing feeling of uncertainty demands a revision of the purposes and methods of guidance for incoming students at university; we need to overcome the traditional view of guidance as external action by an expert, a punctual form of intervention whose main aim is the choice of a specific course, to gain a wider educational perspective, a “space to think”, where choice is seen as a continuous, dynamic process, beyond the present, involving the student's identity and life story (West et al., 2007; Reid, Scott, 2010). The notion of self-orientation, or learning to orient oneself (Vitale, 2012) has been implemented since 2006 in the university service “Gruppi Parliamone” (“Let's talk about it”), where incoming students learn how (besides what) to choose, and understand that choice is never the ultimate one. They appear to be storied by myths and dominant discourses (in society, media, and families) that nurture the illusion of “the good choice”, once and for all. They have to learn about the necessity for lifelong and lifewide self-orientation, as a constant of learning and working life. As a new form of guidance, avoiding the traps of “advice”, and enforcing an education-oriented intervention, this service enacts reflexive action, focused on the participants' present experience, presuppositions and criteria. A device that educates to uncertainty (Formenti, 2009), by offering a space where action and meaning can be re-oriented through a group setting, facilitated by senior students (from a master degree program on Pedagogical Counseling). Technically, peer-to-peer group orientation. The participants are invited to talk, draw, reflect, dialogue, in a surprising and appealing way, since it breaks “the rule” of asking/giving information and focuses on self-knowledge, life experience and “dreams”. During meetings (2-3 hours long), narration is used to connect past, present ad future choices, as well as reflexivity (also in relation to the proximal system of influence, i.e. family, friends, schoolmates and teachers). The group develops a conversation around each of the stories, their interrelations, and emerging meanings.