Summer school gatherings will be held locally throughout Aotearoa from 27-30 December 2022
This page presents the main features of the programme.
Please refer to the Resources page to find materials for workshops, children’s classes and junior youth activities.

List of video presentations
Please scroll down page for videos, or click on a link to go directly to one of them
Day One | The Evolution of a New Society
Day Two | Widening the Circle of Participation
Day Three | Contributing to Social Transformation
Day Three supplementary video | Participation in Public Discourse
Day Four | Expansive Prospects for Educational Initiatives
Additional video | Regional Bahá’í Councils presentation
The plenary presentation videos on these topics are intended as openers for further exploration and reflection by participants in subsequent workshops and reflection sessions. Everyone’s contributions to discussions will be encouraged and welcomed.
Although the main videos are labelled from Days 1-4, in a few cases, local summer school gatherings may be held over a shorter or longer period of days, with the videos consequently scheduled differently.
As an alternative way of accessing the videos, a YouTube playlist is here: Summer school 2022 playlist
Video presentations
Plenary video presentations highlight key aspects of the society-building power of the Faith and how communities can draw on this power in ever greater measure in the years ahead.
Day One | The Evolution of a New Society
(Presented by Sholeh Rowhani Ashraf, Sana Lavai Motlagh, and Richard and Sarah Donovan)
- Insights into a New World
- Trajectory of the last two centuries
- Current state of humanity
- Pathway to reconciliation
- Role of the Bahá’ís
Video running time: 38:05
Transcript of this talk:
Day Two | Widening the Circle of Participation
(Presented by Tessa Scrine)
- The vision of Bahá’u’lláh
- Historical context
- How groups of families widen the circle of participation
- A significant shift has begun
Video running time: 1:05:03
Day Three | Contributing to Social Transformation
(Presented by Geeti Faramarzi)
- What we are learning about social action and participation in societal discourses
- How these endeavours have emerged under the guidance of the Universal House of Justice
- Further advances envisaged
- Characteristics of the Bahá’í approach
Video running time: 46:44
Day Four | Expansive Prospects for Educational Initiatives
(Presented by Jeff Sabour)
- The importance of education through the lens of the Bahá’í Writings
- Describing the efforts of the community
- Elements of an emerging Bahá’í pedagogy
- An expansive view of the training institute in the current series of Plans
Video running time: 1:06:54
Transcript of this talk:
Additional video: Regional Bahá’í Councils presentation
The Regional Bahá’í Councils have provided an additional video. It may be screened any day (or evening) of the summer school. It covers two main topics: the dissemination of learning, and learning that has emerged after the World Conferences in Aotearoa. For the first topic, examples are shared from Manurewa (in Auckland), and Flaxmere (in Hawkes Bay). For the second topic, examples are shared from Queenstown and Dunedin.
Video running time: 12:26