Call for Imaginary Projects

These questions are, admittedly, hypothetical, but they are not necessarily useless. In times where restrictions, whether they stem from limited resources or existing institutional or sector-wide structures and pressures, seem ubiquitous, attempts to push the boundaries can seem pointless. In an environment where having or getting a job means someone is comparatively lucky, there might be little reason to imagine a dream job.

 

But how do we keep motivation alive when we focus mainly on restrictions? How can we maintain resilience if we focus so much on the barriers that we forget why it is worth resisting the headwinds?

 

Daydreaming of what we can do can be an important reminder of what we would like to see and an inspiration to tease out a little more than initially seems possible from what we are given. (Or to emphasise the evidence-based nature of this call: ‘mental representations of a desirable future state have strong[…] motivational consequence’ at least for individuals high in achievement motivation, see Langens. 2002, 112).

 

That is why ScotHELD would like to invite colleagues from across Scotland and our ICALLD partner countries to a day of collective daydreaming:

 

please contribute a presentation on your ideal LD initiative, project, setting or post to help us create our LD Winter Wonderland. Your project should be perfectly imaginary and only use evidence that suggests it could work if you had unlimited time, money, energy, and collaborators.