Reimagining Education as Ethical Action in Times of Crisis with Professor Lausanne Olvitt

At the 2025 Rhodes University graduation ceremony, Associate Professor Lausanne Olvitt was honoured with the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Senior Teaching Award, showcasing her dedication to fostering inclusive and impactful learning environments. 

From her early days of "teaching" dolls as a child, Professor Olvitt's passion for education has been evident. She believes that teaching should resonate with the "lived reality of the students," emphasising the importance of creating spaces where individuals feel empowered to share their ideas and questions.

Her contributions at the Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) within Rhodes University have been educationally impactful. Professor Olvitt has been influential in promoting reflective and transformative education. She encourages "creative professional conversation" and explains that "stuff needs to be meaningful for people," ensuring that learning is theoretical and applicable to real-world challenges. 

Collaboration stands at the heart of Professor Olvitt's teaching approach. She values "trust, mutual respect, and open communication", fostering reciprocal mentorships grounded in a "shared vision". She acknowledges the collective effort in educational excellence and states, "I've learnt so much from colleagues" and urges others to "encourage colleagues to nominate others for the award".

Despite receiving this distinguished award, Professor Olvitt remains humble, expressing, "I wouldn't want to think of the award as something that sets me apart from other people." She acknowledges the dedication of her peers, noting, "I know of other colleagues in the Education faculty who equally deserve the award."

Professor Olvitt's approach to education, characterised by reflexivity and a commitment to meaningful engagement, emphasises the qualities celebrated by the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Her contributions inspire students and colleagues, reinforcing Rhodes University's commitment to excellence in teaching and learning.

On the 19^th of June 2025, Rhodes University enjoyed listening to Prof Olvitt’s Teaching Award Lecture on Education as Ethical Action in the Polycrisis. The persistent question, “What is the purpose of education?” demands global, national, institutional, and individual attention. This lecture argues that these levels must be held in productive tension to grasp what the current moment requires of education. In times marked by overlapping crises, it becomes essential to view education as a form of ethical action directed towards the Common Good.

Education in this frame calls for both creativity and leadership. It must take shape through specific practices across disciplines, age groups, and social contexts. Ethical action in education does not operate in abstraction; it must be situated, intentional, and grounded in real-world demands.

Three foundational elements shape this understanding of education. First, relationality recognises that learning is embedded in networks of human and ecological connections. Second, systems thinking enables an awareness of complexity, patterns, and interdependence. Third, reflexivity insists on critical engagement with one’s assumptions, commitments, and limitations.

These foundations raise a second, urgent question: how might a broad, ethics-led vision of education translate into the practical realities of teaching and learning?

In exploring this, the lecture draws on two decades of experience at Rhodes University. It identifies bright spots where ethical practices have flourished, bald spots where ethical intentions have failed to take root, and blind spots where ethical questions have gone unexamined. This reflective approach highlights tensions and possibilities in curriculum design and pedagogical practice.

Education as ethical action in the polycrisis invites serious reconsideration of what teaching aims to do, whom it serves, and how it responds to intersecting global challenges. It challenges educators to ask: where in their daily practice does the Common Good appear, and where is it missing? What would it mean to teach in fully relational, systemic, and reflexive ways?

This is not a call for abstract ideals, but for grounded, deliberate change within and beyond the classroom.