Ecological Principles For Sustainable Education

This book explores how the education sector can transition to being truly sustainable and why necessary innovations for educational change are being subverted and undermined when mapped onto the existing industrial educational system. Based on PhD case study research with schools that are modelling and teaching sustainability, action research, and the author’s 40 years of working in the K-12 system, this volume examines how education continues to perpetuate the status quo, and why education innovations are thus undermined. It shows the importance of redesigning education based on the principles of sustainable living systems and explores how this can be achieved across all levels of the educational system. The first part of the book establishes a new vision of sustainable education, whilst the second brings to light the industrial mechanistic root metaphors in current practice across leadership and administration, buildings and grounds, curriculum design, teaching, and learning that are subverting innovative efforts. From understanding the foundational, influential, problematic root metaphors of our "Industrial" educational system, it moves to explore how the ecological principles of sustainability can be used to rethink and redesign an educational system, from its administration, leadership, and policy, to curriculum, buildings, grounds and resources, through to teaching and learning, that will support sustainability, innovation, and creativity, developing systems thinking and sustainability as a frame of mind. Exploring how the education sector can transition to being truly sustainable and find new ways to traverse the problematic "Industrial" world view at this pivotal moment, will appeal to administrators, post-secondary educators, policymakers, and researchers and scholars of sustainability education, educational leadership, curriculum design, and educational philosophy.

This book explores how the education sector can transition to being truly sustainable and why necessary innovations for educational change are being subverted and undermined when mapped onto the existing Industrial educational system. Based on PhD case study research with schools that are modelling and teaching sustainability, action research, and the author's 40 years of working in the K-12 system, this volume examines how education continues to perpetuate the status quo, and why education innovations are thus undermined. It shows the importance of redesigning education based on the principles of sustainable living systems and explores how this can be achieved across all levels in the educational system. The first part of the book establishes a new vision of sustainable education, whilst the second brings to light the Industrial mechanistic root metaphors in current practice across management and administration, buildings and grounds, curriculum design, teaching, and learning that are subverting innovative efforts. From understanding the foundational, influential, problematic root metaphors of our 'Industrial' educational system, it moves to explore how the ecological principles of sustainability can be used to rethink and redesign an educational system, from its management, leadership, and policy, to curriculum, buildings, grounds and resources, through to teaching and learning, that will support sustainability, innovation, and creativity, developing systems thinking and sustainability as a frame of mind. Exploring how the education sector can transition to being truly sustainable and find new ways to traverse the problematic 'Industrial' world view at a pivotal moment, it will appeal to administrators, post-secondary educators, policymakers, and researchers and scholars of sustainability education, educational leadership, curriculum design, and educational philosophy.

Educating for Sustainability presents fundamental principles, theoretical foundations, and practical suggestions for integrating education for sustainability into existing schoolwide systems and programs, organized in three sections: Principles of Education for Sustainability; Fostering a Sustainability Worldview; Learning and Thinking for Sustainability. Designed for teachers and teachers-to-be at all grade levels and across the content areas, the focus is on professional practices and pedagogical approaches rather than specific topics often associated with sustainability. Each chapter includes a number of supports to help readers monitor and improve their own professional practice and to deepen their own sustainability wordview, including textboxes in most chapters that provide more detailed or specialized information and a range of application exercises. All chapters include several "Consider This" activities and an "Extend Your Professional Knowledge" feature. Directly grounded in K-12 classroom practice, this book presents useful and realistic information for teachers looking to reorient their work toward sustainability and help their students develop new thinking and problem-solving abilities.

"Describes strategies for greening the campus and the curriculum, conducting environmental audits, rethinking school food, and transforming schools into models of sustainable community"-- P. [4] of cover.

Leadership for Green Schools provides aspiring and practicing leaders with the tools they need to facilitate the design, leadership, and management of greener, more sustainable schools. Framed by theory and research, this text draws from the fields of sustainability science, built learning environment, and educational leadership to explain what green schools look like, what role school buildings play in advancing sustainable organizational and instructional practices, and why school leaders are "greening" their leadership. Sustainability can often seem like an unreachable, utopian set of goals, but this important resource uses illustrative examples of successful schools and leaders to show how establishing and managing green schools aligns with the work they are already doing to restore engaged learning within their schools and communities. Leadership for Green Schools is a unique and important resource to help leaders reduce the environmental impact of school buildings and immerse students in purposeful, meaningful learning for a sustainable, just future. Special Features: Examples from award-winning schools and leaders—best-practices and illustrative examples throughout make whole school sustainability come to life and show how green leadership is a real possibility for the reader. Aligned with Professional Standards for Educational Leadership—provides the tools necessary for leaders to advance sustainability goals while at the same time fulfilling the core purposes of their job. End-of-chapter discussion questions—valuable pedagogical tools invite personal reflection and conversation.

The environmental movement of the 1960s made educationists in some parts of the world aware of the significance and importance of ecology in curricula at all levels of education, from kindergarten to post-secondary. A great deal of progress was made in the early 1970s in incorporating environmental awareness programs into educa tional systems go that what was once considered a fad was gradually becoming a part of formal education in a number of institutions, especially in Canada and the U.S.A. It was therefore appropriate that an international scientific body devote some time to the issue of ecology in education. Early in 1976, I suggested to the International Association for Ecology (Inteco1) that a symposium on Environmental Education be included in the program of the Second International Congress of Ecology scheduled to be held in Jerusalem in September 1978. In the first draft program of the Congress, the topic was included as a poster session. I considered this inadequate and appealed to the Congress Steering Committee to focus greater attention on environ mental education. The first draft program contained phrases like "utilization of resources", "conservation problems", "environmental moni toring", and "irreversible changes". These phrases more or less assumed that people in general understood ecological principles. Literature on environmental education seems to suggest that a wide gap separated most of the professional ecologists from a large portion of mankind primarily because we the ecologists have paid scant attention to the ecological education of world's citizens.

'To summarise, this book has a clear academic justification and is aptly outlined with examples of creative and relevant ideas that could easily be adapted and implemented in many fields - particularly for those subject areas that were intentionally omitted. Readers can easily navigate to their field of interest and the book would be a highly recommended resource for many, including the student market, academics, practitioners, policy makers and senior managers.'Nancy El-Farargy, A Guide to Publications in the Physical Sciences

Now with new Introduction and additional new chapter. At a time when polls suggest that a majority of young British people believe that the future will offer a worse quality of life than the present, it is becoming imperative that children are introduced to principles of sustainability through the educational system from an early age, and that these principles are regularly reinforced and built upon. The government's own Panel on Sustainable Development has called for a 'comprehensive strategy for environmental and training', and NGOs frequently point to education as a key policy instrument in the transition to sustainable development. This is the first book published in Britain to provide an overview of the theory and practice of these issues. It brings together contributions from environmental educators working in the formal and informal sectors and in continuing education, and provides perspectives on the philosophy, politics and pedagogy of education for sustainability, as well as case studies and pointers towards good practice. Part I establishes some initial perspectives on sustainability, education and the role of NGOs; the potential for education for sustainability in the formal and informal sectors is assessed in Parts II and III; Part IV discusses its development as part of the greening of business and local government; and Part V looks at the way forward.