Vision
To advance innovative Training & Education for transformative social change.
Mission
To develop and implement innovative training and education in communities and institutions for transformative and sustainable excellence.
Object and unique pedagogies at TREC
First, TREC formalizes THRAIF’s innovative training and education activities and is registered as a higher education institution (including TVET programs). Second, at TREC,
we aim to develop, implement, and promote high-quality skills development programs.
To this, TREC has a catalogue of unique pedagogies. First, it is science-based and thus centred around proven evidence rather than opinions. Second, it is self-empowering in that it is based on scientific papers, from which learners discover the evidence, enabling them to learn by reading and doing, and to replicate the same process even after completion.
Third, it is implemented through an academic society approach, giving it an academic status. Here, students enrol in an educational or professional society to create an umbrella through which they can learn from each other horizontally and vertically—horizontally at the scale level and vertically at a higher level. In all of this, there is a co-creation of knowledge through experiences.
Learning enhancement: the facilitator’s role
Considering self-guided study, as described in the preceding section, the would-be teacher or tutor is simply a facilitator: they facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and practical skills. We consider this a transformation, as a learner can replicate it in optimal practice even after completion, enabling lifelong learning and excellence in practice. Some facilitators are recruited from within the society, insofar as they are at a level higher than the class they will facilitate.
The INTRAL program at TREC
A new program, the Innovative Transformative Research and Learning (INTRAL), launched in 2024, supports innovative learning. INTRAL seeks to decolonize teaching by incorporating local and Indigenous knowledge with essential industrial skills.
It ensures research-based education that produces graduates who can transform communities. Based at the THRIVE Training and Education Centre (TREC), the program operates within the innovative scientific research and learning domains of THRAIF:
the research domain establishes innovations with community input, while the learning domain builds capacity in higher education through TREC.
With INTRAL, we develop and implement innovative projects that promote decolonial education for social change, including capacity-building in higher education institutions for innovative or co-creative pedagogies. Through these projects, various institutions are enrolled in the program. Some institutions participate in the support program, while their teachers or lecturers also benefit from it.
The INTRAL program promotes strategies to foster transformative social change for sustainable excellence. Moreover, Sustainable excellence requires transformative skills gained through training and educational
institutions. This is achievable within the context of the pedagogies at TREC when they are science-based (rather than opinionated), guided-discovery, and integrated into the academic societies’ approach. This allows for incorporating the skills and knowledge gained into lifelong practices beyond the institution.
This approach creates the teaching and learning design with the learners, who bring their local and indigenous knowledge and other related experiences, making it easier to understand and follow. Additionally, guided discovery allows learners to develop pathways for the anticipated change. The guided discovery of scientific materials encourages both fundamental and social transformation: fundamental by leading learners to the evidence supporting the change; social as it fosters changes in behavior concerning the discovered evidence. Learners acquire the skills to be change makers rather than being merely trained as teachers.
Institutions partnering with TREC & INTRAL.
The preceding approach, as used at TREC, is too cumbersome. TREC conducts its teaching and learning in partnership with other academic institutions to address that cumbersomeness. The cardinal role of TREC in the partnership is hosting the professional societies, which are a cornerstone of the whole approach, but also to secure resources through projects and grants to support the whole. The other partner(s) carry out the cardinal role of regulating teaching and learning, including those processes related to another requirement of higher education, such as awarding. Sometimes, these roles can be co-facilitated between TREC and the partner, so the partner is expected to recognize TREC as a constituent part.
Academic programs (as of 2025)
As of 2025, TREC has developed innovative academic programs. One of these is the Early Childhood Education program, which is aligned with the Thrive ECD Society.
The second is the Agroecology and Livelihood Systems program, which is aligned with the Agroecology AND Livelihood Systems Society (ALISS). New programs are being developed and will be updated here in due course.
Thematic and objectives
TREC aims to develop and implement innovative training and education approaches that foster sustainable excellence. This includes its programs, such as those implemented in scholarly societies, communities, and other academic institutions through the INTRAL program or the partnership created.
In line with this core objective, TREC’s specific objectives are optimized. The guiding core objectives of TREC encompass all that is expected of a higher education institution. Still, they aim for fundamental transformational change in the real world rather than merely academic grades.
Specifically, as previously described, TREC employs a pedagogical approach that supports learners in acquiring skills and knowledge to transform their societies (see details under Object and Unique Pedagogies at TREC, including the INTRAL program). Bearing all this in mind, TREC has the following specific program areas and objectives:
i). Innovative teaching and learning: Conduct innovative teaching and learning sessions in an interdisciplinary manner, incorporating local and Indigenous knowledge and lived experience to enhance the uptake and applicability of transformative skills.
ii). Educational and training-based research: Develop and implement transformative methodologies in educational and training-based research to enhance knowledge acquisition and application to solve real-world issues.
iii). Curricula for mass and institutional training and education: Develop and implement curricula at both the institutional and community levels to enhance literacy across various forms of transformative social change. This includes outreach initiatives and public lectures that disseminate new knowledge and skills.
iv). TVET: Develop and implement formal and nonformal skills training modules and sessions on various aspects of socio-economic training of society.
v). Educational and training consulting: Conduct specialized undertakings to develop innovative solutions and technologies, including those on behalf of other entities in various aspects of training and education.
vi). Educational ADVISORY SERVICES: Provide a platform for the community and other sectors of society to benefit from evidence-based advice on academic matters of concern and/or issues confronting society.
vii). Educational institution mandate: Conduct any other activities incidental to the roles of a higher education institution.