EDUCATION IN THE CURRENT PARADIGM

It seems that “education” is a slow learner. In a period of unprecedented change and global threat to ecological, economic and social security, the policy and practice of Western and Westernized education are still largely built on the assumptions and epistemology of a previous age, rather than fully responsive to the conditions and needs of our time.

EDUCATION AND THE PROBABLE FUTURE

Given the current state of global and systemic polycrisis, and if it is accepted that this state is rooted in our collective Western worldview – and it is recognized that these conditions are engendering an alternative and emerging ecological/relational view of the world – then a profound question arises about education: how far are the dominant educational mores – reflected in long-standing and current purposes, polices, and practices – commensurate with and appropriate to these realities?

To help address this question let us be clear about something central to this discussion, but which is rarely acknowledged explicitly. It concerns the fact that education does not exist in a kind of neutral vacuum. Rather, it reflects the values and – at a deeper level still – the paradigms which influence its parameters and norms. In this respect, Clark (1989: 234) makes a strikingly simple but helpful distinction between two forms of education: “mould-tofit” and “critique/create”. She explains: “Education can never be apolitical, ‘objective’ or ‘value neutral’: it is – and ever must be – a political endeavour. It either moulds the young to fit in with traditional beliefs, or it critiques those beliefs and helps to create new ones” (author's italics).

In Chapter 3, there is more commentary on the role and purpose of education, but for now this somewhat stark distinction – and the key point that education is not value-free – bring us a useful perspective. Not least, the distinction helps put a label to the tensions often felt in practice between education for continuity and education for change.

There are three people in a vehicle. In this story, they all seem to have a foot on the accelerator. Not too far in the distance, and clearly coming into view, there is a noticeboard. It reads: “Brake hard or change direction! – Abyss ahead!” As the vehicle continues speeding forward, the occupants react differently to the noticeboard. One has seen it coming for some time; in fact, she anticipated it. Her optician told her she had good foresight.

INTRODUCTION

Our ability to achieve a liveable future for all depends on whether we can foster an unprecedented degree of social learning. But with the stakes higher than ever before, time is worryingly short. How, under such urgency, do we effect such a large-scale paradigm shift?

Formal education systems have ‒ or should have ‒ a critical role in the global social learning process underpinning the Great Transition. On the face of it, the challenge seems straightforward. If current educational policies and practices insufficiently address ecological, social, and economic sustainability, we can just do some tweaking and add on some key ideas. Job done. Except it is not so simple. If education is to be an agent of change, it has itself to be the subject of change. Our educational systems are implicated in the multiple crises before us, and without meaningful rethinking, they will remain maladaptive agents of “business as usual”, leading us into a dystopian future nobody wants.

These slides are drawn from my lectures, where I attempt to summarize the nature – if not the detail – of the shifts implied in moving from a mechanistic view of education towards an ecological view. In each case, the larger ellipse indicates a movement towards a larger framework or paradigm. The key always is to grasp and illustrate the underlying pattern of change.

THE CHANCE FOR CHANGE

Along with others, I have long argued that radical systemic change is needed in educational paradigm, purpose, policy and practice if education is to be rendered fit for our precarious times. For change agents, the greatest challenge is reconciling the need for rapid change with the weight of current educational momentum, and squaring urgency with practicability. Yet much is already happening globally – and the pace and reach of such positive change appears to be accelerating with new networks and initiatives appearing globally. Now is the chance for change.

As an illustration, in 2021 I was invited to write the lead discussion paper for the Great Transition Initiative's forum on “The Pedagogy of Transition: Educating for the Future We Want”. The paper is Chapter 5 in this volume. It stimulated a strong response from the GTI community of scholars and practitioners: a total of 56 contributions were made, yielding more than 60,000 words of insight and keen intellectual inquiry arising from engaged hearts, deep reflection – and often – long experience. The quality and quantity of responses are indicative of the criticality and timeliness of the topic, the re-thinking beginning to flourish, and of its unequivocal relevance to the chances of securing the Great Transition in conditions of unprecedented urgency.

INTRODUCTION

Back in 1974, the economist E. F. Schumacher, whose work was seminal to the rise and development of ecological thought in the UK, wrote, “The volume of education has increased and continues to increase, yet so do pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still more education is to save us, it would have to be education of a different kind: an education that takes us into the depth of things” (Schumacher, written 1974, published 1997). This quote illustrates a fundamental conundrum: how far education, which for some decades has been identified as key to resolving environmental and sustainability issues particularly at international level, is (as David Orr has pointed out) part of the problem. Orr (2004) dismisses the problems in education which occupy much educational discourse, and, echoing Schumacher, highlights the problem of education. He points out that there is no necessary correlation between high educational achievement and socially and environmentally benign sustainable behaviours, but rather the opposite. It is because of these paradoxes and arguments that educators interested in sustainability and social justice have, in recent years, looked to learning theory for possible ways forward.

In particular, the concept of transformative or transformational learning has aroused increasing interest, as a way of conceiving and practising educational forms that might “take us to the depth of things”.

There is an assumption in much learning discourse, in educational conferences, and in university teaching and learning strategies, that learning per se, is self-evidently a “good thing”. On this assumption, attention is often given to making learning effective, to learning to learn, learning methods and so on.

It is sometimes helpful to apply hindsight to generate insight and foresight. It was 47 years ago that the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on the Human Environment commissioned a report, Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet, to inform its proceedings.

ASKING THE QUESTION

“What is the purpose of education?” It was a weekday morning at a large university in the UK, and I stood before some 300 teacher education students. I was there to lecture, but began by putting a big “?” on the a/v screen, and asked this question. There was a hush in the room. No one ventured an answer – well, not for some minutes – and even then the answers were tentative, as if I had asked a trick question. These were students who had just gone through a three-year degree in educational studies, and were about to enter schools as teachers. I was surprised. Their lecturers, dotted around the room, looked a little embarrassed.

FIFTY PROPOSITIONS: THE ARGUMENT IN A NUTSHELL

• 1. The liveability of the human and biospheric future depends on our collective capacity and ability to learn and change radically in the course of one generation.

• 2. Currently, we in the Western culture do not see and “read” the world as we should – and as we now must. As the world is systemic and complex we have to learn to perceive and think relationally – that is, ecologically and inclusively, and with regard to wellbeing for all including the nonhuman world.

• 3. Failure to do so over generations is a root cause of the nexus of “wicked issues” that now threaten the possibility of a safe future.

• 4. The interdependence and mutual wellbeing of people and planet now has to be paramount in thinking, values and actions at all levels of society.

• 5. Urgency necessitates building agency and capacity – this is something in which education uniquely can excel.

• 6. Transformative action is required across most areas of human activity to ensure a survivable liveable future by 2050 and beyond; this shift is known inter alia as the Great Transition, or Giant Leap.

• 7. Transformative action depends on rapid societal learning. There are signs that this is happening, but acceleration and global reach is urgently needed if humanity is to maximize its chances of securing the future.

• 8. Desirable change towards sustainability can be advanced through a number of means or instruments including governance, legal regulation, financial incentives and sanctions, and information.

Stephen Sterling is a friend of long standing going back to our collaboration in a Schumacher College course in the early 1990s. He is also one of the clearest thinkers and most prolific scholars working in field of education policy and pedagogy. Among other things, we share the conviction that ecological disorder reflects a prior deficiency in how we think, what we think about, and consequently how we live in a mind-boggling, complex ecosphere with feedback loops, leads and lags, and long gaps between cause and effect. All of which makes the work of improving minds central to teachers at every level of education and in virtually every discipline. The awareness that we live within an ecological community calls for humility, restraint, and reverence, traits not often associated with the industrial/technological mindset. But the stakes are higher now and the time for change shorter than we could see in the early 1990s. To wit.

In the summer of 2023, ocean temperatures near Miami hit 38.3°C and set record highs in the North Atlantic. Phoenix, Arizona recorded thirty consecutive days over 43.3°C; temperatures in the Persian Gulf and parts of India reached 50°C. Storms, fires, and rainfall broke records worldwide. The Earth is warmer than ever recorded and likely warmer than any time in the past million years. Beyond some point, rising temperatures will cause cascading systemic failures. We were warned as far back as the 1950s and with increasing frequency ever since but oblivious to danger we sped past all the warning signs in order to keep economic growth going, the profits rising, and wealth accumulating. James Lovelock once cautioned of a time when all our controls would fail leaving us as helpless as passengers on a boat with a stalled engine on the Niagara River just above the falls. Are we there? Hard to say. But it is a very good time to think about many things including that mysterious thing called thinking and how it might be improved to better the odds of our being around for the long haul.

One way or another all societies educate their young. Some by acculturation – hanging out with adults and seeing how things are done. Others, by formal schooling. Either way the question to the young has always been “what will you make of yourself?”

A WELCOME

One of the benefits of getting older is gaining an overview of things. You obtain a clearer standpoint from which to view trends, patterns, and changes. All too quickly, you also find yourself journeyed from a young advocate, passionate about the environment and education and keen to learn, to one of the old guard, still committed but possibly a bit wiser about the possibilities of and barriers to change. Welcome to this selection of my writing – a project I had in mind long before it finally came to fruition, and one which reflects my learning journey to date.

This Introduction outlines the purpose of the Reader and provides a context for what follows – including some background on the philosophical orientation that informs my writing. I’ve been working in environmental and sustainability education for some five decades, first inspired as a young man by the wave of environmentalism of the early 1970s. The calls for change towards a more sustainable and equitable society – ever present throughout those fifty years – have become much more insistent and urgent of late as clear evidence of critical global issues mounts and existential questions about achieving a viable future for humanity have become unavoidable.

In response, this book aims to contribute a timely and original perspective on the key issue of how learning and education can make a decisive difference to securing the future in an increasingly uncertain and threatened world. It is based on a core of previously published papers and articles which are here booked-ended by six new chapters (including this prefacing chapter), and it is offered as an introduction to my work and field of inquiry over a long period. Full details of the previously published chapters are listed under “Credits” on pp. 233–4.