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Designing learning processes that contribute to a more sustainable world. Arjen E.J. Wals. 426.000/day. www.chrisjordan.com. 60.000/5sec. 2.000.000/5min. www.chrisjordan.com. www.chrisjordan.com.
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Designing learning processes that contribute to a more sustainable world Arjen E.J. Wals
426.000/day www.chrisjordan.com
60.000/5sec 2.000.000/5min www.chrisjordan.com
“The conventional wisdom holds that all education is good, and the more of it one has, the better.… The truth is that without significant precautions, [it] can equip people merely to be more effective vandals of the Earth” (D. Orr). Recently UNESCO’s (former) Director General Koïchiro Matsuura called for ‘a radical change in the ways we think and act in particular in terms of education and training.’
Systemic Global Issues: CC Example • Uncertainty– Natural or unnatural? How much? When? Where? Good? Bad? • Complexity– Causes, effects, factors, variables, correlations • Indiscriminate– Affecting everybody poor or rich, no matter where you are, in subtle and unsubtle ways • Discriminate – Affecting some more than others – amplifying inequities
‘Planetary’ educations… Development education Peace education Climate change education Health education Environmental education Consumer education Citizenship education health
Sustainable Development: Orwell’s cautionary tale... Erosion of meaning (‘newspeak’) non-terminology (‘game’ and ‘non-game’) Removal of ambiguity (‘doublethink’) unification of opposites (‘sustainability is growth’) Narrowing choices (‘thought police’) prescribing sustainability and the road that will take us there
Sustainable Development as an ill-defined concept Meaning depends on the context and the user Inclusive and hard to narrow down Dynamic in space and time Political: groups with opposing ideologies use the language of sustainability No universal definition and/or operationalisation (Dobson 1996)
A Framework for Facilitating Sustainability Contents, Curriculum Pedagogy, learning and instruction Research Facilitating Sustainability University as an institution Community linkages
An ESD Lens • Integrative – not only the ecological and the environmental, not only the present, not only the local, not only the human world • Critical - questioning continuous economic growth and consumerism and associated lifestyles • Transformative – exploration of alternative lifestyles (e.g. ‘voluntary simplicity’), values and systems that break from existing ones that are inherently unsustainable
Trans-cultural Gestalt Trans-spatial Gestalt Transformative learning Trans-temporal Gestalt Trans-disciplinary Gestalt Sustainability Competence?
Concluding remarks Integrating sustainability is just as much about how we teach and learn as it about what we teach and learn. Sustainability requires more space in curricula for systems thinking, integrative design and multiple ways of knowing. New forms of teaching require new competencies on the part of teaching staff. Blurring the boundaries between institutional and community-based learning is essential.
Thinking outside of the box… Thank you!
