The Culture of Verticality:

Why we need to rethink the way we learn

”Please feel free to interrupt me or ask questions, it will make our session more interactive." 

How many work meetings, lessons or training sessions begin this way, only to be followed by a long, monotonous stream of words delivered by one person or, in the more extreme cases, by several speakers taking turns?

How many of you have started listening with genuine goodwill, sometimes even enthusiasm, only to lose focus along the way, eventually becoming completely disconnected from what is happening?

Behind this seemingly trivial situation lies a deeply rooted habit within a system that has favoured a vertical approach to learning and education since we were children.

It is an approach that does not place everyone on an equal footing, whether in school, university, professional or personal settings. Even when we are aware of this approach, willing to change it or simply uncomfortable with working in a vertical way, habit seems to trap us in a pattern that is difficult to break.

And yet, we are human beings with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, all of which can enrich any group and any learning situation. We also have a need, conscious or unconscious, openly expressed or quietly felt, central or more marginal, to affirm our individuality and share it with others. When everyone can contribute a part of themselves and receive something in return, the learning process becomes richer for all.

Where does the culture of verticality come from?

Here are some of the factors that, in our view, help reinforce it in educational, training and professional settings.

Knowledge belongs to the experts. The ability to transmit it therefore becomes the prerogative of those with recognised expertise, while everyone else is expected primarily to listen and absorb. This view of knowledge risks turning learning into a top-down process, in which we fill our empty heads with whatever is passed on to us.

The obsession with PowerPoint presentations and webinars. This often reflects an almost automatic tendency to speak, explain and present rather than listen, understand and interact. It becomes even more apparent when the speaker seems more focused on their own speech than on the people in front of them.

Our relationship with time. Encouraging interaction requires preparation, experimentation and a willingness to question our own approach. If something does not work as expected, we need to adjust and try again. All of this takes time. And often, there is no time, or perhaps we are simply unwilling to make room for it. It is much easier to stick to a vertical approach: run through a PowerPoint, let the experts speak and reproduce exactly the same format next time.

What are the consequences of verticality?

The effects of this culture go beyond boredom.

When people do not feel involved, it becomes harder to sustain attention and concentration over time. And when the distance between speaker and listener is compounded by a digital barrier, we also lose the physical and relational dimension that can help re-engage people when their attention begins to fade.

From a learning perspective, a predominantly passive stance can therefore be ineffective. Listening and receiving information are important, but they are not enough on their own: participating, exchanging perspectives, experimenting and reflecting on experience all help turn information into learning.

So, how can we dismantle the culture of verticality? Do we really have the power to act, or are we condemned to endure a learning system imposed upon us? And, above all, why should we change our approach?

From verticality to horizontality

"Experience lies at the heart of every learning process and, precisely because each person's experience is different, everyone can contribute through what they have lived, observed, thought about and tried out."

DentroFuori ETS was founded, among other things, with the ambition of promoting and spreading a culture of horizontality, fostered by non-formal education.

For us, horizontality does not mean that everyone knows the same things, not that experts should no longer have a role to play. It means recognising that every person brings experiences, knowledge and perspectives to the learning process that can contribute to building shared knowledge.

Technical and scientific knowledge remains essential. But it can become even more meaningful when it enters into dialogue with experience. Experience lies at the heart of every learning process and, precisely because each person's experience is different, everyone can contribute through what they have lived, observed, thought about and tried out. Learning thus emerges from exchanges between people, from the questions we ask one another and from the opportunity to challenge what we think we know.

Developing a culture of horizontality also means prioritising listening. In a society where people talk a lot and listen very little, where the ability to express oneself is often valued more highly than the ability to listen, listening becomes an invaluable skill. For us, it is a soft skill to develop and nurture, useful in every context, but also an essential tool for questioning our own assumptions and embracing new knowledge.

And then there is time.

No learning process, especially one based on participation and experience, can do without the time needed to prepare, experiment and improve. This means refusing to settle for repeating what we have always done, and instead making room for patience, flexibility, curiosity and creativity as we explore what works best for a particular group, at a particular moment and in a particular context.

This is where non-formal education finds, in our view, one of its most important expressions: not simply as a set of techniques that offer an alternative to traditional training, but as a different way of understanding the learning process and the role of the people involved in it.

Taking a more horizontal approach to learning can encourage active engagement, motivation and the emergence of new ideas. It can transform a group from a collection of people receiving information into a space where experiences, knowledge and perspectives meet and interact.

Structural change is a process, and as an association, we take responsibility for helping to set it in motion. But it cannot depend solely on those who propose new methods: it requires everyone's effort.

Because perhaps the point is not to stop talking, nor to abandon expert knowledge.It is to learn how to create the conditions more often for everyone to take part in the process.

And for the desire to learn to endure, it also needs people to feel that they belong to something.