Open AccessEducation for Sustainability
Author(s) -
Caroline McCaw
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
futures of education, culture and nature - learning to become
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2794-2899
DOI - 10.7146/fecun.v1i.130249
Subject(s) - transformative learning , general partnership , transformational leadership , sustainability , indigenous , engineering ethics , sociology , empathy , pedagogy , knowledge management , political science , engineering , public relations , psychology , computer science , ecology , biology , psychiatry , law
This paper proposes an approach to teaching and learning that reflects the idea that to undergo systemic change we need to learn from and with living systems. I reflect on two projects that illustrate small steps towards this emergent practice and draw upon theories that may help to frame this ecological approach. Drawing these frameworks and design education projects together helps to understand education for sustainability as embedded in productive learning relationships, involving thinking reflectively on our messages and actions. According to the UNESCO Policy Brief (2018) Education is a crucial element of a sustainable development agenda and needs to be holistic and transformational. These practices of taking education outside of the classroom are illustrated through examples of project-based learning in a Communication Design degree at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin New Zealand in partnership with local environmental groups, and aim to be both holistic and potentially transformative. Examining the projects in this way helps to see the requirement for empathy including and beyond human-centred design, an understanding of the systems in which the student projects sit, and acknowledging te Ao Māori, an indigenous worldview unique to New Zealand.